Top U.S. energy officials today said, in effect, “thank you, Arabs, for your oil embargo.” Federal energy administrator William E. Simon told the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Energy that “the Arabs did us a favor with their embargo” because “it took the embargo to wake us up” from lethargy in exploring alternate sources of petroleum. John Massikas of the Federal Power Commission testified in a similar vein. He said “The Arab nations serve the American people well by shocking them into the realization” that the U.S. must look to itself for its basic resources.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
