Rising Tide

by John M. Barry

  “I have been in”: Kemper to Garsaud, December 24, 1925, NOCA.

  “If the levees up river”: Minutes of Orleans Levee Board, April 20, 1927.

  the U.S. Surgeon General refused: Kemp, p. 143.

  Dr. William Mercer: Landry, p. 105.

  “You all make”: Pierce Butler, The Unhurried Years, p. 128, 162.

  “really quite off”: Pierce Butler, Laurel Hill and Later, p. 102.

  Butler almost never: Interview with Laura Bayon, February 10, 1993.

  Butler’s wife: Ibid.

  Butler grew tired: Interview with Harry Kelleher, December 1, 1992; Kelleher himself was both Rex and president of the Boston Club; his daughter was Queen of Comus.

  “He was an unattractive”: Interview with Herman Kohlmeyer, December 10, 1992.

  “I really want”: Ibid.

  “elegant”: NOT-P, January 12, 1996.

  Butler turned to the men: The account of this meeting comes from several interviews, including those with Pearl Pool Amos, January 27, 1993; Meyer Dressner, February 2, 1993; and Charles Dufour, November 26, 1992. Another account is found in a transcript of the Proceedings of the Mississippi River Commission for 1926-1928, pp. 4355-4411, at the Humphreys Engineering Center, Ft. Belvoir, Virginia. See also minutes of the meetings about the flood emergency and what became Jim Butler’s quasi-official role, kept by Harry Caplan, secretary to the president of the Canal Bank, in the Caplan Papers.

  The Caplan Papers, hereafter CP, are careful minutes of the executive committee of the Citizens Flood Relief Committee. The papers also include minutes of the full committee and minutes of other related meetings, as well as documents, correspondence, and news clippings. Occasionally, the minutes provide actual stenographic transcripts of the most important meetings.

  The Illinois Central: See ongoing fight between Hecht and Bernhard related in Association of Commerce minutes—for example, April 21, 1927, and July 20, 1927, ACP. Also Walter Parker to Alfred Danziger, July 27, 1927, NOCA.

  “The people of New Orleans”: Interview with Pearl Pool Amos, January 27, 1993; see also Isaac Cline, Storms, Floods and Sunshine, pp. 197-200.

  As a boy: Butler, The Unhurried Years, p. 73.

  “I believe”: See above, note for p. 353 regarding account of this meeting.

  “This is a wonderful”: Interview with Charles Dufour, April 1, 1993.

  As soon as O’Keefe: John Legier to Arthur O’Keefe, May 12, 1926, NOCA.

  the levee board had just: CP.

  A large Pythian convention: Testimony of Leondard Kieffer, HFCCH, p. 255.

  “more than five inches”: See NOT and NOT-P, April 16, 1927.

  “Mr. and Mrs. James”: NOT, April 16, 1927.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  In St. Bernard: Background on St. Bernard comes chiefly from interviews with William Hyland, January 4, 1993; Matthew Reuter, February 11, 1993; Lena Torres and Manny Fernandez, December 10, 1992; and Herman Kohlmeyer, December 30, 1992.

  544 were swamp or marsh: “Historical Sketch, Inventory of the Parish Archives,” 1938, p. 6, NOCA.

  Louisiana produced more fur: Saxon, p. 331; SBV, August 21, 1926, cited in Glenn Jeansonne, Leander Perez, p. 32.

  150 pelts a day: Description of trapping and Delacroix Island come chiefly from interviews with Joseph Campo, November 23, 1992; Lily Silvera Lopez Raiborn, November 18, 1992; William Hyland, January 4, 1993; and Matthew Reuter, February 11, 1993.

  “Meraux had a studied”: Interview with William Hyland, January 4, 1993.

  the 1905 yellow fever: NOT-P, October 7, 1938; NOI, October 7, 1938; SBV, October 9, 1938.

  “I used to study”: Interview with a former Meraux employee who required anonymity, February 11, 1993.

  the largest taxpayer: SBV, January 29, 1924.

  Château des Fleurs: Interview with former St. Bernard Parish employee who desires anonymity, February 11, 1993.

  “Every one of those”: Interview with Val Dauterive, February 16, 1993.

  a caravan of three: SBV, April 21, 1923; testimony quoted in SBV, May 19, 1923.

  “I heard you take”: Memo of agent A. Needham, May 29, 1925, Justice Department records, NA, RG 60, file reference 23-32-105.

  Meraux promised him: Justice Department records, NA, RG 60, file reference 23-32-105; Ferdinand Estopinal to Assistant Attorney General, June 29, 1926; Estopinal to Attorney General, August 10 and September 13, 1926, Justice Department records, NA.

  “He had absolutely no”: Interview with Kohlmeyer.

  “Molero was very”: Interview with New Orleans attorney who prefers anonymity, December 29, 1992.

