Times Have Changed (part 446)

While researching some unrelated topic last night, I came across this:

[W]hen the great Mississippi River flood of 1927 killed hundreds and left nearly a million homeless, President Coolidge not only refused government help but publicly displayed a resolute indifference. Coolidge declined repeated pleas to visit the flood disaster, including a formal request made jointly by four governors and eight senators. The president likewise refused NBC's request to broadcast a nationwide appeal on the radio, and even rejected Will Rogers's request for a telegram of sympathy to be read at a benefit for flood victims. [Benjamin M. Friedman, "Moral Consequences of Economic Growth," citing John M. Barry's 1997 "Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America."]

One of the things I thought afterward was, "part of our problem is we're trying to fight World War II with a 1920s Republican administration instead of an FDR."