Kent State: An American Tragedy - Hardcoverby Brian Vandemark (Author) On May 4, 1970, at Kent State University in Ohio, political fires that had been burning across America during the 1960s exploded. Antiwar protesters wearing bell bottom jeans and long hair hurled taunts and rocks at another group of young Americans National Guardsmen sporting gas masks and rifles. At half past noon, violence unfolded with chaotic speed, as guardsmen many of whom had joined the Guard to escape the draft