Two levels of government
The riot that began in Detroit on Sunday 23 July 1967 produced one of the largest domestic military deployments in the United States since the Second World War. How that deployment came about is a story of law, politics and timing. In the American system, governors command their state’s National Guard and are expected to deal with civil disorder first. The federal government may send active-duty troops only under narrow conditions, and a governor must request them. In 1967 both Governor George Romney, a Republican, and President Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat, had political reasons to be careful about how the decision looked.
The Guard goes in
Within hours of the first looting on 23 July, Mayor Jerome Cavanagh judged that the Detroit police could not control the situation and asked Romney for help. Romney sent state police and, on Sunday, ordered out the Michigan National Guard. Guard units took a while to assemble and move into the city, and the soldiers who arrived were largely part-time volunteers with little training for urban disorder. Many had never served in a riot before. A curfew and bans on alcohol and weapons sales were imposed.
Despite the Guard’s presence, the fires and looting continued on Sunday night and into Monday. By Monday 24 July, officials were reporting sniper fire in several parts of the city and Cavanagh and Romney were increasingly concerned that local forces were stretched too thin. State and city officials were also worried by the Guard’s own shooting, which was extensive and sometimes undisciplined.
The request to Washington
On Monday, Romney and Cavanagh asked for federal troops. Johnson, who had just seen the Newark riot end after the use of the Guard, had a legal question to settle: the Insurrection Act allowed him to send troops if the governor stated that the state could not control the disorder. Romney was careful in his wording, and Johnson’s advisers reportedly wanted a clearer statement that the situation was out of control before he acted.
To judge the situation, Johnson sent Cyrus Vance, a former Pentagon official, to Detroit, along with others. Vance, who had a military background, toured the city and reported what he saw. In the evening, after a series of phone calls between Romney and Johnson and a decision that the conditions met the law’s test, the president ordered troops into the city and went on national television late that night.
The disputed delay
There is a long-running dispute over how long the process took. Johnson’s defenders said that he acted as soon as the legal requirements were met and that Romney’s earlier wording had been ambiguous. Romney’s defenders said that he asked early and clearly and that Washington’s caution cost hours while fires burned. Both men were thought to be thinking about the 1968 presidential race, and some contemporaries and later historians believed that partisanship colored the exchanges. Others note that the delay was a matter of hours, and its effect on the death toll cannot be established.
Accounts differ on the exact times of each call and on several other details. The safest summary is that the request was made on 24 July, the order came that night, and the federal soldiers began arriving within hours.
The paratroopers arrive
Elements of the 82nd Airborne Division, flown in from North Carolina, reached Selfridge Air Force Base overnight and moved into Detroit on 25 July. Units of the 101st Airborne followed. Several thousand federal troops joined thousands of Guardsmen and police. The Army’s leadership on the ground, including Lt. Gen. John Throckmorton, tried to impose stricter fire discipline than the Guard had shown, reportedly ordering soldiers to unload their weapons in some cases.
The paratroopers, serving while the Vietnam War escalation was drawing more soldiers overseas, occupied sections of the city. They met sporadic gunfire, but their presence is generally credited with helping to calm the situation in the days that followed. In total, the military and police shooting continued to cause deaths even after their arrival, especially early on 26 July.
Consequences
The deployment had effects beyond Detroit. Romney’s national image was damaged by the controversy, and he withdrew from the 1968 race for the Republican nomination. Johnson’s televised address and his creation of the Kerner Commission, announced on 27 July, signalled that the White House viewed the riots as a national problem. The Army also drew lessons about training for civil disturbance, and the Guard changed its procedures in the years that followed.
For Detroit residents, the sight of tanks, armored vehicles and rifle-carrying paratroopers in the streets of an American city was a lasting memory, and it features in many oral histories of the week.