Baltimore riot of 1968
Encyclopedia
The Baltimore Riot of 1968 began two days after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...

 in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

, on April 4, 1968. Rioting broke out in 125 cities across the United States, and spread to the city of Baltimore, Maryland on Saturday, April 6. The Governor of Maryland
Governor of Maryland
The Governor of Maryland heads the executive branch of the government of Maryland, and he is the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard units. The Governor is the highest-ranking official in the state, and he has a broad range of appointive powers in both the State and local governments,...

, Spiro T. Agnew, called out thousands of National Guard
United States National Guard
The National Guard of the United States is a reserve military force composed of state National Guard militia members or units under federally recognized active or inactive armed force service for the United States. Militia members are citizen soldiers, meaning they work part time for the National...

 troops and 500 Maryland State Police to quell the disturbance. When it was determined that the state forces could not control the riot, Agnew requested Federal troops from President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...

. The riot lasted until April 14.

The riot resulted in more than 5,500 arrests, including 3,488 for curfew violations, 955 for burglary, 665 for looting, 391 for assault, and 5 for arson. There were seven deaths directly attributed to the rioting, six from fire and one by gunshot. In addition, an active Army soldier died in a traffic accident while redeploying from the city. Arsonists set more than 1,200 fires during the disturbance. Damage was estimated at over $12 million in 1968 dollars.

Military response

With the spread of civil disturbances across the nation, Maryland National Guard troops were called up for state duty on April 5, 1968, in anticipation of disturbances in Baltimore or the suburban portions of Maryland bordering Washington, DC. When rioting broke out in Baltimore on April 6, nearly the entire Maryland National Guard, both Army and Air, were called up to deal with the unrest. The notable exceptions were the state's air defense units (which manned surface to air missile sites around the state), those units already on duty in the Washington, DC area, and a unit positioned in Cambridge, Maryland
Cambridge, Maryland
Cambridge is a city in Dorchester County, Maryland, United States. The population was 12,326 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Dorchester County and the county's largest municipality...

 (the site of race riots in 1963 and 1967). The Adjutant General of Maryland, Major General George M. Gelston, commanded the National Guard force and also was given control of the city and state police forces in the city (approximately 1,900 police officers).

The combined National Guard and police force proved unable to contain the rioting and on Sunday, April 7, federal troops were requested. Late that evening, elements of the XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Fort Bragg is a major United States Army installation, in Cumberland and Hoke counties, North Carolina, U.S., mostly in Fayetteville but also partly in the town of Spring Lake. It was also a census-designated place in the 2010 census and had a population of 39,457. The fort is named for Confederate...

 began arriving on the scene. With the intervention of federal forces, the Maryland National Guard was called into federal duty, resulting in a shift from state control (reporting to the Governor of Maryland) to federal control (reporting through the Army chain of command to the President). The federal force, Task Force Baltimore, was organized into three brigades and a reserve. These were (roughly), the XVIII Airborne Corps troops, the Maryland National Guard, and troops from the 197th Infantry Brigade from Fort Benning, Georgia (which arrived two days later). The 1,300 troops of the Maryland Air National Guard
Maryland Air National Guard
The Maryland Air National Guard is the air force component of the militia of the U.S. state of Maryland. As a dual-status organization, it is also considered a reserve component of the United States Air Force.-Mission:...

 were organized in a provisional battalion and used to guard critical infrastructure throughout the city, as well as an ad hoc detention facility at the Baltimore Civic Center. Task Force Baltimore peaked at 11,570 Army and National Guard troops on April 9, of which all but about 500 were committed to riot control duties.

Rioting continued for several days as the Task Force sought to reassert control. Early on April 12, federal troops began to depart and by 6 pm that evening responsibility for riot control returned to the National Guard. At midnight Task Force Baltimore ceased to exist and the remainder of federal troops were withdrawn. Maryland National Guard troops remained on duty in the city until April 14, when Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew
Spiro Agnew
Spiro Theodore Agnew was the 39th Vice President of the United States , serving under President Richard Nixon, and the 55th Governor of Maryland...

 declared the emergency over and sent them home.

After action reports credited both the National Guard and active Army forces for being extremely disciplined and restrained in dealing with the disturbance, with only four shots fired by National Guard troops and two by active Army troops.

Organization of Task Force Baltimore

  • Task Force XVIII Abcar
    • 4th Battalion, 39th Artillery Regiment
    • 4th Battalion, 74rd Artillery Regiment
    • 47th Engineer Battalion
  • 197th Infantry Brigade
    • 1st Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment
    • 1st Battalion, 58th Infantry Regiment
    • 5th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment
  • Task Force Oscar
    • Task Force Emergency Headquarters Brigade
      • 1st Battalion, 175th Infantry Regiment
        175th Infantry Regiment (United States)
        The 175th Infantry Regiment is an infantry regiment of the United States Army National Guard.-History:The 175th Infantry is one of only nineteen Army National Guard units with campaign credit for the War of 1812....

