urban trouble ever made, officials admit. 'We just couldn't sit back and allow another Detroit to happen in Washington,' a Defense Department official said."
There was a heavy concentration of troops on the spot at the Pentagon in addition to the full-scale mobilization on standby. The same article reveals:
"Throughout Friday night [October 20], more than 500 buses and trucks rumbled into an underground Pentagon entrance to place more than 2,500 troops inside the building in advance of the demonstration. They slept that night and Saturday night in the corridors and concourse of the military headquarters, some on bed-rolls, others on bare floors.
"Through the same night C-130 transports landed every five minutes at Andrews to bring in the standby brigade of paratroopers who were bedded down in tents along the runway.
"A number of large bulldozers were lined up at nearby Fort Meyer and kept ready for possible movement into the city. One source said the bulldozers would have been used in clearing crowds off streets. 'They would have done as good a job as tanks without the onus of tanks,' he said.
It hardly sounds as though Johnson was preparing to welcome an admiring throng of well-wishers.
PENTAGON PLANS FOR "ONE, TWO, MANY DETROITS"
The Pentagon announced November 23 that the army is assuming a new role in devising battle plans for the suppression of "riots" in U.S. cities. The Novenmber 23 New York Times reported that "Special Army teams are fanning out across the United States to coordinate antiriot planning with state and city officials...
"The teams are under instructions to put together thick folders of information on each of scores of potentially ex-
plosive cities. The data will include street maps, aerial photos, and details on communications nets, proposed command posts and emergency camp sites."
If America's war in Vietnam has not been turned into a civil war at home, extensive preparations by the military brass indicate they consider such a development at least a possibility to be reckoned with.
Extensive "riot control" training is being given to troops of the national guard, and local police departments are being beefed up in addition to plans by the army. A program has been initiated to secure recruits for police forces by offering servicemen early discharges if they will agree to become cops. Aimed particularly at GIs in Vietnam, it has the advantage for the police that those who accept the offer already have some combat experisnce.
State governments have been asked to form 125 new national guard units, about sixty percent of which will be specifically organized for "riot control" assignments.
State and local efforts will be coordinated by the army. The report in the Times specifies that "regional commanders in six Army areas have started canvassing National Guard leaders to set up initial discussions."
One question under discussion is a program to shape up the national guard as a combat-ready force. The officer's corp of the guard units, a notorious haven for well-to-do draft evaders, is threatened with a thorough "weeding out."
The ominous thought has suddenly occurred to Johnson and his cronies that when the long-talked-of second Vietnam breaks out, it might be at home. They pose this question in terms of "one, two, many Detroits." After describing the confidence of administration officials that they have the military capacity to suppress another Detroit, the Times comments:
"There is no little apprehension, however, that Army and Air Force units in the United States, already stretched thin because of Vietnam and supposedly geared to move out quickly to handle contingencies overseas, would be hard pressed to respond to two or more Detroits at one time.
WALL