As gas prices soar, Trump is ignoring the lessons of the last oil crisis

Photo: Bird’s eye view of an average gas station in Portland during the early morning hours of pumping when gas was limited on a first-come, first served basis to five gallons per auto. […] – December 1973. Photo credit: David Falconer / EPA: Project DOCUMERICA via NARA / Flickr / Wikimedia Commons (412-DA-13005). Public Domain. Article by Jake Bittle. Grist – March 10, 2026.

During the infamous oil embargo of 1973, when the world’s petroleum-producing countries stopped exporting to the United States during the Yom Kippur War, the effects on the U.S. were disastrous. Gasoline prices jumped by almost 50 percent, gas stations had to ration fuel, and lines at the pump snaked for miles. President Richard Nixon announced desperate measures to save energy, from asking workers to start their day an hour earlier to pleading with citizens not to put up Christmas lights. More than 50 years later, […]

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