On May 4, 1970, in Kent, Ohio, 28 National Guardsmen fire their
weapons at a group of anti-war demonstrators on the Kent State University campus, killing four students and wounding nine.
The tragedy was a watershed moment for a nation divided by the
conflict in Vietnam, and further galvanized the anti-war movement.
Two days earlier, on May 2, National Guard troops were called to
Kent to suppress students rioting in protest of the Vietnam War
and the U.S. invasion of Cambodia.
The next day, scattered protests were dispersed by tear gas,
and on May 4 class resumed at Kent State University.
By noon that day, despite a ban on rallies, some 2,000 people
had assembled on the campus. National Guard troops arrived
and ordered the crowd to disperse, fired tear gas, and advanced
against the students with bayonets fixed on their rifles.
Some of the protesters, refusing to yield, responded by throwing
rocks and verbally taunting the troops (below).
