“I thought they fixed that rattle” (April 8, 1979) By Charles Phil Bissell (1926 - 2024 ) 10 x 20 in., ink and wash on board In 1960, Boston Globe cartoonist Phil Bissell, working for $25 a day, was handed an assignment that would change his life—and the lives of fans of the brand-new AFL football team coming to Boston. “Sports editor Jerry Nason came to me and he said, ‘They’ve decided to call the team the Boston Patriots. You better have a cartoon ready for tomorrow’s edition.’” Bissel’s “Pat Patriot” cartoon was the Patriot’s logo from 1961-1992. Amid massive protests, the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, fled his country in early 1979 and the Ayatollah Khomeini soon became the new leader of Iran. The 1979 oil crisis occurred due to decreased oil output in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. Despite the fact that global oil supply decreased by only about 4%, widespread panic resulted, thanks to the strong memory of the 1973 shortages, driving the price far higher. The price of crude oil more than doubled over the next 12 months, and long lines once again appeared at gas stations, as they had in 1973. A few other factors helped contribute. Although not directly related, the near-disaster at Three Mile Island on March 28, 1979, also increased anxiety about energy policy and availability. And the Carter administration began a phased deregulation of oil prices on April 5, 1979. Motorists soon began panic buying, and long lines appeared at gas stations, as they had six years earlier. During this second crisis, many people believed the oil companies artificially created oil shortages to drive up prices. The amount of oil sold in the United States in 1979 was only 3.5 percent less than the record set for oil sold the year previously. A telephone poll of 1,600 American adults conducted by the Associated Press and NBC News and released in early May 1979 found that only 37% of Americans thought the energy shortages were real, 9% were not sure, and 54% thought the energy shortages were a hoax
