Kent State: An American Tragedy

by Brian VanDeMark

Encouraged by the crowd and the pointedly disinterested police, the hard hats then stormed City Hall, where liberal Republican mayor John Lindsay had ordered the flag lowered to half-mast in honor of the four killed at Kent State. One group of rampaging hard hats headed for the mayor’s office to force city employees to raise the flag back up. The other group headed for nearby Pace College. Shouting “Kill those long-haired bastards!,” they stormed into a campus building with a huge white banner draped out of a window that read “VIETNAM? CAMBODIA? KENT STATE? WHAT NEXT?,” smashed windows with crowbars, overturned desks, and clubbed any student they could get their hands on. As students fled in panic, the hard hats grabbed two professors, whom they beat with their fists. The wail of ambulances continued long after the hard hats had disbanded for celebrations and back slapping. Nixon later invited the riot’s organizer, construction trade union leader William Brennan, to the White House, where Brennan gifted the smiling president with a hard hat. Brennan was later appointed secretary of Labor.