Why Lyndon Johnson federized the national guard in 1965: NPR

Until last weekend it was 60 years ago that a US president federized the national guard of a state without the cooperation of his governor. President Lyndon B. Johnson called this authority in 1965 and asked troops to protect civil rights lawyers who marched to Montgomery.

This incident is now back in the spotlight after President Trump’s controversial step towards the federalization of the California National Guard against the wishes of governor Gavin Newsom – against the wishes of governor, fötter.

According to Trump, the military presence is necessary to restore order after the raids of immigration and the enforcement of customs employment had triggered public protests. Newsom says that demonstrators who are not peaceful should be punished – but he also accuses Trump and says that the president has lit the situation.

In recent decades, several countries have asked the presidents to send military or law enforcement authorities in times of intensive public disorders.

In 1992 the California governor Pete Wilson asked President George HW Bush for help with coping with violence and protests after the jury’s judgment against the police, which Rodney King beats. The General Inspector of the Ministry of Justice.

Other cases are the consequences of the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 and violence in Detroit in 1967.

Johnson played in 1965 after a governor had refused

In March 20, 1965, Executive Order ,, Lyndon Johnson quoted A recently from Selma to Montgomery on the Highway 80 marched plans for the federal court approved the plans. It would be the third top -class march of Selma, who runs out violently two weeks after the “bloody Sunday” march, which was stopped at the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

“Determine the likelihood of domestic violence and disability in the execution and enforcement of federal laws, Johnson authorized The Defense Minister, who use both activated troops and members of the Alabama National Guard.

Said Johnson He took the rare step after Alabama said Governor George Wallace, a segregationist, that the state was unable and refuses to ensure the security and well -being of the activists.

Transcripts of talks between Johnson and Wallace show that on March 18, the president asked the governor to send the National Guard alone, to protect the marchers and to prevent the situation from escalating.

“Let the march begin before the people from these other states can get there and they call their guard,” said Johnson to Wallace, so American public media. He promised not to promote wax units except the last resort.

“If it takes ten thousand guards, we will have them. I’ll just do everything that is necessary,” said Wallace. But that night the governor said on TV that he asked the president to send federal forces to help. The next morning, Johnson Wallace called “one without a good son of AB ****!” According to a telephone call transcript.

The powers called by Johnson were also used by former presidents, including John F. Kennedy’s mobilization of troops in Both Mississippi and Alabama. But they had not been used for decades from the end of the reconstruction until the 1950s, according to the Congress research service.

Eisenhower also federized the National Guard

In September 1957, a governor and a president used their military powers to mobilize troops with opposing goals. The crisis was created in Arkansas, three years after the Supreme Court Brown v. Topeka board, KansasIt was unconstitutional to decide that the racial regulation in public schools.

When a new school year began in Little Rock, the Arkansas National Guard surrounds the Central High School to block black students before governors orval Faubus.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower met the governor who said that he would follow judicial orders for deseg regulation.

“However, as governor Faubus, the National Guard once withdrawn in Little Rock” A summary from the national archives. “A few days later, when the black students entered the school, a full uprising broke out.”

Eisenhower then arranged units of the 101st Air Lace Department in Little Rock to protect the students who were known as “Little Rock Nine”, and to ensure that the degrees of the court tractions were enforced. Eisenhower also has the Arkansas National Guard.

The 101st Airborne left until October, but the National Guard troops remained throughout the school year. According to a story of the National Park Service.