May 4, 1970, OSU

[cincibuck]

What strikes me most when I remember this day is how perfect the morning was. The air was crisp and clean as I walked down Iuka to High Street. The sun was warming things up, but dew clung to the roofs of houses and to the trees and grass and glinted off in diamond tones. A block short of High the air lost its freshness and I could pick up the acrid scent of tear gas. I was there by eight but already the two armies, one olive drab, the other tie dye, had formed and begun their game of stare down; first to blink losses.

For the last two days the radio had been full of Nixon's decision to attack into Cambodia. Less than a year before I had stood on a hill side over looking the Song Be river and watched as NVA trucks operated with lights on, bringing food and ammo right down to the border between South Vietnam and "neutral" Cambodia. Our orders did not include permission to call in a fire mission or an air strike though it was plain see that the enemy was sending supplies to his forces in the south. I was against the war, but if one thing made sense to me, taking the fight to Cambodia was right up there.

I knew, though, that military wisdom would not enter into the thoughts of the anti-war crowd. Across the entire US students reacted, pouring onto campuses. Was their goal reform? Anarchy? Peace? It seemed to me that it was to bring the individual university to its knees in some obtuse belief that this would some how end the war.

I looked the situation over, National Guard forming a thin ring, fifty yards in front of the Admin Building, students milling about in growing numbers on the oval, trying to decide what to do to vent their anger. I walked in between both and began shooting pictures. I heard the taunts, "Pigs!" "Nazis!" and the familiar chant of "Pigs off campus! Pigs off campus!"

I couldn't take sides. Nothing I had seen in Vietnam gave me a sense that the South Vietnamese were hungry for freedom and democracy. The ARVN unit that shared its Area of Operations with the First Infantry Division was corrupt, ill-disciplined and disinclined to fighting. Saigon streets were filled with 16 to 19 year old males who were obviously not in uniform.

But I had also seen what draft deferments meant. The soldiers under my command had come from black inner city families or white rural families. The suburban kids were at school, or serving as officers, like me. I served mostly because I would not have known how to tell my dad, a World War II vet, that I refused to go. I did my job as best I could, but I had no burning patriotic belief that we needed to save Vietnam.

I didn't care for the guard. Their ranks were stuffed with kids avoiding the war. The Guard had been given permission to accept more members than their regulations called for at a time when combat formations in the First Infantry had been at seventy percent fill. But they weren't Nazis or pigs. They didn't deserve the taunts that were being hurled, and later the clumps of sod or stones.

I took my pictures and my mind whirled. I hated the war, but I hated the way the draft was played out unfairly. The students were right, but they were also wrong. The National Guard was filled with politically connected kids, but they didn't deserve what was coming down on them. Where could I find something to stand by?

I got home that afternoon and told my wife about my confusion and about what I had seen. "I can't believe these kids taunting the Guard. I looked at those M-1s. they're loaded. Don't the kids know how dangerous the game is that they're playing?"

We had our answer less than an hour later. "Four students killed at Kent State, seven others wounded, Guard fires on demonstrators."

It could just as easily been OSU. I could have been caught in the middle, or been on the scene to record death on the Oval.

That night, the network news ended with a listing of all the schools that had announced they would be closed "until further notice." Alabama, Amherst, Boston College, The University of California system, Central State, Miami, Ohio, Ohio State, Penn and Penn State, Cincinnati and Pitt, Duke and NC, Yougstown State.... Literally an A to Z list of closed institutions. Higher education had come to a complete halt across all of America.

 

[The KSB]

I occasionally visit the site where the four students died. It's in a parking lot. Students sometimes will place small items such as a guitar pick or a small pebble on the pillars the mark the spots where they fell. I guess it's kind of hard to sort through my feelings about the whole affair. I really don't know who's to blame. Whether to blame the guardsmen who cut down innocent students. or the protest leaders who obviously wanted marters to further their carreers/cause.

 

[BB73]

Thanks for that story, cinci. Are there any posters out there who remember Woody talking to crowds on the oval? Here's a blurb about Woody Hayes and the Vietnam War/campus unrest situation, from his bio on wosu:

http://www.wosu.org/tv/woody/politics.php

Supporting the war effort made Hayes a hero to some—an enemy to others. His political voice projected beyond the OSU campus and became part of a growing national debate. Many students and players supported the antiwar movement, voicing their own concerns about America’s role in Vietnam. In 1969, more than three hundred major student protests took place at colleges and universities around the country, and Ohio State certainly was not immune to the civil unrest and the burning of draft tickets. On occasion, Hayes would address the students concerning these issues; indeed in 1970, Hayes and Richard Nixon joined forces at 15th and High Streets on the OSU campus in an attempt to quell a campus uprising over the U.S. invasion of Cambodia, specifically, and the Vietnam War in general.

