1973: sorry, no gas: the Arab oil embargo 40 years ago awakened America to the dangers of dependence on foreign oil.

• Author: Roberts, Sam
• Position: TIMES PAST - Essay

Gasoline shortages touched off panic buying. Some filling stations rationed their gas or sold only by appointment. Many closed entirely, leaving the dwindling number that stayed open with lines that snaked for a mile or more. Tempers flared, and near riots erupted.

These were just some of the most jarring effects of the oil embargo imposed 40 years ago by Arab members of OPEC, (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries), a cartel that controlled the price and supply of oil. Accustomed to a cheap and bountiful supply of oil, Americans were awakened to a hard truth: Everyday life in the U.S. (and other industrialized nations) was incredibly dependent on the rich oil reserves of the Middle East--a region that was as volatile and unpredictable then as it is today.

The embargo--in response to America's support for its ally Israel--lasted five months but had long-lasting implications. It prompted the U.S. to seek alternative energy sources and to rethink its relationship with the Middle East.

"The 1973 oil crisis impressed upon the United States just how critical the Persian Gulf is to American and global security," says Steve A. Yetiv, a political science professor at Old Dominion University in Virginia. "It was an economic shot that motivated the West to develop protection against major oil crises."

Even before the 1973 oil crisis, Americans were learning that energy supplies were not unlimited. U.S. oil production had peaked in 1970, and President Richard Nixon warned that domestic sources of energy were drying up. But middle-class Americans had embraced their suburban lifestyles, heating and air-conditioning their sprawling homes and driving big gas-guzzling cars to work, school, and the mall. Though the U.S. made up 6 percent of the world's population, it was consuming 33 percent of the world's energy.

Then, on Oct. 6, 1973, Egypt and Syria led other Arab nations in an attack on Israel that's known as the Yom Kippur War because it began on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. The Arab nations were determined to regain the Golan Heights in Syria, the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, and other territories lost to Israel during the Six Day War in 1967. The U.S., an ally of Israel since its founding in 1948, supplied Israel's military with cargo planes, tanks, and intelligence, helping turn the tide of the Yom Kippur War in Israel's favor.

On October 17, the Arab members of OPEC retaliated. They announced that they would cut petroleum exports to...