General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Trump Is Considering Deputizing the Military as a Civilian Police Force. That Is Terrifying. [View all]Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)But someone, I guess the President, has to declare an emergency or something, in order to do that, I think. I know it wasn't the Governor who declared the emergency, because JFK's action was because the Governor refused to obey the segregation laws. Gov. George Wallace?
Nixon used the National Guard for the protest at Kent State during the Vietnam War. They killed several of the peaceful protestors.
But I take the OP article to be referring to what we think of as the armed forces (army, Marines, etc.).
UPDATE to correct: I looked up Kent State. It wasn't Nixon who called the Nat'l Guard. The Kent Mayor declared a state of emergency, then called the Ohio Governor to ask for assistance, since he thought the local police might not be able to handle things. As it turns out, the protest wasn't as peaceful as I thought. Bldgs had been damaged, and the ROTC bldg burned. The Governor called out the Ohio National Guard. Nearly 1000 Ohio National Guardsmen occupied the campus, making it appear like a military war zone.
Maybe that's why Trump declared a national emergency previously, regarding the "invasion" of illegal immigrants. He was setting the stage for using the military. But I think he can use only the Nat'l Guard? At least, that's my impression, and I hope that's true.