Woody was a man of strong moral conviction and wasn’t afraid to make his voice heard when so many others retreated into silence. Even though he had received much criticism from the media and coaches alike, he undoubtedly had earned the respect of Buckeye students. “When. . .Kent State happened. . .we had 5,000 National Guardsmen on the Ohio State campus. . .The only administrator that I saw during that whole time of all the unrest and broken windows and tear gas, whatever, that got the students to listen, was Woody walking on the oval,” remembers Rex Kern.

 

[Oh8ch]

I remember that day myself. I was a student at OSU at the time. "We" had been rioting for several days. It was kind of fun really. We would get in the middle of the Oval and walk towards the Admin building. Whatever group was protecting that building (the Guard, the HW Patrol and the Columbus Police were all involved in 'policing' campus at the time) would start toward us and start launching tear gas. As they got further from the building they did not have enough ranks to form a solid line and we would filter in between them and start forming up again. The whole process would then start over.

I put "we" in quotes because at the time my political naivete' knew no bounds. The SDS were a bunch of Hippie's that I couldn't relate to and the majority of the kids forming those groups were doing it for the same reason as I as. It was fun. Beautiful day to be on the oval and it beat going to class. I was going to go to college anyhow - it wasn't to dodge the draft (I got drafted two months before I graduated in any case - quickly putting an end to the naivete'). If I favored the war it was mostly because my parents did (Dad was a WWII vet and if your country went to war you supported it).

What I remember most about my 'confrontations' with the guard was the variety of faces. Some were pissed. Some were scared. Some actually seemed to be having a bit of fun themselves. But most of them were just kids like me - and probably just as naive.

I also remember Woody out in the middle of the Oval the day before the shootings telling us all to settle down and go back to class. In retrospect his approach was in many ways as naive as my own.

I never expected this would result in anything more than harmless protests and dodging tear gas. When the news of the shootings first started filtering out in Columbus it was terribly distorted. The number of dead was around 40 or so at one point.

The next day classes were cancelled. Since I was putting myself through school that just meant I got to work extra hours at my job and eventually I got full credit for a shortened term.

Never occured to me that I could have become a dead student - but I am sure it never occured to anyone at Kent St either. I never even considered verbally or physically assaulting anyone in any kind of uniorm - but I was right in there amidst people who did. Like I say, it seemed like fun at the time.

any posters out there who remember Woody talking to crowds on the oval?

73 - I was typing my previous post while you were doing yours, so let me add a bit.

I remember very clearly seeing Woody on the Oval. It was the only time I ever saw him up close in four years as a student.

Frankly it was kind of sad. I was in awe, but a lot of kids were jeering him and giving him flack. Any 'silent majority' was being precisely that. While many of the kids on campus may have supported the war almost nobody was doing it puclicly during those few days.

I agree with giving Woody credit for speaking out and I guess I should explain my calling him "naive" above. That wasn't in relation to his stand on the war, but in terms of standing in the middle of the Oval and trying to speak to kids who weren't listening. However courageous, it had zero effect.

 

[cincibuck]

I wanted to put Coach Hayes in my piece, but it just didn't seem to fit. I had taken his course in fall of 66 and I was assigned to be his escort officer when he visited the First Infantry in January of 69, but a monsoon kept him in I Corps and I didn't get to be his host.

I also remembered that Drs. Ron Greene and Bernie Mehl, who had done much to stir up the student activists, were no where to be found. They sat in their offices and played it safe. At least Coach Hayes had the courage to speak out.

 

[osugrad21]

Great post CB

 

[BB73]

Thanks for the perspectives from people who were there, cinci and Oh8ch. My first spring on campus was in 1974, when the student unrest was all about streaking. I've often wondered what it would have been like if I had been there a few years sooner.

 

[AJHawkfan]

Many thanks to you guys for posting. I wasn't born until late in 1972 so I must rely on other people's accounts to learn about events such as these. Thanks again!

