Protest Music In America

“Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, we’re finally on our own. This summer I hear the drumming, four dead in Ohio”
-Neil Young, musician 1
Protest music reflects and arguably transforms the way society feels about social justice issues. In the wake of a national tragedy Neil Young and bandmates David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash wrote a song which inspired change and offered solidarity for millions who felt the gravity of the Kent State shooting. Taking a stand during the Vietnam War era, Neil Young's ‘Ohio’ specifically embodies the impact that protest music can make by influencing people to reflect on injustice.

Historical Context: Dissatisfaction in the Sixties and Seventies During the sixties and seventies many earth shattering
events took place. Government decisions conflicted with the public's opinions on many occasions. One of the most notable conflicts between the American people and the government was over the Vietnam War. A Gallup Poll revealed in the early stages of the war that only one fourth of Americans thought American involvement in Vietnam was unjustified. As the war dragged on and more information about the war was dispersed to the public, the percentage of Americans who disapproved the war rose exponentially. By August of 1968 roughly half of Americans reported feeling American involvement in the war was a mistake and by early January of 1973 the poll unveiled a sixty percent disapproval rating. In fact, a National Opinion Research Center poll in march of the same year found that only 32% of Americans had a great deal of confidence in “people running the military.”2 Though some citizens were cooperative with the actions of the government, others would not sit in silence and watch the atrocities continue to take place, protesters held demonstrations on college campuses, in parks, and even in front of the White House. College students were arguably the most active age group in protesting during this era. In fact, a survey conducted by the Urban Research Corporation found “...for the first six months of 1969 only, and for only 232 of the nation's two thousand institutions of higher education, showed that at least 215,000 students had participated in campus protests, that 3,652 had been arrested, that 956 had been suspended or expelled.”3

Protest Music Before Vietnam The origins of protest music in America can be traced as far back as the Revolutionary period, when colonists, loyalists, and Redcoats blamed the bloody conflict on each other.
Almost every historical event around the world has been followed by protest music or a theme song of sorts. Though protest music has been around longer than it can be traced, it only became largely popular in the buildup to World War I and it has been an important part of American society since. Improvements in photography technology and reproduction enabled many Americans to see shocking images of dead foreign soldiers on the Western Front while America waited on the sidelines during the first years of WWI. Impassioned by feelings of pacifism, some American songwriters voiced their grievances with the thought of America joining the war. One song by Alfred Bryan and Albert Piantadosi entitled "I Didn't Raise My Boy to be a Soldier" echoed these sentiments. Since then, thousands of influential protest songs have come to air in a plethora of genres and
styles.4
The sixties and seventies were a transformative time for music in general.
Prior to this era it wasn’t very often that a protest song could be seen at the top of radio charts but with FM radio becoming more and more popular and music and sound engineering continuing to evolve, protest music saw a spike in popularity during this era. Songs like “Fortunate Son” by Creedence Clearwater Revival and “War” by Edwin Starr are just two popular protest songs from the era that presented a clearly anti-war message. When Neil Young wrote the song "Ohio" he was only adding another historic protest song to the long history of politically charged music in
America.5

Kent State Incident Situated just thirty miles southeast of Cleveland, Ohio, Kent State University had been the site of numerous protests throughout the 1960s. Students on campus held demonstrations to voice their displeasure with Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, apartheid policies in South Africa, and even university grading policies. However, the on-campus protests that began in May 1970 would certainly be the most memorable. On April 30th of 1970, president Richard Nixon went against his campaign promises and declared that the United States military forces would be furthering their efforts in the Vietnam War by invading Cambodia. On top of this announcement, president Nixon also called for the drafting of 150,000 more soldiers. Citizens all over America were outraged about these announcements as many people were already actively protesting the war.6
The next day a demonstration was organized at Kent State, where students would bury a copy of the U.S Constitution to symbolize the actions of the government. The student demonstrations continued on the campus commons for the next four days, escalating further each day. On May 2nd, the second day of protests, the mayor of Kent, Leroy Satrom, declared a state of emergency and requested Governor James A. Rhodes to send the Ohio National Guard to Kent to help maintain order. Upon arrival soldiers were greeted by the burning of the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) building on Kent State's campus. By May 3rd approximately one thousand National Guard soldiers were on Kent's campus. That day, the situation was exacerbated further by the students’ endless protesting and resistance, causing soldiers to begin threatening students with bayonets. On Monday May 4th, classes resumed at Kent State and protesters prepared for yet another demonstration scheduled at noon. University officials attempted to prevent the rally but were not able to stop the students. National Guardsmen fired tear gas into the crowds hoping it would halt the protesters but the gas proved ineffective due to high winds. The students only became more aggressive after the Guard fired their tear gas, causing hundreds of protesters to push the soldiers through the campus leading them to the football practice field by throwing rocks and previously fired tear gas canisters and chanting “Pigs off campus!” and “One, two, three, four, we don't want your f***ing war!” After the students and National Guards pushed each other around campus for a while, Guards reached the top of Blanket Hill when twenty-nine of seventy-seven soldiers turned and opened fire on the students for roughly thirteen seconds discharging a total of sixty-sixty seven rounds. After the short period of firing concluded, nine students lay wounded and four dead, two of which had not actually been protesting.7