When law enforcement officers returned in force to clear the streets, the revellers began breaking store windows. October 16. At Kent State two rallies were held at the Commons, a grassy open area at the centre of the campus. It was a ⦠During the day on May 2, students helped clean up the damage downtown. If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked. New York University. Coe College students begin a general strike on the Cedar Rapids campus May 5, 1970, to protest the war in Vietnam and the killing of four Kent State University student protesters on May 4. Republican Richard Nixon won election as president of the United States in 1968 partly as a result of his pledge to end the Vietnam War. During the campaign, Nixon claimed that he had a âsecret planâ to conclude the war, and hopes for peace had grown with the establishment of direct talks between the United States and North Vietnam in Paris, though by the spring of 1970 those negotiations had stagnated. Congress reacted to the Cambodian invasion by repealing the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. The watershed case allowing high school students freedom of expression occurred in 1969 in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District . Omissions? Enraged responses swept college campuses across the country the next day, May 1. That evening several incidents occurred, including rocks and bottles being thrown at police officers and the lighting of bonfires. On that day, students were participating in a protest against the United States' invasion of Cambodia (an offshoot of the Vietnam War effort that spawned years of protests ⦠"Dow Day", University of WisconsinâMadison. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Kent State shooting, the shooting of unarmed college students at Kent State University, in northeastern Ohio, by the Ohio National Guard on May 4, 1970, one of the seminal events of the anti-Vietnam War movement in the United States. They also called for another antiwar rally to be held on the coming Monday, May 4. On May 1, Kent State students held an anti-war protest. In March 1968, with protests against the Vietnam War growing, U.S. Pres. The University of Wisconsin-Madison campus erupted in the late 1960s and early 1970s as tensions rose about the Vietnam War and other social issues. Our editors will review what youâve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. They marched by the thousands, on campuses from coast to coast. That is not to say that Pennsylvaniaâs public and private universities were quiet, however. Throughout those divisive years of the Vietnam War, WC students held anti-war rallies, protests and peace vigils, while others voiced their support for ⦠Presenting himself as a champion of law and order at the press conference that followed, Rhodes promised âto use every part of the law enforcement agencies of Ohio to driveâ dissident groups out of Kent. The demonstration opposed the U.S. bombing of neutral Cambodia during the Vietnam War, in which more than 58,000 Americans died. If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Beginning in May of 1965, students protested and discussed the war in every way imaginable. Lyndon B. Johnson announced that he would not seek reelection that year. Updates? The Student Debt Protest. Nevertheless, in the early morning hours of that next day, Kent Mayor Leroy Satrom, having heard rumours of plotting by radicals, declared a civil emergency and requested assistance from Ohioâs staunch conservative governor, James A. Rhodes, who dispatched the Ohio National Guard. From protests against the Vietnam War to the Civil Rights movement, college students have successfully pushed for social change â although sometimes campus activists have smaller goals in mind. Still, notwithstanding its tradition of political activism, Kent State looked to a world unfamiliar with it like the epitome of Middle Americanismâmiddle class, middle of the country, middle of the road. The Keystone State experienced far fewer student demonstrations against university military research and the Vietnam War than were seen elsewhere in the country. The May 1970 student strike at the University of Washington was part of a national week of student strikes, organized in reaction to the expansion of the Vietnam War in Cambodia, the killings of student protesters at Kent State University, and âto reconstitute the University as a center for organizing against the war in Southeast Asia.