DST: A Brief History

Daylight Saving Time was first conceived by Benjamin Franklin in a 1784 essay. Daylight Saving Time has been in use in the US and many European countries since World War 1. President Franklin Roosevelt implemented full time Daylight Saving Time (War Time) during World War 2.

Prior to passage of the Uniform Time Act of 1966, the observance of Daylight Saving Time was determined by local laws and varied widely throughout the US. This law set the beginning of Daylight Saving Time as the last Sunday of April continuing until the last Sunday of October. However, states could opt out by passing their own legislation.

The beginning and end of Daylight Saving Time in the US has been altered several times over the years since.

In 1974, President Nixon signed the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act of 1973 into law. This extended Daylight Saving Time from January 6 until October 27, 1974.

Now, in most of the US, Daylight Saving Time runs from the second Sunday in March to the last Sunday in November. Daylight Saving Time is not observed in Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and a few other locations.

In Europe, Summer Time runs from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October.

Daylight Saving Time changes our clocks to shift an hour of daylight from early morning to late evening. The two predominant reasons for the implementation of Daylight Saving Time are supposed energy savings and more daylight for leisure activities. The former is somewhat in dispute as the result a recent study by Matthew Kotchen and Laura Grant (University of California in Santa Barbara).

Read much more about the history of Daylight Saving Time at webexhibits.org.