Cast of Characters

White House Officials Richard M. Nixon (1913–1994), President of the Spiro T. Agnew (1918–1996), Vice President of the United States H. R. Haldeman (1926–1993), Chief of Staff John Ehrlichman (1925–1999), White House Domestic Policy Advisor Chuck Colson (1931–2012), Special Counsel to the President John Whitaker (1926–2016), Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs Desmond J. “Des” Barker (1926–), Special Assistant to the President

Other Federal Government Officials George Romney (1907–1995), Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Peter Peterson (1926–2018), Secretary of Commerce James Hodgson (1915–2012), Secretary of ­Labor George Lincoln (1917–1975), Director, Office of Emergency Preparedness Robert Schnabel (1920–1981), Office of Emergency Preparedness Thomas P. Dunne (ca. 1913–1992), Federal Disaster Assistance Administration Thomas S. Kleppe (1919–2007), Administrator of Small Business Administration George Cressman (1919–2008), Director, National Weather Service­ Albert Kachic (1931–2019), Hydrologist, National Weather Service­ (1930–2018), Deputy Director, Office of Management and Bud­get John E. Davis (1913–1990), Director, Civil Defense Preparedness Agency

Members of Congress (1900–1994), R-­, Minority Leader, U.S. Senate Richard Schweiker (1926–2015), R-­Pennsylvania, U.S. Senator Jacob Javits (1904–1986), R-­New York, U.S. Senator James Buckley (1923–), Conservative-­New York, U.S. Senator George McGovern (1922–2012), D-­South Dakota, U.S. Senator (1928–), D-­Indiana, U.S. Senator Joseph Biden (1942–), D-­Delaware, U.S. Senator Daniel J. Flood (1903–1994), D-Pennsylvania,­ U.S. Representative Joseph McDade (1931–2017), R-­Pennsylvania, U.S. Representative James F. Hastings (1926–2014), R-­New York, U.S. Representative Howard Robison (1915–1987), R-­New York, U.S. Representative (1913–2006), R-­Minority Leader, House of Representatives Wright Patman (1893–1976), D-­Texas, U.S. Representative

State Officials Nelson Rocke­fel­ler (1908–1979), Governor of New York Milton Shapp (1912–1994), Governor of Pennsylvania William Hennessy (1927–2001), New York Natural­ Disaster and Civil Defense Agency William Wilcox (1920–2004), Pennsylvania Director of Community Affairs

xv xvi cast of Characters

Local Officials Joseph Nasser (1914–1988), Mayor, Corning New York Joseph Sartori, Jr. (1939–), City Man­ag­er, Elmira New York William Smith (1916–2010), Senator, New York State Senate Jack Gridley (d. 1994), Chair, Steuben County Board of Supervisors Frank Townend (1911–2001), Director, Luzerne County Civil Defense

Citizens Jack Anderson (1922–2005), Syndicated newspaper columnist Amory Houghton, Jr (1926–), Chairman, Corning Glass Works Tom MacAvoy (1928–2015), President, Corning Glass Works Max Rosenn (1910–2006), Chairman, Flood Recovery Task Force, Wilkes-­Barre Min Matheson (1909–1992), Flood Victims Action Council Gilbert F. White (1911–2006), Environmental Geographer PLAYING POLITICS WITH NATU­RAL DISASTER