Statement by the President in Response to Federal Power Commission Report on the Northeastern Electric Power Blackout.

IN A brief instant on November 9, 1965, 30 million Americans were suddenly plunged into darkness. Nothing has so vividly demonstrated our increasing dependence on an uninterrupted flow of electric power as the blackout which then descended upon the great cities of the Northeastern United States.

On that same evening, less than a month ago, I directed the Federal Power Commission to conduct a thorough investigation of the causes of the failure and to recommend means for preventing a recurrence.

With the help of experts from American and Canadian power companies, the Commission has now completed the first phase of the investigation I requested. Its findings and recommendations are contained in the report issued today.

We now know just what triggered the original power failure and why, in a few brief minutes, its effects were felt throughout the Northeastern United States and parts of Canada.

We also know that steps can be taken to prevent such failures. Many of the Commission's initial recommendations are already being implemented by the power companies. This effort must be continued until we have so perfected our power systems that widespread power failures will be not only improbable but impossible.

The lights that failed on November 9, 1965, will then be remembered not as a calamity, but as the beginning of renewed efforts to further perfect what is already the world's greatest and most efficient electrical system.