Cambodia and Kent State: In the Aftermath of Nixon's Expansion of the Vietnam War

President Nixon's announcement on April 30, 1970, that US troops were invading neutral Cambodia as part of the ongoing Vietnam War campaign sparked a complicated series of events with tragic consequences on many fronts.In Cambodia, the invasion renewed calls for a government independent of western power and influence, eventually resulting in a civil war and the rise of the Khmer Rouge.Here at home, Nixon's expansion of the war galvanized the longstanding anti-Vietnam War movement, including at Kent State University, leading to the tragic shooting deaths of four students on May 4, 1970. This short book concisely contextualizes these events, filling a gap in the popular memory of the 1970 shootings and the wider conceptions of the war in Southeast Asia.In three brief chapters, James A. Tyner and Mindy Farmer provide background on the decade of activism around the United States that preceded the events on Kent State's campus, an overview of Cambodia's history and developments following th