Presidents v. Natural Disasters

October 31, 2017

George H.W. Bush- Hurricane Andrew

According to the New York Times, after Katrina smashed into South Florida, President Geroge H. W. Bush declared a major disaster and ew to Miami to inspect the damage.

Neither he nor the Federal Emergency Management Agency directed the armed forces to deliver all the aid they were ready to send to storm victims.

Interviews with of cials at numerous Federal agencies suggest that local of cials were not prepared for the devastation following the land- fall of Hurricane Andrew, which caused hesitant action and confusion amongst the government.

The confusion and delay spread up the chain of command, and the lack of action by the Fed- eral Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was the nal weak link in the confusing chain of command.

According to the New York Times, “the victim’s anger at the delay burst into the national news media, creating a serious political problem for Bush, who was struggling to shed the image that he was detached from domestic problems and unwilling to act quickly to solve them.”

Bill Clintion- Hurricanes Dennis, Floyd, and Irene

According to the New York Times, Presi- dent Clinton issued an unusual pre-emptive declaration of disaster for the state, mak- ing Federal aid available even before the first palm tree had been pushed down.

According to deseretnews.com, the pres- ident dropped plans for a day of golf in Hawaii where Air Force One was stopping to refuel en route back from a five-day presidential visit to New Zealand.

Instead, the president was to take off as soon as his jet was ready.

It was the threat of Hurricane Floyd that prompted Clinton to speed his return to the White House.

The government had a fast response time and acted accordingly.

A popular image going around is Bill Clinton comforting survivors of Hurricane Andrew when he was still a Presidential candidate.

It was said in an article by the New York Times that, “He [Clinton] was acting like a president before he was even inaugurated.”

George W. Bush- Hurricane Katrina

According to the White House Archives, state governments are usually the rst responders to natural disasters, but in this case, they were quickly overwhelmed by the storm.

The national government is then supposed to take over, but they hesitated in responding.

Aid was then followed by a public relations battle to assign blame for the inadequate response. According to usanews.com, people were angry

over the fact that Bush was away on vacation and wasn’t well informed of the situation.

On his way back from his vacation, Bush had Air Force One y over part of the devastated area in New Orleans.

White House of cials allowed news photogra- phers to take photos of a grim-faced Bush looking out an Air Force One window but the PR gambit back red.

Many Americans saw the photo, which was widely disseminated, as evidence that Bush was too “detached and uncaring,” from the events of the hurricane.

In a 2010 interview with NBC, Bush conceded that allowing the photo to be taken was a “huge mistake.”

Barack Obama- Hurricane Sandy

According to livescience.com, President Barack Obama joined New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Oct. 31 to inspect the devastation, ying over ooded neighborhoods along the New Jersey coastline.

He declared states of emergency in New York and New Jersey to allow federal aid to start owing into damaged areas.

According to usanews.com, Obama got ahead of the curve from the start, cancelling campaign trips in order to stay in Washington to supervise the relief effort.

He made sure the public knew he was in command by speaking to the nation directly as the storm intensi ed, and he and many surrogates have given frequent public updates about what was going on.

Jim Mullen, President of the National Emergen- cy Management Association, said according to the Washington Post, that Obama’s legacy at FEMA has been restoring “strong professional emergency managers who can support the ones already there and make certain that on this, at least, we should all be willing to put everything else aside and do what’s necessary for our country.”