President's Commission on Campus Unrest

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On June 13, 1970, President Richard Nixon established the President's Commission on Campus Unrest, which became known as the Scranton Commission after its chairman, former Pennsylvania governor William Scranton.

Scranton was asked to study the dissent, disorder, and violence breaking out on college and university campuses, particularly the national student strike that was then going on. The student strike was both a general protest against the Vietnam War and a specific response to the American invasion of Cambodia and the killings of students at Kent State University in Ohio. Other violent confrontations, such as the one at Jackson State College in Mississippi had also incited public and administration concern.^[1]

The Commission issued its findings in a September 1970 report. It concluded that the shootings at Kent State were unjustified. The report said:

Even if the guardsmen faced danger, it was not a danger that called for lethal force. The 61 shots by 28 guardsmen certainly cannot be justified. Apparently, no order to fire was given, and there was inadequate fire control discipline on Blanket Hill. The Kent State tragedy must mark the last time that, as a matter of course, loaded rifles are issued to guardsmen confronting student demonstrators.^[2]

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Opposition to the Vietnam War