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This Day in Music: Kent State Massacre
It’s often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. While that may be true, the Pulitzer Prize winning picture seen above is worth no less than one thousand fifty-five. The cliche’s surplus would be used to compose “Ohio”, a generation’s anthem sung in response to the Kent State Massacre of May 4th, 1970.
That May morning, students gathered in the Commons to begin peacefully protesting the U.S. invasion of Cambodia. Soon after students began to assemble, the Ohio National Guard was called in to quell the demonstration. In the Prentice Hall parking lot, however, a small group of protestors began taunting members of the National Guard. Company A, 145th Infantry and Troop G, 107th Armored Cavalry marched back to the Pagoda, turned and fired between 61 and 67 shots into the crowd of protestors for thirteen seconds. Sadly, nine students were wounded, and four, Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer, and William Schroeder, were killed.
The students struck by the Guard’s bullets were between 20 and 245 yards away, and it was later reported some were not even involved in the day’s protests. In September of 1970, the President’s Commission on Campus Unrest issued a report stating “there was inadequate fire control discipline on Blanket Hill.” The report further concluded the shootings to be “unnecessary, unwarranted, and inexcusable.” As a result of the Kent State Massacre, the Commission declared that this “tragedy must mark the last time that, as a matter of course, loaded rifles are issued to guardsmen confronting student demonstrators.”
One of the many responses to this catastrophe was the song “Ohio”, written by Neil Young after seeing pictures that appeared in Life Magazine. In the liner notes of his ‘Decade’ album Young wrote, “It’s still hard to believe I had to write this song. It’s ironic that I capitalized on the death of these American students. Probably the most important lesson ever learned at an American place of learning.”
Bill Halverson, the recording engineer for the song, has said, “I don’t recall us doing more than two or three takes of it with live vocal and live harmonies and everybody chiming in.” The speed of the writing and recording of the song was matched by how quickly the song hit the airwaves, and the lyrics “Four dead in Ohio” became a rallying cry heard on campuses across the country. The song was banned from many AM radio station playlists due to its “anti-war” and “anti-Nixon” sentiments, prompting David Crosby to comment, “Young calling Nixon’s name out in the lyrics was the bravest thing I ever heard.”
While Young’s actions were brave, and successful in capturing the anger and frustration of conscientious objectors nationwide, they fail in comparison to the bravery portrayed by those students struck down for standing up and speaking out.