"Ohio" Constructed Response Activity

 

"When on May 4, four students at Kent State University were killed by rifle-fire from National Guardsmen dispatched by Ohio Governor James Rhodes, to keep order during several days of violence, there was a shock wave that brought the nation and its leadership close to the point of physical exhaustion...The momentum of student strikes and protests accelerated immediately...Washington took on a character of a beseiged city. A pinnacle of mass public protest was reached... Police surrounded the White House; a ring of buses was used to shield the grounds of the President's home..."

--from the book THE WHITE HOUSE YEARS by Henry Kissinger (Nixon's Secretary of State)



1) Who said the above quote and where does it appear in print?
 
 
 
 
 

2) Which tragic event is mentioned in the quote and what was the public reaction to it?
 
 
 
 
 

3) Compare the quote and the song lyrics. Is the meaning and mood of each document similar or are they different? Explain.
 
 
 
 
 

4) Why were students and others protesting in the United States at this time?
 
 
 
 
 

5) Write meaningful sentences about this period in American history using each of the following concept words; change, justice, power, empathy, choice.
 
 
 
 



 

 

Ohio
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

 

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in
Ohio.

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her
And found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in
Ohio.


4 Way Street, ©1971
 
 
 

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