"Four Dead in Ohio"On Thursday, April 30, 1970, President Richard Nixon told the American people that we would send troops to Cambodia. This shocked many Americans because Nixon was put into office on his promise to end the war. In his first year of presidency it seemed that the end of the war was near, but with this announcement the end of the war was not evident. This pro-war decision by Nixon shocked many people and led to riots across the country. How could the president make the decision to continue the war when he promised to end it? Among the riots caused by Nixon's decision were riots at many universities, such as Kent State. The young students were upset because they were the ones being drafted and the sooner the war ended, the less chance they had of seeing the war. On Friday, May 1, 1970, anti-war demonstrations began taking place at Kent State University. The students collected and burned a copy of the constitution. Many riots also broke out in central Kent. The extent of damage done in Kent was estimated at fifteen thousand dollars. Upon learning of these problems, the mayor, Leroy Satrom, declared a state of emergency and contacted Governor James Rhodes for assistance. On May 2, the ROTC building at Kent State was burned during a protest. The next step was to call in the National Guard as ordered by the Governor. The National Guard helped on campus by making sure all students respected the new eleven o'clock curfew. This caused more anger among the students and added more people to the rebellion who otherwise would not have been involved. On May 4, 1970, when demonstrations reappeared in the common area, tear gas was used to disperse the crowd. The conflict between students and the National Guard had begun to escalate, and the swearing and throwing of stones increased the tension in the air. The Guard ordered the students to retreat, and as the crowd began to disperse, it appeared the Guard was retreating as well. Then shots were heard. The Guard, for unknown reasons, had to turn back and open fire on a crowd of students. Within thirteen seconds, four students were dead and nine were injured. One student killed was Allison Krause, who had been the only one of the four killed to actually be involved in the demonstrations..