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Entry: Remembering Kent State: The President as Street Thug Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/kent_state_the_president_as_street_thug#1453 Post contents: I was a Kent student during those turbulent years, graduating in 1973. While I can sympathize with some of the observations Mr.Purcell makes, his analysis is too simplistic. In the nearly 40 years since the May 4 incident I have often wondered whether the student anti-war movement shortened the war or prolonged it. By using the war as a forum for a grab-bag of left wing causes, and by demonstrating their contempt for American institutions and values -- the New Left polarized the nation and caused many moderates and conservatives -- students and non-students alike -- to recoil from them. Rationally I knew the war was a blunder and not in the best interests of the USA, but the self-righteous sloganeering, Chairman Mao badges, North Vietnamese flags and the labelling of all opposing opinion as "Fascist" or "reactionary" took its toll. Eventually, some began to question whether the movement was really anti-war, or simply pro-North Vietnamese. From the demonstrations I attended, it was hard to tell. Sent at: 2008 09 07