Nixon's 1970s Permanent DST Experiment Triggered Broad Problems, Warning Congress Against Trying Again 50 Years Later
Updated
Updated · NBC News · Jul 15
Nixon's 1970s Permanent DST Experiment Triggered Broad Problems, Warning Congress Against Trying Again 50 Years Later
2 articles · Updated · NBC News · Jul 15
Summary
More than 50 years ago, the U.S. tried permanent daylight saving time after Richard Nixon sold it as an energy-saving measure with only “a minimum of inconvenience.”
Instead, the 1970s experiment produced wide-ranging problems Nixon had not anticipated, and the policy became deeply unpopular.
That backlash is being revisited as Congress again weighs making daylight saving time permanent, turning the earlier trial into a cautionary example.