Kent State shootings

Aftermath and long-term effects

A photograph by photojournalism student John Filo which was taken shortly after the shooting depicts a teenager identified as Mary Ann Vecchio kneeling over Jeffrey Miller's body as she cries in despair. The photograph, which won a Pulitzer Prize for Filo while still a student at Kent State, became the most enduring image of the tragedy (illustration above) and one of the most enduring images of the anti-Vietnam War movement in general. It gave the impression among many observers that Vietnam protesters included not only hippies, but also "decent suburban kids". (Ironically, Vecchio was in fact a 14-year-old runaway hanging out at campus.) The photograph was distributed around the world and solidified anti-war feelings.

Related Topics:
John Filo - Mary Ann Vecchio - Jeffrey Miller - Pulitzer Prize - Illustration above - Hippie

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In response to the attacks, President Nixon gave a speech, saying "This should remind us all once again that when dissent turns to violence it invites tragedy." Many students felt that this placed blame for the tragedy on the protesting students and not on the guardsmen. In the following days, Nixon repeatedly expressed regret for the tragedy and invited some of the Kent State students to the White House.

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Shortly after the shootings took place, the Urban Institute conducted a national study that concluded the Kent State massacre was the single factor causing the only nationwide student strike in history. Following the massacre, over 4 million students protested and over 900 American colleges and universities closed during the student strikes.

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There was wide discussion in some ranges of the press as to whether these were legal shootings of American citizens or not, and whether the protests were legal or not. These debates served to further galvanize uncommitted opinion by the terms of the discourse. The term "massacre" was applied to the tragedy by some individuals and media sources, as it had been used for the Boston Massacre of 1770, in which five were killed and several more wounded.

Related Topics:
Boston Massacre - 1770

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The shootings led to protests on college campuses throughout the United States, causing hundreds of campuses to close because of both violent and non-violent demonstrations. The Kent State campus remained closed for six weeks. Just five days after the shootings, 100,000 people demonstrated in Washington, D.C. against the war.

Related Topics:
United States - Washington, D.C.

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In September 1970, 24 students and one faculty member were indicted on charges connected with the May 4 demonstration or the ROTC building fire three days before. The individuals, who had been identified from photographs, became known as the "Kent 25." Five cases, all related to the burning of the ROTC building, went to trial; one nonstudent defendant was convicted on one charge and two other nonstudents pleaded guilty. One other defendant was acquitted, and charges were dismissed against the last. In December 1971, all charges against the remaining 20 were dismissed for lack of evidence.http://www.burr.kent.edu/archives/may4/twentyfive/twentyfive1.htmlhttp://www.may41970.com/trials.htm

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The years following the shootings (1970 to 1979) were filled with lawsuits filed by families of the victims who were hoping to place blame on Governor Rhodes and the Ohio State Guard. Trials were held on both the federal and state level but all ended in acquittals or were dismissed. There was one civil trial for wrongful death and injury that was originally dismissed but eventually overturned in Cincinnati due to the judge excluding evidence. The plaintiffs were awarded approximately $63,000 per victim and the defendants were forced to say they regretted their actions.http://www.may41970.com/trials.htm

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On May 14 of the same year, two students at the historically black Jackson State University were shot to death and several others wounded, under more questionable circumstances, and without arousing as much nationwide attention as the Kent State shootings had. For more on this incident, see Jackson State killings or the information at the African American Registry.

Related Topics:
May 14 - Black - Jackson State University - Jackson State killings

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In 1990, a memorial commemorating the events of May 4th was dedicated on the campus on a 2.5 acre (10,000 square meter) site overlooking the University's Commons where the shootings occurred. Even the construction of the monument became controversial and in the end, only 7% of the design was constructed. The memorial does not contain the names of those killed or wounded in the shooting.

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An earlier artwork, George Segal's 1978 cast-from-life bronze sculpture Abraham and Isaac, was commissioned for the Kent State campus by a private fund for public art but refused by the university administration. The sculpture was eventually accepted by Princeton University, in whose modern sculpture garden it now stands.

Related Topics:
George Segal - Princeton University

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An important work of land art, Partially Buried Woodshed, was produced on the Kent State campus by Robert Smithson in January 1970.http://speccoll.library.kent.edu/other/smithson.html Shortly after the tragedy, an inscription was added that recontextualized the work in such a way that it came to be considered as a convincing, albeit anticipative, monument to the event.

Related Topics:
Land art - Robert Smithson - 1970

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