May 4: Our Place in History (Documentary on the Kent State Shootings)

>> Good evening, my
fellow Americans.

Ten days ago, in my report

to the nation on Vietnam,

I announced the decision

to withdraw an
additional 150,000

Americans from Vietnam
over the next year.

I said then that

I was making that
decision despite

our concern over
increased enemy activity

in Laos in Cambodia
and in South Vietnam.

North Vietnam
has increased

its military aggression in

all these areas and
particularly in Cambodia.

Tonight, American
and South Vietnamese

units will attack

the headquarters
for the entire

communist military
operation in South Vietnam.

This is not an
invasion of Cambodia.

Our purpose is not
to occupy areas.

Once enemy forces are

driven out of these
sanctuaries and once

their military
supplies are

destroyed, we
will withdraw.

>> We've seen here at

the city of Kent,
especially, probably

the most vicious form

of campus-oriented
violence yet

perpetrated by
dissident groups

and their allies in
the state of Ohio.

For this reason, most of

the dissident groups have

operated within
the campus.

This has moved over

where they have threatened
and intimidated

merchants and people
of this community.

They only have one
thing in mind,

that is to destroy higher
education in Ohio.

They're worse than
the brown shirt

and the communist element,

and also the night

riders and the
vigilantes are

the worst type of

people that we
harbor in America.

I want to say
that they're not

going to take
over a campus.

And the campus
now is going to

be part of the county
and the state of Ohio.

There's no sanctuaries
for these people.

We are going to
eradicate the problem.

We're not going to
treat the symptoms.

And as long as
this continues,

higher education in
Ohio is in jeopardy.

>> In May of 1970,

I was a graphic
design major at Kent.

I was a second-year
senior already.

And I had my camera,

I had black and white film

loaded in the camera,

had actually been
working on a cartoon

for the stator that

morning about
how Campus Day,

which was coming up

the next weekend, was
probably going to be a

little bit different
because of

all the National
Guard on campus.

>> Well, I was a
junior in May of 1970.

I was a student
at Kent State.

During the
shootings, I was

actually on my way

to class from
a lunch break.

I had attended the
rally on Friday and had

every intention of
attending the rally

on Monday because there
was a continuation.

>> I was a
freshman student.

I attended the
demonstration.

I knew to attend

the demonstration
because I had been at

the demonstration
on Friday

that called for the
rally on Monday.

>> After my morning class

had finished at 11:50 AM,

I was making my
way to the Commons

because I had
been on campus

the previous Friday
when there was

a call to meet again on

the Commons on Monday
at noon to discuss

participating in a
national student strike.

So that was why I was
heading the Commons.

When I arrived
there, of course,

the National Guard
was there based on

all the things
that had occurred

the previous couple days.

>> On May 4th,

I was sitting in
a finance class.

And the finance professor,

I remember raising
my hand and saying

with all the stuff that's
going on on campus,

it was right at 12
o'clock, by the way,

would you mind
postponing our midterm,

which was scheduled
for the next day.

And he said, "I don't
care what happens.

We're going to have
that midterm tomorrow.

You guys need to
buckle down to get

out of the stuff that's

going on around;
you ignore it,

and pay attention

and think about why you're
here in the first."

>> I went out to

the rally about noon
as a faculty marshal.

Just as I got
to Taylor Hall,

the National Guard Jeep

drove out and said,
"You must leave.

This rally is illegal."

I said to my friend
Norman Duffy,

let's go down and
talk to the students,

convince them.

I wanted them to leave

because we were
worried about

the bayonets
on the rifles.

We had no
inclination that the

guns were loaded,

which, of course,
they were.

And as we were beginning

to walk down the hill
from Taylor Hall

to where the
activists were,

the National Guard

started coming
across the Commons

and began to tear gas the

demonstrators and
the observers,

and the faculty marshals.

>> I heard the
bell outside by

the Commons and picked
up my camera and

went out and saw the group

forming the victory bell

and the National Guard
troops forming up

around the remains of
the ROTC building,

captured parts of the
tear gas being lobbed at

the students and
the students

throwing the tear
gas canisters back.

>> When the guardsmen

advanced toward
the crowd at

the victory bell after

throwing tear gas, well,

after and
continuing to throw

tear gas and then started

coming with their bayonets

pointed toward
the students,

I left the Commons along

with 1,000 or more
other people.

When I came up
over the hill,

I didn't want to stay

out in front of
the guardsmen.

I didn't know how

long they would
keep marching.

And so I made a decision
at that point to

go down the hill
toward Lake Hall.

>> Then when the guard

went up across the hill,

I followed them up there,

and when I crested the
hill by the pagoda,

they were in the
practice football field.

