American History Hotline

Episode: "Why Do We Spring Forward?"

Host: Bob Crawford
Guest: Chad Orzell, Associate Professor, Union College, author of "A Brief History of the Science of Marking Time From Stonehenge to Atomic Clocks"
Air Date: March 4, 2026

Overview

In this episode, Bob Crawford seeks to answer a listener's pressing question: "Why do we still have Daylight Saving Time (DST), and why can't we get rid of it?" He’s joined by historian and physicist Chad Orzell, who unpacks the origins, history, and persistent debates surrounding DST and time zones in America. Together, they explore how timekeeping evolved alongside technology, the economic and social forces behind standardized time, and why, despite widespread annoyance, the spring-forward, fall-back ritual prevails.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Rationale for Daylight Saving Time (DST)

• Balancing Light: DST attempts to keep sunrises early in the winter and sunsets late in the summer, balancing preferences for light in mornings and evenings.
  • “There are two things that daylight saving time accomplishes. One is it ensures that the sun rises relatively early in the winter … and it also ensures that the sun is up late in the summer. …We like having both of those.” — Chad Orzell (01:00)
• Impossibility of Perfect Time: Year-round DST or standard time would force a tradeoff; DST is the compromise that lets us have both preferences seasonally (01:00-01:55).

2. Pre-Standardized Timekeeping

• Local Solar Time: Prior to time zones, each town set clocks by the sun's position, which was adequate until the advent of faster travel and communication (02:05-03:23).
  • “Noon is when the sun is at its highest point in the sky… That varies from place to place as you move around the Earth.” — Chad Orzell (02:16)

3. Technology Spurs Change

• Railroads and Telegraphy: Synchronization needs emerged when trains and instant communication made local times problematic (03:31-05:08).
  • “By the mid-1800s, the railroads are kind of standardizing things on their own... then there's railroad time…” — Chad Orzell (04:07)
• First Steps Toward Time Zones: Initially, local and "railroad time" coexisted, causing manageable but noticeable discrepancies (05:02-05:32).

4. The Birth of Standardized Time Zones

• Cleveland Abbe & Industry Leadership: National standardization was championed by early weather forecasters and railroad executives (05:38-08:36).
  • “He started to lobby for establishing some sort of standardization of time… [and] got in touch with… railroads… They drew up a set of time zones…” — Chad Orzell (06:56)
• Railroads Outpace Government: Railroads imposed time zones first to avoid Congressional interference, setting a precedent for national standards (07:44–08:36).
• GMT as a Baseline: U.S. time zones were anchored to Greenwich Mean Time, meaning every city had to adjust, making national adoption smoother (08:56–09:27).

5. Adoption and Challenges of Daylight Saving Time

• Wartime Origins: DST began in Europe during WWI as an energy-saving measure, adopted by the U.S. during both World Wars (10:36–11:25).
  • “They don’t want to have to burn coal to generate electricity to power lights. So they just shift the clock so it’s daylight longer…” — Chad Orzell (10:38)
• Postwar and Uniform Time Act: After WWII, DST usage was inconsistent until the Uniform Time Act of the 1960s set national standards (11:25).

6. State-by-State DST (Case Studies: Arizona & Hawaii)

• Arizona Opts Out: Due to heat and energy consumption, Arizona does not observe DST—preferring earlier sunsets for cooler evenings (14:23-15:10).
  • “It doesn’t save us any energy to move the clocks later in the summer. We actually want it to get dark earlier…” — Chad Orzell (14:32)
• Hawaii’s Unique Situation: Hawaii’s minimal seasonal daylight variation means DST has little effect (15:11-15:43).
• Local Variations: Indiana, certain counties, and the Navajo Nation have had differing approaches due to workforce and geographic considerations (15:58-16:22).

