Lost. Without further ado, please welcome howard ruffner. First of, all its great to see a familiar face. Lots of people from pasadena village, relatives, my daughter and his parents are there from where i live. Id like to thank my wife from being here. As most of us know, your spouse is the one who picks up, and kept me organized, kept me going and make sure i did not lose too much of the focus i was going for this. So let me get started. The intention of my book is to let you know more about me from the beginning. Before i intended, and the rest of my story starts with when i enrolled in 1969. Ill give you a glimpse of the campus life i know. The rest of it is about my photography fee, and through may want to may 4th. Thats me in my photos staying next to my mom, looking up at my newest brother. The cleveland press back in those face thought the family thought it would be a good human interest, so the song was sing a song of sixpence. Theyve done a photographer to our home, captured an image of us all. Came into our, house look to run and find a place to gather us altogether. He positioned us and took the picture. The photo went on the front page of the afternoon paper the next day, above the fold. And friends and neighbors could not get we were famous. We are now seven boys in eight years, and our youngest brother make was on the left, three of us on the service, tomorrow will be joining when air force. It was a year after high school, and during my first two years in waco texas, i applied and was accepted to a place called defense during the eight weeks of broadcast journalism, we were taught how to write for tv news and incorporate news film and slide and television broadcast. I was assigned to the American Forces network, and why duties included editing film, running a Television Camera during our live news shows, and this sharp in my ability to frame and compose pictures. Whether behind a Television Camera or nsl, are my visual awareness was growing. Later i became the primary news director that got to call all the shots at the station. The baseline for, me a lot of opportunity to take pictures of celebrities. Many u. S. All shows for comedians, singers, movie stars and they were on the way to vietnam. General Benjamin Davis of this photograph, the highest ranking african american, created bob hope. He was asked to serve on the unrest, and investigate the shootings at candidate in 1970. Many of the voters i took during the daily television show. Now, i had a professional camera. Next, fronting my images. They really taught me how to make a finish photograph, and washing your own photo and the developer was like magic. I was now giving myself assignments and taking pictures daily and finding what i thought was good. After a while, they encourage me n]qnto enter a photo competi. I entered this photo, which one first place. I ended another one, first place for landscapes. Not having completed one, it gave me a real sense of accomplishment encourage me to get better. Now that my photography was taking off, so to speak. I decided to submit a recent photo i took to the newspaper. It around with my credit, and took some planning to get exactly what i wanted, now im feeling that i was starting to become more accomplished as a photographer. Now its march of 1969, and ive been rolled in cannes state university, ready to pursue my degree. It was a time to enjoy college life beyond books, these were a team like a natural way to break the ice, get to know your fellow classmates. It help me realize there is a lot more to college at this point than just studying. While i was surprised by seeing this, it just reminded me that it was safe and a playful way to relieve the tensions of school. From mud fights to dating, casual fridays had not been invented yet, few students wore jeans. It was a night that spring, and they arrived with mutton chops, and in outrageous outfit. They look like they were going to job interviews. Cant student conservative side. This was my First Student protest photograph. Up until an, how the school was very quiet as far as protests were concerned. Students had been working on signs and banners during the week, and the mourning of the anti war march. It was 1969, students Left University campus, and protested the vietnam war. They did this on thursday because kent was a suitcase campus, a lot of students went home and it was a kind of school when the campus was deserted. The anti war settlement was on the minds of many, especially the young men who were referred to the draft as long as we were in school. This would change whoever, and other than this protest march, most of the protesting occurred was in the classrooms and the student union. The large anti war gathering would not occur until may 1st, 1973 to 500 students will attend a rally. By the fall, the Anti War Movement had grown off of colleges and they decided to drive to washington d. C. To join the anti war protest on november 13th. A few weeks after our own home company, we arrived in time to honor the soldiers in vietnam. That, night 18 of us sloped in one room, and our feet pointed in and out. The next morning, we headed to the mall, i was impressed by the size of the crowd and by the focus and steadfastness to be part of something so big. This is my first trip to washington d. C. Everything was new and exciting. The resentment of half 1 Million People of this continued movement as i move my way through the crowd. Their determination to have their voice heard was definite. This protester dimension into the war. I needed to push my way through the crowds to find out where the march began. After a lot of walking and nudging my way around, i came to the beginning of the fray. I stood and awe, and i nuts my way through to get as close i couldnt took my photos. Locked arm and armed with governor king, and others showed the strength of unity and commitment. I was moved to such committed people who opposed the war. Now, its my first on campus. May 1st, 1970. 