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May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Wed May 04, 2005 at 08:54:19 PM EST
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May 4, 1970. Four students killed by the National Guard during anti-war protests at Kent State University in Ohio. See the Guard lined up to shoot. View the pictures of the four who died. Listen to a clip of the song.

From our archives:

A memorial was held last night and today at Kent State University to honor the four students killed and nine injured at Kent State University in Ohio on May 4, 1970:

Thirty-four years ago, four students were shot and killed by the National Guard at the KSU campus. They were protesting the Vietnam war. The memorial started Monday night to honor the four students killed and nine others injured May 4, 1970. The May 4th Task Force, students who are putting the memorial together, said this year's theme is the Patriot Act.

The kick off to this year's remembrance began last night. At 11 p.m., students marched with candles to the site where the students were shot. At noon, students will detail what led up to the shooting along with ringing the victory bell at 12:24 p.m. 15 times in honor of those who lost their lives in Kent State and Jackson State that year. WEWS reported many students believe this year's memorial is extra special because of the war on terror and the loss of troops in Iraq.

Here's a first hand account of the day at Kent State, from a former student, and the roomate of the student who took the Pulitzer prize-winning picture above.

*********
I remember where I was that day....I had just returned home from college in Ann Arbor to begin my summer job at the local record store. The news spread like wildfire, even without internet, email and cable tv. We all wore black armbands at work the entire next week and the music we played in the store reflected our anger. Four years later (30 years ago today) May 4, 1974, I was sworn in as a lawyer to the Colorado bar and began my career as a defender of constitutional rights and the accused. Without a doubt, the draft lottery, the Vietnam war, LBJ, Hubert Humphrey and Richard Nixon were factors in my choice, and I'm proud to say I've never once looked back to question it.

In 1970, Neil Young wrote " Four Dead in Ohio."

Tin soldiers and Nixon's comin'.
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drummin'.
Four dead in Ohio.

Gotta get down to it.
Soldiers are gunning us down.
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her and
Found her dead on the ground?
How can you run when you know?

Here's an excellent reminder of why we shouldn't forget Kent State, written on May 4, 2000, 30 years later--with a prescient message:

To forgive is a virtue, but forgetting is an indulgence we can ill afford. Our foreign policy establishment remains addicted to empire, and is possessed by a hubris that is arguably even greater than the one that got us into Vietnam. Until they learn the lessons that the anti-war movement tried to teach them, we can expect more Vietnams ahead of us.

It's also important to remember what the students had been protesting: On Thursday, April 30, 1970, President Richard Nixon told the American people that we were sending troops into Cambodia. He had been elected on his promise to end the war. Rallies began around the country on May 1.

Update: The Heretik remembers Jeffrey Miller, the boy from Diamond Drive.

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    • May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio | 37 comments (37 topical)
    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#35)
    by ppjakajim on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:57:33 PM EST
    PIL writes - "Though the destruction of the ROTC center was rued by the great majority of protesters..." You have no way to prove that, and I strongly doubt it.

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#36)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:57:41 PM EST
    Gnatism at its finest, Jim & Richard. Go and get your cookie -- you tried. Your opinions and what you 'doubt,' Jim, are moot. You were either wrong or complicit in the racism of the illegal Iraq Invasion. 88 Congress members just sent a letter to Bush demanding answers and details behind the July 02 war planning memo just leaked to the British press. It specifically mentions the US(PNAC) plan to manufacture 'evidence' to justify the invasion, the invasion plans that Greg Palast already outed as being Plan A from the very start of the 2000 term, and not in any way a 'response' to the destruction of the towers. LONG before Bush promised absolute proof of Hussein's weaponry would be revealed BY HIM in due time. Before he lied, he conspired with Blair and the oil companies. Conspiracy to invade a successfully UN-disarmed country in general compliance with UN mandates. NOTHING like Israel -- with its 200 nukes and its hostile rightwing. Bush is an outright liar. His social security lies are blatant. He openly believes in lying to get what he wants. He's Mr. Impeachment on that count. Lying the People into war for profit, and getting caught at it.

