Kent State, May 4th 1970

Kent State did extensive work in recording oral histories of the infamous May 4th, 1970 shooting. This week I listened to one account by Linda Cooper-Leff, who was a first hand witness of a shooting and helped transport people away from the school to Cleveland once they were able to move from the location. She said some things that were pretty obvious, but sometimes ignored. For example, there was a very mixed mood regarding the war on campus. While that is obvious, there is no way a giant university would have a consensus among students on such a controversial issue, it did serve as a reminder because sometimes we do forget moderates did exist. However, the most interesting perspective she did give was that of her husband that she married exactly a month prior to the shooting. Her husband had served in Vietnam in 1967 and 1968. She explains that she was against the war, but not a radical because she understood both sides from her husband. From that information, I believe that he enlisted, but it is entirely possible he was drafted. Unfortunately, Cooper-Leff does not say. Nevertheless, her husband explained to her following the shooting that in Vietnam, while on guard duty, he was only allowed on round, so it was insane for what he called "Sunday soldiers" to be given so much ammunition for crowd control. While he may be oversimplifying to events that transpired I do think that was a rathe valid point.