Uncool History - Kent State

This famous picture (above) was shown in every
newspaper around the world after the shootings
at Kent State on May 4, 1970. It quite frankly
scared the pants off of me when I was a kid.
This picture also won the Pulitzer Prize
(taken by John Filo) that year.

As part of Jeff's continuing series of Uncool history... "Kent State" by James Michener.

I was talking with a young friend of mine the other day and was asking him if he knew about Kent State. "Isn't that the name of the Green Lantern's alter ego?" Yikes. Another example of 'you know you're getting old when..' It all went down on May 4, 1970.


Quick synopsis: A bunch of college students started protesting the presence of ROTC on their campus. They burned down the ROTC building. The governor called in the Ohio National Guard to restore order. The students got extremely rowdy, the soldiers got extremely agitated, shots were fired and some students were dead. It all kind of summarized the Us vs. Them, hippy vs. square, Progressive vs. Establishment kind of thing going on back then.

I was just a kid when the Kent State tragedy happened and it was the first news event I remember that kind of scared me. I wasn't sure I understood what it was or what it meant but it was all over the news and seemed real freaky to me. When I got older, I ran across this book at a used book sale and bought it. I remember taking it with me to Wes Unseld basketball camp to read.

This is an example of one of those 'snapshot in time' history books that really lays the whole thing out minute by minute. Especially for you youngsters, it's a fascinating read about a time long gone.