Both the oil embargo of 1973 and the oil shock of 1979 showed the United States that the government needed to be less dependent on foreign oil production.
The 1973 oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations which supported Israel during the Yom Kippur War. The primary nations targeted were Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States with the embargo also later spanned to Portugal, Rhodesia and South Africa.
