Storm of the Century: The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935

Rating:
Summary: Popular history with some flaws
Review: I grew up in South Florida and spent many weekends on Lower Matecumbe Key, ground zero for the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane. I went through Hurricane Donna and a few others in the early 1960s, and I don't care to that again -- another reason why the 1935 disaster has long fascinated me. It is a story of heartbreaking human miscalculation in the face of an overwhelming natural event.

Drye writes well and moves the narrative along. When writing of factual matters and the experiences of those who endured the storm, the books succeeds pretty well. However, he buys into some of the political mythology surrounding the events of the storm -- e.g., that World War I veterans were sent to the Florida Keys by officials of the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration to prevent them from re-staging the 1932 "Bonus March" that gave such a black eye to Herbert Hoover. As Drye notes, vets also were sent to other locations, their activities were still followed by the national media, and their absence from Washington didn't stop other veterans from pressing for payment of the bonus. Sending out-of-work veterans to the Florida Keys as a labor force for highway construction can also be interpreted as an act of New Deal good intentions -- perhaps shortsighted but hardly malicious.

The actions of federal and state officials in the hours before the hurricane struck also are open to some interpretation, but Drye chooses to create villains and heroes -- in particular, Ray Sheldon, the man who managed the three labor camps that housed the veterans. No doubt, Sheldon was largely responsible for failing to arrange the evacuation of the vets well before the storm struck. The more intriguing question, which really isn't addressed in the book, is WHY Sheldon -- who had experienced earlier Florida hurricanes -- didn't order an evacuation train until the storm was almost upon the Keys. Was it pure miscalculation, denial, or was there some bureaucratic purpose in his delay? Here, some informed speculation would have been welcome. Drye doesn't really address the question; he simply portrays Sheldon as indecisive and, post-hurricane, a liar. These he may have been but such a portrayl doesn't get much below the surface of the issue.

This leads to the most glaring deficiency in Drye's work: His book is devoid of footnotes, and the origin of much of his narrative is obscure. (To be fair, the decision to omit footnotes and a comprehensive bibliography may have been the publisher's, not Drye's.) He does acknowledge assistance from several people and lists a "selected bibliography," both of which indicate some of his sources of information; but he doesn't list any of the National Archives resources or other official documents he must have consulted, nor their locations. Nor does he give sources for certain opinionated passages, such as his explanation of how the chairman of the congressional inquiry into the Labor Day disaster rigged the hearings to exonerate Roosevelt's officials. This is a major failing of what should have been a much more useful study of this event. The book also could have used a more comprehensive index and perhaps a "cast of characters" that would provide a convenient reference to the dozens of people mentioned, especially the myriad of bureaucrats. And, particularly for demonstrating the degree of miscalculation and faulty judgment involved in this diaster, a timeline of events also would have been welcomed.

Stories about natural disasters can be approached in essentially three ways: (1) Bravery/survival in the face of adversity, (2) Managerial competence and ineptitude in the face of adversity, and (3) A cautionary tale for the future. Drye does all three, succeeding fairly well on (1), stumbling somewhat on (2), succeeding commendably on (3). If you're a relatively new resident to South Florida (especially the Keys)or know someone who's planning to move there -- of if you think riding out the eye of a hurricane would be a "neat" experience -- this book, with all its flaws, is worth a read. One of the contemporary emergency management officials for the Florida Keys,quoted by Drye, hits it on the head regarding the next big Keys hurricane: "It's not if. It's when." Hurricane Andrew, another "rapidly intensifying" storm, devastated my home town of Homestead in 1992; had the eye made landfall twenty miles further north, it would have flattened Miami. Hurricanes are the price one pays for living along the south Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and anyone contemplating residence and property ownership in those regions should know what happened on Upper and Lower Matecumbe Keys on the evening of Sept. 2, 1935. This book is a good place to start learning how high that price can be.

Rating:
Summary: Storm of the Century
Review: I've lived through 5 hurricanes and in 4 of them the eye passed over my home. Reading this book made me feel I was in another only this time Ernest Hemingway was there as well. A great read for anyone who has been through a hurricane or wondered what one is like.

Rating:
Summary: Storm of the Century - Killer in the Keys
Review: In the summer of 1935, hundreds of World War 1 Veterans were in the Florida Keys to build the bridges linking the islands tot the mainland.

Many were curious and most unafraid when they heard a hurricane was coming. What was some wind and rain compared to bullets? Alas, the Labor Day Hurricane was perhaps the most powerful to ever assualt the U.S. mainland, moving across the Keys with 200-mph winds and a 20-foot storm surge.

