ABSTRACT
U.S. Presidents from Truman through Obama have been invested by Congress with authority to declare major disasters and emergencies. Since 1950, more than 2000 majors and nearly 400 emergencies have been declared by the occupant of the Oval Office. Over time, federal law, as well as each president's adaptive application of this authority, has dramatically broadened what may be declared a major disaster or emergency. Federal spending on these declared events has increased geometrically over time, which is attributable to a variety of factors. The substance and process of presidential disaster declarations reveals much about the intergovernmental nature of U.S. emergency management, the interactions of presidents and governors when misfortune strikes, and how American government as a whole confronts natural, human-caused, and technological disasters.