7. Why Isn’t DST Abolished?

• Two Days of Inconvenience: Most people dislike DST for the clock changes, but type and magnitude of inconvenience differ (17:42–18:43).
  • “Everyone says they hate it because it’s inconvenient like twice a year… but as I said at the beginning, it gets us two things that we like.” — Chad Orzell (17:42)
• Failed Year-Round DST Attempt: The 1970s oil crisis led to an experiment with permanent DST—but early winter sunrises were so unpopular, the law was repealed within a year (18:47–19:05).
• Children & Animals: Time changes disrupt routines for kids and pets especially (19:17–19:27).

8. A Humorous Alternate Proposal

• Orzell’s Five-Minute Plan: Spread the “spring forward” over 12 weekends with 5-minute clock adjustments rather than a single hour—in jest:
  • “Five minutes a weekend, nobody would notice that... The clock in my car is off by five minutes already.” — Chad Orzell (19:37)

9. Technological Solutions and Ongoing Debate

• Modern Devices Automate Changes: Internet-connected devices auto-update, but complex, gradual time changes would be a nightmare for computer programmers (20:34–20:54).
• Political Theater: Calls to abolish DST often surface in political discourse but rarely result in change (17:26–17:39, 20:54-21:25).

10. Philosophical and Economic Roots

• Time and Capitalism: Standard time zones, and later DST, arose from economic necessity—an “American” innovation spread by business and adopted through lobbying (22:51–23:13).
  • “It’s adopted through the quintessential American process of having large corporations lobby for it and get the system adopted that way.” — Chad Orzell (23:13)
• Global Standardization: Europeans and Americans developed time zones concurrently; the international standard settled on Greenwich as zero longitude due to British maritime dominance (23:39–25:23).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On balancing priorities:

  “We like having both of those [early sunrises in winter and late sunsets in summer]. And we would lose those if we went … to a system where we’re either daylight saving year-round or … standard time year-round.”
  — Chad Orzell (01:22)

• On the quirkiness of U.S. standardized time:

  “Our system of time zones relies on us pretending that it is the precise same time of day in eastern Maine and western Indiana. And that makes no actual geographical or astronomical sense, but we do it because it’s convenient.”
  — Chad Orzell (21:25)

• On historical feasibility:

  “These days it would be hard to get everybody to sign on … particularly since you’ve got, you know, if you look at sort of eastern Maine to western Indiana, that’s like, it’s like an hour and 10 minutes actual difference if you were going by the position of the sun.”
  — Chad Orzell (09:59)

• On the birth of time zones:

  “If we don’t do something, Congress is going to get involved, and … we should just impose our own system of time zones and then, and then everybody else will go along. And that’s, in fact, what happened.”
  — Chad Orzell (07:55)

Important Timestamps

• [00:59] — Why DST persists: balancing winter mornings and summer evenings.
• [03:31] — The railroads and telegraphy spur standardization.
• [05:38] — Cleveland Abbe and the creation of time zones.
• [08:56] — Choosing Greenwich as the prime meridian.
• [10:36] — DST’s wartime origins.
• [14:23] — Arizona’s and Hawaii’s DST exceptions.
• [18:47] — The 1970s failed experiment with year-round DST.
• [19:37] — Orzell’s five-minute weekend time advance (humorous proposal).
• [21:25] — Standard time as an arbitrary but functional system.
• [23:13] — Economic roots: business and industry push for time zones.
• [23:39] — International adoption and the Greenwich/Paris debate.

Additional Resources

• Chad Orzell’s Substack: Under his own name, discussing the history of timekeeping.
• Book: A Brief History of the Science of Marking Time From Stonehenge to Atomic Clocks (available wherever books are sold).

Summary

This episode serves as a lively, well-researched tour through the creation and evolution of timekeeping in America. DST exists not out of thoughtless tradition, but as an enduring compromise between competing desires for daylight and convenience. Standardized time arose at the intersection of technology and capitalism, with business—and particularly railroads—leading the charge for national and, eventually, international coordination. Although often maligned, DST and time zones have become deeply embedded in American life, shaping everything from daily routines to international relations.