The Kent State Coverup by James Munves

Author:James Munves
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781504036832
Publisher: Open Road Distribution
Published: 2016-07-26T04:00:00+00:00

18

The Matson-Frisina Letter

The witnesses who testified as to who was in control of the campus on May 4, 1970, were three officers of the university, David Ambler, Robert Matson, and Robert White, and General Robert Canterbury. White was president of Kent State in 1970, Matson was vice president for student affairs, and Ambler was Matson’s assistant. White had left the campus Friday afternoon for Iowa and returned at noon on Sunday after being informed of the ROTC fire. During his absence Matson had been in charge of the university administration.

The question of who controlled the campus turned on two events and one document. The events were the meetings at the Kent fire station on Sunday morning and Monday morning; the document was the Matson-Frisina letter.

At the Sunday meeting Governor Rhodes indicated what he wanted done about Kent State. At the Monday meeting General Canterbury made the decision to disperse the noon rally. The letter was an information directive to Kent State students issued by Vice President Matson and Student President Frank Frisina late Sunday afternoon. It read:

During the last two days, the disruptive and destructive activities of a dissident group comprising students and non-students, and numbering 500 to 600, escalated from a peaceful rally through illegal threat to life plus property damage leading eventually to the Governor’s imposition of a state of emergency encompassing both the city of Kent and the University.

The Governor, through the National Guard, has assumed legal control of the campus and the city of Kent. As currently defined the state of emergency has established the following:

1. Prohibited all forms of outdoor demonstrations and rallys—peaceful or otherwise;

2. Empowered the National Guard to make arrests;

3. A curfew is in effect for the city from 8 P.M. to 6 A.M. and an on-campus curfew of 1 A.M. has been ordered by the National Guard.

The above will remain in effect until altered or removed by order of the Governor.

The campus at the present state is calm. Several hundred National Guard and state police are presently on campus to maintain order. They are under the direction of Governor James A. Rhodes and will remain on alert on and around the campus until normal conditions return.

We plan to resume our normal class schedule on Monday with the exception of classes scheduled for the floor of Memorial Gymnasium. Currently the gym floor is being used to provide barrack facilities for the National Guard troops.…

The letter describes a state of martial law. However, it was not signed by Governor Rhodes or by anyone claiming to represent him; it was signed by a vice president of the university and a student leader. One can question the wisdom of the university putting out such a letter and cooperating more than was necessary. Nevertheless, one must ask: Who was the source of the information? Did Matson and Frisina make it up out of their own heads?

Major Jones testified that the letter had been drafted by Matson after Matson consulted him and after Jones had checked with Major Wallach (who, there was reason to believe, had talked with General Del Corso).

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