{"id":4147,"date":"2022-02-11T15:17:08","date_gmt":"2022-02-11T15:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=4147"},"modified":"2022-09-28T02:53:19","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T02:53:19","slug":"interpreting-history","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/chapter\/interpreting-history\/","title":{"raw":"Interpreting History: The Kent State Shooting","rendered":"Interpreting History: The Kent State Shooting"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Navigate differences and disagreements within primary sources covering the same historical event (as related to the Kent State shooting)<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\nNow that we have looked at how primary sources can sometimes differ honestly with one another, let\u2019s turn to an important event that happened in 1970, the year after Stonewall: the National Guard shooting into a crowd of students at Kent State University in Ohio.\r\n\r\nThe first eyewitness account we will consider is from Arthur Krummel, who was a National Guardsman in 1970.\u00a0As you read this and other accounts, remember the importance of <em>perspective<\/em>, <em>emphasis<\/em>, and <em>significance\u00a0<\/em>that we discussed on the previous page. In addition to considering the location and viewpoint of the person, what they emphasize in their accounts, and what is significant from their story, ask yourself the following questions:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>What was the physical location of this person?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Is there an emotional state of the eyewitness that you can detect?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Are there things that this person talks about that others leave out or cover only in passing?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How much time has passed between the event and this witness's recollections? Might this have an influence on what and how they remember?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Does this person have a moral or political belief that permeates their recollection?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Is there a particular group or person that the eyewitness has sympathy or empathy toward?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\r\n<h3>Account #1<\/h3>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kentguardvoices1970.com\/uploads\/1\/3\/7\/3\/137377216\/transcription_-_arthur_krummel.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here to read the transcript of the interview with Arthur Krummel<\/a>.\r\n\r\nIn it, Krummel talks about his experiences in the National Guard and being there at Kent State. He poignantly expresses his disdain and frustration about the day when he says:\r\n\r\n\"My personal feelings, my walkaway feelings on this. The shooting had occurred, I personally couldn\u2019t imagine shooting into a crowd of people without some real provocation. I don\u2019t think rocks, throwing, was truly worth shooting kids. I can\u2019t imagine shooting indiscriminately into a group. I would never condone that, but I don\u2019t hold the kids that did that particularly guilty because a lot of situations are very tense, very scary, and the kids, in numbers, could be very scary. And, of course, you say, well we didn\u2019t have significant training in those kind of situations. We were just kids! Who in the hell?... This is a big question I keep kicking around in my mind, what kind of an adult leadership, like [Ohio Governor] Jim Rhodes, who was running for reelection, what kind of leadership would stick a bunch of kids in the middle of a bunch of other kids and the other kids were mad at these other kids who happened to be in the National Guard and then give the one side real bullets? What kind of nut job would do that? But they did it.\u00a0all kinds of discomfort. So, it seemed almost like an inevitability that, setting up that scenario, what outcome could you expect? Jesus! Anyway, that\u2019s pretty much my testimony, my personal recollection of events...\"[footnote]\u201cArt Krummel Oral History,\u201d Kent State University Libraries. Special Collections and Archives, accessed March 10, 2022, https:\/\/omeka.library.kent.edu\/special-collections\/items\/show\/1593.[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nAs you read through interview, pay attention to the events leading up to the shooting.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\r\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\r\nhttps:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/c82717e0-9dea-47c9-86fb-2c999deb7593\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\r\n<h3>Activity<\/h3>\r\nFrom this account, briefly sketch out Krummel\u2019s <em>perspective<\/em>, <em>emphasis<\/em>, and <em>interpretation<\/em>. Use the space below to jot down your ideas.