â Student activists called for a strike on May 4, after the events at Kent State, ⦠Four students were killed and nine wounded by the Ohio National Guard, the violent culmination of four days of protest. In 1968 the Black United Students (BUS) organization joined the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) chapter in staging a five-hour sit-in protest of the recruiting visit to campus by the Oakland, California, police department. As opposition to the Vietnam War grew, protests erupted in communities and college campuses across the United States. Students have also demanded a say in their institution's response to social issues. On May 4, 1970 members of the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of Kent State University demonstrators, killing four and wounding nine Kent State students. In 2013, graduating students at one of the nationâs ⦠Nineteen police officers and about 50 students were treated ⦠Demonstrations against the invasion of Cambodia were quite violent. The first rally was held at the base of Blanket Hill near the Victory Bell, a bronze locomotive bell in brick and sandstone housing that was traditionally rung to celebrate sports victories. On May 4, during protests at Kent State University, Ohio, four student demonstrators were killed by National Guardsmen; and at Jackson State College, Mississippi, two students were killed by police. Students at many universities also opposed recruitment by firms profiting from the war and protested their universitiesâ investments in companies such ⦠During the Vietnam War, anti-war protestors pushed many universities to limit on-campus recruitment. This was the first university Vietnam War protest to turn violent. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. H. R. Haldeman, a top aide to President Richard Nixon, suggests the shootings had a direct impact on national politics⦠The bombing of Cambodia had begun in secret months before this announcement of the significant widening of the American war effort. When the demonstrators grew hostile, the Riot Act was read and the Guard forcibly dispersed the crowd (bayonets were used along with tear gas this time), resulting in injuries on both sides. At about 8:00 pm some 1,000 individuals gathered at the ROTC building, which some of the demonstrators then set on fire. More than a dozen individuals were arrested, and the bulk of the students were driven from downtown back toward campus by police in riot gear. In 1969, Blaine Lilly was an English major at Ohio State University, trying to navigate classes, college life and the growing anti-Vietnam War movement on ⦠Our mission is to provide a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere. October 18. Vietnamese monk protesting with self-immolation. After escalating for some five years, American involvement in Vietnam seemed to be winding down. Later on May 1, BUS held a rally on the Commons to protest police treatment of black students at an earlier rally at Ohio State. Read about the student protests against the Cold War in the 1960s. An Overview of the Vietnam War Protests Early Protests. However, even peaceful protests sometimes turned violent, as United States involvement in the Vietnam War divided the American people. Khan Academy is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. With the conflagration burning out of control, elements of the National Guard arrived on the scene and cleared the area. To log in and use all the features of Khan Academy, please enable JavaScript in your browser. A burst of gunfire from authorities. The students entered the freeway shouting anti-Vietnam War slogans, carrying protest banners and sporting peace signs. By 2:30 am the disturbance was over. On Nov. 19, 2014, students rallied outside a regents committee meeting at UC San ⦠The anti-war movement may have had its actual beginning with an all-night âteach-inâ on the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan on March 24, 1965. Thousands of Demonstrators turn out in Washington, D.C. to protest the war.S090 On May 1, Kent State students held an anti-war protest. Governor Rhodes, who was campaigning for the Republican nomination to run for the U.S. Senate, helicoptered to Kent to survey the scene. The strike began May 1, but increased significantly after the shooting of students at Kent State University by National Guardsmen on May 4. News coverage of the war, which included graphic visual testimonies of the death and destruction in Vietnam, turned US public opinion increasingly against the war. Meanwhile, the Nixon administration had undertaken a strategy it called âVietnamization,â the gradual shift of responsibility for fighting the war from U.S. forces to those of the Republic of South Vietnam, with a concomitant withdrawal of U.S. troops. From. Ohio National Guardsmen moving across the Commons toward Taylor Hall at Kent (Ohio) State University, May 4, 1970. Described as the most divisive event in United States history since the Civil War, the Vietnam War cast a long shadow over the 1960s and 1970s. Here's a look back at what the campus and city looked like during several years filled with protests and violence such as the Dow Chemical riot and the Sterling Hall bombing. A group of angry students. The Commons formed a kind of natural amphitheatre that was bordered on the north and south by walkways; on the northwest by the student union, a heating plant, and the ROTC building; on the east by Blanket Hill, a partially wooded slope that climbed to Taylor Hall; and on the southwest by dormitories. The student strike of 1970 was a massive protest across the United States, that included walk-outs from college and high school classrooms initially in response to the United States expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. The most well-known protest involving the Vietnam War occurred at Kent State University in Ohio in May 1970.