The US's containment policies against Communism divided the nation leaving the president a headache on how to approach its apparent "combat" against the spread of communism. When the US decided to not only aid the Vietnamese against the northern communist Vietnam but to send human lives to the front, the American people's reaction was not one of unison. The growing 60's and 70's definition of liberals were outraged and it only got worse as the war dragged on seeming to be on the verge of ending for years. The US continued to lie about the US's progress in a war that the US had never encountered. Not only losing American lives but seemingly tossing away civil human rights for the sake of achieving a goal that was too many people not worthy of such a sacrifice. The military lied about kills to death ratio as well as the US's effectiveness in the war. The US would lie about how many Vietcong were being killed as they would often count civilian casualties to hide the true stalemate of the war.
The Reaction from the public was of anger frustration and a feeling of being used by the government. On college campuses, young liberals began protesting. The more radical ones being at Kent State and Jackson State.
Kent State:
At Kent State students protested the news on April 29, 1970, that the US and South Vietnamese forces were amounting a ground attack in Cambodia. Something that most Americans felt would not only drag the war on but bring the Russians in, causing a full-fledged world war, communists vs. Capitalists. On May 1, 1970, the students marched to the ROTC center on the campus and began attacking it. They started fires around the building. The mayor of Kent, sent the National Guard on May 3, 1970, to restore order on the campus but in the end, only made things worse.
On May 4, 1970, The protesters amassed at Kent Commons, when they were not allowed to protest as long as the National Guard occupied the campus. After the protesters threw rocks at the guards, tear gas was used to stop the protesters and ended up in the National Guard Troop G turning and firing 67 shots in 13 seconds on their retreat to Blanket Hill. 9 people were wounded and 4 lay dead.
I really liked how you introduced this article, it helped me recap on the other problems and sentiments of the 1970s. It also helped me understand why the public reaction to the Vietnam War was very important. I had no idea that the government had faked actual statistics of the war, even when we were so badly losing. Some of the aftermath of the Kent State shooting included shutting the school down for six weeks, and suing the Ohio National Guard for a settlement of $675,000. To read more about it, check out the link below! https://www.history.com/topics/kent-state-shooting
ReplyDeleteMateo I think you did a nice job of summarizing the sentiments of Americans leading up to this incident as well as the tragedy itself. I am just curious as to what happened that the guardsmen felt the need to fire on the crowd. Based on the way you describe it, I think the protesters were way out of line, more or less just rioting than actually protesting. At the same time however, it seems hard to justify the guardsmen shooting. Based on what Tanshi said about the settlement, I'm guessing people couldn't justify it.
ReplyDeleteMateo, thanks for writing this post explaining the build-up of frustration and the desire for change which eventually led to the Kent State shooting. While the protesters had the justified cause of ending the Vietnam War, with its pointless loss of American lives and other detriments, throwing rocks and lighting fires definitely only served to escalate the situation. It was tragic that students were wounded and dead and the National Guard could have used less extreme measures, but I believe both sides were at fault in this situation.
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