A View From My Porch: “Tin Soldiers and Nixon Coming.” Part 1 — The Shootings at Kent State University.

Christina and I attended a program at Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library on Tuesday, April 29: “Oral History: Kent State, 1970,” presented by Mike Alewitz, who as a student anti-Vietnam War organizer at Kent State University and a founder and chairman of the University’s Student Mobilization Committee Against the War, witnessed the bloodshed that occurred there on May 4, 1970 — 55 years ago.

Mike is now a New London resident and Professor Emeritus of mural painting and street art at Central Connecticut State University. He was subpoenaed to testify before the Presidential Commission on Campus Unrest. (below)

Mike’s presentation was very moving and triggered fraught memories for Christina and me; and I am certain, for other members of the predominantly “Baby Boomer” audience of about 30 or so.

His remarks motivated me to take a fresh look at that other dark period in American history and expand on his observations. I examine the events and actions that may have precipitated what has often been regarded as the “Kent State massacre” in this “View;” and then consider the factors and incidents that led to America’s entry and increased involvement in Vietnam; and the War’s dire outcomes in a subsequent essay.

And so, these are my “lest we Americans forget ‘Views’.” 

Predisposing Events:

The 1967 March on the Pentagon:

The National Mobilization Committee to End the War, a coalition of anti-war groups organized what was, at that point, the largest antiwar rally ever staged for Saturday, October 21,1967 in Washington, D.C. The event began with more than 100,000 protesters gathered at a rally on the National Mall near the Lincoln Memorial.  

The March was notable for its diverse coalition of participants. This was an ecumenical crowd: white and middle-class, middle-aged, young students, some clergy, and a group of political and social activists; — including Norman Mailer, Benjamin Spock, folk singer Phil Ochs; and counter-cultural figures Jerry Rubin, and Abbie Hoffman, co-founders of the Youth International Party; — i.e., the Yippies; who have been described as a theatrical, anti-authoritarian, and anarchist youth movement of “symbolic politics”.

Near 6 p.m. about 50,000 streamed across the Arlington Memorial Bridge toward the Pentagon. 

There, most remained non-violent; but a smaller segment stormed ahead and scaled or toppled the fences surrounding the Pentagon; forcing their way onto the grounds past military policemen who were standing at 10-foot intervals.  Six hundred and eighty-two demonstrators were arrested.

Note: there is an iconic photograph from the March on the Pentagon (i.e., “flower power”), that shows protester George Harris placing a carnation into the barrel of an M14 rifle held by a soldier of the 503rd Military Police Battalion (Airborne); — taken by Bernie Boston for The Washington Evening Star.

Garden Plot:
The Department of Defense Civil Disturbance Plan (aka GARDEN PLOT) was a wide-ranging U.S. Army and National Guard plan to respond to major domestic civil disturbances within the United States. The plan was developed in the mid-1960s in response to a series of domestic civil disorders and provides Federal military and law enforcement assistance to local governments.

RMN and the Cambodian Incursion:

Richard M. Nixon defeated Hubert Humphrey in 1968; campaigning  on a platform of achieving “peace with honor” in Vietnam; and positioning himself as the “law and order” candidate, who would restore domestic peace and stability amid the protests, riots, and rising crime rates of the 1960s. 

By 1968, there were already over 500,000 American troops on the ground in Vietnam, and more than 31,000 Americans killed. This was the first televised war and television coverage was a major factor in American society ‘s perception of the war. 

He entered office against a backdrop of a well-organized anti-war movement, which he had denounced and demeaned during his campaign. 

In July, 1969 he promised to withdraw 150,000 troops; but despite that pledge, announced on a televised address on April 30, 1970 that American forces had invaded Cambodia after months of intense bombing to disrupt North Vietnamese supply lines 

His secret expansion of the War drew immediate worldwide condemnation and intensified protests by antiwar activists at Kent State and many other college campuses across the United States; with marches, rallies, and clashes with law enforcement.

