“We wish that”: Quoted in Bruce Lohof, “Herbert Hoover, Spokesman for Human Efficiency,” p. 694.
The flood, hemmed in: Report of Board of [Louisiana] State Engineers, 1929, pp. 98-99.
“of tremendous proportions”: Isaac Cline, “Daily Flood Bulletin,” May 12, 1927, Louisiana Collection, TUL.
“immense deposits”: Paul Dettmer, “Final Melville Report,” May 15, 1928, RCP, box 737.
“a veritable wall”: NYT, May 19, 1927.
“Their bodies were found”: NYT, May 17, 1927.
“A wall of water”: AP story appearing in MC-A, May 24, 1927.
“All population”: Hoover to Coolidge, May 24, 1927, HHPL.
“Imperative that refugees”: Hoover to Jadwin, May 13, 1927, RCP.
The War Department: See Jadwin to Hoover, May 17, 1927; Hoover to Jadwin, June 5, 1927, RCP.
the flood put as much: See American Red Cross, The Mississippi Valley Flood Disaster of 1927: Official Report of Operations (Washington, D.C., 1928), pp. 39-46.
“concentration camps”: Ibid.
“not necessarily reliable”: DeWitt Smith to Hoover, January 21, 1928, RCP.
estimated deaths: H. C. Frankenfield, “The Floods of 1927 in the Mississippi Basin,” Monthly Weather Review, Supplement 29 (Washington, D.C., 1927), p. 35; MC-A, May 30, 1927.
economic losses: American Red Cross, The Mississippi Valley Flood Disaster; Frankenfield, “The Floods of 1927 in the Mississippi Basin,” p. 35.
The river itself: Report of Board of [Louisiana] State Engineers, p. 101.
one could cross the head: B. B. Simms to General Jeff Thompson, chief Louisiana state engineer, January 12, 1874, NA, RG 77, entry 522.
“I urgently request”: Murphree to Coolidge, April 29, 1927, Coolidge Papers, microfilm, reel 181, LC.
“that a visit”: Richard Edmonds to Coolidge, April 30, 1927, Coolidge Papers, microfilm, reel 181, LC.
“that you go”: Thomas Ridgeway to Coolidge, April 25, 1927, Coolidge Papers, microfilm, reel 181, LC.
“Big Bill” Thompson: O’Keefe to Coolidge, April 27, 1927, Coolidge Papers, microfilm, reel 181, LC.
“Earnestly urge”: L. O. Crosby to Coolidge, April 29, 1927, Coolidge Papers, microfilm, reel 181, LC.
Eight senators and four: NYT, May 1, 1927.
“More than ever”: Murphree to Coolidge, May 3, 1927, Coolidge Papers, microfilm, reel 181, LC.
“send me a telegram”: Rogers to Everett Sanders, April 30, 1927, Coolidge Papers, microfilm, reel 181, LC.
every single day: NYT, April 18 through May 10, 1927.
references to him: NYT had sixty-four nonflood references to him from April through June 1927, compared to twenty-two from January through March.
“Since the last report”: “The Mississippi Flood and Mr. Hoover’s Part in Relief Work,” news summaries for May 14, 1927, HHPL.
“The Magazine section”: “The Mississippi Flood and Mr. Hoover’s Part in Relief Work,” news summaries for May 17, 1927, HHPL.
“‘There is no honor’”: “The Mississippi Flood and Mr. Hoover’s Part in Relief Work,” news summaries for May 23, 1927, HHPL.
“I can state”: Quoted in NYT, May 29, 1927.
“Only three lives”: Hoover to White, June 21, 1927, HHPL.
“Unstinted praise”: Ibid., June 17, 1927.
“the world lives”: Joan Hoff Wilson, p. 82.
“I shall be”: Lloyd, p. 84.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“the best”: Interview with Bertram Wyatt-Brown, March 1993; also, Wyatt-Brown, The House of Percy, pp. 192-193.
