"Master of Emergencies" would have been an instant meme!
I mention this Herbert Hoover/ Master of Emergencies thing ALL THE TIME and it occurs to me most people have no clue what I'm talking about so... an impromptu disaster history lesson!
This is Herbert. He was president from 1929 to 1933.
This is Herbert. He was president from 1929 to 1933.
Before he was president he had a bunch of important jobs like "Head of Commission for Relief" in Belgium during WWI. Post- WWI he led the American Relief Administration which handled food-related recovery across Europe.
During the Harding administration, he became the Secretary of Commerce. He was a pretty popular guy and dipped his toes into a bunch of different federal agencies.
Then the Mississippi River flooded.
Then the Mississippi River flooded.
In 1927 the Mississippi did as rivers do and flooded everything (i.e., mostly Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana) and quickly became the most destructive river flood in US history.
It was -- and I cannot stress this enough -- a shit show.
It was -- and I cannot stress this enough -- a shit show.
A lot of REALLY terrible things happened AND it was the middle of Jim Crow so you can imagine the profound racial inequality in losses and relief.
President Coolidge was uninterested, as presidents generally seemed to be at the time (and perhaps now?), about the disaster BUT eventually, it affected so many people and the economy that he had to do something.
Keep in mind there was no formal emergency management system in the way it exists today. There was no FEMA. There was no Stafford Act. No disaster declarations. The job of "emergency manager" didn't even exist.
So, long story short Coolidge sends Hoover in.
So, long story short Coolidge sends Hoover in.
Hoover wandered around and yelled at people on the radio to help.
It's not clear to me that he actually did too many useful things (some Hoover-lover is going to send me an angry email) BUT he was successful at one key thing: Making it seem like he had managed the disaster.
It's not clear to me that he actually did too many useful things (some Hoover-lover is going to send me an angry email) BUT he was successful at one key thing: Making it seem like he had managed the disaster.
Hoover, and the *white* media, deemed his response efforts a success and he brilliantly crafted a campaign for president based on his "success" in managing the 1927 flood.
Y'all, he made videos about it.
Y'all, he made videos about it.
The videos are wild.
It even touts an undercounted death toll... who could imagine!
It even touts an undercounted death toll... who could imagine!
Anyway... the campaign works and he is elected president in 1929.
Are you paying attention to the years?
Stock Market Crash, Great Depression, Dust Bowl... oh my!
Obviously, things didn't go great for him and while it wasn't *all* his fault he certainly didn't fix it.
Are you paying attention to the years?
Stock Market Crash, Great Depression, Dust Bowl... oh my!
Obviously, things didn't go great for him and while it wasn't *all* his fault he certainly didn't fix it.
Things were not going great across the country come the 1932 election.
Ida B. Wells, along with other black journalists, illuminated the inequality within the approach to the 1927 flood. Hoover lost the Northern Black vote (the flood was a factor in the Great Migration).
Ida B. Wells, along with other black journalists, illuminated the inequality within the approach to the 1927 flood. Hoover lost the Northern Black vote (the flood was a factor in the Great Migration).
FDR defeated him, became president, and signed the New Deal.
This is just a summary obviously but the point is Hoover tricked a lot of people into thinking he was the master of emergencies when he decidedly was not!
It's almost like we can learn from history
This is just a summary obviously but the point is Hoover tricked a lot of people into thinking he was the master of emergencies when he decidedly was not!
It's almost like we can learn from history
