Daniel Yergin

We had highway systems.

We had the suburbs.

Oil demand is going way up.

And we outrun production.

So the U.S.

becomes, in 1946, 47, 48, an importer of oil.

but modest amounts.

But then as we go into the late 60s, you have this global economic boom and Japan is suddenly a vibrant economy.

Europe has recovered a vibrant economy and oil demand is shooting up really rapidly.

And the markets that were quite amply supplied become very tight.

And I think that in the United States, people didn't realize that we were becoming the world's largest importer of oil.

They just weren't paying attention to that.

And it was thought, well, there are only limits to what we can do as a country anyway.

And then there were, when we finally get to the crisis, the famous oil crisis of 1973, which probably opened the modern age of energy,

Well, what's going on at the same time, this political crisis in the United States called Watergate.

And the front page of the newspaper is not about, you know, we have tight oil supplies, we're running risks.

It's all about, you know, what did Richard Nixon do in terms of subverting the election and subverting the political process?

So there was just sort of inattention and I think that's one of the risks.

I think a lot about energy security as an issue and it tends to fall off the table until it hits you in the face.

Well, I think it was after World War II.