  “the Trappers’ War”: For the best summary of the Trappers’ War, see Jeansonne.

  until three conditions were met: testimony of Col. Charles Potter, president of the Mississippi River Commission, HFCCH, p. 2069.

  “Residents had been warned”: NYT, April 19, 1927.

  Butler would even be authorized: Irving Gumbel to Thomson, April 22, 1927, NOCA.

  “Rumors!”: See NOI, NOT, and NOT-P, April 22, 1927.

  “New Orleans is not affected”: NOT, April 21, 1927.

  “We have never seen”: Owen testimony, HFCCH, p. 161.

  “unless there were”: NOT, April 23, 1927.

  Thomson met with Coolidge: Ibid.; CP, same date.

  They increased to 500: NOT, April 22, 1927.

  6 million sandbags: Quoted in Lyle Saxon, Father Mississippi, p. 317.

  Business in New Orleans: Quoted in ibid.

  “Maj. Allen said”: AP story as run in the Washington Post, April 25 and 26, 1927.

  “Do you know”: Interview with Betty Carter, April 5, 1995.

  A reporter and photographer: NOT-P, April 25, 1927.

  report on Governor Simpson’s: NOS, NOT, both on April 25, 1927.

  Their answers: NOT-P, January 9, 1928, and April 27, 1927; NOT, April 22 and 27, 1927.

  Manuel Molero: NOT, April 27, 1927; Cline, p. 199.

  O’Keefe, Pool, and Dufour: NOT, April 27, 1927; NOT-P, April 27, 1927.

  “The possibility of danger”: NOS, April 24, 1927.

  “Pool pleaded with me”: Cline, pp. 197-200.

  “You may go”: Ibid.

  it was “too confidential”: Memo from Mississippi Flood Control Association, Office of Adjutant General, April 23, 1927, NA, RG 94.

  Meanwhile, Butler, Hecht, and Dufour: See narrative in CP for April 24 through April 27, 1927.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  the river began seeping: Saxon, pp. 322, 324; interview with Harry Kelleher.

  “hysterical”: Testimony of Col. Lewis, Mississippi River Commission hearing at New Orleans, July 8, 1927, NA, RG 77.

  “for the psychological effect”: Testimony of Col. Charles Potter, president of the Mississippi River Commission, HFCCH, p. 2069.

  “In order to avoid”: Copy in CP, also NOT, NOT-P, April 27, 1927.

  Mayor O’Keefe and fifty: The Caplan Papers are the chief source for the account of this crucial meeting. See also lengthy stories in all four New Orleans papers over a period of several days, esp. NOT-P, NOT, NOS, and NOI, all April 27, 1927, for account of the events.

  It stipulated three things: Ibid.

  Of the fifty-one other: See list of Boston Club members as of December 1, 1927, available in TUL; see also Landry.

  “I have before me”: See CP; also NOT-P, NOT, NOS, and NOI, all April 27, 1927.

  “Where do they get”: SBV, April 30, 1927.

  “Let’s sleep on our shotguns”: Ibid.

  “get proper compensation”: NOT-P, NOT, NOI, NOS, April 27, 1927; MC-A, April 26, 1927; JC-L, April 27 and 28, 1927.

  “They didn’t want”: CP; NOT-P, NOT, NOI, NOS, April 27, 1927; see also MC-A, April 26, 1927; JC-L, April 27 and 28, 1927.

  “The citizens and taxpayers”: Perez and Nunez to Secretary of War, April 26, 1927, Adjutant General records, NA, RG 94.

  “vigorously protest[ing]”: CP.

  “The relief to b
e”: CP, April 26, 1927.

  the representatives of St. Bernard: Account of these several discussions are most detailed in CP, in effect an abbreviated transcript, with other information in the NOT-P, NOT, NOI, NOS, all April 27, 1927; and SBV, April 20, 1927.

  “What else can we do”: MC-A, April 28, 1927.

  Inside the city: NOT, April 27, 1927.

  a wire from the secretary of war: Davis to Simpson, Adjutant General records, NA, RG 94.

  “Everything is set”: CP.

  “I have nothing to do”: Oral history of Turner Catledge, HHPL.

  The news was kept from Simpson: MC-A, April 27, 1927.

  “The Mississippi River Commission”: NOT, April 27, 1927.

  “He was on”: Interview with Leon Sarpy, February 18, 1993.

  Molero was in Delacroix Island: NOT, April 28, 1927.

  “We will not reveal”: MC-A, April 28, 1927.

  The council adopted it: Pool to O’Keefe, April 27, 1928, NOCA.

  “Trade Shows Flood”: NOT, April 28, 1927.

  “Contrary to disquieting rumors”: Butler to long list of banks, April 28, 1927, copy in CP.

  “I would suggest”: Ibid.

