Four anti-war protestors killed by National Guard at Kent State

Historical Context Note

Lucas Paul Richert (University of Saskatchewan)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Domains

Protest movements and actions

Dates

Date of occurrence 1970-05-04

Places

United States (Location)

On 4 May 1970, a 2000-person student demonstration at Kent State University ended in tragedy when soldiers in the Ohio National Guard fired on the crowd, killing four and wounding nine. The incident was precipitated in large part by U.S. involvement in Cambodia. President Nixon had authorized an incursion onto the Cambodian side of the Cambodian/Vietnamese border to seize Viet Cong supplies and equipment. The U.S. move into Cambodia sparked a number of protests on university campuses, including Kent State.

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81 words

Citation: Richert, Lucas Paul. "Four anti-war protestors killed by National Guard at Kent State". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 October 2008 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=3512, accessed 26 November 2024.]

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Four anti-war protestors killed by National Guard at Kent State

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