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‘Ibis book is the work of the statJ of The New York Time+- the reporters, the copy editors, the news editors, the news as- ’ sistants, all the people who worked through ‘the blackout to put out a paper and who followed the story in the days to come. The editors of this book, who work together on the Metro= politan Desk of The Times, take thii opportunity to express their thanks to the st& for the privilege of working with them that night. Every person on the staff performed, under great : ditiiculties, at the peak of his ability. We want to say a special 1 word about Peter Kihss, who pulled together ah the threads of ,,, a vastly complicated story and turned out a lead-piece that ah , his colleagues regard as a high point in daily journalism under ?i. deadline pressure. I The material for this book came from a variety of Timed c , sources. There were the articles written for the newspaper, re- woven into rumring narrative, Added to those, and worked into the book, were special research, interviews and articles by Times’ members. copyright @ 1965 by The New York Times Company The stalT that produced the book from these source8 h.lrightsresemxLNopartofthisbookmay bo reproduced without written pemhsion. included: Published as a Signet Book RRPORTRRS: EDITORS: PubWed simul&neouely in the United Statea and Canada. George Barrett Sheldon J. Bhm William E. Farrell Lee Foster Bob G. Slosser FIRST PEINTINO, NOVBMEEE, 1965 Donald Johnston Paul L. Montgomery :hard Rutter NEWS ASSISTANTS: Richard F. Shepard Walter Sullivan Gilbert M. Haggerty I Signer Books are publLrhed by Bernard Weinraub Harry V. Poloshjian The New American Library Inc. John Noble Wilford I 1301 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York ZOO17 PRINTED IN TAB UNITED STATES OF AMERICA :MOXd SHdVX!XXI.OHd XmI.LO 1. The Plugged-In Society 2 2. “And Everything Was Gone” 3. The Stricken City 4. The Morning After 5. The Grid 1 6. Detective Story 7. A Call from the President 8. The Fail-Safe Syndrome 9. Mr. Moyer-s 10. From Abroad: Smiles, Sneers and Disbelief 11. Bewitched and Bewildered 12. Did We Learn Anything? 13. Past Imperfect 14. The Power of the Future 15. The Times by Candlelight Chapter 1, by A. M. Rosenthal. Chapters 2 and 3, by Paul L. Montgomery, from material written by The New York Times staff. I mere are 30 million Americans who have something new and Chapter 4, by William’ E. Farrell, from material written by The vivid in common-people in New York City and Burlington, . 1 New York Times staE. m Boston, Rochester and Providence, in dozens of other cities Chapter I, by Donald Johnston amI hundreds of towns and villages in the Northeast. They Chapter 6, by John Noble Wilford and by Richard F. Shepard, with were together during the great blackout of 1965. From now material written by The New York Times statf. on they will be asking each other, “Where were you when the lights went out?” and some of us will actually wait to hear he- ’ ? W~;J~&~eoror Barrett, from material written by The New king in to tell our own stories. a, . a curious experience, one that existed on many levels Chapter 8, by Walter Sullivan. Chapter 9, from John D. Pomfret and the White House records. chapters 10, 11 and 13, by Bernard Weinraub, from material written by The New York Times staff. ~~-Psy&ologists will peer into -the bihavior of men under ?stms.s, sociologists will examine the suddenly torn fabric of 2 Chapter 12, by Richard F.Ghepard, from material written by The .!. New York Times staff. 4 modem life, economists will dissect the relationship of public -: ,. m: utilities to public interests, generals will check worriedly over-__-, ‘7 Chapter 14, by Richard Rutter, with material written by Eileen intricate military patterns in renewed guard against a me Shauahan and The New York Ties stag. ’ chanical failure which could blow out not just the lights but Chapter 15, by Ruth Adler. ;“:also mankind. And philosophers and theologians will search G their minds for the meaning of man’s position in a tech- : nological society which he found he neither really understood I ;, nor controlled, a most bewildering and frightening moment of The hours of the darkness brought with them some sudden flashes of light-quick insights into fears that haunt Americans 8 (“the Chinese,” a housewife on New York’s East Side thought $ when she saw New York fade from her window, and then was b a little ashamed), swift glimpses, too, of resourcefulness under $ pressure, the uncovering of hidden talents and sensitivities, $ the latent instinct, even in our own nervous, compartmentalixed 15 society, for people to reach out toward each other. 