Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

destroyed the university and the city. According to Scranton and his President’s Commission, “Still other
students followed along trying to prevent damage and put fires out” (U.S. President’s Commission on
Campus Unrest, 1970, p. 251-252).
A lot of students were irate about the National Guard being at Kent State University. Many citizens of
Kent were relieved and happy to see the Guardsmen in Kent. Locals had resentment towards protestors as
well as the students at Kent State University, because they believed that young people were
antiestablishment and causing the trouble. They did not realize that not everyone was partaking in the
destruction of the city. They were fearful of the protesters and young people. When the National Guard
arrived at Kent; one soldier recalled:
People from some of the neighborhoods on our route ran out to our jeep. They said things like,
“Kill those S.O.B.’s if they cause any more trouble.” “Get tough with them.” Maybe we agreed with
some of these statements when we were entering a riot situation in a city, but now we were facing
white young people like us and we thought these remarks were stupid (Grant & Hill 1974, p. 53).
This demonstrated that the National Guard shared the same sentiment as the residents of Kent until
they realized that they were facing human beings who were basically the same as them. These young
students were not subhuman and they sure were not the enemy. They were people just like the
Guardsmen. If the Guardsmen could have maintained this attitude throughout the remainder of their stay in
Kent, then maybe the shootings would not have occurred. However, since they were afraid and not very
familiar with the predicament that they were put into, the National Guardsmen lost sight of that fact.
The National Guard utilized tear gas to contain the rambunctious crowd, just as local law enforcement
had done the previous night. The protesting students were already antiestablishment and did not like
authority figures. However, that action infuriated students who had done nothing wrong and who had taken
a neutral role up until that point. That was the first night that rocks had been launched at the National
Guard. The crowd was dispersed by the tear gas, and the rest of the evening was calm. However, the
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