diff --git modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.test modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.test
index 0cbcddd..aa8c838 100644
--- modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.test
+++ modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.test
@@ -380,6 +380,40 @@ class TaxonomyTermUnitTest extends TaxonomyWebTestCase {
 }
 
 /**
+ * Test for legacy node bug.
+ */
+class TaxonomyLegacyTestCase extends TaxonomyWebTestCase {
+
+  public static function getInfo() {
+    return array(
+      'name' => 'Test for legacy node bug.',
+      'description' => 'Posts an article with a taxonomy term and a date prior to 1970.',
+      'group' => 'Taxonomy',
+    );
+  }
+
+  function setUp() {
+    parent::setUp('taxonomy');
+    $this->admin_user = $this->drupalCreateUser(array('administer taxonomy', 'administer nodes', 'bypass node access'));
+    $this->drupalLogin($this->admin_user);
+  }
+
+  function testTaxonomyLegacyNode() {
+    // Posts an article with a taxonomy term and a date prior to 1970.
+    $langcode = LANGUAGE_NONE;
+    $edit = array();
+    $edit['title'] = $this->randomName();
+    $edit['date'] = '1969-01-01 00:00:00 -0500';
+    $edit["body[$langcode][0][value]"] = $this->randomName();
+    $edit["field_tags[$langcode]"] = $this->randomName();
+    $this->drupalPost('node/add/article', $edit, t('Save'));
+    // Checks that the node has been saved.
+    $node = $this->drupalGetNodeByTitle($edit['title']);
+    $this->assertEqual($node->created, strtotime($edit['date']), t('Legacy node was saved with the right date.'));
+  }
+}
+
+/**
  * Tests for taxonomy term functions.
  */
 class TaxonomyTermTestCase extends TaxonomyWebTestCase {