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#37)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:57:41 PM EST
    Actually, I should defend the 'rue.' Protesters were out all over the country, not just in Kent State. They certainly weren't all endorsing the burning of ROTC centers on college campuses, or there would have been two hundred such actions. The protest at Kent State on that day itself was not a violent protest, as can be seen by the casualties -- not protesters confronting Guard, but people at a distance, many just watching. The Guard, untrained for police or riot control, were carrying loaded rifles with fixed bayonets. Now you tell me if that is going to turn out badly, would you? The prevost of the school said he intended to 'exterminate' the protesters. To use WHATEVER means. Those statements weren't his first, and the hostility was probably returned in spades on that campus, though that building-trailer burning (and the murder of students by state and local officials) was pretty much all the outright violence that occured. Just like blaming the Twin Towers on Iraq, when it was 17 Saudis and 2 Egyptians, more or less, blaming the actions of a handful of violent activists on the entire protest movement is outright absurd. VERY LITTLE violence ever actually occured. The great majority RUED violence in all its forms, and in general most of the violence resulted from people who had already been the recipients of violence from the police. It is Nixon and LBJ and the Pentagon warhawks whose ACTIONS -- so evil -- radicalized a faction of the protesters into violent opponents of the government. But the Weather Underground and some radical groups in that constellation, were certainly a minority throughout the entire protest movement period of the 60s and early 70s. They were a small handful of a SEA of people saying no to genocidal wars.

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#1)
    by The Heretik on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:43 PM EST
    The girl in the picture was a runaway from Florida. The boy in the picture is Jeffrey Miller of 22 Diamond Drive Plainview, New York. The Heretik remembers the boy from Diamond Drive. Thanks for the post.

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#2)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:43 PM EST
    It's coming again.

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:43 PM EST
    Thanks, Heretik. I just updated the post to include your remembrance.

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#4)
    by Quaker in a Basement on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:43 PM EST
    "Four years later (30 years ago today) May 4, 1974," Mind if I borrow your time machine? I promise I'll have it back by last week. Help me out here, my math must be slipping: 2005 minus 1974 equals what now?

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:43 PM EST
    Four years after May 4, 1970 is May 4, 1974. That's the day I became licenced to practice law. 30 Years after May 4, 1974 is May 4, 2004, when I wrote that post.

    I think you missed the sentence that identified it as "from our archives."

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#6)
    by Mreddieb on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:43 PM EST
    I remember those time well. As a Veteran of the war I came home to a conflicted world. It took a lot of soul searching on my part to go from support to rejecting than protesting that miserable War. I also faced the wrath of "The silent majority" who in my case just happened to be all my friends,family,neighbors and worst of all many of my fellow Vietnam brothers. I don't think people realize how much Courage it took for someone like John Kerry to do what he did. This is why I can never forgive thos Vets who 30 years later lied and smeared his name for political gain!

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:46 PM EST
    Ed. Don't second guess yourself. You did the right thing. A very good friend of mine has a service-related injury and I've gotten to know a lot of the guys at the N.E. Shelter for Homeless vets. As a mom, and as a person they pledged to protect, my heart goes out to each and every one of them. Someone told me that the smartest and most sensitive of us are most affected by trauma. I believe deeply that this is true. I have had some very delicate conversations with some of these Vets about Nam. Their feelings range from "I left two brothers behind there - I'm not going to admit they died for nothing" to "What a piece of freakin sh*t that war was". The fine line I walk is believing that you should honor military personnel for their service and for obeying the call to arms unquestioningly - while at the same time dogging the politicians and making sure that these fine young men and women are truly only asked to fight when defending our national interests. So... thanks Ed, for fighting in the military and for it.

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:46 PM EST
    And re: Kent State, a violent image from my childhood, like the dogs and hoses turned on civil rights protestors, or the hate-filled faces of my white neighbors when a Federal Judge ordered Boston schools to integrate, that informed many of my positions and ideals today.

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#9)
    by nolo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:46 PM EST
    Kent State's my alma mater, though I didn't matriculate until 1980. Still, the events of May 4 were still resonating on the campus in so many ways. It would take a whole lot more time than a quick comment would allow to describe it. What I wanted to do, though, is point out that Nixon, that vile old powermonger, anticipated the outrage that would follow his May 1 speech announcing the invasion of Cambodia, and that he SPECIFICALLY AUTHORIZED Haldeman, who he tasked with the business of dealing with domestic reactions, to respond to domestic unrest with force. Don't forget, either, that former Ohio Governor James Rhodes (another vile old powermonger) was perfectly happy to play along with Nixon's plan to crush dissent. I hope they're both rotting in the same freaking place. Oh, and don't forget Jackson State, guys. It wasn't just nice white kids that got shot at.

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#10)
    by Mreddieb on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:46 PM EST
    Mfox Well said and appreciated. I do believe Dissent is a worthwhile Burden, essential to healthy Democracy!

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:46 PM EST
    I wonder what Karl Rove was doing that day for the Nixon Admin.??

