Q&A on the News

Q: Whose idea was daylight saving time? While growing up I always heard that Benjamin Franklin came up with the idea.

—Lance DeLoach, Thomaston

A: The concept of daylight saving time is credited to Benjamin Franklin, who proposed rising earlier to use more sunlight as a way to save candle usage.

A report by the Congressional Research Service notes, “In 1784, when Benjamin Franklin was Minister to France, an idea occurred to him: in that part of the year when the sun rises while most people are still asleep, clocks could be reset to allow an extra hour of daylight during waking hours. He calculated that French shopkeepers could save one million francs per year on candles.”

Then in 1907, the report says that British Parliament member William Willett, also a Royal Astronomical Society fellow, proposed a way to advance time by 20 minutes on Sundays in April and recede time by 20 minutes each Sunday in September. His idea was not approved.

Germany adopted daylight saving time in 1916, as a way to save fuel during World War I. In 1918, the United States adopted daylight saving time. It was repealed nationally in 1919, but some states and cities continued to use it.

In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt instituted “War Time,” which was daylight saving time year-round. It ended the last Sunday in September 1945. The following year, some municipalities and states decided to use summer daylight saving time.

In 1966, the United States enacted the Uniform Time Act, which noted that daylight saving time would begin on the last Sunday of April and end of the last Sunday of October. However, states could opt out. In 1973, President Richard Nixon signed the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act.

The current U.S. schedule follows the Energy Policy Act of 2005, beginning the second Sunday in March and ending the first Sunday in November. Arizona and Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands do not observe daylight saving time.