1973 - What happened in 1973 ?

January 1973

Monday 01:

The Kingdom of Denmark, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland are admitted into the European Community.

Friday 05:

Netherlands recognizes East Germany.

Monday 08:

Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of placing bugs in Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.

Sunday 14:

Super Bowl VII: The Miami Dolphins defeat the Washington Redskins. The Dolphins become the first NFL team to go undefeated in a season.

Tuesday 23:

President Richard Nixon announces that a peace accord has been reached in Vietnam.

February 1973

Sunday 11:

Vietnam War: First release of American prisoners of war from Vietnam takes place.

Monday 12:

Vietnam War: The first American prisoners of war are released by the Viet Cong.

Wednesday 21:

Over the Sinai Desert, Israeli fighter aircraft shoot down a Libyan Airlines jet killing 108.

Thursday 22:

Cold War: Following President Richard Nixon's visit to China, the United States and the People's Republic of China agree to establish liaison offices.

Tuesday 27:

The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee, South Dakota.

March 1973

Monday 05:

Donald DeFreeze, future Symbionese Liberation Army leader, escapes from Vacaville Prison.

Wednesday 07:

The ultimately disappointing Comet Kohoutek is discovered by Lubos Kohoutek.

Saturday 24:

Rock band Pink Floyd releases Dark Side of the Moon, which will go on to become one of the most influential and commercially successful albums of all-time.

Monday 26:

The soap opera The Young and the Restless debuts on CBS television.

Thursday 29:

Vietnam War: The last United States soldiers leave South Vietnam.

April 1973

Sunday 01:

Project Tiger, a tiger conservation project, is launched in the Corbett National Park, India.

Wednesday 04:

The World Trade Center in New York is officially dedicated.

Thursday 05:

Pierre Messmer becomes Prime Minister of France

Friday 06:

Launch of Pioneer 11 spacecraft.

Monday 30:

Watergate Scandal: President Richard Nixon announces that top White House aids H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, and others have resigned.

May 1973

Tuesday 08:

A 71-day standoff, between federal authorities and the American Indian Movement members occupying the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, ends with the surrender of the militants.

Friday 11:

Citing government misconduct, Daniel Ellsberg has his charges for his involvement in releasing the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times dismissed.

Monday 14:

Skylab, the United States' first space station, is launched. It is the last launch of the Saturn V rocket.

Thursday 17:

Watergate scandal: Hearings begin in the United States Senate and are televised.

Friday 25:

Mike Oldfield releases Tubular Bells.

June 1973

Sunday 03:

Reggae stars Bob Marley and the Wailers release the classic album Exodus, which will be named Time magazine's "Album of the Century" in 1999.

Monday 04:

patent for the ATM granted to Don Wetzel, Tom Barnes and George Chastain.

Saturday 09:

Secretariat wins the Triple Crown.

Monday 25:

Erskine Hamilton Childers is elected the fourth President of Ireland.

Tuesday 26:

On Plesetsk Cosmodrome 9 persons were killed at an explosion of a Cosmos 3-M rocket.

July 1973

Monday 02:

James R. Schlesinger is sworn in as the 12th United States Secretary of Defense.

Tuesday 10:

The Bahamas gain full independence within the British Commonwealth.

Wednesday 25:

Soviet Mars 5 space probe launched.

Saturday 28:

Watkins Glen, New York concert attended by 600,000 to see The Band, The Allman Brothers Band, and the Grateful Dead.

Tuesday 31:

A Delta Air Lines jetliner crashes while landing in fog at Logan Airport, Boston, Massachusetts killing 89

August 1973

Friday 03:

R&B singer Stevie Wonder releases the classic album Innervisions.

Wednesday 08:

Kim Dae-Jung, a South Korean politician and later president of South Korea, is kidnapped from a Tokyo hotel.

Wednesday 15:

Vietnam War: The United States bombing of Cambodia ends

Thursday 23:

The Intelsat communication satellite is launched.

September 1973

Tuesday 11:

A military coup in Chile headed by General Augusto Pinochet topples the democratically elected President Salvador Allende.

Saturday 15:

Secretariat wins the Marlboro Cup in world record time.

Sunday 23:

Juan Perón returns to power in Argentina.

Monday 24:

Guinea-Bissau declares its independence from Portugal.

Wednesday 26:

Concorde makes its first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic in record-breaking time.

October 1973

Saturday 06:

The Crossing: 80,000 Egyptian troops cross the Suez Canal, starting the Yom Kippur War.

Friday 19:

President Richard Nixon rejects an Appeals Court demand to turn over the Watergate tapes.

Saturday 20:

The Six Million Dollar Man premieres on ABC.

Sunday 21:

John Paul Getty III's ear is cut off by his kidnappers and sent to a newspaper in Rome; it doesn't arrive until November 8.

Wednesday 24:

Yom Kippur War ends

November 1973

Thursday 01:

Formation of Karnataka state in India.

Saturday 03:

Mariner program: NASA launches the Mariner 10 toward Mercury, on March 29, 1974 becoming the first space probe to reach that planet.

Thursday 08:

The right ear of John Paul Getty III is delivered to a newspaper together with a ransom note, convincing his father to pay 2.9 million USD.

Friday 16:

US President Richard Nixon signs the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act into law, authorizing the construction of the Alaska Pipeline.

Tuesday 27:

The United States Senate votes 92 to 3 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President of the United States (on December 6, the House confirmed him 387 to 35).

December 1973

Saturday 01:

Papua New Guinea gains self government from Australia.

Monday 03:

Pioneer program: Pioneer 10 sends back the first close-up images of Jupiter.

Sunday 16:

O.J. Simpson becomes the first player in NFL history to rush for 2000 yards in one season.

Monday 17:

The American Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses.

Tuesday 25:

The ARPANET crashes when a programming bug causes all ARPANET traffic to be routed through the server at Harvard University, causing the server to freeze.