Kent State Massacre (USA)

The Kent State shootings, also known as the May 4 massacre or Kent State massacre, occurred at Kent State University in the city of Kent, Ohio and involved the shooting of students by members of the Ohio National Guard on Monday 4 May 1970. Four students were killed and nine others wounded, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis.

Some of the students who were shot were protesting the American invasion of Cambodia, which President Nixon announced in a television address on 30 April. However, other students who were shot were merely walking nearby or observing the protest at a distance.

There was a significant national response to the shootings: hundreds of universities, colleges, high schools, and even middle schools closed throughout the United States due to a student strike of eight million students, and the event further divided the country along political lines.

In the Pulitzer prize winning photo, taken by John Filo, is Mary Ann Vecchio, a 14 year old runaway, kneeling over the body of Jeffery Miller after he was fatally shot by the National Guard. This image only strengthened American sentiment against the US invasion in Cambodia and the Vietnam War in general.