Seventy-five years ago today, February 9, 1942, the United States went on War Time, or year round Daylight Savings Time. At 2:00 AM that morning, all clocks were to spring forward an hour for the wartime measure, which was intended to conserve electricity.
The measure had been adopted by Congress nationwide, and was to remain in effect until six months after the end of hostilities.
Broadcasters welcomed the change. The January 19 issue of Broadcasting magazine noted that “broadcasting’s semi-yearly headache, partial daylight saving time” would disappear and that the new law “inadvertently fulfills an industry campaign favoring ‘fast’ time on a universal basis, preferably year-round.”
The clock had previously presented headaches to broadcasters, not only due to the twice yearly need to change the clock, but because daylight savings time had not been universally adopted. Some states and communities moved the clock ahead, but others didn’t. For the first time, the entire nation would follow the same scheme.