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#12)
    by Mreddieb on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:46 PM EST
    mfox I suspect he was jotting down on piece of paper the words "Swift Boat vets for Lies" and filed it under "Future smear ammunition"

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#13)
    by DawesFred60 on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:46 PM EST
    Good thing the N.G., Didn't have M-16, Or an M-60, or two, or you would have had 200 dead.

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:46 PM EST
    Let us note for the record that 3 out of the 4 students killed were NOT protesting. They were either watching or walking by, and were shot at the distance of 80+ yards, including one shot twice in the back. None of the nine wounded was nearer than 20 yards (invalidating Guard claims that they felt threatened). The invasion of Cambodia toppled the government, and led to Pol Pot and several million people dying in the Killing Fields. Also important to note: the US was bombing Cambodia illegally for a full year before Nixon opened his evil yap, just like Bush. The Congress wasn't consulted. It is important not to forget Laos, which received more bombs from the sky than any other country in history. Not only did Bush conspire with Blair and lie to Congress, but he bombed Iraq for a year or more using the 'no fly zones' as the excuse, when in fact the targets were pre-invasion preparation. With all the preparation, it's telling that Bush didn't bother to do ANY occupation planning. His interest was privatizing the oil, and putting in the airbases -- screw the population and our troops. Nixon talking about de-escalation of the war, and it was a LIE to get elected, as the carpet bombing soon proved. Bush talked about how the war "wasn't inevitable," when he had already put it in motion. Renquist: Cambodia -- Gonzales: Abu Ghraib

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#15)
    by Richard Aubrey on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:46 PM EST
    Hey, Ed. You're entitled to your opinion. On this board, you're even entitled to your own facts. [remainder deleted as off-topic, and an attempt to hijack the thread. Commenter warned]

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#16)
    by jimcee on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:46 PM EST
    Four dead in Ohio...and a bloody shirt to wave politically speaking. A tragedy was played out that day but it was a tragedy that was written in the spring leading up to early May. There were numerous demonstrations earlier and some bordered on riots as the ROTC building was set alight and the fire hoses sabotaged to prevent their use. Add to that a nervous NG unit trying to do their duty but afraid of a percieved riot about to overtake them and in an almost feral response one soldier fired and in the confusion other NG members fired as well and Americans were killed by Americans in a horrendous moment and a clash of fates. There was no intentional malice on the soldiers part just a situation that had gone incredibly wrong. This incident was perhaps the real turning point in regards to anti-war opinion. Those who died that day changed the course of US policy in SE Asia. It was a sad day for this country but in some precencts that bloody shirt/Potemkim moment still carries the thrill of revolution or perhaps the musty scent of a re-lived youth. But man every time I think that the '60's sucked then I think of the seventies and realize that the '60's weren't so bad. How did any of us survive?

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#17)
    by Richard Aubrey on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:46 PM EST
    I wasn't hijacking the thread. I was responding to Ed B's detour. Which, I could tell, might have become inconvenient. Howsomever. I was in the stag bar at Ft. Jackson when the US went into Cambodia. Everybody thought it was a hell of an idea and many vets of SEA had stories of the VC or NVA scooting over the Cambodian border, coming back with fresh gear, rested and ready to fight, scooting back to dodge US units and fire and so forth. One guy had a patrol he took over the border, harassed a VC unit until they chased him. Trailing their coats, so to speak, the Americans seduced the VC into a lack of judgment, crossed back into SVN. Since you could call for fire if you were in trouble in SVN--sometimes--the sarge had set up some preplanned fires and sort of dragged the enraged VC into the right spot and had the artillery drop a bag of hammers on them. Such things were the stuff of discussion of the Cambodian border issue. Just for the other side piece of things. Kent State was a tragedy, and Jimcee gets it right when he refuses to allow you to pretend The Kids weren't being vicious maniacs. Among other things,they were throwing tiles at the troops, which are hard to see edge on and can cause terrific wounds. The problem was that the troops were kitted out as mech Infantry, not riot troops, and not with the armor we see today. In this, they had little to differentiate themselves from the sixteenth century. There was no passive defense. The only way to protect yourself was to put the other guy out of action and with a rifle the only way to do that is with a bullet. But the dead kids sure were useful. Some of the anti-war types remembered to pretend to be sad, but you could tell--I talked to several of them in the next couple of weeks--that sad wasn't what they were. IMO, the two groups responsible were the protest leaders who arranged for the violence and destruction (possibly hoping for such a result?) and the state which didn't have properly outfitted riot cops who could have taken the tiles and other projectiles on their armor and shields and not felt they had to kill to protect themselves. Clearly, while it is incumbent on the grownups to be ready to deal with juvenile tantrums, at a certain point we expect people not to throw tantrums. I put the majority of the blame on the inciters here. Given the other factors, the result was foregone.

