Kent State

Forty years ago today.

... Rick Perlstein, Nixonland, at 488-89:

When it was established that none of the four victims were guardsmen, citizens greeted each other by flashing four fingers in the air ("The score is four / And next time more"). * * *

It was the advance guard of a national mood. A Gallup poll found 58 percent blamed the Kent students for their own deaths. Only 11 percent blamed the Naitional Guard.

* * * Townspeople picketed memorial services. "The Kent State Four!" they chanted. "Should have studied more!"