“Will Percy was”: Interview with Betty Carter, January 16, 1996.
“quick as a youth”: Walker Percy, Introduction to LL, p. viii.
“in a way that”: Oral history of Shelby Foote, MDAH.
“He could get”: Ibid.
“beautiful and terrible”: Walker Percy, Introduction to LL, p. viii.
“the loneliest man”: Quoted in Richard King, A Southern Renaissance, p. 82; David Cohn, “Eighteenth Century Chevalier,” pp. 562-563.
“overjoyed no one”: Percy, LL, p. 26.
“even more lacerating”: Ibid., pp. 58, 95.
“I had not loved”: Ibid., pp. 57, 141.
“the most gentle”: Ibid., p. 58.
“I must have been”: Ibid., p. 141.
“was anguish”: Ibid., p. 79.
Will had a brother: Hester Ware, “A Study of the Life and Works of William Alexander Percy,” M.A. thesis, p. 17.
“all boy”: Percy, LL, p. 126.
“perpetuating the name”: Percy, LL, p. 346.
Crowds overflowed the house: Ware, “A Study,” p. 17.
“I am your son”: William Alexander Percy, “A Legend of Lacedcaemon,” in Selected Poems (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1943), p. 380.
“this one-sided correspondence”: WAP to Camille Percy, October 6, no year, PFP.
“Mother Dear—it”: WAP to Camille Percy, August 15, no year, PFP.
“Mother Dear, Things”: WAP to Camille Percy, July 24, 1922, PFP.
“was always happening”: Percy, LL, pp. 110-111.
“sick for a home”: Ibid., p. 112.
“[L]et your writing”: WAP to Audrey Bunch, September 4, 1927, PFP.
“first requirement”: WAP to DuBose Heyward, July 14, 1923, PFP.
“‘How many trees’”: Ibid., “L.P.,” p. 235; “Enzio’s Kingdom,” p. 171.
“Father was”: Percy, LL, p. 270.
“Sappho in Levkas”: WAP to DuBose Heyward, July 14, 1923, PFP.
To think nobility: William Alexander Percy, “Sappho in Levkas,” in Selected Poems, pp. 40-56.
“some young god”: Ibid., “To Lucrezia,” p. 15.
“the best place”: LP to C. B. Adams, August 17, 1917, PFP.
“I am considerably”: LP to his brother Walker Percy, July 8, 1908, PFP.
“I had attacks”: Percy, LL, p. 126.
“My father and mother”: William Alexander Percy, “The Fifth Autumn,” PFP.
“Will moved in their”: For a summary of Will’s involvement with this community, see Wyatt-Brown, pp. 208, 218-222.
“I’m about convinced”: WAP to Janet Dana Longcope, n.d., Special Collections, Louisiana State University Library.
“the center of”: WAP to Janet Dana Longcope, n.d., Special Collections, Louisiana State University Library.
“That boy of mine”: LP to John Sharp Williams, November 14, 1916, John Sharp Williams Papers, LC.
“There were patches”: WAP to LP, August, 31, 1918, PFP.
“Dear Father”: WAP to LP, October 4, 1918, PFP.
“honor I deserved”: WAP to Camille Percy, November 11, 1918, PFP.
“The negroes”: LP to John Sharp Williams, August 4, 1919, John Sharp Williams Papers, LC.
“I can’t see”: See WAP to John Sharp Williams, February 16, 1921, John Sharp Williams Papers, LC.
“slaveholders began”: Percy, LL, p. 5.
“[W]hat can a white”: Ibid., p. 22.
“their obliterating genius”: Ibid., p. 309.
Some, it was rumored: Interview with David Cober, February 25, 1993.
“my only tie”: Percy, LL, p. 296.
“turn[ing] to stone”: William Alexander Percy, “Medusa,” in Selected Poems, p. 244.
“I understand”: WAP to Brick Row Book Shop, February 25 and March 7, 1922, PFP.
