DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME BEGINS ON SUNDAY AT 2:00 A.M.

Today is the beginning of Daylight Saving Time, time for moving the clocks one hour ahead. The exceptions are Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa. Credit for Daylight Saving Time belongs to Benjamin Franklin, who first suggested the idea in 1784. The idea was revived in 1907, when William Willett, an Englishman, proposed a similar system in the pamphlet The Waste of Daylight. The Germans were the first to officially adopt the light-extending system in 1915 as a fuel-saving measure during World War I. The British switched one year later, and the United States followed in 1918, when Congress passed the Standard Time Act, which established our time zones. This experiment lasted only until 1920, when the law was repealed due to opposition from dairy farmers (cows don’t pay attention to clocks). During World War II, Daylight Saving Time was imposed once again (this time year-round) to save fuel.

1790s

• 1794: ELI WHITNEY PATENTED THE COTTON GIN

1800s

• BORN 1804: JOHANN STRAUSS, THE ELDER (COMPOSER)

1830s

• BORN 1833: LUCY HOBBS TAYLOR (FIRST U.S. WOMAN DENTIST)

1860s

• BORN 1864: JOHN LUTHER “CASEY” JONES (RAILROAD ENGINEER)

1870s

• BORN 1879: ALBERT EINSTEIN (PHYSICIST)

1890s

• DIED 1899: EMILE ERCKMANN (NOVELIST)

1900s

• 1900: U.S. CONGRESS ADOPTED THE GOLD STANDARD
• 1903: PELICAN ISLAND (FLA.) BECAME FIRST NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

1910s

• BORN 1912: LESTER BROWN (BANDLEADER)
• 1916: WOMEN GRANTED THE RIGHT TO VOTE IN SASKATCHEWAN
• 1917: GERMANY BEGAN RETREAT TO HINDENBURG LINE (WWI)
• 1918: FIRST U.S. CONCRETE SEAGOING SHIP, S.S. FAITH, LAUNCHED, REDWOOD CITY, CALIFORNIA
• BORN 1919: MAX SHULMAN (NOVELIST)

1920s

• BORN 1920: HANK KETCHAM (CARTOONIST, CREATOR OF DENNIS THE MENACE)
• 1923: U.S. PRESIDENT WARREN G. HARDING BECAME THE FIRST CHIEF EXECUTIVE TO FILE AN INCOME TAX REPORT
• BORN 1928: FRANK BORMAN (ASTRONAUT)

1930s

• BORN 1933: MICHAEL CAINE (ACTOR)
• BORN 1933: QUINCY JONES (MUSICIAN)
• 1935: SHIRLEY TEMPLE LEFT HER FOOTPRINTS AND HANDPRINTS IN THE WET CEMENT AT GRAUMAN’S CHINESE THEATRE IN HOLLYWOOD

1940s

• 1945: THE U.S. ARMY AIR CORP BEGAN BOMBING OSAKA, JAPAN (WWII)
• BORN 1948: BILLY CRYSTAL (ACTOR)

1950s

• 1958: POSSIBLE UFO SIGHTED IN HEALDSBURG, CALIFORNIA

1960s

• BORN 1961: KIRBY PUCKETT (BASEBALL PLAYER)
• 1964: JACK RUBY WAS FOUND GUILTY IN DALLAS OF THE MURDER OF LEE HARVEY OSWALD, ACCUSED ASSASSIN OF U.S. PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY
• 1968: BATMAN, STARRING ADAM WEST AND BURT WARD, AIRED ITS LAST EPISODE

1980s

• 1983: OPEC AGREED TO LOWER THE BENCHMARK PRICE FOR CRUDE OIL BY 15%. IT MARKED THE FIRST PRICE CUT SINCE THE GROUP’S FORMATION IN 1960
• 1984: ALLIGATOR RIVER NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE FOUNDED IN MANTEO, NORTH CAROLINA
• 1984: MARC GARNEAU CHOSEN AS FIRST CANADIAN ASTRONAUT TO GO INTO SPACE
• 1989: LEBANESE HIJACKER, FAWAZ YOUNIS, BROUGHT TO U.S. TO STAND TRIAL, FOUND GUILTY OF AIR PIRACY IN 1985 HIJACKING

1990s

• 1990: THE SOVIET CONGRESS ELECTED MIKHAIL GORBACHEV TO THE COUNTRY’S PRESIDENCY, ONE DAY AFTER CLEARING THE POST
• BORN 1997: SIMONE BILES (OLYMPIC GYMNAST)

2000s

• DIED 2002: HENRY WOODS (FEDERAL JUDGE)
• DIED 2002: THOMAS WINSHIP (EDITOR OF THE BOSTON GLOBE FROM 1965-1984, PULITZER PRIZE WINNER)

2010s

• DIED 2010: PETER GRAVES (ACTOR)
• 2011: ALICE COOPER, NEIL DIAMOND, DR. JOHN, DARLENE LOVE, TOM WAITS, JAC HOLZMAN, ART RUPE, AND LEON RUSSELL WERE INDUCTED INTO THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME
• DIED 2018: STEPHEN HAWKING (PHYSICIST)

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