Internal Military Interventions in the United States Table III.
Internal Military Interventions in the United States 1943-1990 		Page 22

NATURE OF INTER-
VENTION (1)		 NG or Fed
(2)		 FISCAL YEARS
1943-51
(3)		 FISCAL YEARS
1952-60
(4)		 FISCAL YEARS
1961-68
(5)		 FISCAL YEARS
1969-76
(6)		 FISCAL YEARS
1977-83
(7)		 FISCAL YEARS
1984-90
(8)
Civil Distur-
bances		 NG 13 7,381 15 1,092 118 203,758 192 * 40 * 9 2,353
Fed 1 ~6,000 - - 1 4,700 1 ~8,000 - - - -
Civil Rights NG - - 5 11,253 20 ~72,071 7 * - - 4 5,136
Fed - - 1 1,200 4 ~28,100 - - - - - -
Labor disputes NG 8 7,067+ 6 3,971+ 1 900 29 * 53 * 6 1,355
Fed - - - - - - 2 30,000+ 2 1,289+ - -
Anti-war
Anti-nuclear		 NG - - - - 2 870 16 * 3 * - -
Fed - - - - - - 11 33,677+ - - - -
College distur-
bances		 NG - - 1 ~100 2 1,396 18 * - - - -
Fed - - - - - - - - - - - -
Overseas possessions NG 1 ~5,000 - - - - (Puerto Rico) 1 * 4 2,831
Fed (Puerto Rico) - - - - 1 ~7,000 (Puerto Rico) Guam, P. Rico
Virgin Isls.
American Indian NG - - - - - - 3 * - - 1 24
Fed - - - - - - 1 220 - - - -
Prison disorders NG - - 6 ~1,360 1 ~10 19 * 9 * 5 443
Fed - - - - - - - - - - - -
Other interventions NG 4 1,089 4 ~940 17 ~3,604 9 * 2 * - -
Fed - - - - - - - - - - - -
Total NG 26 20,537+ 37 18,716+ 161 282,609+ 293 178,893* 108 48,752* 29 12,142
Fed 16,000~1 1,200 5 32,800~ 16 78,897+21,289+--
All 2726,537+38 19,916+ 166 315,409+ 309 257,790+ 110 50,041+2912,142

Sum for all years combined: 679 incidents involving over 681,835 troops.

See Table II for the nature of the numbers listed.

*National Guard data from 1969-83 listed all interventions, including the type of disburbance involved, but did not list the number of troops by incident. Instead, they gave only a total for the number of troops used in civil disturbances each year.

1. Unless otherwise indicated in the following notes, all categories were listed as such in the source publications.

2. Abbreviations as in Table 1.

3. Sources: Annual Report of the Chief of the National Guard for 1943-45 and the Congressional Record, 4 March 1968, pp. 5037-5038. In the years prior to 1943, the Annual Report of the Chief of the National Guard did not list internal interventions. The number of federal troops deployed in Detroit in 1943 is taken from Lee & Humphrey (1943), p. 44.

4. Source: Congressional Record, 4 March 1968, pp. 5037-5038.

5. Sources: 1956-67 data are from Congressional Record, 4 March 1968, pp. 5037-5038. Data for 1968 are taken from appendix N of 1968 Annual Report of the Chief of the National Guard. Figures quoted in the text of the Annual Report are less than those in the Appendix. The incidents categorized in the Appendix as 'civil disturbances' at the two political conventions and the Presidential Inauguration are counted here as anti-war incidents.

6. Sources: National Guard data taken from Annual Report of the Chief of the National Guard, 1969-76. Federal data are taken from US Army Historical Summary, 1969-78. For purposes of troop counts, one Army brigade is listed here as 4,000 troops and one Marine regiment as 7,000. The number of troops deployed at anti-war demonstrations and in the Post Office in Fiscal Year 1970 were not given in the Army Historical Summary and figures were taken from Facts-on-file for 1970.

7. Sources: National Guard data taken from Annual Report of the Chief of the National Guard, 1977-1983. Federal data are taken from US Army Historical Summary, 1977-83.

8. Sources: National Guard data taken from Annual Report of the Chief of the National Guard, 1984-1990. Federal data are taken from US Army Historical Summary, 1985-6. (others not available at time of writing). Interventions in Arizona in 1984-5 were listed as 'civil disturbances' in National Guard reports but have been classified here as labor disputes. Interventions in Alabama and Georgia were listed as 'civil disturbances' in National Guard reports, but have been classified here as civil rights incidents.

previous page
home page
next page