Fellow alumnus Monte Lemann: See Lemann to WAP, October 21, 1926; WAP to Lemann, October 26, 1926, PFP.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Will returned home: Percy, LL, p. 247.
“We heard this storm”: Interview with David Cober, February 25, 1993.
“like zero made audible”: Percy, LL, p. 250.
“Water was”: Interview with Jesse Pollard, March 3, 1993.
“Guess you better”: Percy, LL, p. 251.
“Senator Percy”: Interview with Hunter Kimbrough, January 5, 1993; intervie
w with Frank Hall, December 18, 1992; see also Paxton, Three Wars and a Flood, p. 24.
“All citizens”: Mississippi National Guard, Report of Flood Relief Expedition, MDAH; Paxton, p. 25.
“Flood conditions”: GD-T, April 23, 1927.
Rumors began to spread: JC-L, April 24, 1927.
“Conditions Greenville”: Gen. Malin Craig to A.G., April 23, 1927, NA, RG 94, Office of the Adjutant General.
the city water supply: Mississippi National Guard, Report of Flood Relief Expedition, MDAH.
“The situation here”: NOT, April 25, 1927.
“Whatever Senator Percy”: Interview with M. L. Payne, March 4, 1993.
“The city will”: GD-T, April 23, 1927.
“It is the plan”: NOS, April 23, 1927.
the government steamer Control: NOT, GD-T, and NOT-P, all April 25, 1927.
“[N]one of us”: Percy, LL, p. 258.
Will responded bitingly: Ibid., p. 257.
he found Will: The following account comes chiefly from Percy, LL, p. 257; the GD-T, April 23 through April 29, 1927; and Oral history of Joe Rice Dockery, December 13, 1979, MDAH.
Finally, Will capitulated: Percy, LL, pp. 257-258.
The Wabash: GD-T, April 26, 1927.
“breakdown”: WAP to Gerstle Mack, May 15, 1927, PFP.
“We are urging”: GD-T, April 26, 1927.
the first refugee death: Percy Bell to “Dear Folks,” April 30, 1927, kindly supplied by Charles Greenleaf Bell.
Rumors spread that Taggart: Interview with David Cober, February 25, 1993; Oral history of Salvador Signa, December 1, 1976, MDAH.
Approximately 4,000 whites: Mississippi National Guard, Report of Relief Expedition, MDAH.
Paperboys delivered: Oral history of Reed Dunn, Mississippi Oral History Program, University of Southern Mississippi.
peddlers set up stands: Oral history of Frank Ciolino, August 22, 1978, MDAH.
Rowboats were ordered: Memphis Courier-Appeal, April 29, 1927.
people constantly played: Oral history of Theodore Pountain, MDAH.
a thriving black market: Oral history of Salvador Signa, MDAH.
“The town is”: Percy Bell to “Dear Folks,” April 30, 1927.
Roughly 5,000 blacks: Mississippi National Guard, Report of Flood Relief Expedition, MDAH.
Up to 13,000: Memo of C. P. Doe to DeWitt Smith, January 6, 1928, RCP.
“Bye Bye Blackbird”: Oral history of Ernest Waldauer, MDAH.
“groups of negroes”: GD-T, April 28, 1927.
“all the negroes”: Percy Bell to “Dear Folks,” April 30, 1927.
The food blacks received: Interview with Frank Carlton, February 24, 1993; Oral history of Ernest Bueller, March 17, 1977, MDAH.
“It is our duty”: MC-A, April 28, 1927.
“[I]n no case will”: JC-L, April 30, 1927.
“Plantation owners”: Undated memo of A. L. Shafer, titled “Return of Refugees,” to national Red Cross representative in Mississippi, RCP.
“furnish a list”: JC-L, Memphis Courier-Appeal, May 18, 1927.
“I have seen nothing”: “Statement to Shareholders,” April 1, 1928, D&PLCP; Johnston to Hicks & Co., May 9, 1927, D&PLCP.
