t, which probablycaused or at least contributed to the discrepancy between expectations andcapabilities. The second step in Gurr’s primary causal sequence: The politicization of theevent. An Appeal for Federal Assistance.Between 1am and 2am , after one day of rioting, the first in a series ofcalls was made by Mayor Cavanagh to federal officials in Washington. Inconversations with Vice President Humphrey and Attorney General RamseyClark, Cavanagh was cautious in evaluating the situation but he did imply thatfederal troops might have to be called in if conditions got worse. In hisconversation with Attorney General Clark, Mayor Cavanagh was supposedlyinformed of the gravity of requesting federal troops. By 9am, the violenceshowed no signs of letting up even 1200 National Guardsmen in the streets. Inseparate telegrams to President Johnson and Attorney General Clark, MayorCavanagh officially requested the immediate dispatch of 5,000 federal troops.Some twenty-two hours after the request was made, elements of the 82ndAirborne Divisions appeared on the streets of Detroit. The politicization of the riots in Detroit had begun. Should federaltroops have been used? Based on my knowledge of the situation, MayorCavanagh MAY have been a bit premature in requesting federal troops andthus the arrival of federal troops may have in fact exacerbated the problem.Had the riots continued to intensify, federal troops may have ultimately beenneeded regardless but we’ll never know because they were summoned after amere 24 hours of upheaval.The third step in Gurr’s primary causal sequence: Actualization of violence.In the case of the Detroit riots of 1967, violence was actually permeatingthroughout the entire causal sequence and was not limited to post politicizationof the event. I believe the better analysis here, lies in analysis of the reasons forand magnitude of the violence. RD - F - A ; Relative deprivation leads to frustration, which in...
