The Forgotten Heroes of Kent State
Kent State seems to have forgotten about the few individuals who were involved in "the search for the truth" and "the struggle for justice" when it actually counted. Or were they deliberately erased from history by the pro-student violence crowd the university is now in bed with?
Convocation of the grand jury shows that no cause is ever hopeless . . . Above all it is a tribute to Arthur Krause and Peter Davies that we are finally getting the grand jury. It was an extraordinary victory for a tiny handful of dedicated people and a moral lesson for all of us.
-- I. F. Stone, Statement prepared for NSA (National Student Association) Magazine, published by College Press Service, February 23, 1974
-- I. F. Stone, Statement prepared for NSA (National Student Association) Magazine, published by College Press Service, February 23, 1974
In their book Who Spoke Up?: American Protest Against the War in Vietnam 1963-1975, authors Gerald Sullivan and Nancy Zaroulis asked the question: Who spoke out against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War?
The same question could be asked about Kent State. Namely, who stood up and fought the government’s efforts to cover up the events surrounding May 4? Who stuck out their necks in the hope there would be a full and honest investigation?
It certainly was not the Kent State administration or faculty, even though a few professors sympathized with the victims. The most any professor did was to sign a faculty resolution demanding a federal grand jury, and later sign the student-led petition pleading that the investigation be reopened.
There also were not any calls for justice from the surviving wounded students . . . the sole exception being Dean Kahler. Two of the most radical wounded survivors, Alan Canfora and Thomas Grace, feared that a federal investigation would only indict themselves on new charges and again exonerate the Ohio National Guard, as a discredited Ohio grand jury did. Grace, in fact, told student Paul Keane: "The only way you get justice is to pick up a gun." (Gordon, pg. 118)
By the time the university built its May 4 Visitors Center four decades later, the few “truth-seekers” were essentially wiped from Kent State’s memory. The few radicals still involved with the issue were more concerned about glorifying the SDS and celebrating what wounded survivor Alan Canfora still calls “our revolt.” University officials eventually held their own programming, mostly designed to drown out the radical voices and essentially change the conversation by inviting public figures to talk about unrelated subjects. The counterprogramming basically amounted to little more than "Go, Kent State."
As a result, the central issues that once dominated public debate were reduced to footnotes. The May 4 Visitors Center, which presents award-winning exhibits but offers no message or theme, perfectly embodies Kent State’s memory hole.
To remedy this omission, here are the names and brief sketches of those who did most of the heavy lifting trying to get answers as to why four students were killed. These are the people who fought to make those who fired the “unnecessary, unwarranted, and inexcusable” bullets accountable for their actions.
The same question could be asked about Kent State. Namely, who stood up and fought the government’s efforts to cover up the events surrounding May 4? Who stuck out their necks in the hope there would be a full and honest investigation?
It certainly was not the Kent State administration or faculty, even though a few professors sympathized with the victims. The most any professor did was to sign a faculty resolution demanding a federal grand jury, and later sign the student-led petition pleading that the investigation be reopened.
There also were not any calls for justice from the surviving wounded students . . . the sole exception being Dean Kahler. Two of the most radical wounded survivors, Alan Canfora and Thomas Grace, feared that a federal investigation would only indict themselves on new charges and again exonerate the Ohio National Guard, as a discredited Ohio grand jury did. Grace, in fact, told student Paul Keane: "The only way you get justice is to pick up a gun." (Gordon, pg. 118)
By the time the university built its May 4 Visitors Center four decades later, the few “truth-seekers” were essentially wiped from Kent State’s memory. The few radicals still involved with the issue were more concerned about glorifying the SDS and celebrating what wounded survivor Alan Canfora still calls “our revolt.” University officials eventually held their own programming, mostly designed to drown out the radical voices and essentially change the conversation by inviting public figures to talk about unrelated subjects. The counterprogramming basically amounted to little more than "Go, Kent State."
As a result, the central issues that once dominated public debate were reduced to footnotes. The May 4 Visitors Center, which presents award-winning exhibits but offers no message or theme, perfectly embodies Kent State’s memory hole.
To remedy this omission, here are the names and brief sketches of those who did most of the heavy lifting trying to get answers as to why four students were killed. These are the people who fought to make those who fired the “unnecessary, unwarranted, and inexcusable” bullets accountable for their actions.
