Tag: Kent State

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.

Today is the 42nd anniversary of the shootings at Kent State University. The National Guard opened fired on students protesting the Vietnam War. Survivors of the shootings are again asking the Department of Justice to reopen the investigation into whether an order to shoot was given, based on a 2010 enhanced audiotape analysis in which experts concluded an order to shoot was given. [More...]

Today is the 41st anniversary of the 1970 National Guard killings of Vietnam War protesters at Kent State University. The enhanced audio tape released in 2007 provided evidence the Guards were ordered to shoot.

What precipitated the protest: 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. [More...]

There are a lot of articles this weekend on the enhancement of a 1970 Kent State shooting audio recording, reporting new analysis provides evidence the Guards were ordered to shoot.

"Guard!" says a male voice on the recording, which two forensic audio experts enhanced and evaluated at the request of The Plain Dealer. Several seconds pass. Then, "All right, prepare to fire!"

"Get down!" someone shouts urgently, presumably in the crowd. Finally, "Guard! . . . " followed two seconds later by a long, booming volley of gunshots. The entire spoken sequence lasts 17 seconds.

The tape was discovered in the library in 2007. Here's the recording released that year. Further analysis was performed this year by two experts. [More...]

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
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?

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?

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.

**********

An audio recording of the shootings 40 years ago at Kent State University includes the voices of Ohio National Guard leaders ordering troops to fire into a crowd of students, according to a man wounded in the shootings, who obtained a copy of the recording.

Bump and Update: You can listen to the tape here.

Original Post 4/30
Kent State Shooting Victim Asks for Re-opening of Investigation

May 4 marks the 37th anniversary of the shooting deaths of students at Kent State University. I write about it every year.

This year, there is news, and one of those injured in the shootings says he has new taped evidence to show there was an order given to open fire.

Alan Canfora, who was wounded in the right wrist during the 1970 anti-war protest, said he recently requested a government copy of the nearly 30-minute tape stored in the Yale University archive.

Just before a 13-second barrage of gunfire, a voice on the tape yells, "Right here! Get Set! Point! Fire!" Canfora said.

The tape will be released at a news conference tomorrow.

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming...

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