Nixon Signs 55 MPH Speed Limit: Oil Crisis Slows America Down
Nixon signed the 55 mph speed limit into law on January 2, 1974, not because he cared about highway safety but because OPEC had cut off the oil. Gas stations were rationing fuel. Lines stretched around the block. The new limit was supposed to save 200,000 barrels of crude a day. Americans hated it. Truckers staged a nationwide strike days later. The limit lasted 21 years before Congress repealed it in 1995.
January 2, 1974
52 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on January 2
según una tradición cristiana la Virgen vino en carne mortal a Caesaraugusta (Zaragoza) a ver a Santiago cuando aún vivía en Jerusalén.
On January 2 of the Year of the Four Emperors, the Roman legions stationed in Germania Superior refused to swear their annual oath of loyalty to Emperor Galba. …
The Rhine froze solid in the winter of 366 AD. The Alemanni walked across. Thousands of Germanic warriors poured into Roman Gaul on a highway of ice, looting to…
Mercurius became Pope John II on January 2, 533, and set a precedent that has lasted nearly 1,500 years. He was the first pope to change his name upon election.…
Im Frieden von Perónne einigen sich der französische König Philipp II. und Graf Balduin IX. von Flandern über streitige Besitzansprüche im Artois.
Christian forces defeated an Ottoman Turkish army at the Battle of Kunovica in 1444, near modern-day Serbia. The victory was part of the larger Crusade of Varna…
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