The events surrounding the deaths of students in Kent, Ohio were disorderly and violent. The Ohio National Guard fired and killed four students, wounded nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis. As the massacre is looked back upon, there are several key events that set the tragic day. How did it happen? What were its consequences? How did it affect public opinion over the role of the United States in the Vietnam War?.
In the mid- '60s, thanks to the advancement of science and technology, the modern media such as televisions had broadcast news, images to every American family. The Vietnam War, unlike the Korean War and World War II, was the war that US television brought images of devastation, suffering and tragedy of Vietnamese people to the Americans every night. They saw in their eyes US soldiers burning houses, killing innocent people, kids being scalded by napalm bombs, the US embassy being attacked at the center of Saigon, US soldiers dragging the bodies of comrades They were wondering how those violent acts could be allowed to happen, what US soldiers had been sacrificing for and how Americans would bring democracy to Vietnam. And the American people affirmed that the United States could not win this war. From there, the war protest began.
After witnessing the media portrayal of the devastation in Southeast Asia, Americans began to react to US participation in this war. Many people believed that this war was immoral, others expressed bewilderment when the massive military campaigns seemed ineffective. The fact that the anti-war movement was increasingly widespread in American public, especially the youth, and that people were getting more and more discontented forced President Lyndon Johnson to start the peace talks.
On January 20, 1969, Republican Richard Nixon was inaugurated as the 37th President of the United States with plans of putting the nation out of war and re-establishing law and order in the US.