 

[NYBuckeyes]

May, 1970......Oh, I remember the time very well. I was a senior and only needed to complete my spring quarter's courses to graduate, and the confusion on campus was scary. The student body was composed of several very different groups with conflicting convictions, and many outsiders came to campus to really stir things up. Classes were being held, and I had to attend. The crowd on the oval grew a little every day, and a lot of students were there just because it was spring and more fun than going to class. You could feel the seriousness of the situation and the tensions rise with every confrontation between students, building break ins, and sit ins. I heard Woody speak. For many of us he was a voice of reason, but for others he was a symbol of The Establishment and part of the problems facing the school and the world. Violence broke out and we were then under Marshall Law, and classes were still being conducted. I was tear- gassed, caught in areas with students and outsiders pushing, yelling, fighting and the ever present National Guard right there with rifles and bayonets. Just let me get to class, and I mean no harm to anyone. I remember kids throwing rocks at the soldiers, and one girl going up to a soldier and spitting in his face. I remember thinking," Holy shit ! Are you that stupid? ", and then getting the hell out of there. Walking home from class, I witnessed a riot and looting on High St. These kids were way too young to be students. I wasn't surprised about the shooting at Kent St.. I was surprised it did'nt happen at OSU. The 1970 OSU yearbook," The Makio" has several pages of photos of the violence and unrest on campus. I don't know if it is online. The "times were a changing" and it was frightening to see the violence and experience the unrest.

 

[LightningRod]

A very close friend of mine was in the Guard at that time. He was assigned to patrol I-76 between Austintown and Kent. There was a nasty trucker's strike going on at the same time with Teamster truckers clashing with independent truckers on the nation's interstates. What a fucked up time it was.

 

[cincibuck]

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[cincibuck]

One of the saddest moments of my life, May 5, 1970. The gates to the university were guarded and students were not permitted to enter the Oval.

 

[OmahaBeef]

Does anyone have any other pictures? Its really interesting to see what was going on around here 37 years ago. Its hard to imagine things like that were happening on this campus that I walk around on every day.

 

[Steve19]

I was a high school sophomore at Brookhaven and four of us took a car down to campus to see what was happening. My memories are not as clear as the others posting here but I do clearly remember watching Ohio Governor James Rhodes on the news appealing to people to stop rioting on campuses"someone is going to be hurt badly or even killed".

We must have arrived only at about 4 in the afternoon. I remember the aggression of the protesters and the over-reactions of the Guardsmen to it on some occasions.

My memory is just being overwhelmed by it all. I really used to like coming down to Pearl Alley and going through the hippie shops. It was cool and lots of fun. They were laid back and welcoming.

The protesters that day were not. They were ridiculing the Guardsmen and shouting at them. Were it not for the Guard busing in units from other cities, these drafted Guardsmen could have been their high school classmates.

The Guardsmen were not without fault on the day and also escalated some of the abuse by over-reacting.

For me, the peace movement lost its innocence that day although it really had lost it much earlier.

The next day, none of the people in my classes at Brookhaven could believe that kids had been shot at Kent State. It was shocking and surreal. That day was the first time that I had ever really observed groups in conflict in America or people in America unwilling to talk to one another.

When I arrived on campus as a student two years later, the peace movement was well and truly over. Long hair was still in fashion, but the peace movement seemed almost to have never occurred. For all intents and purposes, it died on that day in 1970.

Years later, my students at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg figured out that I had been a student during the Vietnam War era and used to come and ask me to watch them demonstrate against Apartheid. They had seen a Vietnam War era demonstration glorified in some movie and were acting it out in their own anti-Apartheid demonstrations.

The Apartheid-era army would not come on campus, but soldiers waited with batons, guns, and dogs at the borders of the campus and, unlike the US, they were quite prepared to hurt and even kill protesters. We enrolled black students in defiance of race laws and our gifted black students often disappeared for months on end in prison and sometimes for good. I used to remind them all that they did not enjoy the rights Americans enjoyed and that troops here were far less patient.

We did not experience violent protests on campuses. Then, during one particularly bad patch in 1990, about fifteen agitators broke into my classroom and started singing banned ANC songs and slogans (e.g., no education without liberation, pass one-pass all, etc) intimidating the students to leave the class. When a white student stood up and pulled a gun to defend his right to an education, I must admit to being very frightened that these kids would kill each other.

As some protester punk yelled slogans behind me, I asked told the class of my experiences as a 16 year old on that day in 1970. About its hollowness and disappointment for all that were involved. As I told them about my friends, once hippies and now stockbroker yuppies, you could see that they knew that "movements" encourage personal sacrifices and actions that people later regret.

I asked them what memories they wanted to take into a nonracial South Africa that would one day come? What would they want to tell their children that they did on this day? How would uneducated people run a country?

A black student sat down and refused to leave. The protesters left about ten minutes later, threatening to return the next day but never to be seen in one of my classes again. The hot-head with the gun sat down and promised to never bring a gun into my class again, a promise that I think he did not keep. He did later do a Masters degree and still contacts me whenever he reads something about me somewhere.

To me, the memories of both days are welded together across time and space. Eventually, we got on with our class and I'd like to think that something good came out of that day in 1970 much later and halfway across the world. But, my memories are of that disappointment and hollowness I felt.

 

[Taosman]

Madness!