11. The Kent State Shooting
By 1970, millions of Americans were protesting the Vietnam War. Protest was particularly fierce on campuses, where the ending of college deferments, which had previously exempted most college students from the draft and service in Vietnam, added fuel to the fire. The backlash reached a fever pitch after president Nixon announced a widening of the conflict on April 30th, with American military operations in Cambodia. The following day, protests and demonstrations swept campuses, including that of Kent State, in Ohio.
On May 4th, about a thousand National Guardsmen were on Kent State’s campus. When students held an antiwar rally, they were met with tear gas. Some students threw back the canisters, as well as rocks. Things escalated, soldiers advanced on the students, and 29 Guardsmen opened fire. Within seconds, four students were killed, and nine were wounded. A student and part time photographer, John Filo, captured a shot of 14 year old Mary Ann Vecchio, crying over a fatally wounded 20 year old Jeffrey Miller. It was printed on the front page of the New York Times, went on to win a Pulitzer Prize, and became a symbol for the lost innocence of a nation’s youth.
