1918 Seventy-five Years Ago

Borrowing the idea from its English proponent, William Willet, Congress passed a bill effective March 30 to make the most of summer days by setting clocks ahead one hour in spring and back again in fall. The move was not tremendously popular. Farmers were especially suspicious of the change. One reportedly objected, “My corn needs the morning sun.” National Daylight Savings was repealed the following year but sustained state by state until World War II, when it was imposed year-round in 1942. It has been universal in the United States since 1986.