The Pentagon Protest 43 Years Later

On this day in 1967, some 100,000 people marched on the Pentagon to protest the Vietnam War. There is a wealth of primary source available related to that action. Items can be found at the National Archives and Records Administration, at the website of the Federal Justice Department’s U.S. Marshall’s Service, and the Vietnam Center and Archive at Texas Tech University. Another rich source of material related to the protest is YouTube. On that site, a search for “pentagon protest 1967” yields a number of videos – including newsreels – that depict what happened when the protest moved from the Lincoln Memorial to the Pentagon. The picture above, taken at the Pentagon that day, is from the National Archives.

A Grim Anniversary: Remembering Kent State 40 Years Later

Forty years ago today, Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on protesting students at Kent State University. When the shooting was over, four students were dead, one student was permanently paralyzed, and eight others were injured. In the wake of the shootings, the attention of the nation was focused on the Ohio campus. The shootings prompted the largest student strike in United States history and a change in public opinion about the Vietnam War. The photo above depicts the four students who were killed at Kent State – Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer and William Schroeder. That image comes from Kent State University’s May 4 Collection. That collection contains many other photographs as well as news accounts, moving images, oral histories and documents related to the shootings and their aftermath.