Darkest Hours: The Kent State Shootings
American History Hit
History Hit
4.3 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 16 February 2026
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On May 4 1970, four students were shot dead by the Ohio National Guard during a protest. What were they protesting? Why were the National Guard brought in? And what chain of events led them to shoot?
Don is joined by historian Brian VanDeMark, formerly of the United States Naval Academy, whose latest book is Kent State: An American Tragedy.
Edited by Aidan Lonergan, produced by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It is noon, Monday, May 4th, 1970. |
| 0:06.0 | Around 3,000 people are loosely assembled today here on the campus of Kent State University in Ohio. |
| 0:13.0 | A few hundred are actively protesting the U.S. military's involvement in Vietnam, |
| 0:18.0 | and President Nixon's recent expansion of that war to neighboring Cambodia. |
| 0:23.5 | Many more have just stopped by to demonstrate their support or because they're curious. |
| 0:28.2 | Some are simply moving between classes. |
| 0:31.6 | It is a typical scene repeated on campuses across the country for years now. |
| 0:37.0 | Students chanting, shouting, |
| 0:38.7 | waving, hands-scrawled placards, |
| 0:41.8 | many more merely standing around. |
| 0:44.9 | But something feels different today. |
| 0:47.5 | Across the Commons, a group of soldiers, |
| 0:50.1 | members of the Ohio National Guard, |
| 0:52.6 | have formed a skirmish line, |
| 0:56.7 | bayonets fixed onto the barrels of their M-1 rifles. Some are wearing masks to protect against the tear gas now deployed. The acrid, |
| 1:03.5 | stinging smoke spreads low and fast across the ground. Some of the students scatter in fear. A few others |
| 1:10.4 | pick up the gas canisters and toss them back towards the troops. |
| 1:14.4 | Rocks are hurled. |
| 1:16.0 | A noisy tension builds. |
| 1:18.3 | But for the moment, matters seem contained. |
| 1:21.4 | That is, until the line of guardsmen halt, level their rifles at the students, and fire. |
| 1:39.1 | It is American History Hit, and I'm your host, Don Wildman. Nice to be with you. |
... |
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