Remembering the Hard Hat Riot

Fifty-five years ago, in May 1970, a riot erupted at the corner of Wall and Broad Streets in Lower Manhattan. A few days after the killing of four students by National Guard troops at Kent State University, a large group of antiwar protesters gathered at the historic intersection. They stood on the steps of Federal Hall, next to the statue of George Washington, which commemorates the spot where the nation’s first president took his oath of office.