Nicole Hobson-Smith Executive Director Louisiana State Office of Historic Preservation 1051 North Third Street Baton Rouge,

LA 70802

Dear Ms. Hobson-Smith: I am writing in support of Levees.orgs efforts to have the sites of two levee breaches included in listing in the National Register of Historic Places. In my judgment as a professional historian and as a member of the board of the Society of American Historians, these sites have considerable significance not only for New Orleans but nationally. They embody a history of technology and they reflect our political history and our changing national priorities. The failures of the walls are the result of political decisions involving the allocation of resources even more than they are the result of engineering decisions, and those decisions and the response of the federal government after Katrina exemplify how government can fail. These failures also had obvious impact on the social, cultural, and economic history of New Orleans and much of the south, stretching at least from Atlanta to Houston. The sites themselves are reminders to Orleans Parish citizens and visitors of what happened here, and how it happened. They are important symbols. They should be included on the National Register. John M. Barry 504 988-3949 Distinguished Scholar Tulane Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research 1440 Tulane Avenue New Orleans, La. 70116