1965 was the last time that a president bypassing a governor to deploy the National Guard

It was in March 1965, on the eve of the important march of civil rights from Selma in Montgomery, Alberta. The president disagreed with right to vote With a governor, he considered a recalcitrant political opponent.

President Lyndon B. Johnson therefore did something that the presidents rarely did: he invoked his legal authority to activate and deploy the Alabama National Guard without the cooperation of Governor George Wallace, one of the most eminent segregationists in the country, to protect demonstrators against violence.

Before Saturday, it was the last time that a president used his limited executive authority to bypass a state governor and ship the national guard himself to deal with civil disorders. In almost all cases where the National Guard is activated, this occurs at the request of the Governor of the State, who commands the troops, and the presidents do not interfere.

On Sunday morning, however, hundreds of troops from the California National Guard arrived in Los Angeles, and hundreds of others were on the direction of President Trump.

He said that their mission was to help defuse clashes between federal immigration agents and demonstrators in Los Angeles and the surrounding area. In some cases, the demonstrators who oppose the mass expulsion campaign of Mr. Trump surrounded agents, bordered them with objects and tried to prevent them from going down the streets.

A White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said that California officials “completely abdicated their responsibility for protecting their citizens”. Governor Gavin Newsom of California described the president’s decision a unnecessary provocation.

“Presidents rarely federate the custody of a state or territory without the consent of the governor,” noted the foreign relations council In an online information sheet Summarizing the history of the National Guard.

For example, President George W. Bush decided not to take control of the National Guard in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina in 2006, after the State Democratic Governor Kathleen Blanco, object.

Often, a governor works with the president when a situation arises that local authorities are not equipped to manage alone. This was the case in 1992 in another situation tense in Los Angeles: the riots who followed the acquittal of the police who had beaten Rodney King, a black man.

President Johnson explain His decision in 1965 to call custody as a means of ensuring the rights of American citizens “to walk peacefully and safely without injury or loss of life from Selma to Montgomery, ALA.”

He acted because Governor Wallace – who did not want to take measures that could be considered to defend walkers or their cause of civil rights – refused to give orders to the National Guard himself.