Message to the Congress Transmitting First Annual Plan for U.S. Participation in the World Weather Program.

To the Congress of the United States:

I am pleased to transmit to you, in accordance with Senate Concurrent Resolution 67 of the 90th Congress, the first annual plan for United States participation in the World Weather Program. This document describes the long-range goals of the World Weather Program and the activities in support of that program which have been planned by eight Federal agencies for Fiscal Year 1970. The budget figures shown in this report are consistent with those which appeared in the budget submitted to the Congress on January 15, 1969.

I commend this report to you and hope you will give it your careful attention, for it describes activities which can contribute in important ways to the quality of American life. The World Weather Program promises, for example, to produce earlier and more accurate weather forecasts than we now receive. It is also exploring the feasibility of large-scale weather modifications. Because so much of our social and economic life is significantly influenced by weather conditions, it is important that we encourage those advances in weather prediction and control which our scientists now foresee.

This project, and our role in it, also have great political significance. For the World Weather Program, growing out of United Nations initiatives in the early 1960's has developed into a most impressive example of international cooperation. On a scale never attempted until this decade, scientists and governments in many countries are joining hands across national boundaries to serve the entire human community. Their example should be instructive for all of us as we pursue lasting peace and order for our world.

This report "talks about the weather," but it demonstrates that we can do far more about our weather than merely talk about it. I believe that the plans for American participation which are outlined here reflect the sense of both the Congress and the Executive Branch of our government that the United States should give its full support to the World Weather Program.

RICHARD NIXON

The White House

March 13, 1969