Observing the continuing tragedy on America's Gulf Coast as reported day by day prompts me to think of the bold and decisive act by President Harry Truman in a case with which legal scholars are highly familiar.

The 1952 case of  Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company vs. Sawyer was the outgrowth of a strike launched by steel workers during the Korean War.  

Truman seized control of the steel mills, using a "theater of war" argument linked to his executive power as the nation's commander in chief during an emergency, in this case the Korean War.

The seizure resulted in steel company lawyers making a late night visit to a D.C. federal district court judge.  This prompted a series of quick actions resulting with the U.S. Supreme Court deciding the case.