      • 729th Maintenance Battalion
      • 2nd Battalion, 115th Infantry Regiment (later detached to TF Abcar)
    • Task Force Third Brigade
      • 2nd Battalion, 175th Infantry Regiment
        175th Infantry Regiment (United States)
        The 175th Infantry Regiment is an infantry regiment of the United States Army National Guard.-History:The 175th Infantry is one of only nineteen Army National Guard units with campaign credit for the War of 1812....

      • 1st Battalion, 115th Infantry Regiment
      • 121st Engineer Battalion
        121st Engineer Battalion (United States)
        The 121st Engineer Battalion was one of the first American units to land in Normandy on D-Day during World War II.-History:The division was created in 1918 in the District of Columbia National Guard. It was mobilized into Federal service in 1940 as part of the 29th Infantry Division, made up of...

  • Other participating forces:
    • 50th Signal Battalion
    • 135th Air Commando Group
      135th Airlift Group
      The United States Air Force's 135th Airlift Group is an airlift unit located at Warfield Air National Guard Base on the north side of the Martin State Airport in Middle River, Maryland.-Mission:...

    • 175th Tactical Fighter Group
      175th Wing
      The United States Air Force's 175th Wing is a composite fighter and tactical airlift unit located at Warfield Air National Guard Base at the Martin State Airport in Middle River, Maryland...



U.S. Marines from MCB Camp Lejeune and MCAS Cherry Point were also alerted to the possibility of deployment.

Legacy

One of the major outcomes of the riot was the attention Spiro Agnew
Spiro Agnew
Spiro Theodore Agnew was the 39th Vice President of the United States , serving under President Richard Nixon, and the 55th Governor of Maryland...

 received when he criticized local black leaders for not doing enough to help stop the disturbance. These statements caught the attention of Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

 who was looking for someone on his ticket who could counter George Wallace’s
George Wallace
George Corley Wallace, Jr. was the 45th Governor of Alabama, serving four terms: 1963–1967, 1971–1979 and 1983–1987. "The most influential loser" in 20th-century U.S. politics, according to biographers Dan T. Carter and Stephan Lesher, he ran for U.S...

 American Independent Party
American Independent Party
The American Independent Party is a right-wing political party of the United States that was established in 1967 by Bill and Eileen Shearer. In 1968, the American Independent Party nominated George C. Wallace as its presidential candidate and retired Air Force General Curtis E. LeMay as the vice...

, third party campaign. Agnew became Nixon’s Vice Presidential running mate in 1968
United States presidential election, 1968
The United States presidential election of 1968 was the 46th quadrennial United States presidential election. Coming four years after Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson won in a historic landslide, it saw Johnson forced out of the race and Republican Richard Nixon elected...

.

The riot had broken out mainly in the black ghettoes of East and West Baltimore in which extensive property damage and looting occurred. Many of the businesses destroyed in the riot were located along the main commercial avenues of the neighborhoods and were often owned by people of a Jewish background.

There is some debate within local communities about whether or not this incident should be called a "riot," a "civil disturbance," or a "rebellion".

In other media

The riot is mentioned on Baltimore based police dramas Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street is an American police procedural television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Homicide Unit. It ran for seven seasons on NBC from 1993 to 1999, and was succeeded by a TV movie, which also acted as the de-facto series finale...

and The Wire
The Wire (TV series)
The Wire is an American television drama series set and produced in and around Baltimore, Maryland. Created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon, the series was broadcast by the premium cable network HBO in the United States...

. On Homicide it is mentioned as one of Lt. Al Giardello
Al Giardello
Alphonse Michael Giardello, Sr. is a fictional character from the television drama Homicide: Life on the Street. The character was played by Yaphet Kotto...

 and Detective Stuart Gharty
Stuart Gharty
Stuart Gharty is a fictional character played by Peter Gerety in the television series Homicide: Life on the Street.He is introduced in the season four one-shot episode "Scene of the Crime", as a cowardly patrolman who allows two drug dealers to murder each other rather than venture into a housing...

's first assignments on the episodes "Black and Blue" and "Shades of Gray." On The Wire, it is mentioned on "Boys of Summer" as an event that proved problematic for a former Baltimore Mayor that at the same time enabled Maryland's Governor to become a Vice Presidential Nominee.

Sources

  • University of Baltimore 1968 Riot site, Baltimore '68: Riots and Rebirth, "http://www.ubalt.edu/template.cfm?page=1634", includes extensive timeline of events.
  • Maryland State Archives Document Packet, prepared by Edward C. Papenfuse and Mercer Neale, with the Assistance of the Staff of the Maryland State Archives, Is Baltimore Burning?, "http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/stagser/s1259/121/2395/html/0000.html". Includes original documents, news footage, and suggestions for further research.
  • Scheips, Paul J. The role of Federal Military Forces in Domestic Disorders, 1945-1992. United States Army Center of Military History.
  • Minami, Wayde R. Baltimore Riot Was Maryland Air Guard's Largest Mobilization, "http://www.175wg.ang.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123191607"
  • Peterson, John J. Into the Cauldron, Clavier House, 1973
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