\r\n<p class=\"p1\">[practice-area rows=\"4\"][\/practice-area]<\/p>\r\n[reveal-answer q=\"890412\"]Show Answer[\/reveal-answer]\r\n[hidden-answer a=\"890412\"]<em>Perspective<\/em>: Krummel gives us one possible perspective from a National Guardsman. Although he was in town, but not in proximity to the shooting. Krummel <em>emphasizes<\/em> the stress, fatigue, and inexperience that the National Guard was under. His <em>interpretation<\/em> is that the lion's share of the blame lays on leaders within the Ohio state government, who placed uniformed men with live ammunition into a volatile situation.[\/hidden-answer]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\r\n<h3>Account #2<\/h3>\r\nHere is another account shared from student Chuck Ayers. <iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JbbBn7R3hoE?feature=oembed&amp;rel=0\" width=\"978\" height=\"550\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.library.kent.edu\/special-collections-and-archives\/lorrie-j-accettola-personal-narrative\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here to read a transcript from Lorrie Accettola, who was a senior at Kent State during the shootings<\/a>.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\r\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\r\nCan you point to an instance where Ayers has an emphasis, perspective, or interpretation that differs from that of Krummel?\r\n<p class=\"p1\">[practice-area rows=\"4\"][\/practice-area]<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">[reveal-answer q=\"890413\"]Show Answer[\/reveal-answer]\r\n[hidden-answer a=\"890413\"]Ayers was on campus during the shooting, whereas Krummel was not. Although he was not in the immediate crowd of students facing the guardsmen, Ayers had a unique vantage point as he took pictures while the shooting was unfolding. He stresses how little he knew about the situation and how much he feared contingencies that did not come to pass, like Guardsmen entering the building he was in.[\/hidden-answer]<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\r\n<h3>Account #3<\/h3>\r\nFinally, we have an eyewitness account from Douglas Wrentmore, one of the students who was shot by the National Guard. A Cleveland-area news affiliate interviewed him from the hospital shortly after the shootings occurred.\r\n\r\n<center><iframe src=\"\/\/plugin.3playmedia.com\/show?mf=8207369&amp;p3sdk_version=1.10.1&amp;p=20361&amp;pt=375&amp;video_id=pVCoNEJCokE&amp;video_target=tpm-plugin-km9dy273-pVCoNEJCokE\" width=\"800px\" height=\"450px\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0px\" marginheight=\"0px\"><\/iframe><\/center><center>You can view the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/course-building.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/US+history+II\/KentStateshootinganniversary.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">transcript for \u201cKent State shooting anniversary\u201d here (opens in new window)<\/a>.<\/center><\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\r\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\r\nJot down a short observation about how Wrentmore\u2019s recollections might differ from those of either Accettola &lt;or Ayers&gt; or Krummel.\r\n<p class=\"p1\">[practice-area rows=\"4\"][\/practice-area]<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">[reveal-answer q=\"890414\"]Show Answer[\/reveal-answer]\r\n[hidden-answer a=\"890414\"]Although Wrentmore seems to have been closer to the firing when it took place, the tear gas and the chaos surrounding the protest make it difficult for him to be confident in relating his narration of the event. He does seem to insert a belief common among Kent State protestors: that the presence of the ROTC on campus was not in line with the college's values, and made it complicit in what was happening in Vietnam and Cambodia. It is also worth mentioning that Wrentmore is still in the hospital and recovering from his injuries. Having little time to prepare, he says the first thing that comes to his mind in response to the reporter asking him questions.[\/hidden-answer]<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\r\n<h3>Activity<\/h3>\r\nFinally, can you write a 3-4 sentence narrative about what happened at Kent State, based on the primary sources you have read or watched above, reconciling the diverse emphases, interpretations, and perspectives of those three eyewitnesses? Write down your ideas in the space below.\r\n\r\n[practice-area rows=\"6\"][\/practice-area]\r\n\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Navigate differences and disagreements within primary sources covering the same historical event (as related to the Kent State shooting)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Now that we have looked at how primary sources can sometimes differ honestly with one another, let\u2019s turn to an important event that happened in 1970, the year after Stonewall: the National Guard shooting into a crowd of students at Kent State University in Ohio.<\/p>\n<p>The first eyewitness account we will consider is from Arthur Krummel, who was a National Guardsman in 1970.