The Master of Disaster

When the floodwaters spread across Wisconsin, state officials begged for help from Washington, but it's safe to say that none of them expected it would arrive by Greyhound bus at 3 a.m., wearing ostrich-skin cowboy boots and missing a suitcase. But then, few in Wisconsin or Washington knew James Lee Witt.

A native of Wildcat Hollow, Arkansas, Witt, 49, had only three months earlier taken charge of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, long derided as a dumping ground for political hacks and feckless bureaucrats. Most recently, FEMA was blamed for mishandling relief efforts after Hurricane Andrew. Witt has brought to the agency the frontline verve he had shown in official posts in Arkansas where, when snowstorms closed rural roads, he could be found standing on the tailgate of a pickup truck, spreading salt to clear the way for motorists. In times of flood, Witt stacked sandbags and drove a bulldozer.

When the Mississippi River jumped its banks in early July, Witt was eager to get to the scene -- and not by government jet. Described by friends as deeply religious and penny-pinching, Witt shunned the perks of his $136,300 post and flew by commercial plane. Bound for Madison, Wisconsin, via Chicago, Witt missed his connection. Undaunted, he boarded a flight to Milwaukee where, unwilling to pay the $100 taxi fare to Madison, he directed the cabbie to take him to the bus station, where he waited in line to buy a ticket. Cost to taxpayers: $9. Upon boarding the bus at around midnight, he found all the seats were taken. A woman in the last row moved her child onto her lap to open a space between her and the toilet. Every time someone wanted to use the bathroom, he recalls, "I had to move my legs."

Witt checked into a Holiday Inn in Madison at

3 a.m., where he dozed a bit before meeting with Wisconsin's Governor and one of its Congressmen. He then flew to the flood-damaged area and announced that two dozen counties were federal disaster areas.

Since FEMA's founding in 1979, Witt is the first director to have emergency- management experience. And his 20-year friendship with the President has given Witt clout among Cabinet agencies with which his agency must coordinate $ emergency relief. But Witt has also won praise for his energetic efforts to reform and streamline the hapless agency. On his desk, he placed a warning, penned on a plain sheet of paper: WHEN ENTERING THIS ROOM, DO NOT SAY "WE'VE NEVER DONE IT THIS WAY BEFORE."

Witt has made four visits to the flood region and has swiftly provided victims with cash and other help, including a fleet of massive trucks that offer emergency communications, electrical power and water purification. Even FEMA's most vociferous congressional critic, Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, seems to have softened, saying of Witt, "He absolutely gets A's for effort." His midnight bus ride to Madison might indicate that he has a lot to learn about the high-powered ways of Washington. Then again, maybe Washington could learn a thing or two from James Lee Witt.