After seeing photos of the shooting in Life magazine, Neil Young wrote the lyrics to a new song that began “Tin soldiers and Nixon coming” and had the refrain “Four dead in Ohio.” When Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young recorded “Ohio” a few weeks later, David Crosby broke down in tears at the end of the session. Rush-released, the song got heavy radio play and became a protest anthem. A Harris survey found 58 percent of students believed the United States had become a highly repressive society, intolerant of dissent.