The guard started
to move away from

the students down

the long axis of
the football field,

and I thought
everything was over.

>> From where I was

standing behind Lake Hall,

I couldn't see them when

they were on the
practice football field,

but then they reappeared
into my line of

vision as they marched

back up the hill
toward the pagoda.

I thought that
they were marching

back to where
they had come

from and that the rally

would reconvene on the
Commons for a time.

>> I went up past
Taylor Hall,

turned left, went down
into the parking lot.

As I got to the
parking lot,

Prentice Hall parking lot,

I saw a student
some distance

off laying on the ground.

I went over to
the student.

It turned out to be

a blind student who
had been tear-gassed,

and I gave him a
little first aid.

And then I walked
back to the edge of

the parking lot and was
just standing there.

>> The guardsmen
were marching

in the direction
of the Commons.

They appeared to be

going back where
they came from,

and it was a

complete surprise
that they turned.

And obviously a horrific

surprise that they
started shooting.

>> The guard came up the

hill towards the pagoda.

When they got
to the pagoda,

the right rear echelon

guardsmen turned
and fired.

>> I was maybe
30 feet south of

Don Drumm sculpture when

they actually turned
and began fire.

First, I thought, well,

why are they firing?

We were not
posing a threat.

And then I thought
to myself,

I'm sure they're not
firing live ammunition,

they're firing blanks
as a way to try to

disperse the crowd.

>> I'd been in the army,

so I knew that those were

real bullets because light

travels faster than sound,

so I dove for cover
behind a bush.

>> When they stopped
firing it's when

I stood up, looked around,

and saw that clearly,

they had been firing
live ammunition

because there
were students

who were wounded
around me.

>> I saw the guardsmen
turn in unison,

I assumed it was
180 degrees,

it turns out it
was 135 degrees,

lift their rifles in

unison and began to fire.

The friend that I
was with pulled

me into Lake Hall.

And then when we
were in there,

after a minute or so,

someone came in and

said people had been shot.

>> Well, I remember
saying to myself;

what should I do when

a student rushed up
who knew me and said,

"Dr. Lewis, those were
blanks, weren't they?"

And I said, No,
and I pointed

to Sandy Scheuer's body,

I didn't know it was
her at the time.

And I began to run around

the back of the
parking lot saying,

"I'm Dr. Lewis,
you must leave.

Those are real bullets."

>> John Cleary, who I
didn't know at the time,

was at the base of
that sculpture.

And he was the first
person I saw who

wasn't getting
up when the rest

of us were, so
I went to him

and lifted his shirt

and saw that he had

a bullet wound
in his chest.

I tried to put pressure on

the wound with my t-shirt.

>> I had only been
in the Stater office

just a minute or

so when we heard

people screaming
and running.

And I remember somebody

popped their head in

the door of the
Stater and said,

'They just killed
four kids."

And I just couldn't
believe it at first,

but as more and
more people were

screaming and running
into Taylor Hall,

I knew something
had happened.

>> I knew several

people that might
have been there,

and I was fearful that

something might have
happened to them.

My roommates did not
come home for lunch,

so I thought maybe they

went to the rally as well.

>> And I remember looking

down the hallway and

seeing a trail of drops

of blood down the hallway.

And then we went out and

left Lake Hall and walked

along the access road

until we got
close to where

Jeff Miller was lying.

>> I went outside,

the first thing I saw
was Jeff Miller's body.

And I kept saying
to myself,

"No, he can't be dead.
He can't be dead."

Seeing an ambulance

come over the hill, and
I thought, "Oh, good,

they're going to
pick this guy up,"

and the ambulance just

went on by to
somebody else.

>> Eventually,

when the ambulances
finally arrived,

there were not
enough ambulances

for the wounded students,

so we doubled up

two wounded students
in one ambulance,

and I rode along.

>> I looked out
over the scene and

saw what seemed
like dozens

of clusters of people

standing in groups looking

down at the ground.

And I realized
that what I was

seeing in this huge scene

was people standing over

bodies on the ground.

>> I went back to the

victory bell in
the Commons,

where a couple of
hundred other people

had started to reassemble.

It was a
demonstration again.

It was in protest

against what the
guard had done.

>> I went to the Commons,

and at that point in time,

Professor Glenn had gotten

everyone sitting down that

was there on the Commons.

And they were trying to

usher you out of

the area to the extent
that they could,

this is the
National Guard.

>> And the siege
mentality took over.

We were actually looking

at the guard reform
on the Commons,

and I thought if

they started to move
on the students again,

people were going to
run into Taylor Hall.

I was convinced that
the guard would

follow them in this time

and probably be shooting.

>> The guard
made clear that

they weren't going
to stand for

us remaining by
the victory bell.