In an effort: Johnston to H. Lee, April 26, 1927, D&PLCP.
a special train: Johnston to H. Lee, May 2, 1927, D&PLCP.
“‘Don’t give ’em’”: Oral history of Salvador Signa, MDAH.
“Here 440,000 acres”: MC-A, May 12, 1927.
Unloading barges: Oral history of Ernest Waldauer, MDAH.
“Imperative to increase”: Paxton to Green, April 27, 1927, quoted in JC-L, April 28, 1927.
“No able-bodied negro”: GD-T, May 9, 1927.
all Red Cross work: In his autobiography Will justifies his position by claiming the Red Cross prohibited payment to recipients of its bounty. This was not the case. See Percy, LL, pp. 258-269.
“Me and Horace”: Oral history of Salvador Signa, MDAH.
“They wasn’t given”: Oral history of John Johnston, MDAH.
“The Guard would”: Oral history of Mrs. Henry Ransom, MDAH.
“The colored people”: Oral history of Percy McRaney, MDAH.
“On the levee”: Interview with Joe Thomas Reilly, December 16, 1992.
“just like dogs”: Oral history of Addie Oliver, MDAH.
“caught”: Mississippi National Guard, Report of Flood Relief Expedition, MDAH.
Two particular companies: Interview with David Cober, February 25, 1993; interview with Lamar Britton, March 1, 1993; draft report of Colored Advisory Commission, June 4, 1927, HHPL; “Final Report,” April 6, 1928, NA, RC, box 744.
“guilty of acts”: WAP to Johnston, February 11, 1937, D&PLCP.
continued food shortages: GD-T, May 9, 1927.
“the Argonne”: WAP to Gerstle Mack, May 15, 1927, PFP.
“To falter or fail”: MC-A, May 12, 1927.
“rotten”: GD-T, May 16, 1927.
“We will stand”: Ibid.
“The negroes in town”: GD-T, May 24, 1927; note, orders containing a misprint appeared on May 23.
employers were paying: See, for example, Oscar Johnston to V. E. Cartledge, June 30, 1927, D&PLCP.
“Refugees Herded”: Chicago Defender, May 6, 1927.
“Conscript Labor”: Pittsburgh Courier, May 14, 1927.
“W. A. Percy…”: Chicago Defender, June 4, 1927.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
77 percent of blacks: Henry Lee Moon, Balance of Power: The Negro Vote (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1948), pp. 48-50.
94 percent support: Ibid.
the 1924 presidential election: Harold Gosnell, Negro Politicians, pp. 28-30; see also Harold Gosnell, Champion Campaigner, p. 212; and Nancy Weiss, Farewell to the Party of Lincoln, pp. 11, 31.
black Republicans: See, for example, GOP National Committee-woman Mary Booze to John Overton, GOP State Committee, and Perry Howard, January 22, 1926, PFP.
Only in Memphis: Moon, p. 176.
“injustice”: Barnett to Hoover, May 4, 1927, HHPL.
“being made to work”: Anonymous letter to Coolidge, May 9, 1927, RCP, box 743.
“voice the protest”: Capper to Hoover, May 10, 1927, HHPL.
“charges of race”: Jane Addams to Hoover, May 16, 1927, quoted in wire from Lawrence Richey to George Akerson, May 18, 1927, HHPL.
“It is said”: Sidney Redmond to Coolidge, April 30, 1927, Coolidge Papers, LC.
Even professional Red Cross: Ruth Thomas to Earl Kilpatrick, May 20, 1927, RCP, box 743.
“Chicago Defender”: Wire from Fieser to Henry McClintock, May 14, 1927, RCP; see also William Baxter to Henry Baker, May 19, 1927, RCP, box 743.
“colored people”: Hoover to Baker, May 13, 1927, HHPL.
