Don Wildman

Nice to be with you.

What defines a darkest hour?

Well, it's when a crisis has reached its nadir, when all hope seems lost.

In that moment of trepidation, we face disaster, destruction, and the real possibility that what we value most in life may disappear.

Paradoxically, though, with life so much in the balance, it is a prime opportunity for profound and lasting change, though it's hard to see it at the time, it being the darkest before the dawn.

But some of our most distressing moments have led to the most redemptive transformations, one of the enduring hallmarks of American history.

In May of 1970, four undergrads were shot dead with nine others injured on the campus of Kent State University in Ohio, a nation already at a contentious low fell further.

What caused this tragedy, how it played out,

And what changes came to pass as a result is what we'll discuss today with historian Brian Vandemark.

Recently retired from teaching history at the United States Naval Academy, he is the author of a number of books on U.S.

history.

He co-authored, in retrospect, Robert McNair's number one best-selling Vietnam memoir.

His latest book is Kent State, An American Tragedy, long listed for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Hello, Professor.

Nice to meet you.

Greetings.

Now, while we are most certainly not a current events series recording here in late January 26 on Kent State, it's impossible not to ignore the echoes of history.

Big differences, of course, from then to now.

But shootings of American citizens in the act of protest by government forces is such a rarity, you can't help it.

But for this conversation, we are steeped in 1970 in a brand new decade at the time.