Kent State University Shooting Essay

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Shootings at Kent State University What happened at Kent State University? This is a question that many Americans were asking following the crisis on the Kent campus. In the days preceding May 4, 1970, protests, disruption, and violence erupted on the university grounds. These acts were the students’ reaction to President Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia. The events surround the deaths of four students in Kent, Ohio are disorderly and violent. In the government’s investigation after the shootings, the officials made several recommendations to students of the future. As the massacre is looked back upon, there are several key events that …show more content…

I would rather be a one term president and do what I believe is right than to be a two term president at the cost of seeing America become a second rate power.” Students did not agree with Nixon and protests cropped up on university campuses in the days that followed his speech. Amongst these protesters were students of Kent State University, “The Cambodian invasion defined a watershed in the attitude of Kent students toward American policy in the Indochina War.” At this point, the first two days …show more content…

All were full times students at Kent State University. Kahler is permanently paralyzed from the shooting. These shootings caused many students to want to attack the members of the National Guard. Seeing this, members of the Kent State faculty pleaded with the students to disperse to prevent further bloodshed. In the aftermath of the tragedy, the state attempted to take legal action against eight member of the National Guard. All of the cases were dismissed due to lack of evidence. “The years following the shootings (1970 to 1979) were filled with lawsuits filed by families of the victims against the State of Ohio, in hopes of placing blame on Governor Rhodes and the Ohio National 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 brought by the victims and their families against Governor Rhodes and the National Guardsmen that was originally dismissed but eventually the dismissal was overturned due to the judge excluding evidence. The students' families were awarded approximately $63,000 per victim and the defendants agreed to state for the record that they regretted their actions.” This award

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