And what people
did was go over to

the slope by
Stouffer Johnson

and stage a sit-in.

It was like being
in a class.

I mean, people
were sitting in

rows and what actually

made it more like
a class for me was

that my geology
instructor,

Glen Frank, was pacing

back and forth in

front of the
rows of people.

>> Glen Frank gave a
very emotional speech

and convinced the
students to leave.

>> He was crying.

He was pleading with

us to leave because
he was convinced

and he convinced
the students who

were staging the sit-in

that if we didn't leave,

the guard would engage

in further violence
against the students.

>> With the help
of the marshals,

most of the
students exited

to the right of where
they were sitting.

Kent State then closed
within 3 hours.

>> So I went into
the Student Union,

which was in the old
facility at the time,

which is now Oscar
Ritchie Hall,

and proceeded to do
the right thing,

which was call
my mother to

tell her I was
safe because,

of course, where I'm from

Philadelphia and back
in Philadelphia,

this was going to
be on the news.

In the middle of the
phone conversation,

they cut all the
lines out of Kent.

So as I'm saying
to mom, I'm safe,

the phone went dead, and

I couldn't get
back to her for

several hours
because there was

no communication outside
the city of Kent.

>> All of our phone
lines were dead.

Nobody could call in

and nobody could call out.

So it was a very
frightening time.

You only had the radio

to receive information.

And I didn't find out

until my mother came
and broke through

the barricades
to come and get

me to take me home to
my home in Youngstown.

And it was then
that I found out

that my childhood friend,

Sandra Scheuer had died.

And the next day,

when I read the newspaper,

I found out that

another acquaintance
of mine,

Bill Schroeder,
was also killed.

>> There was just
no reason to fire.

It was a rather
incredulous

response to the shootings
and to this day,

I don't understand
why they fired.

>> I was home before
my mother got back

home and around
six o'clock,

my father walked
in the back door

and I was sitting at
the kitchen table,

and he saw me, and
the first words out

of his mouth were,

"They should have
shot all of them."

And I said to
him, "Don't you

know then that one of

those people would
have been me,"

and he passed into
the other room.

And I relate to
that part of

my experience
because it was

very representative
of the times.

His attitude was the
attitude of many people,

the attitude of some
people even today.

>> May 4th was Monday,

Thursday, I was
asked and brought

down by the Beacon Journal

to look at the
bullet hole.

The guards,
when they fired

at the students,
pierced the sculpture.

But at the time,

they were saying
the hole in

the sculpture was evidence

that they were
fired on first,

and that's why
they fired back.

We arrived about
11 o'clock,

the students were
off the campus.

There were men
walking around,

which I assume were FBI or

investigative people in
typical black suits.

I spoke to none of them.

I was taken immediately to

the sculpture in front of

Taylor and shown the hole.

And what was
strange to me as

a metal worker, because

my specialty is working

in metals, is the
side toward the guard

was flanged out or

pieces of metal
were flanged out.

On the side toward

the student, it
was concave.

Now, when you drill
a hole in metal,

particularly this
type of steel,

you would create that.

And that's why
people thought

maybe that the guard
were fired on first.

I brought with
me a piece of

steel of the same
thickness and told

the newspaper that we

wanted to get
somebody with

the same ammunition
and rifling

to fire on this piece.

And that afternoon,
we went out

to somebody's farm and

I marked the sculpture
with a big X

before we fired on it

to show the entrance side,

and we duplicated
exactly what

happened to the sculpture

and showed that it
came from the guard.

>> I feel very
strongly that the

guys who were
responsible for this,

the governor, the mayor,
the guard commander;

those people,
they're murderers.

They should have
gone to jail.

They never even walked
into a courtroom.

That pisses me
off. I'm never

going to be
okay with that.

Those guys killed
those kids.

They made it possible for

those imbecile guardsmen

to shoot those children.

>> You have to remember

that the attitude after

the shootings was
they should have shot

more people in
Northeast Ohio.

People were dissatisfied.

They only killed
four people

and only wounded nine.

>> I really didn't assess

until much later the
long-term consequences,

obviously, but also
the national and

international consequences
of the shootings.

We were so focused locally

that we didn't
realize that it

was becoming a cause
celeb around the world.

And part of that reason

for the cause celeb was

the Mary Vecchio
picture by John Filo,

which went all over
the world and was on

all the national and
regional newspapers.

>> I was at the
house of a friend

in Butano Canyon
in California.

And we heard about

it on the radio, we
didn't believe it.

And Neil and I were out
driving around in one

of his Woodies and we

went over to this
friend's house,

and a friend came back
from the store with

a magazine with

a girl kneeling
over the dead kid.

And I watched
and it hit Neil.