\u00a0As you read this and other accounts, remember the importance of <em>perspective<\/em>, <em>emphasis<\/em>, and <em>significance\u00a0<\/em>that we discussed on the previous page. In addition to considering the location and viewpoint of the person, what they emphasize in their accounts, and what is significant from their story, ask yourself the following questions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What was the physical location of this person?<\/li>\n<li>Is there an emotional state of the eyewitness that you can detect?<\/li>\n<li>Are there things that this person talks about that others leave out or cover only in passing?<\/li>\n<li>How much time has passed between the event and this witness&#8217;s recollections? Might this have an influence on what and how they remember?<\/li>\n<li>Does this person have a moral or political belief that permeates their recollection?<\/li>\n<li>Is there a particular group or person that the eyewitness has sympathy or empathy toward?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\n<h3>Account #1<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kentguardvoices1970.com\/uploads\/1\/3\/7\/3\/137377216\/transcription_-_arthur_krummel.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here to read the transcript of the interview with Arthur Krummel<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In it, Krummel talks about his experiences in the National Guard and being there at Kent State. He poignantly expresses his disdain and frustration about the day when he says:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My personal feelings, my walkaway feelings on this. The shooting had occurred, I personally couldn\u2019t imagine shooting into a crowd of people without some real provocation. I don\u2019t think rocks, throwing, was truly worth shooting kids. I can\u2019t imagine shooting indiscriminately into a group. I would never condone that, but I don\u2019t hold the kids that did that particularly guilty because a lot of situations are very tense, very scary, and the kids, in numbers, could be very scary. And, of course, you say, well we didn\u2019t have significant training in those kind of situations. We were just kids! Who in the hell?&#8230; This is a big question I keep kicking around in my mind, what kind of an adult leadership, like [Ohio Governor] Jim Rhodes, who was running for reelection, what kind of leadership would stick a bunch of kids in the middle of a bunch of other kids and the other kids were mad at these other kids who happened to be in the National Guard and then give the one side real bullets? What kind of nut job would do that? But they did it.\u00a0all kinds of discomfort. So, it seemed almost like an inevitability that, setting up that scenario, what outcome could you expect? Jesus! Anyway, that\u2019s pretty much my testimony, my personal recollection of events&#8230;&#8221;<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"\u201cArt Krummel Oral History,\u201d Kent State University Libraries. Special Collections and Archives, accessed March 10, 2022, https:\/\/omeka.library.kent.edu\/special-collections\/items\/show\/1593.\" id=\"return-footnote-4147-1\" href=\"#footnote-4147-1\" aria-label=\"Footnote 1\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As you read through interview, pay attention to the events leading up to the shooting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\n<p>\t<iframe id=\"assessment_practice_c82717e0-9dea-47c9-86fb-2c999deb7593\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/c82717e0-9dea-47c9-86fb-2c999deb7593?iframe_resize_id=assessment_practice_id_c82717e0-9dea-47c9-86fb-2c999deb7593\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;width:100%;height:100%;min-height:300px;\"><br \/>\n\t<\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\n<h3>Activity<\/h3>\n<p>From this account, briefly sketch out Krummel\u2019s <em>perspective<\/em>, <em>emphasis<\/em>, and <em>interpretation<\/em>. Use the space below to jot down your ideas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><textarea aria-label=\"Your Answer\" rows=\"4\"><\/textarea><\/p>\n<div class=\"qa-wrapper\" style=\"display: block\"><span class=\"show-answer collapsed\" style=\"cursor: pointer\" data-target=\"q890412\">Show Answer<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"q890412\" class=\"hidden-answer\" style=\"display: none\"><em>Perspective<\/em>: Krummel gives us one possible perspective from a National Guardsman. Although he was in town, but not in proximity to the shooting. Krummel <em>emphasizes<\/em> the stress, fatigue, and inexperience that the National Guard was under. His <em>interpretation<\/em> is that the lion&#8217;s share of the blame lays on leaders within the Ohio state government, who placed uniformed men with live ammunition into a volatile situation.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\n<h3>Account #2<\/h3>\n<p>Here is another account shared from student Chuck Ayers. <iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JbbBn7R3hoE?feature=oembed&amp;rel=0\" width=\"978\" height=\"550\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.library.kent.edu\/special-collections-and-archives\/lorrie-j-accettola-personal-narrative\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here to read a transcript from Lorrie Accettola, who was a senior at Kent State during the shootings<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\n<p>Can you point to an instance where Ayers has an emphasis, perspective, or interpretation that differs from that of Krummel?