  That night: Oral history of Mrs. Gordon Wilson, FC.

  On the levee: AP story published widely—for example, in Dallas Morning News, April 29, 1927.

  “That’s where”: MC-A, April 29, 1927.

  The aerial photographs: Interview with Mrs. Rose Monroe, February 17, 1993.

  “Only the privileged”: Saxon, p. 322.

  no representative: SBV, May 7, 1927.

  Emergency Clearing House: Minutes of Emergency Clearing House Publicity Committee, April 29, 1927, CP.

  39 tons: Report by Garsaud, CP.

  “We’re letting ’em”: Saxon, p. 339.

  “Gentlemen, you have seen”: Ibid., p. 324.

  “the greatest flood”: Isaac Cline, “Special Flood and Warning Bulletin,” May 1, 1927, Louisiana Collection, TUL.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  “is a strange mixture”: Calvin Coolidge, The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge, pp. 228-229.

  “There is no right”: Donald McCoy, Calvin Coolidge, pp. 119-121; Mark Sullivan, The Twenties, pp. 65-66.

  “The power and”: Coolidge, p. 190.

  “Unprecedented floods”: Coolidge Papers, LC.

  “a dreamer”: Richard Smith, An Uncommon Man, p. 107.

  “the intense repression”: Craig Lloyd, Aggressive Introvert, p. 4.

  “Leave me not”: George Nash, The Life of Herbert Hoover, p. 15.

  “a kind of complex”: Quoted in Joan Hoff Wilson, Herbert Hoover, p. 11.

  “lifetime ambition”: Smith, p. 30.

  “I would rather”: Nash, p. 345.

  “the highest paid man”: Quoted in Carol Wilson, Herbert Hoover, p. 52.

  “a wizard of finance”: Nash, p. 411.

  At forty he owned: Schlesinger, The Crisis of the Old Order 1919-1933, pp. 79-85 passim.

  “run through his profession”: Joan Hoff Wilson, p. 23.

  “The American is”: Hoover to George Bancroft, quoted in Nash, p. 504.

  “as rich as”: Nash, pp. 504, 513.

  “But you are trying”: Ibid., p. 482.

  “Engineering is”: Ibid.

  “exactness makes”: Smith, p. 80.

  the number of engineers: Edwin Layton, The Revolt of the Engineers, p. 3.

  “machinery is our”: Robert Wohl, A Passion for Wings (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994), quoted in A. Alverez, “Lonely Passion,” New York Review of Books, February 2, 1995, p. 7.

  Eads had played: Andrew Carnegie, The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie, p. 174.

  “The same principles”: Layton, p. 143.

  “[h]armony not discord”: Quoted in David McCullough, The Path Between the Seas, p. 563.

  “[M]etaphysics has practically”: Ibid., p. 59.

  “The golden rule”: Ibid., p. 67.

  “a principle so full”: Eads, St. Louis dinner, March 23, 1875, ALP, p. 47.

  “The Millennium”: Samuel Hays, Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency, p. 124.

  “The shop”: Terry Reynolds, ed., The Engineer in America, p. 408.

  “By some false”: Herman Bernstein, Herbert Hoover, pp. 40-41.

  “the average politician’s”: Layton, p. 147.

  “directorate”: See, for example, Thorstein Veblen, Engineers and the Price System (New York: Viking, 1921), p. 141.

  “the engineering profession personified”: Joan Hoff Wilson, p. 43.

  “the world lives”: Quoted in ibid., p. 59.

  “the biggest figure”: Schlesinger, p. 85.

  Polish soldiers had executed: Bernstein, Herbert Hoover, pp. 21-22.

  “the only man”: Schlesinger, p. 83.

  “abandonment of”: Joan Hoff Wilson, p. 37.

  “the ruthlessness”: Smith, p. 93.

  “ordered liberty”: Joan Hoff Wilson, p. 7.

  “the social and economic”: William Appleman Williams, “What This Country Needs,” New York Review of Books, November 5, 1970, p. 8.

  “No civilization could”: Hoover, American Individualism, pp. 19, 22-23.

  “[T]he real need”: Ibid., p. 58.

  “precise and efficient”: Quoted in Layton, pp. 189-190; Hoover, American Individualism, pp. 22, 58.

  “abnormally shy”: Henry Pringle, “Hoover: An Enigma Easily Misunderstood,” World’s Work 56 (June 1928), pp. 131-143.

  “the pneumatic drill”: Smith, p. 53.

  “those strong men”: Lloyd, p. 82.

  “He is certainly”: Schlesinger, pp. 79-85.

  “I am 100 percent”: Schlesinger, pp. 79-85; Gary Best, “The Hoover-for-President Boom,” pp. 228, 244.

  Old Guard GOP senators: Joan Hoff Wilson, p. 80.

