On October 17, 1973 OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) cut off oil supplies to the United States and The Netherlands because these two nations helped Israel defend itself from yet another military attack by Egypt. They helped Israel attack Syria in response to the Egyptian attack on Israel, which is about as appropriate as shooting the neighbor's cat because their dog bit you.
Then, while spoiled American consumers continued to commute hundreds of miles to and from work every week and who still went shopping at the drop of a hat for things they didn't really need, American gas stations began running completely out of gasoline. Not only that, OPEC's hateful, stubborn "hissy fit" against the West jacked up the price of OPEC oil being exported to Europe by 70%.
Everyone tried to blame the "Arab Oil Embargo" of 1973 on President Richard Nixon, whom everybody in the entire world hated for being a Republican and for simply being "an American president" during the Vietnam War. In fact, everybody in the world was so damn mad at the Israelis and the Americans and the Dutch they completely forgot that Egypt started the whole thing because Egyptian Arabs hate Israeli Jews more than any people in the entire world, except for Americans, who led the allied nations in saving the world from domination by Germany twice during the 20th Century. Wow. That's a funny thing to be hated for.
OPEC finally lifted the oil embargo against The U.S. on March 18, 1974, after getting the "Big Picture" that America will always defend Israel, probably forever, and that American oil speculators on Wall Street make a killing on oil stocks and oil futures every time tempers flare and bombs start dropping in the Holy Land.
What a world.