1 11 Housewives in high-rise buildings all over town, who ha& It di&ult to go about our ways, found it diflicuh even tocom- - : never known their neighbors, found themselves knocking on apartment doors; offering candles and snacks. For a Pakistani -The plug was pulled out of the wall for t&s’ subways ‘and woman, huddled in the dark with her frightened child, New ~00,000 people found themselves in the dark, uudergrcnmd, *- York will never be quite as cold as it was before the woman &ock-still. In New York, people think of the subways as da& -XL. next door brought in a bit of candle. People discovered the gerous places-although there is considerably less crime under things they could do-hook- up a lamp to a battery, lead &e sidewalks than on them-and these early moments of black frightened strangers through a subway tunnel, climb hundreds immobility were chilling. Those pickpockets fortunate enough of steps to lead office workers down to the street. to be on the subways at that historical moment in the records The blackout brought fears and mysteries; it also brought of their trade probably had an interesting time, but there was a certain exhilaration. In every man there is a corner of re no terror in the tunnels. bellion against the machine, and the blackout allowed us a The commuter trains slid to a halt and the whole machinery brief period of freedom from its dominance. We .were all of suburban lie, built around the clock and the railroad time delighted at the rediscovery of the importance of things that table, slid to a halt with them. By the time commuter and were not plugged into walls-things that were almost forgotten housewife got together again, other travelers had flown from by us-most of all, the wonderful, wonderful candle. New York to COO. What a moment of triumph to know that the huge computers We couldn’t move toward each other unless we had cars and we really did not like and that we suspected really did not like it was difficult talking to each other-the phones worked but :, us were lying massively idle and useless, but the old pencil were overloaded. The people who talk at other people were i sharpener still worked. It was modem man’s closest equivalent also, for the most part, silenced. The newspaper presses in the to being alone on a desert island, and the great joy of making blackout area. were not rolling, radio was available only to do buoyed us all. We knew we would be recaptured and those who had transistors or were in cars, and the television brought back submissively to the prison farm of modem tech- industry was shut down. nology but it was good being free, loose and on the mu for a Most of the time, we find out what is collectively important few hours. to us by picking up the paper, switching on the radio, clicking It is easy, looking backward, to divide all the reactions and through the television channels. We are then told what we have emotions into neat little piles with neat little labels-fear, been doing or should be doing or what our leaders are doing courage, selfishness, resourcefulness-and make the quick as- for us or to us. When the presses stop, television goes out and sumption that what was important about the blackout was the radio’s voice is narrowed, we lose touch with the President of ” common denominators revealed. Indeed, there were these the United States, with Dean Rusk, with the men dying in unifying threads but, more important, the blackout was a re Vietnam; we can’t hear Peking yelling at us and we don’t even _ minder that because of our own needs and backgrounds we know just what it is we are supposed to rush out and buy. We I respond to a collective situation quite individually. The blackout was a lark for youth, a terrible trial for age. It was an opportunity to help for the young man who stepped The disruption of the communications industry during the off the sidewalk and directed trathc which suddenlv had been blackout, therefore, had a rather poignant and disturbinn effect. wondrously freed from the discipline of trtic lights. It was Here were 30 million people sharing a ( an opportunity to gouge for the taxi driver who packed his and, except for those with transistors, they didn’t know what cab full of passengers and made each pay double or triple the the experience was. In the eerie candlelit newsroom of The whole fare. As usual, New Yorkers helped gouge themselves. Times that night-good God, somebody said, this story is alI They stood in the roadway, flagged down taxis and shouted, ours if we can just get it out on the streets; nobo * ‘Thirty dollars to Brooklyn!” “Ten dollars to the Viiage!” yet, they are in it but they don’t know it.

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