1800's - The first time the federal government involved itself with a local disaster occurred when Congress passed legislation to provide financial assistance to a New Hampshire town affected by a devastating fire.

1930's - President Franklin Roosevelt created the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to reduce flooding in the region and to create hydroelectric power.

1950's - The Cold War began. Civil defense programs were established throughout the United States resulting in the building of local bomb shelters to protect communities and their residents from a potential nuclear attack by the Soviet Union.

1960's - During the 1960s, the United States was struck by numerous natural disasters: earthquake in Alaska and hurricanes in Florida and Texas, resulting in massive flooding and tremendous loss of life. One hurricane in particular, Hurricane Betsy in 1965, caused damage in the coastal regions of Florida and Louisiana, resulting in the federal government creating the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

1970's - The federal government investigated how its emergency management capabilities were organized and by the end of the decade, those capabilities were extremely tested. As part of these reviews, it was concluded that more than 100 federal agencies were involved in some aspect of risk mitigation and disaster recovery. It was a fragmented approach with parallel organizations engaged in turf battles and a confused reaction to disaster management. Governors were particularly sensitive and concerned, so much so that they collectively sought a single federal agency responsible for emergency management issues. In 1976, Jimmy Carter, former governor of Georgia was elected president and supported the concept of a plan to consolidate emergency preparedness, mitigation, and response activities into one federal agency. During these deliberations, the nation’s worst nuclear power plant accident occurred at Three Mile Island in Middletown, Pennsylvania. This accident caused pause in our country due the lack of adequate preparation and mitigation and the proper roles of the federal/state government in coordination with the private sector. Shortly after the TMI accident, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)–which mandated reassignment of agencies, programs, and personnel–was established by executive order in March 1979.

1980's - The early and middle 1980s saw FEMA facing many challenges, but not dealing with significant natural disasters. FEMA continued as a bifurcated and disorganized agency. As the decade came to a close, FEMA was an organization in chaos. In 1989, several devastating events occurred: hurricanes in the Carolinas and Florida and a huge earthquake in the Bay Area of California. FEMA was not prepared to respond and the worst was yet to come.

In 1992, one of our nation’s worst natural disasters hit the coast of Florida. Hurricane Andrew caused extensive damage and was one of the most destructive hurricanes ever recorded in our nation’s history. FEMA’s failure to respond was witnessed by Americans all across the country as major news organizations followed the crisis. People wanted and expected the government to be there to assist in this time of need, however, FEMA seemed incapable of carrying out essential government emergency management functions. Many historians have claimed that this lack of response assisted Bill Clinton in his election win against incumbent President George H.W. Bush.

Upon his arrival in Washington in 1993, President Clinton elevated FEMA to a cabinet-level agency and appointed his former Arkansas colleague James Lee Witt as the FEMA director. Mr. Witt was from a group that had created FEMA–state directors of emergency management–and he assumed his position with the objective of building partnerships and serving the various stakeholders involved in emergency management.