Posted on 05/03/2010 6:27:24 PM PDT by jazusamo
Previously undisclosed FBI documents suggest that the Kent State antiwar protests were more meticulously planned than originally thought and that one or more gunshots may have been fired at embattled Ohio National Guardsmen before their killings of four students and woundings of at least nine others on that searing day in May 1970.
As the nation marks the 40th anniversary of the Kent State antiwar protests Tuesday, a review of hundreds of previously unpublished investigative reports sheds a new — and very different — light on the tragic episode.
The upheaval that enveloped the northeastern Ohio campus actually began three days earlier, in downtown Kent. Stirred to action by President Nixon's expansion of U.S. military operations in Cambodia, a roving mob of earnest antiwar activists, hard-core radicals, curious students and others smashed 50 bank and store windows, looted a jewelry store and hurled bricks and bottles at police.
Four officers suffered injuries, and the mayor declared a civil emergency. Only tear gas dispersed the mob.
An exhaustive review later concluded that this unrest on the streets — the worst in Kent's history — was "not an organized riot or a planned protest."
But the FBI's investigation swiftly uncovered reliable evidence that suggested otherwise. Among the strongest was a pre-dawn conversation — never before reported — between two unnamed men overheard inside a campus lounge later that night. Their discussion was witnessed by the girlfriend of a Kent State student and conveyed up the FBI chain of command 15 days later.
"We did it," one man exulted, according to the inquiry. "We got the riot started."
The second man expressed disappointment at being excluded from the riot's planning. "Wait until tomorrow night," the leader replied excitedly. "We just got the word. We're going to burn the ROTC building."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Ahh so you’re implying that among a riot of thousands of people the lack of a armed dead student means it didn’t happen.
Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, We're finally on our own. This summer I hear the drumming, Four dead in Ohio.
"Originally thought" by whom? This isn't new information to anyone with an ounce of common sense who was paying attention back then. It isn't much different than "knowing" the things that are "known" today, but there is "no proof", "no evidence", and many things hing on "what the meaning of 'is' is".
The MSM will never touch this. The history is written the way they like it and they aren’t going to change it.
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Thanks jazusamo. |
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Agreed...I remember not only Kent State but the rioting and destruction on other campuses of the era, it was only a matter of time before something like this took place.
“If I recall correctly, there were people present who admitted that they heard shots coming from a direction different from that of the National Guard line.”
I don’t discount the “riots” were orchestrated by communist agitators. Shots fired from the students, I doubt. Read the article about where the FBI “plant” inside the crowd, armed with a snub nose revolver, that had been discharged. When, at whom, and why?
Kinda like when the story about U-boat commander Ted giving intel to the soviets in Afghanistan broke.
This angers me intensely. What the F was the FBI thinking, keeping these documents sealed all this time?
Guardsmen carried the burden of these shootings for decades. The public by an large thought evil of the guardsmen. Familes thought their kids died needlessly, fired upon by ill prepared guardsmen.
Fact is, those kids may have died needlessly. But there was a rhyme or reason behind it. The guard were fired upon and feared for their lives.
This was FUBARed to the max, and not by the guardsmen either.
“hing” = hinge
Assuming that one or more rioters *did* fire it matters not whether they *hit* a soldier.
Any dead students found with a gun in their hand????
Again,assuming that one or more shots were fired by rioters,the worst you can say about that is the Guardsmen hit the wrong people...perhaps because of confusion ("the fog of war") or because of poor aim.
Any dead students found with a gun in their hand????
Ignorant and retarded is no way to go through life. People who plan riots, arson and mayhem have read their manuals; leave no weapon behind. Weapons and bombs in backpacks have been found in similar riots country-wide.
I didn’t think so.
There. I fixed it for you.
And?
Interestingly, I heard a caller on a radio show a week or two ago that stated as fact that Nixon sent troops to Kent State to shoot people during a peaceful demonstration. I really felt like calling in to set a few things straight. The radio show was in Columbia, SC, so I don’t suspect that people had a lot of knowledge about the subject at hand.
I grew up in the Cleveland area. I know one person that was on the Kent Fire Department during the incident. I knew another that was an Ohio National Guardsman and was there. Details from the guardsman were sketchy, but the fireman lent some interesting details.
I also got some details years later from a history professor at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. He was an instructor at BW during that time frame. During a class on the US involvement in the Vietnam war, he talked about the war protests. He mentioned that there was a group that would travel from school to school, trying to arouse trouble. The group visited BW, trying to start trouble, but (according to him) the football team beat the snot out of them and ran them off.
Anyway, as for the Kent incident, it wasn’t a peaceful demonstration. These punks had burned down the ROTC building and when the fire department showed up to extinguish the fire, they cut the fire hoses. They were wielding rocks and sticks, threatening the guardsmen.
Second, Nixon gave no order to shoot. Ohio Governor Rhodes gave no such order for that matter. Clearly, someone spooked at least one guard and he shot. Once a shot was fired, the rest was automatic.
The unfortunate outcome was that the guards apparently didn’t shoot directly at the trouble makers, but shot over their heads instead, killing people farther back rather than the ones causing the problems in the first place. I mean, if you’re going to go through the trouble of discharging a firearm, aim at the bad guys, not over their heads.
I was in 5th grade when this happened. My older brother was in his first year of college. You can imagine the dinner-table conversations between he and my dad over this incident. Needless to say, Dad (a WW-II vet) and my brother were on opposite sides of the issue.
Looking for Winston Smith...looking for Winston Smith...call your office!
Our history books are filled with leftist distortions.
I saw a documentary many years ago that stated the National Guard was fired on first. Of course, that little fact has been conveniently omitted over the years.
The dead students didn’t have guns.
No Guardsman was wounded by gunfire.
What does that say about this article?
Have you ever been hit in the head by a rock? Kent State was a tragedy, but it had been preceded by days of riots on and off the campus and a bunch of jittery Guardsmen who were harassed and abused by the screaming thousands of rioters. No criminal charges could be filed and the jury absolved the defendants of all charges even in the civil case but were overruled by a liberal “judge” who saw it convenient to issue a very rare Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict.
Our history books are filled with leftist distortions
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