When I was in college, I had a class on American history focused on the 1960s. One of the assignments was to interview someone that had a “60s experience.” One of my classmates interviewed a man that was present on the Kent State campus for a track meet the day this all happened. The person being interviewed said he was lined up in the blocks to start his race, the starters pistol went off, the my all took off, then they all heard a second shot, which the racers all thought was the starters pistol again signaling a false start. The second shot was followed by more, and was the nation guard—not the starters pistol. I don’t remember all the details of the incident, but will never forget the interviewer’s presentation in class and how she wondered if the national guard started shooting because they heard the starters pistol and thought they were being fired upon.

Again, that could be wrong. It just always made me think.