Hurricanes, Earthquakes, and Tsunamis - Natural Disasters Death, Destruction and Affected American F & D Policy

In  2021 Mark smith delighted CLE with his presentation:  "An Onslaught of  the Senses:  Sights and Smells of the American Civil War."  This year,  Mark, in this visually rich presentation, will not only describe the  damage caused by two natural disasters, separated by almost 100 years,  but also their effect on American Foreign and domestic policies.  The  attempt to purchase from the Danish what is now the U.S. Virgin Islands  in the 1860s gets little mention in the annals of American foreign  policy.  smith will explain how a hurricane and tsunami derailed this  acquisition and affected U.S. foreign policy.  In 1969 Hurricane Camille  brought death and destruction through a wide swath of American South.   Professor Smith will explore the role of the federal state governments  in managing disaster relief, and how recovery was achieved for some but  not others.

Location:  CLE Lecture Hall

Presenter:   Mark Smith is an American historian, Director of the Institute for  Southern Studies, and a Carolina Distinguished Professor of History at  the University of South Carolina. He is a scholar of environmental  disasters, southern history, and of sensory history, which he described  to an interviewer as stressing "the role of senses" - including sight  and vision - shaping people's experience in the past.