Review: ‘America’s Great Storm’

When Haley Barbour ran for governor in 2003, his opponent attacked him for being a big-time Washington lobbyist. Instead of trying to dodge the charge, Barbour embraced the label and made the case that the skills it took to build and lead one of the nation’s most prominent lobbying firms were exactly the talents a state like Mississippi sorely needed. (Full disclosure: I worked in Barbourt’s 2003 and 2007 campaigns.)

Twenty months after Barbour was sworn in, the worst natural disaster in U.S. history provided the ultimate stress test for the Barbour theory of leadership. While the governor and government of neighboring Louisiana was paralyzed and overwhelmed, Barbour dealt with the same problematic FEMA and managed to lead a Katrina recovery effort that, while far from perfect, should make every Mississippian proud.

On the 10th anniversary of Katrina, the University Press of Mississippi is publishing “America’s Great Storm: Leading Through Hurricane Katrina” by Barbour with Jere Nash. It’s a fascinating book on many levels, not the least of which is the reminder of both the scale of the devastation —every Mississippi county declared a disaster area, 235 deaths, over a million applying for FEMA aid — and the extraordinary and often random acts of kindness that are heart wrenching even a decade later.

“America’s Great Storm” is written in the key of gratitude, not self-congratulation. Again and again, Barbour and Nash tell stories of those who were at their best in the worst of times: the Mennonites from Georgia who just showed up with chainsaws and strong backs, the Vermonter who made repeated trips with a truck load of supplies, the father of six whose trailer was destroyed but didn’t want to take too much in relief supplies least there wouldn’t be any left for others farther down his dirt road.

And at a time when it’s in vogue to attack business and corporate culture, “America’s Storm” is a reminder that inside those corporations are people who are neighbors, wives, husbands, fathers and mothers who often put aside their own priorities to help others. Mississippi Power and Light somehow restored power to the Coast within 12 days, a small miracle. The Morrell Corp. of Salt Lake City used its experience building housing for the 2002 Olympics and provided temporary quarters for hundreds of volunteers and aid workers, all cost covered by the company and the charity of the LDS church.

One of my favorite stories is that of Hancock Bank CEO George Schloegel who’s $20 million headquarters was destroyed. Banks are in the money business, and Schloegel quickly realized the cash they could find in ATM machines or vaults was so damaged it would take weeks to dry and clean. So he had a “management trainee, a big burly football player in Atlanta, home of our Federal Reserve Bank” drive down from Atlanta with $30 million in his trunk. Schloegel and his team had no records of who had an account but they set up at different points along the Coast and simply gave people up to $1,000 backed by a paper IOU. Of the over $3.5 million they handed out, all but $300,000 was repaid, and the bank gained $10,000 new customers.

There’s an interesting political conclusion in “America’s Great Storm” that runs counter to much of today’s anti-government rhetoric. While there’s no doubting that Barbour is a conservative Republican, he has always asserted that government can and should play a positive role in the lives of citizens. As governor he made tough cuts, took a lot of heat and balanced the budget, but he never went down the cynical path of denouncing all government.

The Katrina response on the federal level was a jumbled, if well-intentioned, mess. Mississippi was fortunate to have a governor who understood how Washington worked, could see through the bureaucratic happy talk and still do everything possible to make a dysfunctional system perform. Like so many Katrina victims and volunteers, Katrina brought out the best in Barbour. Ten years later, it’s still an amazing story.

Jackson native Stuart Stevens is a writer and political consultant. His forthcoming book, “ The Last Season: A Father, a Son, and a Lifetime of College Football, ” will be available in September.