Chapter 28 Summary

The flood stage at Cairo, Illinois, lasts six months, as does the flood stage at Memphis and Vicksburg. The flood stage at Baton Rouge lasts five months. In New Orleans the flood stage lasts only four months because of the dynamiting. Daily flood bulletins through the region are issued throughout the first half of 1927. The refugees of Plaquemines and St. Bernard Parishes begin to seek their guaranteed recompense. James Butler, center of power and finance in New Orleans, will make the determination of what will be recompensed and for how much.

Hoover and the Red Cross refuse to care for the refugees of the lower parishes, as they have been guaranteed care by New Orleans. Butler is not eager to spend money. The New Orleans financial elite subsequently spends an inordinate amount of time and effort to convince national business interests that New...