Today in History - July 26: Entire town arrested, 236 children separated from families
An entire town was taken into custody in a controversial raid in the US on July 26, 1953.
All but six residents of Short Creek, Arizona, were arrested in a crackdown on polygamy.
A hundred journalists had been invited to witness the mass arrest of 400 people.
The state's residents were horrified by the sights of 236 children being tearfully separated by their parents and put into foster homes.
While the country was close to universally opposed to polygamy, the arrests backfired on Governor J Howard Pyle, who orchestrated the raid.
He was defeated for re-election the next year.
"By what stretch of the imagination could the actions of the Short Creek children be classified as insurrection?" the Arizona Republic opined.
"Were those teenagers playing volleyball in a school yard inspiring a rebellion?"
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