Tom Breeden: Eyewitness to 1970 riots at Ohio University in Athens
I was an eyewitness to the rioting and closure of the Ohio University Campus in Athens, on May 14-15, 1970. In the words of Charles Dickens in his historical novel, “A Tale of Two Cities,” “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times!”
Our country was not in an active government revolution but we were in a cultural revolution actively protesting the Vietnam War and other cultural norms.
In 1970 I was a student in Athens, Ohio on the Ohio University Campus finishing my education degree after taking most of my college courses at Ohio University in Chillicothe. I was 25 years old having been drafted previously for two years in 1965 spending most of 1966 in Vietnam. I was married with a young infant and going to school on the G.I. bill with my wife back in Chillicothe working a small job to help us get by – times were lean and many nights on campus my supper was a generous helping of fried rice at a Chinese restaurant.
In 1970 I was living in an upstairs room of an elderly lady on Carpenter Street not far from where I had previously lived in the basement of another elderly lady who rented rooms to students. During that time period of the late 1960s and early 1970s it seemed there was always a protest on campus and I was an eyewitness to two of the protests in 1970.
On one occasion probably in April of 1970 I was walking in the main campus area near the office of the President of the university. There was a small group of protestors gathered around the office pulling down the American flag and while I and others watched they set the flag on fire. I was personally enraged at their actions but knew I risked bodily harm to try and stop them alone. As I stood there all of a sudden I heard the tramp, tramp of feet behind me and as I turned marching up behind me was a group of law enforcement officers in riot gear and armor. I quickly left the area not wanting to be swept up by law enforcement and watched as law enforcement stopped the protest and rounded up some of the protestors.
There was unrest on Ohio University campus prior to May 14 when the main rioting took place. On May 12 two fires were started on south green doing $100,000 worth of damage; during the same period there were false bomb threats called in and fire alarms were set off. On May 13 there was a march by students across the campus and later in evening protestors began gathering and throwing rocks, bricks, and bottles at police.
I was downtown on evening of May 14 and became an eyewitness to the rioting that was taking place in the main intersection of town closest to campus and Logan Bookstore. That night I ran into an acquaintance of mine from the Ross County area and we were watching the rioting taking place from the rear of the crowd gathering in the main intersection. A New York Times article estimated the crowd at over a thousand with the majority of them being spectators like my friend and me. Officers in riot gear were assembled in the intersection to prevent the mob from sweeping down the main street of Athens doing damage to the stores.
The rioters would surge up close to the police throwing, rocks, bricks, and bottles at them and at the windows of storefronts in the area. The rioters who were in the front of the mob were equipped with protective gear with some of them having some kind of masks or bandanas. To stop their movement the police would occasionally fire tear or pepper gas into the crowd to disperse them. At the back of the crowd my friend and I would run with the mob when they were running to get away from the tear and pepper gas. We would run until the crowd turned and began surging toward the intersection and we would begin moving with the crowd. I remember at least three times of running away from the intersection and the gas that had been dispersed but always turning around and following the crowd back to the intersection. Later, we moved down a block from the main intersection and watched the proceedings. At one time I climbed on top of one of the large blue sidewalk mailboxes to get a better view. I had been there a short time when pepper gas came wafting our way and all of us assembled got the gas in our eyes. As we turned away from that area some people sitting on a porch of a residence had rags and buckets of water for us to wash our eyes. Shortly after that I walked back to my residence and went to bed.
On May 15 at 3:10 a.m. President of the University, Claude Sowle, closed the university until the summer quarter. The next morning vehicles with loud speakers went around campus and Athens broadcasting that school was closed and all students were to immediately leave. During the evening the Ohio National Guard had been brought into Athens and as I drove out that morning they lined the main streets of Athens in riot gear with rifles and bayonets.
We completed our courses by correspondence. You could either take a credit for the course with no grade or complete the lessons that the professors sent to us. I had served a year in Vietnam only to come back and become part of a civil protest that closed the University. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times!” I graduated in 1971.
This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: Tom Breeden was eyewitness to 1970 riots at Ohio University in Athens