More than 400 people died, including many of the veterans in their makeshift work camps. Drye's well researched narrative provides not only an hour by hour account of the storm track, but also chronicles the political fallout in it's aftermath.

Rating:
Summary: Human error + Mother Nature equals major disaster...
Review: Since when did National Geographic start publishing books such as this? I thought they confined themselves to coffee table books and travelogues... (Note to the Publishers: Proofread your books better!)

This book had to wait until the turn of the century in order to have a determination made of which of the hurricanes of the 20th century deserved the label of 'Storm of the Century'. On most fronts, the hurricane of 1935 that hit the Keys deservedly earned the title. The numbers alone dictate the label: winds of probably 200 mph, 20 foot storm surge, total inundation of the islands of the Keys, and a known death record of over 400 (with a suspected higher death record due to unknown quantities of people on the Keys).

The research was obviously done in this book. Even though the author does not list or number his research as would be done for a paper for a professional journal, the bibliography indicates that the author can back up his statements with the archived records. Anyone who doubts his word is free to search for and read the orginals themselves.

Another reviewer mentions "Issac's Storm" from a couple of years ago. That book is much better written, and somehow conveys the human tragedy better than this book does. I think perhaps it is because this book does not see fit to present the facts alone, but there is an obvious political slant to the author's rant. It does come across as a rant unfortunately. Not that I am enamored of FDR or that my family members liked him...they did not...they were Republicans. However, history is too often influenced unnecessarily when written as it is. I prefer my history unadorned by human opinions, speculations, and politics. Just present the facts to the readers, and expect the readers to have the intelligence to draw their own conclusions. Drye apparently doesn't have enough faith in his audience to interpret the mistakes and the arrogance of those making the mistakes. That does a disservice to the readers.

The story is compelling, and Drye is right in maintaining that the current population of the Keys and the attitudes that many have towards this type of storm are leading toward future disaster. The same can be said for continued building on shorelines across the east coast, the build-up of communities on known volcanoes (whether active or slumbering across the U.S.), the continued danger of New Orleans, etc. Hopefully books like these will renew the debates and maybe some people will base their decisions to live in areas of such obvious danger on well-documented historical proof.

Karen Sadler,
Science Education,
University of Pittsburgh

Rating:
Summary: A page-turner!
Review: The story of the nameless 1935 hurricane is a real page-turner. Willie Drye expertly describes the down-and-out men who were sent to federal work camps in the Florida Keys and the terrible tragedy that befell them. Besides being one of the first histories I have found that discusses life in a depression-era work camp, the story of the hurricane, which was the strongest to ever hit the U.S., is terrifying. The hurricane literally swept everything in its path off the islands and is the most compelling description of a terrible storm that I have ever read. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in deadly storms, Florida history, and U.S. history.

Rating:
Summary: Kudos to Willie Drye
Review: This book captures both the tremendous power of the hurricane and the terrible suffering of the people who were caught in it. It presents what I think is a fair explanation of the deaths of hundreds of American veterans of WWI and the circumstances that brought them to the Florida Keys during hurricane season. This little remembered chapter in American history should not be forgotten and Drye has done a service in bringing it back to light. It is a wonderful book that should affect everyone who reads it. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Kudos to Willie Drye
Review: This book captures both the tremendous power of the hurricane and the terrible suffering of the people who were caught in it. It presents what I think is a fair explanation of the deaths of hundreds of American veterans of WWI and the circumstances that brought them to the Florida Keys during hurricane season. This little remembered chapter in American history should not be forgotten and Drye has done a service in bringing it back to light. It is a wonderful book that should affect everyone who reads it. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Great Story
Review: This is the first book I have ever read on a natural disaster. It was a great story. It was rich in history and science, but not too overdone. I'm from the coast that does not have hurricanes and the description of the storm blew my socks off. Great props to the author even if you could tell what his political motivations were.

Rating:
Summary: Not Just Weather, But A Social History
Review: We all think the weather is enormously important, at least as a topic of conversation and complaint. Huge resources are at work to show us satellite pictures of storms; many of us can't get by without taking a regular look at the Weather Channel. Long before such technology was in place, in 1935, it was clear to forecasters on Labor Day weekend that a storm was coming somewhere around Florida, but none of them could have predicted its course accurately, and none would have known it would quickly build into the most powerful storm ever to hit the US. _Storm of the Century: The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935_ (National Geographic Press) by Willie Drye tells the story of the storm, the havoc it caused, the surprisingly political outcome, and the fascinating lack of lessons learned. It is as exciting a book as one about the weather can be.

