# 4 May: Kent State **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 4, 2023, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-may-kent-state/983585 "2023-05-04T23:31:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-may-kent-state/983585/1 "2023-05-04T23:31:52Z")
1970, 4 killed by National Guard at Kent State University in Ohio. Neil Young wrote a song about it, maybe you’ve heard it. Kent State was a formative experience for me as a high school student in Canada, and I reflect on it every year. Coincidentally, 4 May 1886 was the day of the Haymarket Affair in Chicago. Just saying. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-may-kent-state/983585/2 "2023-05-04T23:42:49Z")
Yeah, last night the song was going through my head. A good song. A bad thing. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-may-kent-state/983585/3 "2023-05-04T23:54:37Z")
I was only 9 at the time, but I’ll never forget it. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-may-kent-state/983585/4 "2023-05-04T23:56:00Z")
I was in college in 1970 (not at Kent State.) That song got played a _lot_ on campus. And I remember having an argument with my father about the incident. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-may-kent-state/983585/5 "2023-05-04T23:56:58Z")
I live in Ohio. I remember my dad saying all hippies should be shot. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-may-kent-state/983585/6 "2023-05-05T00:02:50Z")
A friend of mine went to Kent State four years after the killings. She said every year on May 4 it was so eerie on campus: no one out and about but that song playing out of every window. A good song and a bad thing as someone said above but keeping the memory alive is a very good thing. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-may-kent-state/983585/7 "2023-05-05T00:17:39Z")
Most of the Guardsmen who fired on the crowd said they felt their lives were in danger from stones being thrown by the students. Of the four students who were killed, the nearest was 265 feet away from the Guardsmen; the other three were more than 340 feet away. Damn shame those kids didn’t live to become baseball players. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-may-kent-state/983585/8 "2023-05-05T20:07:05Z")
This was me. I didn’t understand it and my parents were pretty conflicted about it. We didn’t have much of a conversation about it. It was more like: “Mom, why?” “Carnut, do you have homework tonight?” I learned much more about it in high school as when we studied the bigger picture. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-may-kent-state/983585/9 "2023-05-06T01:24:52Z")
I was in college at the time, and there were protests on campus on the 5th. It was very surreal. UCLA is a mostly commuter school and had the reputation of not being very activist – particularly in comparison to our “sister” campus Berkeley – so it was weird to see actual demonstrations. I saw Bill Walton helping to turn over a vehicle near the Administration Building. But it was mostly just kids running around and laughing at the Unicops trying to chase them down. Then, someone called the LAPD who didn’t know a thing about the campus and just came in like a conquering army. I ran into a guy from my Russian class, and he helped me get off campus down to Westwood Village where I could catch a bus. I didn’t want to be collateral damage – three of the four kids killed at Kent State weren’t participating in the demonstrations at all. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-may-kent-state/983585/10 "2023-05-06T01:27:20Z")
“Four Dead In O-hi-O” should be the state motto. It’d look good on license plates. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-may-kent-state/983585/11 "2023-05-06T01:40:08Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > And I remember having an argument with my father about the incident. > [@SuntanLotion](#): > > I live in Ohio. I remember my dad saying all hippies should be shot. Ditto to both of these. Are we actually siblings? I graduated from college in 1970. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-may-kent-state/983585/12 "2023-05-06T01:44:14Z")
1. I think a whole lot of us had arguments with our parents about politics. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-may-kent-state/983585/13 "2023-05-06T02:24:30Z")
Unfortunately not. A lot of older folks felt that way. My mom was more liberal. No college or siblings here. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-may-kent-state/983585/14 "2023-05-06T02:30:27Z")
I’m an only child, too. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-may-kent-state/983585/15 "2023-05-06T02:32:03Z")
Has anyone else read the book that James Micherner wrote? It was _Kent State:What Happened and Why._ One of the best books I’ve seen about the story, extremely detailed. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-may-kent-state/983585/16 "2023-05-06T02:57:05Z")
You can be my, slightly older sis.🥰 ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-may-kent-state/983585/17 "2023-05-06T03:07:09Z")
I’ve read it. Very good journalism there. I don’t remember if he wrote about the rifles the Guardsmen were carrying, because it’s not difficult for an M-1 Garand to go off accidentally. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-may-kent-state/983585/18 "2023-05-06T14:21:47Z")
O- **KAY**! 👍🏽 😘 ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-may-kent-state/983585/19 "2023-05-06T14:33:59Z")
This event was horrible, but it was pretty much the event that started Devo. > [@Gerald Casale](#): > > I stopped being a hippie and I started to develop the idea of devolution. I got real, real pissed off. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2023, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-may-kent-state/983585/20 "2023-05-06T22:46:07Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Has anyone else read the book that James Micherner wrote? It was _Kent State:What Happened and Why._ One of the best books I’ve seen about the story, extremely detailed. I read most of it. But I found it really dry and almost _overly_ detailed. Someday I might finish it. But, yes, it was excellent. I learned a lot of things I hadn’t known before. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4-may-kent-state/983585.md?page=2)