Nixon issued a statement about the incident:
"This should remind us all once again that when dissent turns to violence it invites tragedy. It is my hope that this tragic and unfortunate incident will strengthen the determination of all the nation's campuses, administrators, faculty and students alike to stand firmly for the right which exists in this country of peaceful dissent and just as strong against the resort to violence as a means of such expression."
Nixon’s response demonstrates how the government tried to place the blame of the calamity on the students. It was a moral question of conscience that many Americans struggled with- who was responsible? This speech went hand-in-hand with the three lies the government dispatched.
One was that the closest student to the troops was 5 feet away. Alan Canfora says that the closest student to the troops was 75 feet away. Robert Murphy, Civil Rights Division attorney, headed the investigation by the Justice Department. He said that a small number of students were 90 feet away from the Guard, and no students were closer than 60 feet.
The other was that the students shot first. This referred to Terrance Norman, who was the only student with a gun on campus. However, he was actually an undercover police informant. Therefore, if he shot, the guardsmen may have followed suit. The campus police, however, claim that the gun hadn’t been fired because it would have opened an investigation that would show them guilty of having an undercover photographer taking pictures to prosecute the students. Both Norman and a student, Masterson, whom he fought earlier that day, say that Norman did not shoot. Also, many students claimed that there was not a student sniper. The conclusion is that Norman did not start the shootings.
The final huge lie the government told, according to Alan Canfora, was that students were throwing several rocks and objects. They were throwing rocks, that is true, but the Scranton Commission Report (The President’s Commission on Campus Unrest) reported that, even if the guardsmen were in danger at all, it did not require lethal defense.
"This should remind us all once again that when dissent turns to violence it invites tragedy. It is my hope that this tragic and unfortunate incident will strengthen the determination of all the nation's campuses, administrators, faculty and students alike to stand firmly for the right which exists in this country of peaceful dissent and just as strong against the resort to violence as a means of such expression."
Nixon’s response demonstrates how the government tried to place the blame of the calamity on the students. It was a moral question of conscience that many Americans struggled with- who was responsible? This speech went hand-in-hand with the three lies the government dispatched.
One was that the closest student to the troops was 5 feet away. Alan Canfora says that the closest student to the troops was 75 feet away. Robert Murphy, Civil Rights Division attorney, headed the investigation by the Justice Department. He said that a small number of students were 90 feet away from the Guard, and no students were closer than 60 feet.
The other was that the students shot first. This referred to Terrance Norman, who was the only student with a gun on campus. However, he was actually an undercover police informant. Therefore, if he shot, the guardsmen may have followed suit. The campus police, however, claim that the gun hadn’t been fired because it would have opened an investigation that would show them guilty of having an undercover photographer taking pictures to prosecute the students. Both Norman and a student, Masterson, whom he fought earlier that day, say that Norman did not shoot. Also, many students claimed that there was not a student sniper. The conclusion is that Norman did not start the shootings.
The final huge lie the government told, according to Alan Canfora, was that students were throwing several rocks and objects. They were throwing rocks, that is true, but the Scranton Commission Report (The President’s Commission on Campus Unrest) reported that, even if the guardsmen were in danger at all, it did not require lethal defense.