Woodrow Wilson – Sharing History

On March 19, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson signed “The Standard Time Act” into law. This act divided the U.S. into five time zones and established daylight savings. The act said that the clock would be advanced one hour on the last Sunday in March and pushed back an hour on the last Sunday in October. The idea of daylight savings came and went several times over the ensuing decades, becoming permanent in most states in 1966.

The idea of daylight savings time actually originated in Europe. Embroiled in World War I, European countries adopted the practice to reduce the amount of fuel needed to illuminate and heat buildings. It was also suggested that adjusting the time would increase productivity and have positive health effects. The U.S. took several years to jump onboard, with Congress finally passing the bill to instate daylight savings time on March 16, 1918. According to a Washington Herald article published on that day, the benefits of the bill for Americans would include: “Saving of one to one and a half million tons of coal per year, according to Fuel Administration estimates. Increased food production by suburban gardeners. Less traffic accidents. Improvement in health of all the people. More fresh air. Women workers will return from work in daylight. Speeding up of freight transportation by giving extra hour at docks and terminals. New York and London Stock Exchanges will be open for one hour together . . . More time for golf, amateur baseball and tennis.” President Wilson signed the act three days later.

The bill that President Wilson signed only enacted daylight savings for a few years. It took Congress several tries to repeal the act because President Wilson kept vetoing it. In 1919, Congress was finally able to override the veto and repeal daylight savings. Another daylight savings act was passed during World War II. It expired in 1945 at the end of the war. Over the next two decades, the observance of daylight savings was a local decision. It meant that one might pass through several different time zones within the same state. It wasn’t until Congress passed the Uniform Time Act of 1966 that the issue was solved, and daylight savings became a permanent fixture in most states in the union.

Studies have debated the usefulness of daylight savings in our time. Some studies have suggested that daylight savings contributes to a decrease in productivity and an increase in accidents of all sorts. Furthermore, in 2022, a study done by Monmouth University said that 61% of Americans would like to do away with the twice-yearly time change.

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The Origin of Daylight Savings