300 students to understand the nixon decision to envoy it cambodia. He did this without the consent of congress, and according to steve sheriff, he murdered the constitution. Therefore, it was dead and needed to be buried. With the constitution, the grass didnt back up and went on their way. But what last gratitude and finds a way to speak to the dwindling crowd to understand how important it was, and the discussion of the war needs to continue to can turn to the same way on, monday, may 4th. This really took place between 12 noon and 1 00. Most students were leaving before the lunch period ended. After the rotc building was set on fire on saturday, i stayed up late on saturday night into sunday morning and watched as the National Guard took a position on the campus. I had a surreal feeling as i observed the movement of the troops. What are they come from so quickly . How did they even get here . What kind of trouble what happened when students arrived back on campus . Well, students walked around the building on sunday morning as they return to campus. A flimsy wooden fence had been erected while they were gone and kept from being too close. There were no more new protesting. Everything had quieted to ground, so why would the National Guard be there . One reason was that on may 1st. An entourage of officials arrived on campus. They were there to survey the student protesters. They were running for the congressional seat, and the election was made a day later, two days away. It was just Media Coverage to be splashed across in the state. He wanted to impress voters that he was a law and order candidate, so they would send them to washington. They didnt. Just using streetlight and searchlights from helicopters, students estates a sit in the center of town. They want to do hear from the mayor and wanted to know what was happening, who was in charge, and what was the National Guards exact role. Confusion reigned all around. On may fourth around 11 30 am, from sudanese gathered to continue the rally of may 1st. I adjusted it to allow specific students to stand out. You cant see it very well. In the front row of the legs and arms of jeffrey mueller, standing behind a female student. This was jeffrey miller. And carrying a dog, he has become the most recognizable student protester, the most iconic. She is right here. 14 years old, and there are two individuals and the photo. On the right, a native of Cincinnati Ohio where he was born in 1950. To his left, sandy sawyer. Fully attempting going to class, and was born in 1949 and young son, ohio. I watched as they reach the crest of the hill and the guard continue to advance. On the right, just under was the photo i took off our. She was a freshman honors student, and she was born in cleveland in 1951. This photo is difficult to look at, and i go back to 1969. And the banner that read bring all the troops home. At this point, it seemed to complete the objective, they dispersed to students from the crowd, and yet the guardsmen were still advancing. What more did i need to accomplish . What was the objective here . What they really wanted was for this all to ensure that they could just go home. I redness the rear, and then the gunshots began. I thought to be shooting blanks i take the photographed and fired, and then stood there. A moment later i thought to myself i should get down anyway. I would like a great target with this hanging around my neck, and i didnt have any so i swung around and went down to the ground, and just as i was dropping to my knees, i heard a young woman scream, oh my god there, using real bullets. Theyre shooting real bullets. I was 80 feet in front of bglcte guard when they turned and fired. This photo shows the ground in front, where the National Guard turned and fired. It is not show evidence of anything thrown at the guard, or anything that would have put their lives in danger. As he will testify in civil trials. I show this because we look at a photograph, you look at what the photographer intent for you to see, which is his interest. In the first photograph, you see the guns pointed in the air, the bayonets and people looking. If i go back feel, see what i mean. When i talk about someone in that right spot, youre kind of getting close to looking at me in my direction. Theyre looking in my closet position, i spotted john clearing just my left and a little bit behind me. He was at the base of the metal sculpture in front of taylor hall, i could not tell if he was dead or alive. He was lucky, he survived a shot in the chest. The first of my photo was