“The American Red Cross”: Baker to William Pickens, May 13, 1927, RCP, box 743.
“Never before”: Mrs. L. M. Moore, Treasurer of Pine Bluff branch of NAACP, to NAACP Headquarters, May 18, 1927, NAACP Papers, LC.
“request [for] source”: see Baker to McClintock, summary of responses, May 14, 1927, RCP, box 743.
“Charges that colored”: See, for example, responses from N. R. Bancroft, Deeson, Mississippi, and Monticello, Arkansas (unsigned), to Baker, May 13, 1927, RCP, box 743.
“It is the desire”: Monticello, Arkansas (unsigned), to Baker; Camp Commander, Yazoo City, to Baker, both May 13, 1927, RCP, box 743.
the NAACP began publicly: See, for example, wires from White to Bolton Smith and to John Clark, both on May 12, 1927; NAACP Papers, LC.
“I have managed”: Irwin’s letter was quoted in a telegram from Hoover’s aide Lawrence Richey to George Akerson, June 9, 1927, HHPL.
northern papers ran articles: NYT and New York Herald Tribune, May 28, 1927.
“With view to”: Hoover to R. R. Moulton [Moton], May 24, 1927, HHPL; memoir written by Henry Baker, RCP, box 743; Hoover to Robert Bondy, May 21, 1927, HHPL.
“some of the most”: Sidney Redmond t
o Attorney General John Sargent, July 5, 1927, U.S. Dept. of Justice records, peonage file, NA.
he failed to inform Redmond: Redmond to Hoover, January 5, 1928, HHPL.
“[A]fter the first”: Hoover to Will Irwin, June 10, 1927, HHPL.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“By July 18”: GD-T, May 25, 1927.
“Worry is not”: Margaret Wells Wood, Social Hygiene Lecturer, to Valeria Park, M.D., “Special Report,” July 10, 1927, RCP, box 740; see also “Social Hygiene and the Mississippi Flood Disaster,” Journal of Social Hygiene 13, no. 8, pp. 455-457.
“for the purpose”: GD-T, May 31, 1927.
“We propose”: Ibid.
“The guns are”: Interview with Maurice Sisson, October 22, 1993; interview with John Jackson, March 9, 1993.
Levye Chapple: Interview with Chapple’s granddaughter, Katherine Bradbury Thompson, March 9, 1993.
“We are citizens”: Draft report of Colored Advisory Committee, June 1927, RCP, box 744; interview with Maurice Sisson, October 22, 1993; interview with John Wiley, October 22, 1993.
Chapple, McMiller, and others: GD-T, June 1, 1927; interview with John Wiley, October 22, 1993; interview with Maurice Sisson, October 22, 1993; interview with John Jackson, March 9, 1993; draft report of Colored Advisory Committee, June 1927, RCP, box 744; interview with Mildred Commodore, McMiller’s daughter, August 3, 1995.
The question was: Interview with John Wiley, October 22, 1993; interview with Maurice Sisson, October 22, 1993; interview with John Jackson, March 9, 1993; draft report of Colored Advisory Committee, June 1927, RCP, box 744.
“I don’t mind”: LP to J. B. Ray, December 28, 1906, PFP; see also Willis, “On the New South Frontier,” pp. 147-149.
Emanuel Smith: Interview with John Wiley, October 22, 1993; interview with Maurice Sisson, October 22, 1993.
J. D. Fowler: Ibid.
“500 Colored Men Wanted”: Draft report of Colored Advisory Committee, June 1927, RC, box 744.
“I kept my”: Interview with Mildred Commodore.
On the eighth day: JC-L, June 17, 1927.
“our colored citizens”: City Council minutes of June 7, 1927.
“You have”: GD-T, June 13, 1927.
“all colored citizens”: Ibid.
“Believe food”: Crosby to Hoover, June 15, 1927, HHPL.
He vetoed cutting: Ibid.; Hoover to Crosby, June 16, 1927, HHPL.
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