President Trump has deployed the National Guard, as presidents before him, to support law enforcement. He has done so in five cities where ICE agents were attacked or crime raged – Washington DC, Portland Oregon, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Memphis. For that act, Democrats call him “lawless.” Trump’s actions are both legal, and follow historical precedent.
Having helped write the Guard’s strategic plans for state and federal counternarcotics and law enforcement deployments for 15 years, here is the overview of key laws and precedents.
Under Title 32 of the US Code, signed in 1956, a Governor can mobilize the National Guard for multiple domestic purposes, including to support local, state, and federal law enforcement operations, counter-narcotics, to quell civil unrest, or for disaster response.
Likewise, under Title 10, also from 1956, the President can mobilize any State’s National Guard domestically for similar purposes, with approval by a governor not required. The President can also mobilize the Guard under the Insurrection Act, a separate authority.
Traditionally, when political differences are not raw, governors and presidents fully cooperate – but not always. In some instances, going back nearly a century, the president will mobilize the National Guard without state agreement, even when opposed by a governor. This is lawful.
A second fact, which liberal media outlets ignore: Virtually every president since Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt has mobilized the National Guard to address domestic instability issues, crime spikes, riots, civil unrest, or to support law enforcement in one or more States.
Thus, in 1943, FDR deployed 6,000 members of the National Guard to Detroit to stabilize race riots and civil unrest and crime. FDR deployed the Guardsmen in jeeps, armored vehicles, imposed a curfew to “quell violence.” The courts upheld this deployment. It also worked.
In 1957, facing race riots in the South and opposition by Democrat governors to racial integration of schools, President Eisenhower mobilized the National Guard, adding 1000 paratroopers of the 101st Airborne to restore order and end race riots in Arkansas.
Responding to this stabilization effort, the Democrat governor of Arkansas called Eisenhower’ federalization and mobilization “occupation troops,” words also used against President Trump.
In 1962, John F. Kennedy acted similarly in Mississippi, to protect a Black student and quell potential unrest, stirred by violent opposition by Mississippi’s Democrat governor.
In federalizing the National Guard against Mississippi’s Democrat governor, JFK said – words echoed by President Trump – he “federalized the Mississippi National Guard as the most appropriate instrument, should any be needed, to preserve law and order while United States …”
In 1963, in a similar display of presidential power, JFK federalized the Alabama National Guard, against the will of Alabama’s Democrat Governor George Wallace, to stem civil unrest. JFK famously said, “Governor Wallace, it is my sad duty to inform you that the National Guard has been federalized … please stand aside …” JFK had to do this, ironically, a second time in 1963.
In 1965, Democrat President Lyndon Johnson then mobilized the National Guard to stem riots in Alabama, again without the Alabama Democrat governor’s approval.
In 1967, Democrat Johnson mobilized the Michigan National Guard to settle turmoil in Detroit. He had to do that again in 1968, after the assassination of Martin Luther King.
In 1970, President Richard Nixon mobilized the National Guard in New York to address a roiling strike, with turmoil surrounding it.
In 1989, President GW Bush mobilized the Guard after Hurricane Hugo. In 1992, he did so again following the Los Angeles “Rodney King” riots, deploying “virtually the entire 40th Infantry Division.”
In 1994, President Bill Clinton then mobilized and deployed the National Guard to Washington DC, to address “rising crime rates in Washington DC… establishing a precedent for crime control.”
In 2010, President Obama thereafter mobilized 1,200 National Guard troops, deploying them to the southern border at a cost of $110 million.
In that context, President Trump deployed the National Guard, using Title 10 and in full alignment with prior precedents – to stabilize cities suffering attacks on federal personal, property, civil unrest, and inordinate crime.
In short, when liberal outlets try to paint a different picture, they have not done their basic research, or do not care to get the story right, or are deliberately ignoring established laws and history. Truth does not get more basic. The President is on legal and historically solid ground. Full stop.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor. BobbyforMaine.com
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