The Kent State Shootings- Chronology of Events: 

• On Friday, May1; — the day after Nixon’s announcement, an anti-war rally with about 500 students began late morning on the Commons, a traditional free speech area in the center of the campus. The rally started  peacefully but expanded into the town and escalated into vandalism of storefronts and violence between protesters and the local police force, who eventually succeeded in using tear gas to disperse the crowd from the downtown area; compelling them to move several blocks back to the campus. Additional demonstrations were expected through the weekend. 
• By Saturday morning, Kent city officials and downtown businesses had received threats and abundant rumors of radical revolutionaries with caches of arms, plots to spike the local water supply with LSD, and of students building tunnels to blow up the town’s main store. 

Kent Mayor, LeRoy Satrom feared that local law enforcement would not be able to handle the anticipated disturbances; and declared a state of emergency. He requested assistance from Ohio Governor Jim Rhodes, who decided to call in the National Guard to occupy the Kent State campus and restore order. The Guard did not arrive until 10 p.m., and by that time, a large demonstration was underway and the boarded-up ROTC building was set afire. 

There were reports that some Kent firemen and police officers were struck by rocks and other objects while attempting to extinguish the blaze. Several fire engine companies were called in because protesters had cut the fire hose. The arsonists were never apprehended.

• By Sunday morning, 1000 National Guardsmen were on campus. Governor Rhodes had flown in for a press conference at which he said, “We’re up against the strongest, best-trained, militant, revolutionary group that has ever assembled in America; — set on destroying higher education in Ohio.” 

During the day, a small group of students came downtown to help with clean-up efforts.  Mayor Satrom, under pressure from residents and business owners, ordered a curfew. 

Another rally began on the Commons near 8 p.m., and confrontations amongst the Guardsmen and demonstrators escalated. By 8:45 p.m., the Guardsmen had dispersed the crowd with tear gas; but the students reassembled for a sit-in at the busy Kent intersection of Lincoln and Main. 

At 11 p.m., the Guard announced that a curfew had gone into effect and began forcing the students back to their dorms. There were arrests, mostly for curfew violations; at least one student was slightly wounded with a bayonet.

School administrators, with the Governor’s backing, prohibited the rally scheduled for Monday, May 4th. 

• Early Monday, University officials distributed 12,000 leaflets declaring that the rally event had been canceled. 

Defying the ban, about 2,000 students gathered again on the Commons, with another 1,000 behind them on “Blanket Hill”. A small contingent began ringing the campus’s iron Victory Bell just before noon, marking the start of the rally. A campus security officer, accompanied by three Guardsmen, approached the crowd in a National Guard Jeep, and ordered them to disperse. They were met with stones, curses, and the pealing bell.

At about the same time, more than 100 Guardsmen in gas masks assembled at the base of Blanket Hill. The Guard attempted to disperse the crowd via bullhorn. The protesters again ignored the order, and the Guardsmen began firing tear gas. They were then ordered to march forward up Blanket Hill; — with M-1 rifles “locked and loaded” and bayonets raised; compelling the protesters to move up the slope. 

The Guard crested the hill and started downward. The crowd scattered, many of them towards a nearby parking lot. The Guard following the moving crowd into the nearby practice football field and lobbed tear gas canisters at the demonstrators, who yelled and threw rocks and other debris at them. 

After several minutes, the Guardsmen begin to move back up Blanket Hill, having achieved their objective of clearing the Hill.

At 12:24 p.m., after again reaching the crest, the Guardsmen turned, aimed, and fired into the crowd of unarmed students. Twenty-eight Guardsmen fired 67 rounds over 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis.

Some claimed hearing an order to fire; but in repeated testimony, there was no evidence of an order.

Some said they fired because they were in fear of their lives. However, the students who had been shot by the Guard were from 70 to 495 feet away and were shot in their backs or sides.

Note: there is an iconic Pulitzer Prize winning photograph taken by Kent State photojournalism student John Filo showing teenager, Mary Ann Vecchio, kneeling over the bleeding body of Kent State student, Jeffrey Miller.