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><textarea aria-label=\"Your Answer\" rows=\"4\"><\/textarea><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\n<div class=\"qa-wrapper\" style=\"display: block\"><span class=\"show-answer collapsed\" style=\"cursor: pointer\" data-target=\"q890413\">Show Answer<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"q890413\" class=\"hidden-answer\" style=\"display: none\">Ayers was on campus during the shooting, whereas Krummel was not. Although he was not in the immediate crowd of students facing the guardsmen, Ayers had a unique vantage point as he took pictures while the shooting was unfolding. He stresses how little he knew about the situation and how much he feared contingencies that did not come to pass, like Guardsmen entering the building he was in.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\n<h3>Account #3<\/h3>\n<p>Finally, we have an eyewitness account from Douglas Wrentmore, one of the students who was shot by the National Guard. A Cleveland-area news affiliate interviewed him from the hospital shortly after the shootings occurred.<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/plugin.3playmedia.com\/show?mf=8207369&amp;p3sdk_version=1.10.1&amp;p=20361&amp;pt=375&amp;video_id=pVCoNEJCokE&amp;video_target=tpm-plugin-km9dy273-pVCoNEJCokE\" width=\"800px\" height=\"450px\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0px\" marginheight=\"0px\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">You can view the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/course-building.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/US+history+II\/KentStateshootinganniversary.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">transcript for \u201cKent State shooting anniversary\u201d here (opens in new window)<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\n<p>Jot down a short observation about how Wrentmore\u2019s recollections might differ from those of either Accettola &lt;or Ayers&gt; or Krummel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><textarea aria-label=\"Your Answer\" rows=\"4\"><\/textarea><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\n<div class=\"qa-wrapper\" style=\"display: block\"><span class=\"show-answer collapsed\" style=\"cursor: pointer\" data-target=\"q890414\">Show Answer<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"q890414\" class=\"hidden-answer\" style=\"display: none\">Although Wrentmore seems to have been closer to the firing when it took place, the tear gas and the chaos surrounding the protest make it difficult for him to be confident in relating his narration of the event. He does seem to insert a belief common among Kent State protestors: that the presence of the ROTC on campus was not in line with the college&#8217;s values, and made it complicit in what was happening in Vietnam and Cambodia. It is also worth mentioning that Wrentmore is still in the hospital and recovering from his injuries. Having little time to prepare, he says the first thing that comes to his mind in response to the reporter asking him questions.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\n<h3>Activity<\/h3>\n<p>Finally, can you write a 3-4 sentence narrative about what happened at Kent State, based on the primary sources you have read or watched above, reconciling the diverse emphases, interpretations, and perspectives of those three eyewitnesses? Write down your ideas in the space below.<\/p>\n<p><textarea aria-label=\"Your Answer\" rows=\"6\"><\/textarea><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<hr class=\"before-footnotes clear\" \/><div class=\"footnotes\"><ol><li id=\"footnote-4147-1\">\u201cArt Krummel Oral History,\u201d Kent State University Libraries. Special Collections and Archives, accessed March 10, 2022, https:\/\/omeka.library.kent.edu\/special-collections\/items\/show\/1593. <a href=\"#return-footnote-4147-1\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 1\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":29,"menu_order":18,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"7a264e2c-fff1-4174-ab40-8141017f558b,c65f7a76-f9d1-4012-9f6d-9eaac5b0be33","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-4147","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":389,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/4147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/4147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9633,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/4147\/revisions\/9633"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/389"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/4147\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=4147"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=4147"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=4147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}