Eisenhower Enforcing the Law

This letter to the editor, by Kerry Kittel, appeared in the Hudson Star Observer on October 23, 2025.

Americans should remember when American presidents used the National Guard to protect Constitutional rights. When presented with indisputable evidence of mob violence against Americans, Republican Dwight Eisenhower and Democrats John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson used federal troops and National Guard units to protect them.

President Eisenhower sent troops to Little Rock, Arkansas to protect African-American students from mob violence as they attempted to attend school after the Brown v. Board decision. Eisenhower was no fan of integration, and did not support the Brown decision, but he respected the Constitution and knew it was his duty to enforce Supreme Court decisions.

President Kennedy sent federal marshals to protect Freedom Riders after they were attacked. He used troops to protect students exercising their legal rights to attend universities in Mississippi and Alabama, and sent troops into Birmingham to protect peaceful civil rights protesters who were beaten and killed by racist mobs.

President Johnson authorized the use of active-duty troops and federalized the Alabama National Guard after “Bloody Sunday”, a march for voting rights, after watching state and local police savagely beat peaceful protesters.

Each of these former presidents used federal and state troops to protect the Constitution and to uphold Supreme Court decisions.

The current President, however, is too busy seizing powers not granted him by the Constitution, including his current use of troops in Democratic states, and ignoring federal court decisions he doesn’t like.

Other than as part of his retribution campaign against personal enemies, or a desire to expand his personal power, there are no justifications for his use of troops. Congress has not authorized it and there is no danger of invasion by a foreign nation or of rebellion against the government. Crime rates, which have been declining in some of the occupied states, do not provided legal justification for using troops.

Previous presidents wanted to protect the rights and freedoms of every American. The current president is making a calculated, partisan decision to take away 1st, 4th, and 5th Amendment freedoms from people he does not like. Freedom loving Americans should oppose him every step of the way.