Bill Clark
It Happened 50 Years Ago Today
It was exactly 50 years ago that the University of Missouri made the national headlines, joining dozens of other major colleges nationwide to protest the May 4 killing of four Kent State University students during a protest of the Vietnam War.
The University of Missouri has had its share of controversy during its 180-year history. The end of the 1969-70 school year as one of the most memorable.
The Vietnam War was a very unpopular conflict that seemed to have no ending. In fact, it would be five more years after what we witnessed in 1970 before the war ended at the cost of far too many lives – all for nothing.
On April 30, President Richard Nixon had announced that the U.S. was expanding the war in Southeast Asia by invading Cambodia. Peace activists worldwide were furious. Many took to the streets.
A day later, on May 1, 500 students at Kent State University in Ohio held a protest that caused the Kent mayor, Leroy Satzon to declare a state of emergency.
On May 2, the student protest grew and the school’s ROTC building was torched.
On May 3, the demonstrators were subdued by tear gas shot from helicopters and tempers grew white hot.
On May 4 – The National Guard, brought to the campus to quell the protests, fired shots into the crowd, killing four students.
That evening a large crowd gathered in MU’s Rollins Field and the demonstrators came close to being rioters.
(Image of peace demonstrations on Broadway from 1971 MU Savitar).
Richard Nixon was hanged in effigy, then the crowd of 3,000 marched down Maryland Avenue to Crowder Hall, the Army ROTC building, where it deposited a Black and Gold casket. Others tried to set fire to the Naval ROTC building.
“Kent State” was painted on the base of the “Columns.”
On May 6, the social science staff at MU agreed to allow their students to skip class without reprimand to join the strike against the University of Missouri and Chancellor John Schwada.
