The Day the '60s Died

The Political Context of the Kent State Shooting

On April 30, 1970, President Richard Nixon shocked the nation when he announced that U.S. troops were invading Cambodia. At college campuses across the country, masses of students took to the streets in protest. Five days later, four Kent State students would be shot dead by National Guardsmen.

The mayhem that followed has been called the most divisive moment in American history since the Civil War.