4. Labor unions organized an attack on war protesters after Kent State
Anti-war activists organized a protest in New York in the aftermath of the Kent State shootings, against both the President’s war policy and the actions of the Ohio National Guard. A senior union official in New York, Peter Brennan, organized union members to counter-protest. On the morning of May 8, about one thousand student protestors rallied at Federal Hall in New York, with a line of police separating them from the Hall, and from the public. Until late morning the rally was peaceful. Shortly before noon, the rally was disrupted by more than a thousand union protestors, who attacked both the students and the police. Students were beaten with signs and hard hats as the mob pushed toward City Hall.
The flag above City Hall was at half-mast in honor of the students slain at Kent State. Union workers pushed through the building to the roof and raised the flag to full staff. Brennan claimed that the riot had been a spontaneous reaction of patriotic workers who had seen the American flag “desecrated” by protesting students. Several witnesses claimed the workers were led in an organized manner. In 1973 Brennan was appointed Secretary of Labor by Richard Nixon, and he was retained in that post after Gerald Ford ascended to the Presidency. There were no deaths in what became known as the Hard-hat Riot, but over 70 students and policemen were injured.