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Kent State: In Memory of 4 Slain, 1970

Kent State: In Memory of 4 Slain, 1970
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May 5, 1990, Section 1, Page 11Buy Reprints
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Twenty years to the day after a 13-second burst of gunfire by Ohio National Guardsmen killed four students, injured nine others and became a landmark event in American history, Kent State University quietly dedicated a monument to the dead and wounded.

There were candles held in a cold spring rain, bitter memories recalled, an apology from the Governor of Ohio and a small, silent protest by students and others who said the monument was too little and too late. It consists of four tombstone-like pink granite slabs settled into the top of a hill.

The keynote speaker at the dedication ceremonies today, attended by about 4,000 people, was former Senator George S. McGovern of South Dakota, whose position against the Vietnam War was a centerpiece of his unsuccessful 1972 campaign for the White House against President Richard M. Nixon.

''This was the most tragic episode in American foreign policy history,'' Mr. McGovern said of the war. ''I thought so at the time, and nothing in the interim has changed my mind.''

''I came here out of duty and honor,'' he said, predicting that the Kent State monument would take its place in history next to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington.

Protests Around Country

The shootings occurred on May 4, 1970, in the aftermath of Mr. Nixon's decision to send American troops across the South Vietnamese border into Cambodia for an assault on North Vietnamese sanctuaries there.

Mr. Nixon's decision had brought protests at colleges and universities around the country, including Kent State, where 900 National Guardsmen were called out to occupy the campus after violence and vandalism had erupted. After another violent outburst during a demonstration on May 4 against the presence of the troops, 28 guardsmen opened fire into a crowd. Those killed were Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer and William Schroeder.

The shootings led to more protests on campuses nationwide and helped to further galvanize American public opinion against the war. Guard officials said at the time that the soldiers had fired because they felt threatened by stones hurled by some of the protesters. Eight of the guardsmen were later indicted by a Federal grand jury on chrges of violating the civil rights of the dead and wounded strudents, but midway through the trial the judge threw out the charges for lack of evidence.

'Day for Us to Come Together'

''It's been a long process of healing,'' Michael Schwartz, president of the university, said at today's ceremonies. ''This is a day for all of us to come together, a day for all of us to remember. And having remembered, we must now move on.''

Gov. Richard F. Celeste delivered a more direct apology than any of his predecessors had offered.

''Speaking your mind, casting a stone or hurling an obscene comment - none of these deserve death,'' he said. ''To all those who were wounded and all who have suffered, I am sorry.'' But painful memories persist. Florence Schroeder, whose son William was among those killed, said: ''Bill was still a teen-ager when he died, and we were ultraconservative parents. But now we realize that the passing years have cemented May 4 in history. We must maintain a vigilance to make sure that May 4, 1970, doesn't happen again, ever.''

After the dedication, the crowd walked to four roped-off spots in an adjacent parking lot where the four mortally wounded students fell. They picked up candles that had been placed on the asphalt during an all-night vigil and walked back to the monument, placing the flickering lights on the ground.

On the hill leading up to the monument, 58,175 daffodils, one for each of the Americans killed in the Vietnam War, were in bloom.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section 1, Page 11 of the National edition with the headline: Kent State: In Memory of 4 Slain, 1970. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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