On Monday, May 4, 1970, the Ohio national guard fired on unarmed students at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. The guardsmen fired 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis. Some of the students who were shot had been protesting against Nixon's invasion of Cambodia which he announced several days earlier.

This horrific tragedy at the hands of government resulted in a firestorm of massive anti-war protests and became the catalyst for the collapse of the Nixon administration.