The 54 children that Ed Rendell helped to rescue from an earthquake-ravaged orphanage in Haiti may forever owe a debt of gratitude to Pennsylvania's take-charge governor.

But to get a private plane into Haiti on Monday -- and then hop a military-transport flight out -- Mr. Rendell had to muscle his way through an international logjam over access to the Caribbean nation's sole airport.

Inadvertently perhaps, he also inserted himself into talks between the State Department and Haitian officials over how -- and how many -- orphans will be permitted to come to the United States for adoption.

A thrilled, exhausted Mr. Rendell, who hadn't slept for a day and a half, said at a Harrisburg news conference yesterday that he didn't much care what anyone thought of his Haiti venture. He said one look into the eyes of the children on the Air Force C-17 that was heading to Orlando, Fla., gave him all the justification he needed.

While still on the tarmac in Port-au-Prince, Mr. Rendell said, he learned that CNN anchor Anderson Cooper had "ripped" him on TV for his unilateral move amid efforts to coordinate the global response to the crisis. "I just didn't care," the governor said. "To see those faces. ..."

Mr. Rendell said he had learned Friday of pleas by two Pittsburgh-area women, working at the Port-au-Prince orphanage, to get the children out. An "anonymous benefactor" provided the plane, he said. A team of University of Pittsburgh medical professionals volunteered to go.

Mr. Rendell said he chose to go along to use his political clout if bureaucratic problems arose -- as, indeed, they did. "We were denied our slot [to land] until the pilot said, 'The governor of Pennsylvania is on the plane,' " he recalled.

France and Brazil have both complained in recent days that the U.S. military, which now controls the Port-au-Prince airport, has hindered their sending in some planeloads of food and medical supplies. The Red Cross and another aid group, Doctors Without Borders, have also cited trouble getting clearance to land. Some flights have been diverted to the Dominican Republic.

Mr. Rendell himself said planes were "circling forever to get runway space." As the Democratic governor of a big state, he was able to use his State Department and White House connections not only to arrange a flight into Haiti, but also to gain visas for the orphans. "The initial response [to the visas] was 'no,' " he said.

The governor spoke with federal officials he knew, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's chief of staff, whom he had gotten to know during Mrs. Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. In the end, it took the National Security Council -- the agency charged with protecting the nation from the gravest dangers -- to break a deadlock over whether to grant all 53 orphans visas.

The children waited in buses, ready to head for the airport, while bureaucrats argued. Soon, Mr. Rendell said, the NSC sent word from the top: "Clear them all."

A State Department official, who was not authorized to speak on the record, yesterday said his agency had taken an "extraordinary step" to clear Mr. Rendell's mission and the children's adoptions. The governor said he'd heard suggestions that his efforts could end up speeding a broader agreement between the U.S. and Haiti on adoptions.

Pennsylvania's Republican Party, usually ready to snipe at Mr. Rendell, was muted yesterday. "What I can say is, we support any effort, certainly, to help the people of Haiti," said state GOP spokesman Michael Barley.

Muhlenberg College professor Christopher Borick, who tracks state politics, said the rescue suited a governor who likes to cut red tape.

"You start by noting that he has made a direct impact on improving those kids' lives; it's hard to knock that," Mr. Borick said. "Did he jump the line? Did he break protocol? Did he ruffle some feathers? I'm sure he did."

A reporter at Mr. Rendell's news conference asked if getting something done quickly and decisively felt better than wrestling with a recalcitrant legislature over issues such as table games in casinos.

Yes, he said. The experience was "the best! The best! It was just incredible."

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