and debris in his direction. Police responded to this sudden violence with the release of massive amounts of tear gas. The student recounting this event remembered thinking that surely the American government would be forced to react to this outrage of events; however, his hopes proved to be no more than that (Mobe 4-6).The primary protest against the war in Vietnam occurred in April, 1965. This demonstration was organized by the Students for a Democratic Society. They advocated equality for all races and a breakdown of the nuclear inventions. This protest included 20,000 young adults that marched in order to show the government the viewpoints of the majority of their generation who were opposed to the Vietnam War (Vietnam 2).Although collegiate opposition to the Vietnam War was first expressed through nonviolent manners as with the SDS, students soon realized that their voices, even though the government heard them, were not instigating the extreme change they had hoped for in what was going on overseas. Many decided that further action needed to be taken. They could not give up their efforts when their opinions had already been made known, so protests soon began to display much violence. What had once started as peaceful efforts soon took a turn for the worst (Rise 6). One college in particular where opposition to the war in Vietnam was made very apparent was Kent State. On May 1, 1970, a group of students in a riot burned down the ROTC building on campus. After this, Governor John Rhodes of Ohio ordered the National Guard to the Campus. On May 4, The Ohio National Guard opened fire on the demonstrators. The National Guard had been ordered to leave two days earlier, but a large protest had begun about the United States invasion of Cambodia and about the guards being on the campus, so the guards stayed put. The guardsmen were ordered into riot formation and some of the demonstrators began throwing rocks at them. A pistol shot was...
