(transcript via ChatGPT)
JONATHAN ALTER:
Hi, I’m Jonathan Alter of Old Goats.
JULIAN ZELIZER:
And I’m Julian Zelizer from The Long View.
I’m sure you’ve been thinking about this a lot. We are now in the middle of an oil crisis, an oil issue, an oil problem as a result of the conflict involving Iran. It brings back memories of the 1970s, when we first had, first in 1973, an energy crisis triggered by an OPEC embargo against the United States. Then there was a second one in 1979, triggered by the Iranian Revolution and the effect on oil.
That caused all sorts of problems in the United States: long gas lines, difficulties heating homes, shortages, and rationing in different states. It became a big issue for President Carter, who famously gave a speech in July 1979 trying to address the underlying causes of the issue. Energy and oil were on everyone’s mind in 1979. How, many people are asking, does that compare to what’s going on today?
JONATHAN ALTER:
That was a much more serious issue. The Arabs and some other members of what we called OPEC, you rarely hear that anymore, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, they had us over a barrel, quite literally. We were extremely dependent on oil from the Middle East, and we are not today.
We are net exporters of oil. We have a Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is being tapped and which is there for this very purpose. In terms of the oil that we do import, a lot of it does not come through the Strait of Hormuz. So we are in a much less vulnerable position than we were in 1973 and in 1979.
When the Iranian oil fields went out of production after the Iranian Revolution in 1979, that had a much bigger effect than anything related to oil in Iran today. That does not speak to the wisdom or foolishness of this war, but I think people do need to keep the energy part of it in perspective.
It will not be very long before those oil prices go down. They are not going to stay at $100 a barrel for very long.
JULIAN ZELIZER:
Well, that is a useful contrast and comparison to that period. It is also a reminder of how one crisis affects the next, and how many of the changes that resulted from 1979 are part of what explains the differences in conditions today, among other things.
Anyway, thanks for doing this. I know you are on the run, but I enjoyed the conversation as always, and we will talk next week.