ARTHUR KRAUSE
Krause, the father of slain student Allison Krause, was the driving force behind both for the push for a federal grand jury and the subsequent lawsuits accusing Ohio National Guardsmen and Ohio officials of depriving the victims’ due process rights. An imposing man, Krause was the most outspoken and relentless of the victims’ parents. Although he would never admit it publicly, Krause privately admitted that he was driven by revenge. The novelist Gerald Green painted an essentially accurate portrait of him in Green’s roman a clef Not in Vain. |
PETER DAVIES
Davies, a 40-year-old Staten Island insurance agent who emigrated from England because it was becoming too socialist, befriended Krause, even though the two made an odd couple. While Krause was tall and forceful, Davies was the exact opposite and sometimes painfully shy. Davies wrote an early report submitted to the Justice Department alleging that the Guardsmen either conspired to or were ordered to shoot by a commanding officer. Davies’ subsequent book The Truth About Kent State, repeated those charges and was instrumental in forcing the Justice Department to empanel the federal grand jury three and a half years after the fact. By the time the book was published, Davies had already moved on to more sinister theories. He became convinced that May 4 was the worst of Nixon White House’s "horror stories." |
REV. JOHN P. ADAMS
Adams, a pastor and social activist who headed the United Methodist Church's Board of Church and Society, was instrumental in bringing the victims together so they could coordinate their legal and public relations strategy. Sometimes he had to act as a liaison between the parents, who were never the “close family" some people described. Adams arranged the semi-annual meetings between the victims’ families and their lawyers, meetings which were attended by what I. F. Stone called their "tiny handful" of supporters.
PAUL KEANE
A KSU professor once asked: "Does Kent State have a conscience?" Another answered: "Yes, Paul Keane." Keane, who had personally suffered six deaths by the age of 26, was the graduate student behind the 10,000 signature petition seeking the federal grand jury. Keane was also the driving force behind the May 4 Room in the university's main library, and also helped establish the Kent State archives at Yale, which started with the donation of Peter Davies' papers. Whether Keane did the victims any favors, though, is subject of debate. By keeping the most important documents away from the Kent State archives, Keane also kept them away from Kent State’s own professors, which helped ensure that Kent had no institutional memory of his own attempts to seek justice. The May 4 Visitors Center does not acknowledge his contributions, nor the work of any other person here.
Adams, a pastor and social activist who headed the United Methodist Church's Board of Church and Society, was instrumental in bringing the victims together so they could coordinate their legal and public relations strategy. Sometimes he had to act as a liaison between the parents, who were never the “close family" some people described. Adams arranged the semi-annual meetings between the victims’ families and their lawyers, meetings which were attended by what I. F. Stone called their "tiny handful" of supporters.
PAUL KEANE
A KSU professor once asked: "Does Kent State have a conscience?" Another answered: "Yes, Paul Keane." Keane, who had personally suffered six deaths by the age of 26, was the graduate student behind the 10,000 signature petition seeking the federal grand jury. Keane was also the driving force behind the May 4 Room in the university's main library, and also helped establish the Kent State archives at Yale, which started with the donation of Peter Davies' papers. Whether Keane did the victims any favors, though, is subject of debate. By keeping the most important documents away from the Kent State archives, Keane also kept them away from Kent State’s own professors, which helped ensure that Kent had no institutional memory of his own attempts to seek justice. The May 4 Visitors Center does not acknowledge his contributions, nor the work of any other person here.
GREGORY RAMBO
Keane invited his fellow dorm counselor Gregory Rambo, to co-sponsor the petition partly because Rambo was the president of the Young Republicans on campus, and Keane thought that would give the petition respectability. Rambo was also one of the closest eyewitnesses to the shootings. He can be seen in an Akron Beacon Journal photograph on the veranda of Taylor Hall wincing at the gunfire. The two co-petitioners fought so often that William Gordon wound up as a go-between between the two. Rambo was radicalized by his subsequent experience trying to get a federal grand jury and his subsequent attempts to prevent Kent State from building a gym annex over a huge chunk of the site. |
WILLIAM A. GORDON
As a journalist Gordon covered the Kent State tragedy longer than anyone else. His first article was published in his college newspaper in October 1970; his book Four Dead in Ohio was published in 1990; and he still occasionally covers the seemingly never-ending developments in his blog, "Kent State Developments." Although he was more akin to an op-ed columnist than a traditional descriptive reporter, Gordon got caught up in the story and joined the petition effort at Keane's request. Even though he is the leading “expert” on May 4, as Dean Kahler puts it, he became persona non grata in Kent after exposing some atrocious behavior by Kent State's own faculty experts and after criticizing former SDSers in charge of the annual commemorations, for their exploitation of the student deaths. |
DEAN KAHLER
Kahler, a farm boy from Canton, Ohio, was paralyzed by an Ohio National Guard bullet and has been confined to a wheelchair ever since. Kahler joined the student petition in 1973 after Keane also reached out to him. Dean was a living symbol of May 4 and Keane wanted to exploit that. A friendly redhead who stood 6'3" before May 4, 1970, Kahler found solace in his Quaker faith and hardly ever exhibited any bittrness. His threat to bang on the White House gates with his wheelchair if President Nixon refused to accept the 1973 resubmission of the petitions helped get the petitioners a White House meeting. Presidential counsel Leonard Garment's executive assistant, Brad Patterson later told Gordon "We can't have people banging on the White House gates."
