On this day, 4 May 1970, the Kent State massacre took place when the Ohio National Guard fired 67 rounds into a crowd of students protesting against the bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam war, killing four and wounding nine others, including bystanders and one person who was permanently paralysed.
Student John Cleary was there, and recalled how he tried to take a photograph of the soldiers:
“As they got near the top of the hill, I wanted to get one last picture of them before they went over the crest of the hill. So I was kind of getting my camera, I was winding it, getting ready to take another shot and suddenly, they just turned and fired. It was like this volley of gunshots.
“And then I got hit in the chest. I guess the best way I can describe it is like getting hit in the chest with a sledgehammer. It just really knocked me down. I don't remember too much after that. I don't remember the ambulance ride.”
Cleary survived, but four people were killed: Sandra Lee Scheuer, aged 20, Allison B. Krause, 19, Jeffrey Glenn Miller, 20, and William Knox Schroeder, 19.
The repression galvanised anti-war sentiment, with students in New York hanging banners stating "You Can't Kill Us All" and in the next few days millions took to the streets in protest.
In the wake of the massacre, rather than charge any of the killers, 25 students were indicted. But charges were dropped by the following year.
Learn more about the movement against the Vietnam war in our podcast episodes 43-46. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or here on our website: https://workingclasshistory.com/2020/09/23/e43-46-the-movement-against-the-vietnam-war-in-the-us/


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