  “I should prefer”: See Robert Murray, “Herbert Hoover and the Harding Cabinet” in Ellis Hawley, Herbert Hoover as Secretary of Commerce, p. 20.

  “Hoover sees”: Lloyd, p. 92

  “organized”: Ellis Hawley, “Herbert Hoover and Economic Stabilization 1921-22,” in Hawley, Herbert Hoover as Secretary of Commerce, p. 65.

  Hoover then had the Federation: Layton, p. 203.

  the Better Homes of America Association: Joan Hoff Wilson, p. 111.

  This group advocated: Ibid.; also, Ellis Hawley, The Great War and the Search for a Modern Order, p. 114.

  He helped make second mortgages: Rosenwald to Hoover, n.d., HHPL.

  “We are passing”: Joan Hoff Wilson, p. 68.

  “the most powerful”: Michael Parrish, Anxious Decades: America in Prosperity and Depression (New York: Norton 1992), pp. 74-80.

  “not marked as coming”: Lloyd, p. 66.

  “among the few”: NYT, December 17, 1922.

  Literary Digest ran a story: Literary Digest, May 14, 1927; note that the magazine dated its issues far in advance of actual publication.

  “Capital Mystified”: NYT, April 16, 1927.

  “That man has offered”: Joan Hoff Wilson, p. 124.

  “consumed with ambition”: Quoted in Richard Smith, An Uncommon Man, p. 144.

  “I felt”: Joan Hoff Wilson, p. 121.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  “The Army Engineers”: Unsigned Red Cross memorandum, “Conference Presidents Red Cross Committee,” April 22, 1927; statement by Dwight Davis following conference, April 22, 1927; both in RCP.

  “to use such government”: Henry Baker to J. D. Cremer, August 1, 1928, RCP.

  “In the course of”: Quoted in Bruce Lohof, “Hoover and the 1927 Mississippi Flood,” Ph.D. diss., p. 106.

  “Essential push”: Fieser to James McClintock, May 5, 1927; Fieser to Henry Baker, May 6, 1927; Fieser to T. R. Buchanan, May 9, 1927, all in RCP.

  Hoover himself: Oral history of Turner Catledge, HHPL.

  wire daily reports: F. D. Beneke to Edgar Jadwin, April 30, 1927, Office of the Adjutant General central files, NA, RG 94.

  “squar
ely on”: See memo from Henry Baker to Fieser, May 2, 1927, Box 741, RCP.

  Hoover streamlined things more: Henry Baker to J. D. Cremer, August 1, 1928, RCP.

  The Memphis mayor had assigned: Oral history of Turner Catledge, HHPL.

  he was bankrolling: William McCain, “The Life and Labor of Dennis Murphree,” unpublished ms., 1950, MDAH.

  Crosby would soon become: Wire from Simpson to Hoover, April 27, 1927, HHPL.

  Only six people: Interview with Frank Hall, March 24 and December 18, 1992.

  professional fisherman came: Foster Davis to Robert Bondy, May 4, 1927, RCP.

  “I made myself”: Interview recorded by historian Pete Daniel, who kindly shared tapes of interviews he conducted for his book Deep’n as It Come.

  The Clearing House Association: Interview with Hunter Kimbrough, November 27, 1992.

  “I go into Jim’s Café”: Daniel’s interview tape.

  “I searched”: Ibid.

  “He found one family”: Daniel’s interview with Virginia Pullen in Vicksburg, May 13, 1975.

  “We could hear”: Tape of panel discussion at Second Levee Break Celebration, Greenville, Miss., April 1990, loaned by Jack Gannon.

  “I come here”: Quoted in Daniel, p. 17; Oscar Johnston to H. W. Lee, Fine Cotton Spinners and Doublers Assoc., May 2, 1927, D&PLCP.

  “For thirty-six hours”: Percy, LL, p. 250.

  “The Mississippi Delta”: Van de Waltman to Commerce Department, April 29, 1927, RCP.

  “just swelled up”: Oral history of Henry Mascagni, August 8, 1977, MDAH.

  “fully two hundred bodies”: Fieser to A. L. Shafer, May 7, 1927, HHPL.

  they took soundings: Interview with Frank Hall, December 23, 1992; also Daniel’s 1975 interview with Caillouet.

  “[e]very relief boat”: See, for example, Spalding to District Engineer, Louisville, Kentucky, April 26, 1927, RC, RG 2, box 740.

  “I am speaking”: Radio address, May 1, 1927, HHPL.

  “The swiftly moving current”: NYT, May 6, 1927.

  “Today it is possible”: MC-A, May 5, 1927.

  “For mile after mile”: NYT, May 6, 1927.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  “First in Cairo”: NYT, May 9, 1927.

  “[Failure would] increase”: Ibid.; NYT, May 10, 1927.