The Aftermath:

• Kent State Administration immediately shut down the campus, and it remained closed for the remainder of the spring semester. 
• The shootings triggered immediate and massive outrage on campuses around the country and increased participation in the student strike that began on May 1. Ultimately, more than 4 million students participated in organized walk-outs at nearly a thousand universities, colleges, and high schools.
• All in all, the anti-Vietnam War protests had drastically intensified due to the U.S. invasion of Cambodia, coupled with the Kent State University shootings.
• Nixon backed down on threats to escalate the War, but concerned that backing down might make him appear weak to the Soviets, called a secret worldwide nuclear alert as a show of force. 
• On June 13, 1970, President Nixon  established the “President’s Commission on Campus unrest,” which became known as the Scranton Commission after its chairman, former Pennsylvania governor William Scranton. It concluded that “the shootings at Kent State were unjustified;” and said: “Even if the guardsmen faced danger, it was not a danger that called for lethal force. The 67 shots by 28 guardsmen certainly cannot be justified. Apparently, no order to fire was given, and there was inadequate fire control discipline on Blanket Hill. The Kent State tragedy must mark the last time that, as a matter of course, loaded rifles are issued to guardsmen confronting student demonstrators.”
• The massive demonstrations against the War and the bloodshed at Kent State turned the Nixon White House into a fortress. Two rings of city buses parked bumper to bumper encircled the mansion, and the 82nd Airborne was stationed in the adjacent Executive Office Building. 
• “If The Government Won’t Stop the War, We’ll Stop the Government.”—The 1971 May Day Protests:
  Woodstock hit the streets in  1971 for  a series of wide-ranging civil disobedience actions in Washington, D.C.; and Nixon responded with force. The protests began on Monday morning, May 3rd and ended on May 5th.

12,000 anti-war demonstrators came to Washington D.C. — the culmination of several weeks of activity in the City. They were met by 5,100 city police and 1,400 National Guard soldiers, with 10,000 more Army and Marine troops held in reserve.

The goal of the protests was to disrupt the functioning of the federal government through nonviolent action; with an immediate focus on snarling traffic to prevent government employees from getting to work on Monday morning. Small groups would block major intersections and bridges; and protesters roamed downtown D.C., dodging huge tear-gas barrages. They created small barricades and left disabled cars in roadways, or temporarily blocked intersections with mobile sit-ins.” 

By Monday night, more than 7,000 protesters had been arrested across the city; 5000 more were arrested on May 2, 4 and 5. Protesters filled jails beyond capacity; and were detained in makeshift open-air prisons and sporting arenas—The Washington Coliseum—the practice field for RFK Stadium.

These represent the largest mass arrests in U.S. history. 

Ultimately, however, only 79 people were convicted of any offence related to the protests.

Members of the Nixon administration would come to view the events as damaging because the government’s response was perceived as violating citizens’ civil rights.

Author’s Comments: The title is derived from the lyrics of the protest song, “Ohio,” which was written by Neil Young and recorded by folk rock supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young in the immediate aftermath of the Kent State shootings. It became identified as one of the anthems of the anti-Vietnam War movement. In 2010, ‘The Guardian’ described the song as the “greatest protest record and the pinnacle of a very 1960s genre.” The lyrics evoke the turbulent mood of horror, outrage, and shock in the wake of the shootings “Tin soldiers and Nixon coming; this summer, I hear the drumming, four dead in Ohio. Gotta get down to it; soldiers are cutting us down…” (Abridged)

Editor’s Note: This is the opinion of Thomas D. Gotowka.

About the Author: Tom Gotowka is a resident of Old Lyme, whose entire adult career has been in healthcare. He will sit on the Navy side at the Army/Navy football game. He always sit on the crimson side at any Harvard/Yale contest. He enjoys reading historic speeches and considers himself a scholar of the period from FDR through JFK. A child of AM Radio, he probably knows the lyrics of every rock and roll or folk song published since 1960. He hopes these experiences give readers a sense of what he believes “qualify” him to write this column.

Sources: “Tin Soldiers and Nixon Coming”—Part 1:
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