Thoughts About Oil

The failure of the recent attempt to cap the BP oil well in the Gulf of Mexico and the resultant accusations of blame has led me to think about how presidents deal with disasters. I wanted to find something in the distant near past to compare and went searching for Lyndon Johnson's response to the 1967 fire in Apollo 1. The result was surprising. Johson's entire remarks, released by his office and never spoken, were:

"THREE valiant young men have given their lives in the Nation’s service. We mourn this great loss. Our hearts go out to their families." 27 January 1967.

It was never mentioned at a Presidential press conference, never appeared in a bigger presidential speech. A quick framework analysis suggests that we considered this aspect of the space program in context that was quite different from the one that we use for the shuttles. It is also a framework from the one that we use for oil production and protecting the environment. (Remember both the start of Earth Day and the 1973/79 oil shocks are still in the future.) If you want a fuller sense of how Johnson character you can read his speech to the wonders at one of the NASA facilities, which was given at the end of 1967. Again, a simple framework analysis will show that we have a very different view of the connection between the government and technology.

Anyone have pre-1967 example of a president taking responsibility for a natural disaster or technological failure?

I hope that you had a good weekend. I saw a couple of the Memorial Day events and got a bit too much sun, though not enough to do any real damage.

DAG