Friday, April 18, 2014
A Crazy Time
In 1970, the year I graduated from high school, the anti-war movement in the United States was practically all we talked about. Reading former Washington Post reporter Betty Medsger's book The Burglary, I am reminded of what a crazy time it was.
In March, California governor Ronald Reagan called for a bloodbath to silence anti-war protestors.
In April, President Nixon announced the massive bombing of Vietnam would be expanded to Cambodia.
In May, Ohio governor James Rhodes declared martial law at Kent State University, resulting in four students killed and nine injured by National Guard gunfire as students assembled in peaceful protest. Ten days after the Kent State massacre, local and state police in Mississippi fired 460 rounds at a student dormitory on the Jackson State University campus, killing two, wounding twelve.
The Friday after the Kent State shootings, as they sang at a peaceful noon vigil called for by Mayor John Lindsay to honor the slain Kent State students, scores of students in New York City were bludgeoned with crow bars by construction workers. Twenty-two of the workers who beat the students were honored weeks later by President Nixon at the White House.
In March, California governor Ronald Reagan called for a bloodbath to silence anti-war protestors.
In April, President Nixon announced the massive bombing of Vietnam would be expanded to Cambodia.
In May, Ohio governor James Rhodes declared martial law at Kent State University, resulting in four students killed and nine injured by National Guard gunfire as students assembled in peaceful protest. Ten days after the Kent State massacre, local and state police in Mississippi fired 460 rounds at a student dormitory on the Jackson State University campus, killing two, wounding twelve.
The Friday after the Kent State shootings, as they sang at a peaceful noon vigil called for by Mayor John Lindsay to honor the slain Kent State students, scores of students in New York City were bludgeoned with crow bars by construction workers. Twenty-two of the workers who beat the students were honored weeks later by President Nixon at the White House.