on the cover of live magazine. Someone from life had comey a week before. Very well five or, you you would your. At the memorial, visitors see these exact words as they enter the memorial plaza. If youve not been to the memorial, you will not beginning it from there, but its a thing to see. And the first word is inquire. I asked myself hundreds of questions about what my photographs really captured, who is to blame for killing unarmed students, what role did the students have . Where the guardsman alpharetta risk, and was there in order to fire . For the word lauren, shortly after the shooting, i realize that subsequent killing of students precipitated the closing of colleges around the country. I remember reading this in the local paper and watching it on the television news. It was later that more than 4 Million Students and more than half of the 2500 colleges and universities went on strike during the week of may 4th. In response, this is all response, and making the largest in protest in history. The last word is reflect. Ive given talks on Public Schools to all great levels, College Classes and local community groups. My proudest moment happened in october of 2016. I told my story about hanoi university, where i was invited to speak to 200 undergraduates. And i could not have done this without the help from kent state international. These Young Students that heard about the protests in the United States from their parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles, but this was the first time they had heard the story from someone who actually was there, and a primary witness. The other thing is the students have recognized that the sacrifice in 1970 is what determined the ending of the vietnam war. And what happened and kent state, 90 of the troops in vietnam were scheduled to leave, and they recognize that. They really responded to what i had to say, actually. The people i told you about, those were the four students that died. So, id like to turn this over to questions. Im interested in your transition from a family that had many people in the military and how your experience in the military affected your view of what was going on, if you became an anti war activist at some point, or just even or without being an activist. Im interested in that transition or relationship. Growing up in a family of seven boys, my dad never drove, we actually did not have money for college. And as a young, poor middle class kid, i stood out of school for a year working several jobs. Trying to go to an Extension School but realizing its not going to work out well. A friend came in and decided he had just joined the air force and decided to join it to, they didnt take about half a second. Im with you, i was ready to go. As far as the war goes, sure, i was against the war. But i knew that if i did not enlist and get gi bill money, i could be something other than what i was, because in 1965 when i enlisted, when you got to your draft place, if they had drafted you, if the marines did not have enough marines to fill the quota, you are a marine, your marine. Air force and navy did not even have that problem. I thought it was better to enlist instead of taking my chances of being an army or marine. Then, when i was in the service, they probably did not have the same experience the same people did. Have a brother who was a mechanic in vietnam, i wrote press releases in waco, texas. My view of the war was still the same, i dont think it was just, i had no reason to believe it needed to be there. When i got to kent state, i held that view but my personal desire to do photography was stronger than my desire to be a protester, so i chose that in that way. I had to keep myself more objectified than trying to do one side or the other. Okay . Yes. I can explain that, really. Thats quite strange. When governor roads arrived on campus, he had a private appearance and they were fire police, state police, National Guardsmen, some reporters. And his words were being broadcast also to the facilities where the National Guard was very clear and the pronouncements of the fire station that he said that the students are worse than the brown shirts of world war ii. We are not going to let them get away with anything. This kind of stuff is going to stop here. We are no longer going to burn down 1 Million Dollar buildings, the building burned down was in 1942, world war ii barracks, worth about 100,000 dollars. He gave the guard and that top permission to use any force they could to stop the protesting. Would become very confusing and is probably something that needs more entering than they had ordered, why did the university give up their role and protecting their students . And why they feel they had to give up their position to the Ohio Governor . The Ohio Governor and governor roads gave up and took control of the university. He gave permission to the generals to do whatever they could to stop writing. That included that there would be no protests of any kind, peaceful or otherwise. So at 12 15 on may 1st, where the students were gathering, the students had to disperse or suffer the consequences. Although we did not know, it the guns were locked and loaded. Their bayonet were out, they had to gas masks on and even though, if i were to go back, the