Lyndon B. Johnson

===Urban riots===
[[File:Leffler - 1968 Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. riots.jpg|thumb|left|The aftermath of a race riot in the nation's capital, [[Washington, D.C.]], in April 1968]]
Major riots in black neighborhoods caused a series of "long hot summers." They started with the [[Harlem Riot of 1964|Harlem riots]] in 1964, and the [[Watts Riots|Watts district]] of Los Angeles in 1965, and extended to 1971. The momentum for the advancement of civil rights came to a sudden halt in with the riots in Watts. After 34 people were killed and $35&nbsp;million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|35|1965|r=2}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation-year|US}}) in property was damaged, the public feared an expansion of the violence to other cities, and so the appetite for additional programs in Johnson's agenda was lost.<ref>{{harvnb|Dallek|1998|pp=222–223}}</ref>

[[1967 Newark riots|Six days of rioting in Newark]] in 1967 left 26 dead, 1,500 injured, and the inner city a burned-out shell. In [[1967 Detroit riot|Detroit in 1967]], Governor [[George W. Romney|George Romney]] sent in 7,400 national guard troops to quell fire bombings, looting, and attacks on businesses and police. Johnson finally sent in federal troops with tanks and machine guns. [[Detroit]] burned for three more days, resulting in the deaths of 43 and the injury of 2,250. Approximately 4,000 were arrested, and property damage ranged into the hundreds of millions.

In April 1968, following the [[Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr|Martin Luther King assassination]], [[King assassination riots|riots]] erupted in over 100 cities. Johnson called for even more billions to be spent in the cities and another federal civil rights law regarding housing, but his requests had little Congressional support. Johnson's popularity plummeted as a massive white political backlash took shape, reinforcing the sense Johnson had lost control of the streets of major cities and his own party.<ref>Woods, Randall (2006), pp. 790–795.; Michael W. Flamm. ''Law And Order: Street Crime, Civil Unrest, and the Crisis of Liberalism in the 1960s'' (2005).</ref> Johnson created the [[Kerner Commission]] to study the problem of urban riots, headed by Illinois Governor [[Otto Kerner Jr.|Otto Kerner]].<ref name="'70s"/> According to [[George Christian (journalist)|George Christian]], Johnson's [[White House Press Secretary|press secretary]], Johnson was unsurprised by the riots, saying: "What did you expect? ... When you put your foot on a man's neck and hold him down for three hundred years, and then you let him up, what's he going to do? He's going to knock your block off."<ref name=Kotz2005P418>{{cite book|last=Kotz|first=Nick|title=Judgment days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and the laws that changed America|year=2005|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|location=Boston|isbn=978-0-618-08825-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/judgmentdayslynd00kotz/page/418 418]|chapter=14. Another Martyr|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/judgmentdayslynd00kotz/page/418}}</ref>

Following the riots in [[Washington, D.C.]] and the [[Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr|assassination]] of [[Martin Luther King]] in April 1968, Johnson concluded that "a condition of domestic violence and disorder" existed in the nation, and he issued an executive order mobilizing combat-equipped troops. ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported that 4,000 regular [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] and [[National Guard (United States)|National Guard]] troops entered the capital "to try to end riotous looting, burglarizing and burning by roving bands of Negro youths". Some of the troops were sent to guard the [[United States Capitol|Capitol]] and [[White House]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=FRANKLIN |first1=BEN A. |title=Army Troops in Capital as Negroes Riot |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/national/race/040668race-ra.html |access-date=July 24, 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=April 6, 1968}}</ref>