How Hemingway criticized the government’s hurricane response

The 2024 hurricane season has brought to mind the Labor Day hurricane of 1935, which devastated the Florida Keys and took the lives of over 400 people. Ernest Hemingway, who lived in Key West at the time, witnessed the destruction firsthand and wrote about it in letters to friends and editors. Hemingway was no stranger to hurricanes, having fished the waters off Florida and kept an eye on weather patterns. However, the 1935 hurricane was particularly catastrophic, with winds exceeding 200 mph and a storm surge that destroyed much of the Overseas Railroad. Hemingway was outraged by the federal government's failure to evacuate the workers, many of whom were World War I veterans, and wrote about it in a letter to his editor, Maxwell Perkins. He also published an article in The New Masses, criticizing the government for not taking adequate precautions to protect the workers. Hemingway's response to the disaster was not just about the destruction caused by the storm, but also about the government's responsibility to protect its citizens. He saw the Federal Emergency Relief Administration work camps as a way for the government to rid itself of veterans who were struggling with what would now be called post-traumatic stress disorder. Hemingway's impassioned response to the disaster still resonates today, highlighting the importance of government responsibility in the face of natural disasters. The aftermath of the hurricane also included political finger-pointing, a phenomenon that continues to this day.