Kent State and May 4th

Description

A sociological study of the May 4, 1970, shootings at Kent State University and their aftermath "On May 4, 1970, members of the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of protestors at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine others. This tragic act and its aftermath generated national and international social, legal, and political controversy."-from the PrefaceBeginning with a detailed description of the May 4 shootings and the events that preceded them, Kent State and May 4th is a revised, updated, and expanded volume of essays that seeks to answer frequently raised questions while correcting historical inaccuracies. The third edition includes a new essay that analyzes a group of television documentaries about May 4 and an overview of the legal aftermath of the shootings, including governmental investigations to determine responsibility and how students were affected by these events. The book also explores the gymnasium annex controversy of 1977, in which Kent State University proposed the building of a new recreational facility on portions of land where students and Guardsmen confronted each other. Finally, the editors examine how the university and community have memorialized May 4 over the past forty years.Kent State and May 4th provides valuable insights into events that have been woven into our nation's collective memory. It will appeal to political scientists, sociologists, and American studies and Vietnam War- era historians.

Sujets

• Histoire
• Local history
• Midwestern United States
• History of the Americas

Informations

• Publié par: The Kent State University Press
• Date de parution: 13 mars 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781631011184
• Langue: English

Extrait

Kent State and May 4
KENT STATE

AND MAY 4TH
A Social Science Perspective
THIRD EDITION REVISED AND EXPANDED
Edited by Thomas R. Hensley and Jerry M. Lewis
The Kent State University Press Kent, Ohio
© 2010 by The Kent State University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2010006356
ISBN 978-1-60635-048-5
Manufactured in the United States of America
L IBRARY OF C ONGRESS C ATALOGING-IN -P UBLICATION D ATA
Hensley, Thomas R.
Kent State and May 4th: a social science perspective / edited by Thomas R. Hensley and Jerry M. Lewis. —
3rd ed., rev. and expanded.
   p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60635-048-5 (pbk.: alk. paper) ∞
1. Kent State Shootings, Kent, Ohio, 1970.
I. Lewis, Jerry M. (Jerry Middleton), 1937–
II. Title.
LD4191.072H46 2010
378.771′37—dc20 2010006356
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication data are available.
14 13 12 11 10     5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Preface
Section I: The Events of May 1–4, 1970: An Overview
Introduction
The Tragic Weekend of May 1–4, 1970
James J. Best
Review Essay: The Telling of Kent State
Jerry M. Lewis
The Telling of Kent State: A Revised Update
Jerry M. Lewis
The May 4 Documentaries
Jerry M. Lewis
The May 4 Shootings at Kent State University: The Search for Historical Accuracy
Thomas R. Hensley and Jerry M. Lewis
Section II: The Legal Aftermath
Introduction
The May 4th Trials
Thomas R. Hensley
The Impact of Judicial Decisions on Attitudes of an Attentive Public: The Kent State Trials
Thomas R. Hensley
Section III: May 4 and Its Impact: A Sociological Perspective
Introduction
A Study of the Kent State Incident Using Smelser’s Theory of Collective Behavior
Jerry M. Lewis
Social Control Violence and Radicalization: The Kent State Case
Raymond J. Adamek and Jerry M. Lewis
Social Control Violence and Radicalization: Behavioral Data
Jerry M. Lewis and Raymond J. Adamek
The Anti-Vietnam War Pieta
Jerry M. Lewis
Section IV: The Gym Issue
Introduction
Kent State 1977: The Struggle to Move the Gym
Thomas R. Hensley
The May 4th Coalition and Tent City: A Norm-Oriented Movement
Jerry M. Lewis
Victims of Groupthink: The Kent State University Board of Trustees and the 1977 Gymnasium Controversy
Thomas R. Hensley and Glen W. Griffin
Section V: Remembering May 4
Introduction
Symbols of Collective Memory: The Social Process of Memorializing May 4, 1970, at Kent State University
Stanford W. Gregory Jr. and Jerry M. Lewis
The Candlelight Walk and Vigil
Jerry M. Lewis
Floss, Forgive, and Love: Reflections on the Kent State Tragedy after Thirty Years
Thomas R. Hensley
Name Index
Subject Index
Preface
O n May 4, 1970, members of the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of protestors at Kent State University, killing four undergraduate students and wounding nine others. This tragic act and its aftermath generated social, legal, and political controversy across the globe. In this volume, we present social science research that provides various perspectives for analyzing the controversy.
All of the authors whose research is presented in this book were members of either the departments of political science or sociology at Kent State University when they undertook their research. They observed or took part in many of the activities reported in this book. Even so, the authors have tried to present factual reports and analyses as objectively as possible.
The third edition of this volume is divided into five sections. The first is an overview of the events of May 1–4, 1970. This section presents a detailed description and analysis of May 1970 at Kent State University. In addition, three essays review the vast literature and documentaries that have arisen from these events. A final essay seeks to provide answers to the questions most frequently raised regarding the May 4th tragedy. The second section looks at the legal aftermath of the shootings. The third provides a social science perspective on the impact of the shootings. The fourth section examines from several perspectives the gymnasium controversy that erupted on Kent State’s campus in 1977. The final section deals with memorializing the events of May 4.
We have many people to thank for their support and contributions to this project. We would like to thank the Office of Faculty Development at Kent State for support in the development of a preliminary version of this book. We also wish to thank Nancy Birk of the Kent State Libraries and Media Services and Gary Harwood of University Relations and Marketing for assistance in obtaining the pictures in the book. The photos were taken by Doug Moore and Gary Harwood of Kent State. Kathy Loughry of the Kent State political science department provided excellent secretarial assistance. We also wish to thank the various authors who contributed to this volume. All royalties will be donated to the May 4th Visitors Center at the university.
SECTION I
The Events of May 1–4, 1970
An Overview

