Rhodes' service on the President's Commission on Campus Unrest in 1970 brought him to nationwide attention. This Commission was established specifically to investigate two incidents in 1970 in which unarmed student protesters were shot and killed by soldiers and policemen, one at Kent State University in Ohio and a second at Jackson State University in Mississippi. Rhodes was the youngest and least known member of the committee, and its only current student; his selection for the commission is attributed to his longstanding relationship with John Ehrlichman, who was a prominent member of then President Richard Nixon's staff. Shortly after his appointment, Rhodes gave a controversial interview to Robert Reinhold of "The New York Times" in which he said "If the President's and Vice-President's statements are killing people, I want to know that" and that California Governor Ronald Reagan was "bent on killing people for his political gain." The following day, Vice-President Spiro Agnew called publicly for Rhodes to resign. Rhodes refused, and was a signatory to the Commission's "Scranton Report" in September, 1970.