May 1

Nixon’s announcement of the invasion of Cambodia was greeted with protests across the country the next day, May 1. At Kent State two rallies were held at the Commons, a grassy open area at the centre of the campus. The Commons formed a kind of natural amphitheatre that was bordered on the north and south by walkways; on the northwest by the student union, a heating plant, and the ROTC building; on the east by Blanket Hill, a partially wooded slope that climbed to Taylor Hall; and on the southwest by dormitories. The first rally was held at the base of Blanket Hill near the Victory Bell, a bronze locomotive bell in brick and sandstone housing that was traditionally rung to celebrate sports victories. There, attended by a crowd of some 500, a group of graduate students symbolically buried a copy of the U.S. Constitution, which they said had been murdered by Nixon. They also called for another antiwar rally to be held on the coming Monday, May 4. Later on May 1, BUS held a rally on the Commons to protest police treatment of black students at an earlier rally at Ohio State.

That night, one of the first warm evenings of the spring, students and others gathered at the downtown bars. Sometime around 11:00 pm, fueled by a mixture of alcohol and rage at the invasion of Cambodia, revellers overturned a garbage can in the middle of the street, set fire to its contents, and set upon the police who responded. When law enforcement officers returned in force to clear the streets, the revellers began breaking store windows. More than a dozen individuals were arrested, and the bulk of the students were driven from downtown back toward campus by police in riot gear. By 2:30 am the disturbance was over. Nevertheless, in the early morning hours of that next day, Kent Mayor Leroy Satrom, having heard rumours of plotting by radicals, declared a civil emergency and requested assistance from Ohio’s staunch conservative governor, James A. Rhodes, who dispatched the Ohio National Guard.