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On this day in 1974, Richard Nixon responded to the Arab oil embargo by signing the Emergency Highway Conservation Act. The law offered the states a choice: impose a 55 mph maximum speed limit or forego federal highway funds. The national limit remained in effect for more than a decade, annoying my dad*, who ignored it whenever he got behind the wheel**. My mom, by contrast, never drove more than 52 mph, infuriating dad even more than the posted limit did. Between their arguments over an appropriate pace and the thick clouds of smoke wafting from their cigarettes***, long road trips were a blast. Anyway, in 1987 and 1988, with fuel prices lower and gas lines unheard of, Congress amended the law to allow for speeds up to 65 mph. Then, in 1995, legislators repealed the federal limit entirely****.

The history of the 55 mph speed limit reminds us that the Republican Party once embraced conservation. As this Bill Cronon op-ed points out, Nixon, for all of his paranoia and war mongering*****, was relatively green. Beginning with Ronald Regan, though, the GOP sold what was left of its soul to petroleum companies and placated its libertarian wing by crafting energy policies relentlessly focused on production rather than consumption. The idea of something so simple as a federal speed limit now receives hardly any attention at all. Dad is relieved. And I have to admit that when I used to drive across the vast expanses of Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana pretty regularly, I often ignored fuel economy in service of getting there. Fast. But with climate change now a foregone conclusion, and oil still flirting with $100/barrel, isn’t it time to talk about changing not just how much we drive but how fast? Who would have thought that Richard Nixon would have led the way******?

* Among other motorists.

** Including on the tree-lined streets of Cleveland’s eastern suburbs. Yes, that blur was my father. Sorry if your pet paid the price for his impatience.

*** He: Parliaments. She: Larks.

**** Dad still considers this the nation’s most important holiday.

***** Bill, who’s much more diplomatic than I am, doesn’t mention Nixon’s personality quirks and policy nightmares; he focuses on the positives.

****** I’m not saying he was a hero or anything, so spare me the Nixon-was-a-war-criminal e-mails. Because I know. But he apparently loved him some caribou. As long as they weren’t Jewish. Or Democrats. Or Jewish Democrats.

Editor’s Note: Although all of the details of the above stories are 100% accurate (except where they’re not), I love my mother and father dearly. So no guilt, please.