When Is Daylight Saving Time? NYT | Top Stories By: Alan Yuhas 29 October 2024 at 22:41 The twice-yearly ritual has roots in cost-cutting strategies of the late 19th century. A recent effort to end it has stalled in Congress. © Leon Neal/Getty ImagesBenjamin Franklin is often credited as the first to suggest daylight saving time after realizing he was wasting his mornings by staying in bed.