The May 4, 1970, Kent State University shootings site holds national significance as a place for understanding the student protest movement against the Vietnam War. During a protest on the campus, a volley fired by the Ohio National Guard killed Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer, and William Schroeder, and nine other Kent State students suffered gunshot wounds. Twenty years later, in May 1990, the Governor of Ohio lamented that “a distant war in the name of democracy had invaded so close to home as to threaten democracy.” The deaths of four Kent State students stand as testament to the importance of democratic dialogue over armed conflict.
