I watched the whole four hours.

Horrifying! But there it was. It happened!

And NO, it was NOT the bankers and speculators who caused it! They were just as ignorant of the consequences as everyone else; even moreso that the homesteaders and farmers who were on the scene and still didn't anticipate the consequences of their actions.

When they started plowing the land and breaking up the buffalo grass that held the soil in place despite the frequent relentless winds, there were Indians (Native Americans, if you insist) who said, "Don't do it!" No historical record, but they may have done it long before and knew what would inevitably follow.

I don't know how anyone can watch this, or be aware of the Dust Bowl horrors and what caused it, and have any doubts that humans have it within their power to cause environmental calamities of an unprecedented magnitude.

It was the government, headed up by Franklin D. Roosevelt, that brought it to an end and saved the lives of many thousands who would have starved to death or died of "dust pneumonia" had it not been for the government programs—including teaching about "contour farming"—that finally brought the disaster—and the Great Depression—to an end.

All the time, of course, he was being called a "socialist," a "communist," and worse by—the usual suspects!

I was living in Pasadena, California and barely more than a rug-rat at the time, but I remember a fair amount about the news stories on the radio, and the "Okies" coming into California looking for refuge and work.

Ken Burns' "The Dust Bowl" should be Must Seeing.

Don Firth