people in front of the crowd, maybe three to 500 protesters, and behind there were people that said, maybe cheerleaders or whatever. Behind that, you just had onlookers. I cant stay this was a school 18,000 students at this time. And the number of real protesters was fairly small. The guards just said that they had permission to disperse the crowd. The problem is they didnt have a plan b. Kent is a huge campus, like many college campuses, and they chased them and they disappeared. But when you look at the book you see that the guard ended up in what is a practice football field which is surrounded by six feet chain link fences, and they had nowhere to go themselves, and the students gathered again right in front of them. They couldve gone down backed rotc building very easily and easily avoided any confrontation, but they despair chose to disperse the students. From a military standpoint they chose to do it by chasing them up a hill, giving the guarded 20foot advantage over the parking lot of the football field, so when they reached that spot, there were a certain number of guards who turned and fired. We just heard them fire. A lot of conspiracy things about was there an order to fire, some people say there were, some say they might have been a gunshot. It really did not matter because the guard claimed their lives were in danger and we know that to be a lie. Regardless of what the guard had said, they shot and fired, and it took 10 years for one guardsmen to admit to a reporter that he intentionally stood there and shot two bullets into joe lewis, a student 60 feet in front of the guard when they fired. So, theres a lot of secrets, a lot we dont know, but we do know the guard got away with murder that day. There was a report that there was a tape where the word fire was heard. Have you heard that or any opinion on that . I have heard about the tape. I know who has the tape. The person who the audiologist who listened to it, he has passed away, so he cannot testify to anything anymore. I think it is interesting. I was 80 feet in front of the guard when they fired. I did not hear anything. It could have happened, but to me, it does not matter. I feel that there was a group of guardsmen there were a group of older, more seasoned guardsmen, and it seems they are the ones who stayed back as they marched up to the hill, and it was only that Certain Group who turned and fired. If you go back and look at that picture, you will see that the general is far ahead. Thats one of the things that is confusing about kent because no one knows who had control of the university. Martial law was never officially proclaimed, but it is often thought that it was there. The ohio telephone operators have a procedure that if a school or any unit or any place in town is under martial law, they cut all telephone lines. They were under the impression it was under martial law. They were under the impression it was under martial law but had never been officially documented. Peter . To the comment about if someone said, fire, how much noise were protesters making, per your recollection, at that Crucial Point . Actually, there was no noise. The guard walked up the hill, students were watching them, i was watching them. I was kind of alert. I was a stronger for life magazine at that time. I was trying to keep my eyes and ears open and trying to be ready for anything that might happen. I looked for rocks to be thrown. I did not see anything, did not feel anything, and i did not hear anything. There wasnt really any noise at that point in time until they turned and fired. Then it became you know, to this day, i still get shook up or have a reaction to helicopters flying overhead with searchlights or ambulances racing down a street. I can still see kids being put on gurneys and rolled away from campus that day. Yes . Sort of as a recap, how does this incident compare to any other University Campus violence at the time . Was this a huge deal . As far as i can remember being really young is that there was violence and berkley and ucla had a riot. I mean, was this vastly larger than those other larger places . It seems like ohio is kind of not really on the forefront. I cannot speak completely for those other universities, but i know i had gone to ohio state several times before the university at kent state and i had seen National Guard in parking lots and protesting, and i think it was more pronounced at other schools, but the burning of the rotc building, which happened on campus that particular time, was the straw that broke the camels back for the governor. And the fact he was running for Public Office at a high level. That is what i would attribute kent states situation or tragedy to be all about. Schools in east columbia, had a lot of violence, berkley had violence, but not the kind of violence that precipitated the National Guard to stop anybody physically like they did at kent. It became a political thing because governor rhodes was there, and it was a new mayor. On friday evening, there was some roughhousing going on after the cambodia invasion. Some trash cans were set on fire at midnight. The mayor immediately called for a curfew for the town and demanded there be a curfew on campus. It all gets down to who is in control of what. We did not know