DAVID ENGDAHL AND STEVEN SINDELL
Both attorneys played important roles in the 1975 wrongful death and injury trial. Sindell, whose birthday was May 4, successfully argued the 1974 Supreme Court case which struck down the concept of sovereign immunity (or "The King can do no wrong"). That allowed the victims to sue Ohio officials, including Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes, and individual members and officers of the Ohio National Guard. Sindell and Engdahl, then a professor of constitutional law at the University of Colorado, also helped the victims by filing a lawsuit trying to force the Justice Department to empanel the federal grand jury. Engdahl, an expert in the use of the military in civil disorders, wrote both scholarly papers and articles for the general public explaining why a criminal investigation was necessary.
Kahler, a farm boy from Canton, Ohio, was paralyzed by an Ohio National Guard bullet and has been confined to a wheelchair ever since. Kahler joined the student petition in 1973 after Keane also reached out to him. Dean was a living symbol of May 4 and Keane wanted to exploit that. A friendly redhead who stood 6'3" before May 4, 1970, Kahler found solace in his Quaker faith and hardly ever exhibited any bittrness. His threat to bang on the White House gates with his wheelchair if President Nixon refused to accept the 1973 resubmission of the petitions helped get the petitioners a White House meeting. Presidential counsel Leonard Garment's executive assistant, Brad Patterson later told Gordon "We can't have people banging on the White House gates."
DAVID ENGDAHL AND STEVEN SINDELL
Both attorneys played important roles in the 1975 wrongful death and injury trial. Sindell, whose birthday was May 4, successfully argued the 1974 Supreme Court case which struck down the concept of sovereign immunity (or "The King can do no wrong"). That allowed the victims to sue Ohio officials, including Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes, and individual members and officers of the Ohio National Guard. Sindell and Engdahl, then a professor of constitutional law at the University of Colorado, also helped the victims by filing a lawsuit trying to force the Justice Department to empanel the federal grand jury. Engdahl, an expert in the use of the military in civil disorders, wrote both scholarly papers and articles for the general public explaining why a criminal investigation was necessary.
Honorable Mentions
There are several people who deserve honorable mentions. One of them was Robert Gage, the 1973 Kent State student body president, who helped and supported the petitioners. Gage later became a Harvard Law School graduate.
Several journalists also kept the pressure on the Justice Department by continuing to write about the unfinished business of justice. Knight Newspapers' David Hess, and Akron Beacon Journal reporter John Dunphy, and Dunphy’s editor, Pat Englehart, helped keep the case alive for years, and published several important stories during the re-investigation and trials.
A few other journalists, including I. F. Stone, the author of The Killings at Kent State: How Murder Went Unpunished, and syndicated columnist Mary McGrory did the same.
In Congress, Senators Stephen M. Young, Edward Kennedy, George McGovern, and Congressmen John Sieberling and William Moorhead were practically the only people who supported the victims’ cause.
FOOTNOTE: It could be argued that since the prosecution failed to produce convictions, these people do not deserve to be remembered. However, when asking "who spoke up?," it seems preferable to acknowledge their efforts to seek justice through the courts rather than some of the unrepentant extremists currently being honored by Kent State. Some of those propagandists are not only still covering up their own involvement in the violence that preceded May 4. They are also some of the same people who falsely claimed to represent the parents of those killed. One retired English professor and university provost, Laura Davis, publicly condoned the student violence because, as Alan Canfora put it, "protest alone wasn't working and we had to step it up a notch." That prompted one Daily Kent Stater columnist to write: "I couldn't believe someone in a high position demanding of significant professionalism would advocate violence at the very university she helps lead." ("When hippies misbehave: Truths of May 4, 1970," Adam Fazzio, Daily Kent Stater, April 30, 2003.)
Several journalists also kept the pressure on the Justice Department by continuing to write about the unfinished business of justice. Knight Newspapers' David Hess, and Akron Beacon Journal reporter John Dunphy, and Dunphy’s editor, Pat Englehart, helped keep the case alive for years, and published several important stories during the re-investigation and trials.
A few other journalists, including I. F. Stone, the author of The Killings at Kent State: How Murder Went Unpunished, and syndicated columnist Mary McGrory did the same.
In Congress, Senators Stephen M. Young, Edward Kennedy, George McGovern, and Congressmen John Sieberling and William Moorhead were practically the only people who supported the victims’ cause.
FOOTNOTE: It could be argued that since the prosecution failed to produce convictions, these people do not deserve to be remembered. However, when asking "who spoke up?," it seems preferable to acknowledge their efforts to seek justice through the courts rather than some of the unrepentant extremists currently being honored by Kent State. Some of those propagandists are not only still covering up their own involvement in the violence that preceded May 4. They are also some of the same people who falsely claimed to represent the parents of those killed. One retired English professor and university provost, Laura Davis, publicly condoned the student violence because, as Alan Canfora put it, "protest alone wasn't working and we had to step it up a notch." That prompted one Daily Kent Stater columnist to write: "I couldn't believe someone in a high position demanding of significant professionalism would advocate violence at the very university she helps lead." ("When hippies misbehave: Truths of May 4, 1970," Adam Fazzio, Daily Kent Stater, April 30, 2003.)
Kent State Shooting Expert
William A. Gordon Email: BGordonLA@aol.com Website: www.KentStateShootingsExpert.com |