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The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927

Decent Essays

The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was one of the most destructive in the history of the United States, proving that the levee only policy was a failure and the limits of human control over the river. The beginning of the flood, from the initial crevasse, poured out “468,000 second-feet onto the Delta that triple the volume of a flooding Colorado, more than double a flooding Niagara Falls and the entire upper Mississippi ever carried” (pg 203). The flood of 1927 “shifted perceptions of the role and responsibility of the federal government… shattered the myth of a quasi-feudal bond between Delta blacks and the southern aristocracy...accelerated the great migration of blacks north. And it altered both southern and national politics....” …show more content…

Repeated events, highlighted by the flood of 1993 and the fallout of Katrina, continues to illustrate the US Army Corps of Engineers’ failure in strengthening flood control up and down the Mississippi, including the redesign and upgrading levees. America is a product of this constant struggle in dominating nature using science and reason. In order to preserve the way of life along natural reoccurring flood regions, the fallout of the 1927 flood pressured the federal government to expand its role to assist in relief aid for the refugee victims. The national spotlight on the flood of 1927, forced President Coolidge to assign Hoover in organizing humanitarian relief aid. This enabled Hoover to spread his ideals that the government, “Should help individuals indirectly… best serve the community by bringing about cooperation in a large sense between groups. The failure of groups to respond to their responsibilities for others that drives government into the lives of people” (pg 370). Hoover rejects state socialism and strives for developing individual altruism through government organizational assistance. This social expectation influences the role of the government to its citizens. The humanitarian relief effort sole reliance was on private charities and continues today, in particular the Red Cross. The government continues its

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