who was in charge, and for the record, the president of kent state university, robert white, at 12 00 on monday, may 4, was having lunch at the brown derby 20 minutes away with one of the other generals who was in charge of the National Guard. Give you an idea of whats going on. Postmay 4, then there were massive demonstrations at universities across the country. I lived in seattle at the time, and at the university of washington, maybe as many as 10,000 students decided to march downtown to the federal courthouse in protest, and they marched out onto interstate five and shut down the freeway, but in effect you said and certainly implied that it was not unusual for universities to insist public as well as private to insist on their police forces, the University Police retaining control over Law Enforcement on the campus, and that is what was the case at the university of washington at that time. The University President absolutely insisted that neither the state patrol nor the Seattle Police department were to come on campus without express permission from the university. I think that is what happened at kent. The mayor gave in very easily to some violence, called governor rhodes, who sent the troops in. Troops came in. It was friday. The building was burned on saturday, and i was watching the troops role in, you know, under the cover of darkness of the night. It was 2 00 in the morning. Students are awake and in their dorms. No one could see them. We wake up and we have the National Guard. If the National Guard had not been there, im not sure there would have been a problem at all. Students went to rallies back in those days for one thing, right . To get information, really. A rally was not to storm or take over a building. That was decided at the rally, but the rallies were to get information, to see what you were going to do, what you believe, what you did not believe in. Three of the book i tried reminds readers that we did not have a cell phone, we had tvs in the room. Let me say one more thing about the book before we close things out. Another attack on the book, 50 years later, and its very timely right now, is that back in the 1960s early 1970s we saw a lot of passion. There is a lot of passion with students in our schools. Today, that passion is just beginning again with the youth of the United States to end gun violence, climate control, and im hoping that the book will help them understand that, you know, keep your passion, heat the fight. Youre going to have to make some sacrifices. But you can make a change. So the book is more than just a rough reflection of kent state. It is a hope for future students and generations to know that they can make change by being passionate about something all. What motivated you to put this book together . Was it someone told you to do it, or you sat there and said, i want to leave this whole thing of using it as a teaching tool. Why . I know i had all these photographs and i just did not know what to do with them. And my wife and i have real Close Friends who are phds in history and teach history ecologists. They also have a cabin in casper, wyoming. We are up there for a while with them visiting and spending some time with them. Jeff looks at me and says, you know. You are and i witness. You are a primary witness. You need to write that book and they gave me a good kick in about, so to say. A good push. And we have another close friend who lives in brooklyn, new york, named michael and he wrote a book called, all souls, i highly recommend it. It is about south boston where he grew up and its about a family of 11 or 12 with weighty bolger. And i was subletting his place in brooklyn and i said how do we get the started. I want to do this but i dont have a clue, and i taught english for two years in high school or. He said, well, there is my writing desk mrs. Waited. Start from the top of your head. I may have wrote 40 or 60 pages. And my wife looked at it and said, throw that away. Which is actually what you need to deal because you get on the rough stuff out of your head then you get organized and focused. That is how it all got started. It took about three years. So it was a long process, but it was something i wanted to get done. And as the only photographer there for the entire weekend, i have the only records. You were hired by life . I was hired by life on may fourth to be a stronger, the rest of the time it was just me doing what i was compelled to do. I went to count on a gi bill. I had nothing to do. I had two roommates, five dollars worth spending money. You know, i had free film, so what better thing to do with free film and take pictures . A few more questions. You can bet somebody at columbia thoughts they want to take over a building, we will let them. Did anyone think these are the kids that are our citizens. And what are the repercussions . This was a horrible decision. Because parents of these kids were sending their kids to colleges and then have them slaughtered. What were the repercussions . What was spilling out, we know the tragedy, but what were the consequences . Some of the students went home. We had somebody who had a masters in journalism and her dad said, if you are involved in a protesting, you should have been shot. The conservative nature back then