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#18)
    by Richard Aubrey on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:46 PM EST
    Che. You may be right. You know that when you talk of incipient fascism and stolen elections and so forth that you're BSing. But there is a certain cohort of young people who are stupid enough to take you literally. And if we in America are subject to stolen elections and incipient fascism, then violence is not only justified, it's required. RIght now, it's attacking conservative speakers on campus. Food now. If that doesn't stop them, what is to keep The Kids from escalating? So this generation of The Kids may well start up burning things and attacking cops and soldiers and military institutions and what not, thinking they're fighting off the next Hitler, and they'll generate the same response. Except the state is smarter this time and won't be suckered.

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#19)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:46 PM EST
    Wow, Richard Aubrey must be immensely pleased with the current lemming young, who have been so inundated that their idea of public injustice is a tuition hike. To villify kids who were brave enough to risk their lives standing up to injustice. Pretty sick, buddy. Vietnam was an American, real life Riders to the Sea (not written by Rupert Murdoch so you've probably never heard of it, don't worry), and they knew it. So is Iraq, and today's young don't know it, so thoroughly have they been lied to. That's the real tragedy

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#20)
    by Richard Aubrey on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:46 PM EST
    Right, Glanton. In the Sixties, they were lemminged into being useful fools for the far left. Today, throwing pies at skinny blondes is not exactly risking your life. [remainder deleted, attempt to hijack topic again. This commenter is now limited to four comments a day. ]

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#21)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:46 PM EST
    When people stand up to the state and risk their necks to fight an unjust war and the crooked politicos whgo wage it, those people, says Richard Aubrey, are lemmings. When, on the other hand, they sit in front of their televisions grinning and drooling as some media pundit or politician assures them, just keep getting and spending, nothing to see here, just go about your business: that, says Richard Aubrey, is the epitome of independent thought. Hey everybody, wanna learn to think like that? It's easy: Just stay alert, and stay with Fox.

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#22)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:46 PM EST
    This thread is a memorial to those who died at Kent State. Glanton and RAubrey should take their political swiping at each other to an open thread or to email.

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#23)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:46 PM EST
    Richard Aubrey...you need not fear...the draft is gone so the MTV incubated youth have nothing to protest. And there's an unlimited supply of Latin American cannon fodder yearning to bleed free for a green card. What could possibly go wrong?

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#24)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:46 PM EST
    TL, I am not "taking political swipes," as you rather callowly put it. I am precisely memorializing what those brave students did and what they stood for, by defending them, and wishing more of today's young citizens had hearts like that to go with their television sets.

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#25)
    by ppjakajim on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:46 PM EST
    These four were killed by the Left who had created the killing situation with their riots, library burnings and other acts of violence. These four were killed by the Right who had created the killing situations with their inability to fight a war, but who instead waffled back and forth demonstrating a vast lack of political will to win.

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#26)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:46 PM EST
    Sorry, Glanton. Didn't mean to offend you. Aubrey is baiting you, I wish you wouldn't feed it.

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#27)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:46 PM EST
    Glanton, When people stand up to the state and risk their necks to fight an unjust war and the crooked politicos whgo wage it, those people, says Richard Aubrey, are lemmings. Also he said, and Jimcee gets it right when he refuses to allow you to pretend The Kids weren't being vicious maniacs

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#28)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:47 PM EST
    Glanton I meant to attribute the second quote to RA as a fond farewell.

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#29)
    by Richard Aubrey on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:47 PM EST
    Some of you are not old enough to recall those days. When "The Kids" is capitalized, it refers to a construction the left sometimes used as a compliment toward the activist types, probably trying to wrap them in a Gerber-baby glow or something. But the fact is, it was only the extreme activists who got that title in any given situation. And The Kids in those days did burn public buildings and assault cops and others. That's being vicious, and the lack of thought that went into it makes it maniacal. So, they either did or did not burn public buildings. You pick which one you want to say is true. But you ought to know by now that the reality is available to your audience and you would look better if it and your assertions tracked. You could also excuse such violence if you wish, but that means admitting it happened first. IMO, that would be the more effective tactic. BTW, having been on the fringes of some of these "happenings", I can say the dominant emotion was mob psychology, not Resistance to anything in particular. The left knows how to get the mobs going.

