Posted on 03/16/2022 10:08:39 AM PDT by PROCON
The sun rose at 8:27 AM on January 7, 1974. Children in the Washington area had left for school in the dark that morning, thanks to a new national experiment during a wrenching energy crisis: most of the US went to year-round daylight saving time beginning on January 6. “It was jet black” outside when her daughter was supposed to leave for school, Florence Bauer of Springfield told the Washington Post. “Some of the children took flashlights with them.”
The change would benefit Americans in the long run, predicted Steve Grossman of the Department of Transportation. Yes, accidents in the morning darkness may become more common, he said, but longer daylight hours could mean eliminating the hazards of evening commutes: “stress, anxiety, and many drivers have had a couple of drinks,” as he told the Post. Outside the capital, others vowed defiance: Robert Yost, the mayor of St. Francis, Kansas said his town’s council “felt it was time to put our foot down and stop this monkey business.”
Now as the idea of permanent daylight saving time has gained some political momentum, it’s probably worth a look back to another period when the US tinkered with time.
Congress had voted on December 14, 1973, to put the US on daylight saving time for two years. President Nixon signed the bill the next day. The US had gone to permanent daylight saving time before, during World War II. Then, too, the measure was enacted to save fuel. Permanent DST wasn’t close to the wackiest idea about time floating around—Paul Mullinax, a geographer who worked at the Pentagon, came up with the idea of putting the continental US on a single time zone. “USA Time” would apply from Bangor to Barstow, eliminate jet lag, and standardize TV schedules. His idea even got traction in Congress, via a bill from US Representative Patsy Mink of Hawaii. “The human being is a very adaptive animal,” he said. “There is no reason we have to be a slave to the sun.”
And yet the early-morning darkness quickly proved dangerous for children: A 6-year-old Alexandria girl was struck by a car on her way to Polk Elementary School on January 7; the accident broke her leg. Two Prince George’s County students were hurt in February. In the weeks after the change, eight Florida kids were killed in traffic accidents. Florida’s governor, Reubin Askew, asked for Congress to repeal the measure. “It’s time to recognize that we may well have made a mistake,” US Senator Dick Clark of Iowa said during a speech in Congress on January 28, 1974. In the Washington area, some schools delayed their start times until the sun caught up with the clock.
The factual picture was a bit more complicated. The National Safety Council reported in February that pre-sunrise fatalities had risen to 20 from 18 the year before. In July, Roger Sant, then an assistant administrator-designate for the Federal Energy Administration, wrote a letter to the Post that noted a 1 percent energy saving achieved by going to DST equated to 20,000-30,000 tons of coal not being burned each day. Further, he wrote, accidents had fallen in the afternoons.
By August, though, as the Watergate scandal caused the Nixon administration to crumble, the country was ready to move on from its clock experiments. While 79 percent of Americans approved of the change in December 1973, approval had dropped to 42 percent three months later, the New York Times reported. Seven days after President Nixon resigned, US Senator Bob Dole of Kansas introduced an amendment in August that would end the DST experiment. It passed. A similar bill passed the House. In late September, the full Congress passed a bill that would restore standard time on October 27. President Ford signed it on October 5. Energy savings, a House panel noted, “must be balanced against a majority of the public’s distaste for the observance of Daylight Saving Time.”
I remember that very clearly. That is why I advocate putting the clocks back to standard time and then just leaving them alone. It would seem easy to change business hours to suit.
-PJ
Energy crisis next
So, from Dec 73 to Oct 74? that was it?
Not even a full year?
Ask any group of people how they feel about a change and they are going to be against it.
This was before 24 hour everything, internet, stores open after 5 during the week and many even open on weekends. Large scale personal plane travel etc...
the world has changed. and we are much more a 24/7. global economy, regular people dealing with companies in different countries and time zones.
We actually NEED to know that it is X-pm in the UK or India on a regular basis now. Dealing with did they switch their clocks yet are they 5-6-7 hrs now, is a pain.
And the Russians were the bad guys, then!!
Yes. I was in high school. I had to catch the bus at 7:10 a.m. and I walked to the bus stop by starlight. I often disturbed stray dogs still using the cover of darkness to raid garbage cans. People with smaller children didn’t like sending their children off to school in the dark. It was a lot safer in 1973 than it is now, so I am guessing people will like it now even less.
I did a little research so I can write to my Congressman to vote against it. Under the new plan, the sun would rise after 8 a.m. in my part of Indiana (central time) from November through February. In Indianapolis, which is on the western edge of eastern time, the sun would rise around 9 a.m. during that time.
It was done to “alleviate the energy crisis.”
Nobody liked it except golfers, and it won’t be any different this time.
I was a kid in school and have no memory of this
I kinda like it!!
You need to find a place at the equator on the International Timeline. Alignment will shift throughout the year, and along a seven year cycle.
Not much but more than today’s crop.
This is the only bad idea that Ben Franklin had.
Why stop there? Eliminate all US time zones....lol
I remember that day. I was in first grade. My mom was helping me put on my mittens and I asked her why it was so dark outside. She replied something like, “I’ve dreaded this day since they said it was coming. It’s because of changing the clocks”.
I don’t remember anything else about it except that one morning. I don’t recall any problems arising from it.
Sheet....I walked to school. Never walked in the dark.........
I remember 22 cents a gallon gas at the pump when we stopped moving the clock......
Just saying
Vaguely. Yes I remember people complaining about it and it not lasting. I was born in 57 so I assume we are close in age.
Ditto for me and the wife. We don’t remember it either.
Pet rocks, mood rings and disco are on the horizon.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.