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

the largest taxpayer: SBV SBV, January 29, 1924.

Chateau 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 SBV, April 21, 1923; testimony quoted in SBV 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 a.s.sistant 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 NYT, April 19, 1927.

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

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

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

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

"unless there were": NOT NOT, April 23, 1927.

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

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

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

Business in New Orleans: Quoted in ibid.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"The possibility of danger": NOS 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 a.s.sociation, 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 T 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 HFCCH, p. 2069.

"In order to avoid": Copy in CP, also NOT, NOT-P 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 NOT-P, NOT, NOS, and NOI 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 NOT-P, NOT, NOS, and NOI NOI, all April 27, 1927.

"Where do they get": SBV SBV, April 30, 1927.

"Let's sleep on our shotguns": Ibid.

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

"They didn't want": CP; NOT-P, NOT, NOI, NOS NOT-P, NOT, NOI, NOS, April 27, 1927; see also MC-A MC-A, April 26, 1927; JC-L 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 be": 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 NOT-P, NOT, NOI, NOS, all April 27, 1927; and SBV SBV, April 20, 1927.

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

Inside the city: NOT 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 MC-A, April 27, 1927.

"The Mississippi River Commission": NOT NOT, April 27, 1927.

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

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

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

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

"Trade Shows Flood": NOT 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 Dallas Morning News, April 29, 1927.

"That's where": MC-A 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 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 T TWENTY-ONE.

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

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

"The power and": Coolidge, p. 190.

"Unprecedented floods": Coolidge Papers, LC.

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

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

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

"a kind of complex": Quoted in Joan Hoff Wilson, Herbert Hoover 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 Herbert Hoover, p. 52.

"a wizard of finance": Nash, p. 411.

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

"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.