Cast of Characters White House Officials Richard M. Nixon (1913–1994), President of the United States Spiro T. Agnew (1918–1996), Vice President of the United States H. R. Haldeman (1926–1993), White House 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 Ser vice Albert Kachic (1931–2019), Hydrologist, National Weather Service Frank Carlucci (1930–2018), Deputy Director, Office of Management and Bud get John E. Davis (1913–1990), Director, Civil Defense Preparedness Agency Members of Congress Hugh Scott (1900–1994), R- Pennsylvania, 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 Birch Bayh (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 Gerald Ford (1913–2006), R- Minority Leader, House of Representatives Wright Patman (1893–1976), D- Texas, U.S. Representative State Officials Nelson Rocke fel ler (1908–1979), Governor of New York Milton Shapp (1912–1994), Governor of Pennsylvania William Hennessy (1927–2001), New York Natu ral 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 Man ag er, 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 NATU RAL DISASTER .