Periodic oil shortages, and the resulting pain at the pump, have been a fact of American life for nearly a century. —Collected by Carol Fryday

1926

1942

1979

2007

2008

Cartoons, from top: Darling Wildlife Society; Robert J. Day, copyright the New Yorker Collection from the Cartoon Bank; Ed Arno, copyright the New Yorker Collection from the Cartoon Bank; Matt Davies/the Journal News (Westchester, New York); Robert Ariail/the State