Fact check: Is yesterday the first time the national guard was sent to stop a protest?

1. Summary of the results

The National Guard has been deployed to handle protests numerous times throughout U.S. history - this is definitely not the first instance. Historical deployments date back to the earliest days of the nation, with Presidents Washington and Adams using state militia to suppress rebellions in 1794 and 1799 ^[1]. Notable deployments occurred during:

• The Civil Rights era
• 1992 Los Angeles riots
• 2020 George Floyd protests ^[2]
• 1956 Tennessee integration
• 1957 Little Rock school desegregation
• 1965 Watts protests in Los Angeles ^[3]

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

The most recent deployment (June 8, 2025) has several unique characteristics worth noting:

• It involved 300 troops initially, escalating to 1,700 under Task Force 51 ^[4]
• It was specifically related to immigration raids and protests ^[5]
• President Trump made rare use of federal powers by deploying the Guard without California Governor Newsom's consent ^[5]

This deployment follows other recent uses of the National Guard, including:

• The 2020 Floyd protests in Los Angeles
• A festival in Philadelphia in 2023 ^[6]

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The question suggests a lack of historical knowledge that could lead to:

• Overestimating the uniqueness of the current situation
• Underestimating the frequency of National Guard deployments in American history
• Misunderstanding the established legal framework for such deployments

This type of framing could benefit those who want to portray the current deployment as unprecedented or unusually authoritarian. However, the historical record clearly shows that National Guard deployments for civil unrest have been a recurring feature of American governance since the nation's founding ^[1]. The unique aspect of the current deployment isn't that it happened, but rather the specific circumstances of federal override of state authority ^[5].