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The most notable time 101st Airborne Division was in Cotton's home state was in 1957 when Eisenhower used the Insurrection Act to force desegregation and safely escort nine black students into Little Rock Central High School.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, was quick to dispute Trump's comments, rejecting the idea that the government can send troops to his jurisdiction.

\"I reject the notion that the federal government can send troops into the state of Illinois,\" Pritzker told CNN. \"He wants to change the subject from his failure over coronavirus, a miserable failure, and now see a moment when there's unrest because of the injustice that was done to George Floyd that he now wants to create another topic and something where he can be the law and order president.\"

\"PHOTO:
Alex Brandon/AP
PHOTO: Police begin to clear demonstrators gather as they protest the death of George Floyd, Monday, June 1, 2020, near the White House in Washington.
>

An ABC analysis:

John Cohen, former Acting Undersecretary for Intelligence at the Department of Homeland Security, who is now an ABC News contributor, noted the U.S. military, as formidable as it is, isn't trained specifically to deal with civil unrest in the U.S.

\"Placing U.S. military personnel in the position of potentially using deadly force against other U.S. citizens is not something that should be done in a cavalier manner,\" Cohen said.

\"The experience of its deployment during the Los Angeles riots faced many logistical communication and operational challenges,\" added Cohen, also a former police officer who worked in Los Angeles county. \"It wasn't seen as a successful operation by many.\"

Read the original text:

The original text of the act, which has been amended several times since it was first passed on March 3, 1807, reads as follows:

\"An Act authorizing the employment of the land and naval forces of the United States, in cases of insurrections. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in all cases of insurrection, or obstruction to the laws, either of the United States, or of any individual state or territory, where it is lawful for the President of the United States to call forth the militia for the purpose of suppressing such insurrection, or of causing the laws to be duly executed, it shall be lawful for him to employ, for the same purposes, such part of the land or naval force of the United States, as shall be judged necessary, having first observed all the pre-requisites of the law in that respect.\"

\"PHOTO:
Evan Vucci/AP, FILE
PHOTO: President Donald Trump listens as Attorney General William Barr speaks before Trump signs an executive order aimed at curbing protections for social media giants, in the Oval Office of the White House, May 28, 2020, in Washington.
>

One more thing:

When the Insurrection Act was used in 1992, Attorney General William Barr was serving as attorney general in the George H.W. Bush administration.

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that President Lyndon B. Johnson invoked the Insurrection Act in 1967 and 1968 and that President John F. Kennedy did so in 1962 and 1963.

ABC News' Martha Raddatz, Luis Martinez, Terry Moran and Trish Tuner contributed to this report.

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