i think you have to look at the generational thing. If youre dad or uncle had gone to world war ii and fauna were and you did not want to fight anymore, they did not think you were very manly. But they didnt understand there was a difference because of that generation. They fought for something that was meaningful and we were trying to, you know, say that you needed to be democratic here and that kind of thing. Not sending people over just to get shot. We were protecting ourselves, we were advancing ourselves. In terms of the National Guard, repercussions for the National Guard, they want to trial twice. I was a late witness both civil trials and the courts. I was on the witness stand three days, addressed only photography. The first time, the actual were convicted, than it was on appeal. In a second trial. It was a 1978 and as on the witness stand and after my few days i got the second one is up there, and while he was up there, just came out and said weve reached a conclusion. The government and the court had agreed to a settlement with the guard writing a letter of they want to say it was a letter saying they were sorry, the letter saying that they wish they could have handled in a different way, and the judge who awarded the plaintiffs 650,000 dollars. The reason for this was dean, who had been wounded and paralyzed from the waist down, he didnt have a rich family, and hes still paralyzed, so they gave him 450,000 dollars. Part of the settlement was too and the whole thing, and get to help people out, people who died, parents of children who were killed, got money. But the most of it went to dean kaylor so he could live the rest of his life. You work for the state of ohio, he had been a teacher, hes in a wheelchair, it is wheelchair races every weekend. He still alive and well and lives intent. Hes in a wheelchair because yes, but hes actually, a broader photograph that hes in the cant state memorial. He called me one day, and so you know that photograph you have there . As it yeah, and thats the last photograph taken of me standing. So, one last question, i guess. How did you maintain your ability to take photographs on such an emotional day . Yeah, really. Ive been asked that several times, and maybe i have i have an ability to not let my emotions get involved with my work. And thats this kind of difficult, because when i get down, you know, we all thought they were shooting blanks, or over the heads. Even if there shouldnt real bullets. The bullets they were shooting, there is a sculpture on the campus. Metal sculpture, with three eight inches the steel. Some of the bullets were armor piercing and went through the sculpture. But as far as my own way to maintain myself, i had a job to do, and i maintain that sense of separateness. You know, i was even told, you know, or ask to stop taking pictures by some people on campus. I just told him id keep taking pictures because people had to know what actually happened. But if i was taking pictures of somebody, and they looked at me and said, dont take my picture, i certainly would not uptick in it. And if the person on the cover of life magazine there, if theres nobody around coming to his aid, i would put my cameras down and help them. Ive done in other situations where i was out some place and somebody was hurt, it wasnt a picture opportunity, or some ways to help. Yeah, you cant let your feelings sometimes get in the way of your job. So, its tough. Yeah. I thank you for coming tonight. applause you all again for coming tonight. We are going to sign move on to the signing portion of the event. We ask you please buy a book before getting aside, you can find copies here on this table, as well as on the shelf over on the left, and you can buy them at our registers downstairs, or at will cool across the hall. I hope you have a good night. Thank you. applause weeknights this month, we are featuring American History tv programs as a preview of whats available every weekend on cspan 3. On september 2nd, 1945, government and military officials from the empire of japan signed surrender documents and a ceremony aboard the uss missouri and tokyo bay. Formally bring in the pacific war and the hostilities of world war ii to a close. Japanese emperor hirohito had announced japans Unconditional Surrender 18 days earlier on august 15th, 1945. To mark the 75th anniversary, the friends of the world war ii memorial hosted an online commemorative program, including remarks by joint chiefs of staff chair general mark milley, and former abc news anchor and author tom brook. Watch wednesday, beginning at eight eastern. Enjoy American History tv this week, and every weekend on cspan 3. Youre watching American History tv. Every weekend on cspan 3, explore our nations past. Cspan 3, created by americas Cable Television company as a public service, and brought to you today by your television provider. Now a conversation from university of massachusetts about slavery, emancipation, and have freed African Americans used productively as a means of independence and self expression. This is about 50 minutes. All right, good evening. Im peter carmichael, professor of history yet ginsburg college, im also the director of the civil institute. Is my pleasure to introduce barbara krauthamer. Shes associate