May 1970: When Student's Unrest Mixed Blood and Tears

Before May 1970 was over, several million people had participated in protests that disrupted classes at over 750 colleges, universities, and high schools, forcing 51 of them to remain closed for the rest of the semester... Around the country, 2,000 students were arrested... "A moderate majority on campuses, who were antiwar but turned off by the extremist rhetoric of the late '60s New Left, emerged as the leading force" in many places, steering strikers toward conventional lobbying and electoral activity, according to Maurice Isserman, a historian at Hamilton College and co-author of "American Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s."