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Community Heroes Series
From the
April 2006 issue of Alabama Living magazine
Article
by Kay Marshall
If
you’re like many people, you may be curious as to the origins
of Daylight Saving Time, and why we still consider it helpful today.
It’s a time of year we either look forward to, or dread.
For most of us there is a slight adjustment period while our bodies
and minds relax into the new time.
WebExhibits.org has all the information one could ask for regarding
our yearly ritual of changing our clocks - both internally and externally
- through Daylight Savings Time.
What’s the bright idea behind DST?
The main purpose of Daylight Saving Time (called “Summer Time”
in many places in the world) is to make better use of daylight.
We change our clocks during the summer months to move an hour of
daylight from the morning to the evening.The idea of daylight saving
was first conceived by Benjamin Franklin in 1784, but was not seriously
considered until 1907 when London builder William Willett proposed
advancing clocks 20 minutes on each of four Sundays in April, and
cutting them by the same amount on four Sundays in September. Britan,
Sir Robert Pearce introduced a bill in the House of Commons to make
it compulsory to adjust the clocks. The bill was drafted in 1909
and introduced in Parliament several times, but it met with ridicule
and opposition. Britain passed an act on May 17, 1916, and Willett’s
scheme of adding 80 minutes, in four separate movements was put
in operation on the following Sunday, May 21, 1916.
After World War I, Parliament passed several acts relating to
Summer Time. In 1925, a law was enacted that Summer Time should
begin on the day following the third Saturday in April (or one week
earlier if that day was Easter Day). The date for closing of Summer
Time was fixed for the day after the first Saturday in October.Since
World War I Daylight Saving Time has been used in the U.S. and in
many European countries. At that time, in an effort to conserve
fuel needed to produce electric power.Formally adopted in the U.S.
1918. ‘An Act to preserve daylight and provide standard time
for the United States’ was enacted on March 19, 1918. The time
proved to be so unpopular with people, that in 1919 the law was
repealed. But during World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt
instituted year-round Daylight Saving Time, called “War Time,”
from February 2, 1942 to September 30, 1945, but the new time still
caused confusion and public disdain.
By 1966, some 100 million Americans were observing Daylight Saving
Time based on their local laws and customs. Congress decided to
step in and end the confusion, and to establish one pattern across
the country. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 (15 U.S. Code Section
260a) [see law], signed into Public Law 89-387 on April 12, 1966,
by President Lyndon Johnson, created Daylight Saving Time to begin
on the last Sunday of April and to end on the last Sunday of October.
Any State that wanted to be exempt from Daylight Saving Time could
do so by passing a state law.The Uniform Time Act of 1966 established
a system of uniform (within each time zone) Daylight Saving Time
throughout the U.S. and its possessions, exempting only those states
in which the legislatures voted to keep the entire state on standard
time.
In 1972, Congress revised the law to provide that, if a state was
in two or more time zones, the state could exempt the part of the
state that was in one time zone while providing that the part of
the state in a different time zone would observe Daylight Saving
Time. The Federal law was amended in 1986 to begin Daylight Saving
Time on the first Sunday in April.
So, when do we change our clocks?
Daylight Saving Time in the USA...
O
Begins at 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday of April and
O
Ends at 2:00 a.m. on the last Sunday of October
WHAT ABOUT DST in 2007?
Several countries, including most states within the United States will alter the dates on which * Daylight Saving Time (DST) is observed. Please note that ALL states except Arizona and Hawaii will begin observing Daylight Saving Time on March 11.
* Daylight Saving Time varies between countries and regions and is subject to change by national governments.
O Begins at 2:00 a.m. (local time) on March 11, 2007.
O Ends at 2:00 a.m. (local time) on November 4, 2007.
Software Updates for 2007 DST
----------------------------------------
Kay
Marshall is the Internet Projects Coordinator and Editor for TEC
WebExhibits provides this information
as a public service of the Institute for Dynamic Educational Advancement,
which is supported by the U.S. Department of Commerce, National
Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), Time and Frequency
Division. Visit www.webexhibits.org for more informaiton on of DST! |
