Sunday, September 05, 1999
Rhodes still troubled by youths' protests
BY JOHN McCARTHY
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS — When James A. Rhodes goes to the Ohio State Fair — as he has for 51 straight years — he always sings the praises of young people.
The four-term governor doesn't dwell on a turbulent time three decades ago when Ohio National Guard troops under his command shot 13 students during a protest at Kent State University, killing four of them.
But it still troubles Mr. Rhodes, a Republican who served longer than any other Ohio governor, that young people protested U.S. military policy during the Vietnam War.
“It was people who thought something was wrong with America,” he said.
Mr. Rhodes, who turns 90 on Sept. 13, spends most of his days like many retirees, enjoying his grandchildren and great-grandchildren and working on pet projects. He said he was working with business associates on an air-filtration system designed to remove germs from schools.
He recently moved into an assisted living residence. Mr. Rhodes uses a wheelchair because of knee problems and has trouble hearing.
However, he remains sharp and was eager to answer questions in an interview last month at the fair, which he made a personal showcase when he was governor from 1963-71 and 1975-83. Mr. Rhodes revels in the success of youngsters who pay for college by getting top dollar for champion livestock at the fair.
His tenure was marked by unprecedented highway construction and job development. But it also included a narrow loss for the U.S. Senate nomination to Robert Taft Jr., Gov. Bob Taft's father, in 1970.
That vote came one day after the May 4, 1970, Kent shootings and was the first statewide loss for Mr. Rhodes since 1954. Many blamed the loss — by fewer than 6,000 votes out of more than 900,000 cast — on the shootings. Mr. Rhodes later joined 27 other officials in a message of regret over the shootings as part of a lawsuit settlement the victims and their families reached with the state.
Mr. Rhodes recalled that the late Frank Lausche, a Democrat who held the previous gubernatorial record of 10 years in office, commented once that Mr. Rhodes had underestimated the size of the protest at Kent.
“He said, "He (Rhodes) only sent 1,500 troops. He should have had 3,000 and he should arrest everyone that was causing trouble,'” Mr. Rhodes said.
Mr. Rhodes hopes he's remembered for the growth in transportation and economic development that occurred during his watch, but he's aware that the negative won't be forgotten either.
“They do that to every governor,” he said.
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