The National Guard in Los Angeles

October 07, 2025

In June 2025, against the wishes of local and state leaders, President Trump federalized the National Guard, deploying approximately 5,000 National Guard members to Los Angeles in response to protests against raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In addition, also against the wishes of local and state authorities, 700 Marines were deployed to protect federal facilities and personnel. California sued and in September 2025 a federal court ruled that the Trump administration acted unlawfully in its use of federalized California National Guard troops for domestic law enforcement. There are now fewer than 300 National Guard members in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. 

While this may be the first time in California history that the National Guard has been deployed against the wishes of local and state leaders, it is not the first time the National Guard has been called upon in response to unrest in Los Angeles.

By the 1940s, the Watts area of Los Angeles was a primarily Black working-class community. In August 1965, long simmering tensions over police brutality, residential segregation, employment discrimination, and poverty boiled over and led to six days of unrest, resulting in over 3,400 arrests (most people without a prior criminal record and due to curfew violations) and 34 deaths. Over the course of the six days of unrest, approximately 14,000 National Guard troops were deployed to South Los Angeles at the request of the California lieutenant governor.

A number of collections in Special Collections & Archives (SC/A) chronicle the August 1965 events in Watts. This includes the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles Collection. A non-partisan organization, the League of Women Voters believes that ongoing political education is necessary for the success of a democratic society. In addition to voter education, the League focuses on voter registration. The League of Women Voters of Los Angeles Collection at CSUN documents these twin efforts; a part of that is photographs recounting a myriad of happenings in Los Angeles – positive, negative, and somewhere in between – from 1937 to 2007. The collection includes eight photographs of Watts from August 1965.

In addition to the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles Collection, SC/A holds the Los Angeles Watts Riot Collection, which predominantly consists of newspaper clippings from 1963 to 1970 collected by CSUN professor of Sociology Dr. Farley Sheldon. The collection includes news stories written during the days of unrest as well as analyzing the causes and aftermath.

Two digital collections from the Tom & Ethel Bradley Center Photographs - the Guy Crowder and Charles Williams Collections - provide photographs of the aftermath of the 1965 Watts riots and the deployment of National Guard troops. These two photographers also document the rich heritage and community life of the Watts neighborhood and communities throughout Los Angeles. The holdings in SC/A help us to see the wide range of human experiences, from traumatic events through to vibrant community celebrations.

Image Gallery

Post tagged as: urban archives, bradley center, photographs, archives, los angeles