One of the students wounded at Kent State in 1970 called it America's Tiananmen Square. No one was ever convicted of wrongdoing in the shootings although the final FBI report called them "unwarranted, unjustified, and inexcusable."
Some of the guardsmen said after event that they thought they had heard an order to shoot. Others said they fired because they felt a crowd of anti-war protesters were an imminent threat. Some have said they fired because the troops around them were shooting. The three commanding officers on the hilltop with those troops said they never gave an order to fire. But one of the most provocative protesters of the day, Alan Canfora says he now has proof an order.
Alan Canfora: Proof, we think, of the absolute conspiracy, predetermined decision to fire live ammunition from mostly M-1 rifles into a crowd of un-armed Kent State students on May 4th 1970.
Canfora recently got a copy of a tape recording made that day which had languished in the library archives of Yale University. The original tape is still held by the owner, a former KSU student who lives in Akron. He has long refused to release it.
The copy is fairly garbled with the sounds of gunshots that sound far off in the distance. But Canfora told reporters, as he handed out copies, that he can plainly make out an order to fire.
Alan Canfora: I think so yes. I hear it every single time. I hear it on low volume; I hear it on high volume.
Canfora repeatedly told reporters what words they would be hearing before he played the recording. Another student survivor that day is Tom Grace who was shot in the ankle. He says he can hear the order.
Tom Grace: When one knows what you're listening - I guess it would be a five word order - you can hear it. It's faint.
The student closest to the troops that day was Joe Lewis. He was 60 feet away. When the soldiers lifted their rifles and aimed he thought it was simply a threatening gesture like they had made earlier. He gave them the finger. One M-1 rifle bullet went completely through one of his legs; another went through his abdomen.
Joe Lewis: I did not here the orders to fire. I heard them on the tape but I did not hear them May 4, 1970. I didn't hear them. But I did see the response of the guardsmen who turned simultaneously. And to me it seemed like they turned when they met the corner of the railing at Taylor hall as if by previous agreement.
KSU Professor Carole Barbuto was a student protester at the time and now teaches a class about the event. She has just finished three days of interviewing with former Ohio National Guard Lt Colonel Charles Fassinger who repeated that there was no order.
Carole Barbuto: No, in fact he says he was the senior uniformed officer in command and he would been the only one who would have given the order to fire.
MU: When you hear that tape do you hear an order to fire?
Carole Barbuto: I did not, honestly. I hear "point." I heard "right here." However my colleague had that digital tape before today and she did use some headphones and she said it is very clear to her.
Here's the tape recording captured by a microphone in a dorm window. The high frequencies have been slightly increased to add clarity. What Alan Canfora says he hears is "right here get set, point fire" Here's a version enhanced to bring out that voice. Canfora says he will send the tape to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann but he says he doesn't want to prosecute the guardsmen - merely bring out the truth.