on this day at the sixtieth International Olympic Committee Session in Baden-Baden, West Germany, Detroit finished ahead of bids from Mexico City, Buenos Aires and Lyon to host the Games of the XIX Olympiad.
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"his would have hurt the Olympic movement, and the race problems in the US would have become even more of a subject for international debate and comment than they actually were." - reader's commentThe contrived image of a multi-ethnic metropolis of brotherhood was shattered by the deadliest and most destructive riots in American history occurring less than twelve months before the opening ceremony was scheduled to begin.

The precipitating event began on the corner of 12th and Clairmount streets when police raided an unlicensed, after-hours bar then known as a "blind pig" in the early morning hours of Sunday, July 23, 1967. The violence escalated immediately as the police initiated confrontations with patrons and also observers.

"I'd say there'd have been a loud call to relocate the Olympics. It would probably have failed, but the Olympics would have taken place under a harsh glare of international scrutiny. " - reader's commentThe African American State Senator Coleman A. Young arrived in the city's Near West Side hoping to reduce tensions on both sides by serving as an arbitrator, Meanwhile, higher authorities had already disregarded peaceful solutions and determined that force was required. Accordingly, Governor George Romney ordered the Michigan National Guard into Detroit, and President Lyndon B. Johnson sent in the Army.

The tragic result was forty-three dead (including Coleman A. Young), 467 injured, over 7200 arrests, and more than 2000 buildings destroyed. The riot was prominently featured in the news media, with live television coverage, extensive newspaper reporting, and extensive stories in Time and Life magazines.