He opened the magazine

and looked at this thing

and hit him in the heart.

And I watched him write
Ohio, right there.

[MUSIC] And I remember
calling Nash and

saying, "Hey, get a
studio right now.

We need a studio
right now."

And we got it
out right away.

So it was immediate.
It was topical,

it was immediate, and
it was the truth.

And you could feel [MUSIC]
that we were angry.

[MUSIC]

We didn't realize it
would be a gigantic hit.

We knew that there were

a whole lot of people
like us who were

shocked that four of
America's children had

been gunned down on

a campus doing something

they were legally
allowed to do.

>> One of the
important ways that

May 4th was the day
the war came home,

was that Congress
really rallied

and really came

together and began
withdrawing in very

documental or very
real ways, its support

for Nixon's war in
Southeast Asia.

>> Certainly, Nixon
said that it was

one of the worst moments
of his presidency.

And so that suggests
to me that he

felt that they had to do

something about the
Vietnam situation.

>> I'm honored to
be here today on

behalf of the Ohio
Historical Society to

participate in this
dedication ceremony

for the listing of
the May 4th, 1970,

Kent State
Shooting site in

the National Register
of Historic Places.

Starting in the
late 1970s,

I saw several attempts to

nominate this site to
the National Register,

and none were successful

for a variety of reasons,

including the
historical immediacy of

the event to
the opposition

of then Governor Rhodes.

As a witness to the
tragic events of May 4th,

I took personal
satisfaction in signing

the nomination
that officially

recognized this
significant place.

It was a long
time overdue.

[APPLAUSE]

The recent effort

spearheaded by faculty
members Mark Seaman,

Laura Davis,
Carol Barbado,

and Jerry Lewis
was successful,

and it produced
a document that

has received
recognition from

the National
Park Service for

its excellence in placing

this event into
historical context.

I applaud the authors
for their efforts,

and I thank the university

for their supporting
this nomination.

In commemorating
this site's

placement in the
National Register,

I think it is fitting
that we pause

in silence for a moment in

memory of Kent State
students; Allison Krause,

Jeffrey Miller,
Sandra Scheuer,

and William Schroeder.

Their personal
destinies intersected

with our nation's
collective destiny on

that tragic day
40 years ago

and changed us
forever. Thank you.

>> One thing I liked
the best about it is it

put the events of what

happened here in

three or four days
into context.

They made it clear it

wasn't about that one day.

But more important, it

wasn't just about
Kent State.

I love the map that showed

all the college
campuses where

the uproar happened.

I think for students
today, this

has got to seem
alien to them.

There's just not this kind

of engagement,
this involvement,

certainly not the violence

on college campuses,

but mostly engagement is

what I'm concerned about.

>> These people
were brave.

They were very brave,

and they got shot
to death for it.

But they're still
inspiring us.

>> Memory about that war,

Vietnam War is
essential to

understanding our position
in the world today.

Of course, the protests in

the 1970s play
a huge role.

And Kent State is
one of those things

that happened that really
made a difference.

The move was a
game-changer

also in the protests
against the war.

There's quite
strong stuff,

and it's very important
for kids to see this,

for a new generation
to understand

the anger on both sides,

the polarization
that we now have

supposedly in our
country is evident here.

I hope young
people will take

away that there
was a struggle.

There was a divide
in this country,

and our country

continually has to
grow and develop.

These four kids meant

a lot to the conscience
of this country.

They died for a
reason, sacrifice,

and that has to be

remembered because
if you say that

no one's responsible and

it was just a
misunderstanding,

it's an insult
to their memory.

>> When they went to
sit on that hill,

blood had already
been shed.

You got to be that brave.

If you're not, what's
your life worth?

If you don't stick
up for what you

believe in, what's
your life worth?

>> It's part
of our legacy.

It's part of our history.

On the other hand,
it's a distant memory

for most of the
current students.

>> There'll be key

pieces like the
Visitors Center,

the memorial,
and the vigil,

which will
continue to remind

this student body as well

as the nation
about May 4th.

>> It also speaks to us
about the importance

of respecting diversity of

opinions, of
points of view.

You know, it's
very difficult

to hear people dissent,

especially in
a time of war,

but that's a principle

that our country
is founded on.

>> The challenge,
it seems to me,

for a place like
Kent State,

which is now stuck in

the national narrative, is

to do something with that,

and that's what this
Visitors Center does,

and it doesn't look
away from its history.

It doesn't say, well,

that was an aberrational
moment that

we have gotten past,
and we've now moved on.

But you've taken
it and done

what a university
should do,

which is turn it into
a learning experience.

And that way, as the words

Kent State become part of

the national
historical narrative,

it means something more

than just a terrible
thing happened here.