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#30)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:47 PM EST
    RA, The left had lots of help from police plants who would incite others with curse word chants, then be the first to throw stones. And if you look up the word vicious in the dictionary, I believe you will find a picture of Mayor Daley of Chicago next to the definition. Having also lived and participated in those times, I can tell you that RA is full of...The original antiwar movement was a peace movement that became more violent in response to the violence used against them by the police and the National Guard. and th ROTC "building" burned at Kent State before the shootings was an empty trailer. RA would have you believe that that is a more serious crime than the mass assault and battery committed by the authorities against unarmed demonstrators over the years prior to 1970. I know too RA. I was there also and you are a propagandist. Another day, three left for you.

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#31)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:47 PM EST
    Truly a sad day in American history... This was almost exactly 1 year before I was drafted. Yes, I protested the war (I was way to the left back then) Not wanting to be running through a rice paddy with an M-16, I decided to join the Air Force instead. Yes, I also protested the war when I got back...who better to protest than someone that was there seeing it firsthand? But ED B.... unlike John Kerry, I didn't call my comrads in arms murderers ! That was the problem most of us had with him. Paul in LA ...the US was bombing Cambodia illegally for a full year before Nixon opened his evil yap....It is important not to forget Laos, which received more bombs from the sky than any other country in history.....Nixon talking about de-escalation of the war, and it was a LIE to get elected, as the carpet bombing soon proved. I did 2 tours on B-52's & would like to know where you got your info? I have several issues with your comments!

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#32)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:48 PM EST
    I'm no Kerry fan BB, but I do believe he did apologize for the over-the-top murderer remark. Crazy times...a lot of people went overboard. His activism after returning from the war earned my respect. I wish that guy had been around during the election.

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#33)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:48 PM EST
    Wow, well I support the troops as an ideal, and in action support the troops against the BRASS, the troops over the POLICY. And that's from the start, from the 60s. The invasion of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos -- these were mass-murders, and no one can claim otherwise. Millions of NON-COMBATANTS were pincered between murderous forces, and slaughtered by both sides. The racism can be forgotten, but it cannot be denied. The Cambodian and Laotian death tolls were obscene. Kept secret from the Congress, Nixon violated the Constitution, and smeared innocent blood all over our flag -- as Bush has done. As for the pre-bombing of Cambodia, that is well documented in the famous, superbly documented book, Sideshow. Read it and weep --- in order to avoid disclosure to the Congress, the flights were 'retargeted' to illegal dropzones in mid-air. Kent State was 04 May 1970. Operation Breakfast began on 18 Mar 1969. "Nixon, Kissinger, Rogers, Laird, Elliot L. Richardson, and other officials all continued to assure Congress, press and public, without equivocation, that the United States had scrupulously declined to attack Communist positions in Cambodia before spring 1970. Official, highly classified Pentagon computer printouts of the bombing of Indochina continued to show 'Nil' for Cambodia in 1969." (Sideshow, p. 95 paperback) They hid the illegal bombing from most of the Pentagon itself, and even commanders in the field didn't know about it. One of the main proponents of the bombing campaign was John McCain Jr., the Senator's father (whose son was a POW at the time). 3,630 sorties were flown by the B-52s before the campaign ended with the Cambodian gov't destroyed, the civilian population decimated, and the rebel forces within those two countries vastly strengthened (Pol Pot). The effect on the Communists was simply to move farther into Cambodia, further EXPANDING the war, and not limiting the war as pro-war maniacs continue to claim. The Indochinese invasion by US forces was genocide, and also ecocide (as has the invasions of Iraq). The spraying of Agent Orange (and the others) began in 1962. Between the spraying and the bombs, this was one of the largest ecocides in the history of war (*until Iraq). In June 1969, for instance, Agent Orange was used to destroy large French-owned rubber plantations in Cambodia. "It's interesting that the rubber plantations of Cambodia were the world's second largest source of natural rubber." (Winter Soldier Investigation Weapons Panel, 1971) Kent State did not occur in a vacuum. Though the destruction of the ROTC center was rued by the great majority of protesters, it pales in the face of the millions of civilian properties destroyed by the US military already by that time.

    Re: May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio (none / 0) (#34)
    by Richard Aubrey on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:58:49 PM EST
    Paul. I'm not computer-literate, so I don't know if this is possible. Do you have any links to the aforesaid rue?

    May 4, 1970, Four Dead in Ohio | 37 comments (37 topical)