Students taking cover as the Ohio National Guard fires into the Prentice Hall parking lot on May 4, 1970. Photo by Doug Moore.
INTRODUCTION
T he five essays in this section provide an overview of the events associated with May 4, 1970, when four students—Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer, and William Schroeder—were killed and nine others—Alan Canfora, John Cleary, Thomas Grace, Dean Kahler, Joseph Lewis, Donald MacKenzie, James Russell, Robert Stamps, and Douglas Wrentmore—were wounded by the Ohio National Guard.
James Best, an emeritus member of Kent State University’s political science department, describes the events through a secondary analysis of a large number of resources. Written in late 2008, his essay provides the reader with a factual background for looking at the events on the days prior to the shootings, as well as the events of May 4.
Jerry M. Lewis, an emeritus member of Kent State’s sociology department, reviews, in two essays, books that have been published about May 4, including legal controversies, memorials, children’s books, and novels. This is followed by an essay on television documentaries that focused on May 4.
Lewis and Thomas R. Hensley, a member of Kent State’s political science department, conclude this section with an essay using many of the sources discussed in the Best and Lewis essays to attempt to identify the historical inaccuracies associated with May 4. Their approach is to raise and provide answers to twelve of the most frequently asked questions about May 4.
The Tragic Weekend of May 1–4, 1970
James J. Best Kent State University
In this chapter we present a historical narrative of the events of May 1–4, 1970, and an analysis of the context in which those events took place, a narrative that serves a number of purposes. For those unfamiliar with what happened in Kent, Ohio, during the period of May 1–4, the narrative provides a time-ordered description of the major actors and activities, making use of all the major published as well as many unpublished descriptions and analyses of the events, as well as testimony given by the participants during the 1975 civil suit trial. From these sources we reconstruct in sufficient detail the fateful events of those four days.
Because no action occurs in a vacuum, it is important for us to present and analyze the social, historical, and political context in which the shootings took place. We concentrate our efforts on several factors that we consider important: the social context provided by the city of Kent, the historical context of demonstrations on the campus of Kent State University, and the political context provided by the statements and actions of President Richard Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew, as well as the Republican primary campaign of Governor James Rhodes.
The Kent State Incident
We have asked a number of questions during this narrative: What factors led to the fatal confrontation between National Guardsmen and demonstrators on Monday, May 4? Why did Kent Mayor Leroy Satrom call for the Ohio National Guard after only one night’s disturbances? Why did city and university officials think that the National Guard had complete control of the campus on May 4? Why did Governor James Rhodes make a speech on Sunday morning, May 3, which served to inflame the emotions of many who heard or read about it? Were radicals involved in the events of May 1–4? How did townspeople and students react to the shootings? What impact did the shootings have on the larger society in which they occurred?
In reconstructing these events we have had to choose which sources to use and, when sources conflicted, which sources to believe. Extensive use has been made of two major works—James Michener’s Kent State: What Happened and Why 1 and The Report of the President’s Commission on Campus Unrest 2 (the Scranton Commission Report)—although each work has its defects. Michener’s book suffers from his research methods and his political and educational biases; he selectively interviewed participants in the weekend’s events and uncritically accepted what he was told. Politically, Michener believes in the democratic process and, while he understood the frustrations students felt when they learned of the U.S. invasion of Cambodia, he could not condone the damage to downtown businesses on May 1 or the burning of the ROTC building on May 2. After researching his book, Michener developed a great affection for Kent State University and its administration, particularly President Robert White, which colored his evaluation of White’s role in the weekend’s events. These criticisms notwithstanding, Michener has the uncanny ability to recreate the ambience of a situation, particularly Blanket Hill on the morning of May 4: you can almost smell the tear gas and see the masked Guardsmen striding up the hill.
The Scranton Commission Report is concerned with establishi