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Oct. 16, 1966
October 16, 1966
Johnson reaches out to Detroit: ‘I’ll be there’ [1]
Eleven days after the meltdown at the Fermi Nuclear Generating Station, President Johnson has pledged to go to Detroit to monitor recovery efforts in the city. Johnson will visit the city just 30 miles from the Fermi plant in an attempt to reassure a panicked public about the safety of nuclear power. He plans to meet with Detroit Mayor Jerome Cavanaugh and with former Governor Soapy Williams, who is running for a Senate seat. Conspicuously absent from his tour is Michigan Governor George Romney, whose handling of the disaster and subsequent riots has been criticized by President Johnson.
State visits to New Zealand and Australia [2] on October 19-22 have been cancelled in order for the President to “observe the situation” in southeastern Michigan. Johnson said that he still intends to attend the summit conference in Manila on the Vietnam conflict on October 23. In response, Prime Ministers Holyoake and Holt have issued official statements expressing their sympathy for the victims of the nuclear disaster.