The victims of the storm were largely veterans of WWI, "Forgotten Men" who were sent to the Florida Keys to build a highway linking the Keys and the mainland. (They were perhaps also sent there to keep them from protesting the effects of the depression on them.) The men reported to three oceanfront work camps, primitive plywood and canvass bivouacs where they did a lot of drinking and tried to outwit the mosquitoes. There were storm advisories for Labor Day; the Weather Bureau alerted the Keys to the possibility of danger, but no one could have predicted how much. Drye shows that the administrators of the veterans' program, through lack of experience with tropical weather, bad communication, and misplaced optimism, failed to take action until the storm was upon the camps and until the train sent to evacuate them was itself beaten off the tracks. That is only one of the horrors described here as the storm, and the surge of ocean that accompanied it, wrecked the islands and killed over 400 people. Politicians thereafter tried to pin blame on someone, but a clever congressional ally of Roosevelt kept the administration from being tarnished by tricky lawyerly tactics. It was nothing but an act of God.

Drye's epilogue is called "Next Time It'll Be Worse," and he demonstrates that this is certainly so. The Keys have not seen their last monster storm, and since the one of 1935, there has been built a highway linking them all, and there has been a population and property boom, and tourism brings thousands during hurricane season. Hurricanes, even tracked by satellite, are unpredictable, and no one could foresee a similar storm so rapidly growing from a weak tropical disturbance to a gigantic killer. In 1935, a few well timed evacuation trains could have emptied the Keys, but now all the residents getting in their cars to head to the mainland would result in just a long traffic jam. Feasibility studies for making the road a two-lane northbound-only route merely show that cars would run out of gas if tanker trucks could not get south to fill the gas stations. The next storm is coming, and books will record it. Until then, this memorable volume detailing not only the natural history but the social history of a great storm is exciting reading.

Rating:
Summary: Not Just Weather, But A Social History
Review: We all think the weather is enormously important, at least as a topic of conversation and complaint. Huge resources are at work to show us satellite pictures of storms; many of us can't get by without taking a regular look at the Weather Channel. Long before such technology was in place, in 1935, it was clear to forecasters on Labor Day weekend that a storm was coming somewhere around Florida, but none of them could have predicted its course accurately, and none would have known it would quickly build into the most powerful storm ever to hit the US. _Storm of the Century: The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935_ (National Geographic Press) by Willie Drye tells the story of the storm, the havoc it caused, the surprisingly political outcome, and the fascinating lack of lessons learned. It is as exciting a book as one about the weather can be.

The victims of the storm were largely veterans of WWI, "Forgotten Men" who were sent to the Florida Keys to build a highway linking the Keys and the mainland. (They were perhaps also sent there to keep them from protesting the effects of the depression on them.) The men reported to three oceanfront work camps, primitive plywood and canvass bivouacs where they did a lot of drinking and tried to outwit the mosquitoes. There were storm advisories for Labor Day; the Weather Bureau alerted the Keys to the possibility of danger, but no one could have predicted how much. Drye shows that the administrators of the veterans' program, through lack of experience with tropical weather, bad communication, and misplaced optimism, failed to take action until the storm was upon the camps and until the train sent to evacuate them was itself beaten off the tracks. That is only one of the horrors described here as the storm, and the surge of ocean that accompanied it, wrecked the islands and killed over 400 people. Politicians thereafter tried to pin blame on someone, but a clever congressional ally of Roosevelt kept the administration from being tarnished by tricky lawyerly tactics. It was nothing but an act of God.

Drye's epilogue is called "Next Time It'll Be Worse," and he demonstrates that this is certainly so. The Keys have not seen their last monster storm, and since the one of 1935, there has been built a highway linking them all, and there has been a population and property boom, and tourism brings thousands during hurricane season. Hurricanes, even tracked by satellite, are unpredictable, and no one could foresee a similar storm so rapidly growing from a weak tropical disturbance to a gigantic killer. In 1935, a few well timed evacuation trains could have emptied the Keys, but now all the residents getting in their cars to head to the mainland would result in just a long traffic jam. Feasibility studies for making the road a two-lane northbound-only route merely show that cars would run out of gas if tanker trucks could not get south to fill the gas stations. The next storm is coming, and books will record it. Until then, this memorable volume detailing not only the natural history but the social history of a great storm is exciting reading.