FEDERAL TROOPS - RIOTS AND LAW & ORDER

    A review of instances where two presidents used federal troops to quell riots and enforce law and order.

    September 23, 1957, President Eisenhower issued an executive order to put the Arkansas National Guard under federal authority.  He sent 1,000 U.S. Army troops from the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock, to maintain order as Central High School desegregated.

In 1962 two people were killed and scores injured rioting to prevent desegregation at the University of Mississippi at Oxford.  September 30, 1962, President Kennedy sent 16,000 troops to compel enforcement of federal law. The entire town of Oxford was put under military control.

    On June 11, 1963, when two black students showed up at the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa to attend class Governor George Wallace stood in the doorway to deny entrance. When Wallace refused to budge, President Kennedy called for 100 troops from the Alabama National Guard to assist federal officials. Wallace chose to step down rather than incite violence.  At Tuscaloosa, only about 100 troops took part in the integration of Alabama University. The troops used were units of the Alabama National Guard, called into federal service by the President.  Although 18,000 Guardsmen were federalized only a "token" force was actually used.

    There is ample precedence where presidents have used federal troops and federalized National Guard troops to enforce and maintain law and order.  The nagging question that begs for an answer is:  Why can’t President Trump use federal troops to quell riots and enforce law and order?