Great Northeast Blackout - November 9, 1965

On this day in 1965, a major electrical power failure sent parts of Ontario and the northeastern United States into darkness for up to 13 hours. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class. It's a production of I
Heart Radio Welcome Back. I'm your host Eves and you're
tuned into This Day in History Class, a show that
takes history and squeezes it into bite size stories. Today
is November nine. The day was November nine, n A

(00:27):
huge electrical power failure sent parts of Ontario and the
northeastern United States into darkness for up to thirteen hours.
At five six pm, a safety relay on a transmission
line at Sir Adam Beck Station on the Ontario side
of Niagara Falls trips that sent a surge of power
south and caused nearby power lines to overload and fail.

(00:52):
The failure caused blackouts in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and the Canadian province
of Ontario. Some cities that had their own electric utilities
were not plunged into darkness, though around thirty million people
were affected by the blackout. The full moon that night

(01:12):
did provide some light. Since it was a weekday rush
hour when the blackout began, it was particularly disruptive. People
were trapped in subways and elevators, and stop lights were out.
Airplanes were unable to land, and trains were brought to
a halt. Backup generators allowed telephone exchanges in some radio
stations to keep running. Police and the National Guard were

(01:35):
called in to stop looting, but there were a few
instances of riding or looting. During the confusion. Television networks
faced a problem and getting news out about the blackout,
since they relied on electricity. CBS's news program, which originated
in New York, had to turn to a backup studio
in Washington, and anchor Walter Cronkite had to deliver the

(01:56):
blackout story by telephone to anchor Roger mud and wash Ington.
The New York Times had to print a ten page
paper for November tenth at the printing presses of a
New Jersey publisher. The Times was New York City's only
major daily paper to put out an addition on the
morning of the tenth. Power was gradually restored to the

(02:16):
affected areas throughout the night and into the morning. Questions
and rumors swirled about the cause of the outage, including
one that it was an act of sabotage. People feared
it was an attack, partly due to Cold War tensions
but authorities denied there was any foul play. Human interest
stories were printed in newspapers. One story, for instance, reported

(02:39):
that a boy in New Hampshire hit a light pole
at the exact moment the power went out, and he
ran home, thinking he caused the blackout. US President Lyndon B.
Johnson sent a memorandum to the Chairman of the Federal
Power Commission, staying, in part, today's failure is a dramatic
reminder of the importance of the uninterrupted flow of power
to the health, safety, and well being of our citizens,

(03:02):
and the defense of our country. This failure should be
immediately and carefully investigated in order to prevent a recurrence.
It took investigators less than a week to figure out
the cause of the blackout, the faulty relay, and officials
announced the failure to the public. After the blackout, people
were compelled to reconsider their reliance on electricity. Electrical engineers

(03:26):
re examined the power grid system and regional reliability. Counsels
that established industry standards, share information for systems analysis, and
coordinate system design and operation were formed. In the wake
of the nineteen sixty blackout. A myth emerged that a
high number of babies were born nine months to the
day after the blackout, but it was debunked. Some conspiracy theorists,

(03:50):
though still doubt that the relay was the reason for
the blackout. I'm each Jeff Coo and hopefully you know
a little more about history today than you did yesterday.
Send your best history memes to us at t d
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you can sing your thoughts are comments to us at

(04:12):
this day at I heart media dot com. Thank you
for listening to today's episode. We'll see you again tomorrow
with another one. Stop For more podcasts from I Heeart Radio,
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(04:35):
listen to your favorite shows.