ABSTRACT
260 261When historians reflect on the latter half of the twentieth century, three years - 1973, 1979 and 1986 - will be seen as landmarks that transformed the world economic and political system. While the significance of the first two dates is obvious, in 1986 the United States and much of the rest of the industrialized world forgot the energy lessons of the 1970s. With gasoline and home heating fuel prices at the lower levels in thirteen years and with an Administration addicted to the wisdom of the marketplace, consumers and their governments have been lulled into complacency. Likewise, in 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear power accident in the Soviet Union once again raised doubts about the further expansion of this vital energy source.
