TDIH: The Experiment with Permanent Daylight Savings Time

It was supposed to last two years. Instead, it was repealed in 10 months.

On this day in 1974, the United States experiments with permanent Daylight Saving Time. An energy crisis had prompted Congress to “spring forward” on January 6. The plan was to stay there, without “falling back” to Standard Time, for nearly two years.

The experiment didn’t last long. Instead, it was cut short after just ten months.

Such measures had never been tried outside of war time. “The theory is we’ll use evening sunlight better and save oodles of oil,” one journalist explained.

Polls showed a sizeable majority in favor of the switch. “I think it’s a good idea,” one citizen told the Dayton Daily News. “We need the daylight in the evening, not in the morning.” Others agreed, valuing evening sunlight for fun—“not just chores.” Another cheered his chance for “winter golf,” while retailers expressed enthusiasm for extra shopping hours after work or school.

Nevertheless, some doubted that energy would actually be saved: After all, late sunsets also mean late sunrises. “More electricity and heat are used in the factory in the morning than ever would be in the evening,” one worker observed. “There’s only a certain amount of time in the daytime. So I think it’s very stupid.”

The change was made on Sunday, January 6, but the real test came on Monday morning. People woke up in total darkness. “Daylight Time is Like Darkness Time,” the Washington Post reported. The sun wasn’t up yet, but children were expected to go to school and adults to work.

School bus drivers reported seeing mothers walking with their kids, holding candles. Other children held flashlights. One schoolgirl was struck by a car, breaking her leg.

Would the accident have happened if the sun had already been up? No one could know, but they did worry about it. Such suspicions increased when more children were injured and 8 children in Florida were killed.

During the World Wars, "war time" was used to save energy and "promote national security and defense."

Some children began making reflective badges to wear. Cities such as Dallas and Memphis spent thousands of dollars on reflective clothing tape and crosswalk signs. Parents began driving their kids to school, even though it made them late to work. In other places, schools pushed start times back. “The children themselves are afraid of the darkness,” a Missouri teacher observed.

Naturally, the change wasn’t just affecting schools.

Some office workers were getting depressed. One executive told the New York Times that he got to work while it was still dark. He stayed at work until 6 pm, but the extra hour of evening sunlight was already gone. “I never saw daylight all day. I’m depressed as hell,” he concluded.

The discontent cut across industries. “I hate getting up in the morning and seeing the moon,” one Californian sighed. “I can’t see the cans,” a New York garbage collector said on the other side of the country. “It feels like it’s about midnight. It’s slippery on the ice. You can’t see where you’re going. It’s bad.”

In a surprising twist, farmers perhaps hated it more than anyone because “you can’t put a cow on daylight saving time.”

It wasn’t unanimous, of course. Some still enjoyed the evening daylight, but many also acknowledged the difficulty, as when one fireman noted that he’d “give [DST] up in the winter for the kids’ sake.”

Matters soon came to a head. “It’s time to recognize that we may well have made a mistake,” one Senator stated. In the end, Congress acted with unusual speed, repealing permanent DST in October 1974. Energy savings had been insignificant, and polls showed that a majority no longer wanted DST in the “deepest months of winter.”

The idea is again being debated, of course, and feelings are strong on both sides. Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to remember our history while we consider next steps.

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