1973

Years: 1970 1971 1972 - 1973 - 1974 1975 1976
Decades: 1940s 1950s 1960s - 1970s - 1980s 1990s 2000s
Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century 1973 in art 1973 in aviation 1973 in film 1973 in literature 1973 in music 1973 in politics 1973 in sports 1973 in television

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Events

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January

January 1 - United Kingdom, Ireland, and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, now known as the European Union
January 3 - Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) sells the New York Yankees for $10 million to a 12-person syndicate led by George Steinbrenner.
January 15 - Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, President of the United States Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam.
January 17 - Ferdinand Marcos becomes President for Life of the Philippines
January 22 - Supreme Court of the United States rules on Roe v. Wade
January 23 - Eruption in Heimaey begins
January 17 - George Foreman breaks Joe Frazier's professional career undefeated heavyweight world boxing champion status.
January 23 - President Richard Nixon announces that a peace accord has been reached in Vietnam.
January 27 - U.S. involvement in Vietnam War ends with the signing of peace pacts

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February-April

February 11 - Vietnam War: First release of American prisoners of war from Vietnam takes place
February 12 - Ohio becomes the first U.S. state to post distance in metric on signs. (See: Metric system in the United States)
February 21 - Over the Sinai Desert, Israeli fighter aircraft shoot down a Libyan Arab Airlines jet killing 100
February 22 - Sino-American relations: Following President Richard Nixon's visit to mainland China, the United States and the People's Republic of China agree to establish liaison offices.
February 27 - The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee, South Dakota
March 1 - The New York Joffrey Ballet's Deuce Coupe Ballet opens. The ballet is set entirely around music by The Beach Boys.
March 7 - Comet Kohoutek is discovered
March 8 - IRA bombs explode in the Whitehall and the Old Bailey
March 16 - The Queen Elizabeth II opens the New London Bridge
March 29 - The last United States soldiers leave Vietnam
April 6 - Launch of Pioneer 11 spacecraft

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May-June

May 5 - Shambu Tamang becomes the youngest person to climb to the summit of Mount Everest.
May 8 - A 71-day standoff between federal authorities and the American Indian Movement who were occupying the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, ends with the surrender of the militants
May 10 ? Polisario formed
May 14 - Skylab, the United States' first space station, is launched
May 17 - Watergate scandal: Hearings begin in the United States Senate and are televised.
May 27 - According to the non-retroactive copyright laws of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics, all works published before this date are public domain. This applies worldwide.
June 1 - Greek military junta abolishes the monarchy and proclaims a republic.
June 3 - Tupolev 144 crashes at the Paris air show - 15 dead
June 4 - patent for the ATM granted to Don Wetzel, Tom Barnes and George Chastain.
June 9 - Secretariat wins the Belmont Stakes becoming the first Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing winner since 1948.
June 25 - Erskine Hamilton Childers is elected the fourth President of Ireland.
June 30 - Very long total solar eclipse visible in NE South America, the Atlantic, and central Africa. During the entire Second Millennium, only seven total solar eclipses exceeded seven minutes of totality. This was the last. Observers aboard a Concorde jet were able to stretch totality to about 74 minutes by flying along the path of the moon's umbra.

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July-September

July 10 - The Bahamas gain full independence within the British Commonwealth
July 12 - A major fire destroys the entire 6th floor of the National Personnel Records Center. The disaster comes to be known as the 1973 National Archives Fire.
July 16 - Watergate Scandal: Former White House aide Alexander Butterfield informs the United States Senate committee investigating the scandal that President Richard Nixon had secretly recorded potentially incriminating conversations
July 20 - France resumes nuclear bomb tests in Mururoa Atoll over protestations of Australia and New Zealand
July 25 - Soviet Mars 5 space probe launched.
July 30 - An 11-year legal action for the victims of Thalidomide ends
August 2 - Flash fire kills 51 at the Summerland amusement centre at Douglas, Isle of Man
August 5 - Black September members open fire at Athens airport - 3 dead, 55 injured
August 13 - The film of Jesus Christ Superstar is released.
August 15 - The U.S. bombing of Cambodia ends, marking the official halt to 12 years of combat activity in Southeast Asia.
August 22 - Henry Kissinger, U.S. National Security Adviser, is named Secretary of State.
September 11 - Chile's democratically elected government is overthrown in military coup after serious instability. President Salvador Allende dies, and General Augusto Pinochet heads a military junta that will govern Chile for the next 17 years.
September 15 - Sweden's king Gustav VI Adolf dies. Carl XVI Gustav becomes king.
September 18 - Chile's national day.
September 20 - Billed as The Battle of the Sexes, Billie Jean King defeats Bobby Riggs 6-4, 6-4, 6-3
September 28 - ITT bombed in New York City to protest their involvement with the Coup in Chile.

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October

October 6 - Yom Kippur War - Fourth and largest Arab-Israeli conflict begins as Egyptian and Syrian forces attack Israel as Jews mark Yom Kippur.
October 10 - Spiro T. Agnew resigns as vice president of the United States and then, in federal court in Baltimore, pleads no contest to charges of evasion of income taxes on $29,500 he received in 1967 while he was governor of Maryland. He is fined $10,000 and put on three years' probation.
October 17 - A worldwide oil shortage, the 1973 energy crisis, followed an Arab Oil Embargo against several countries which gave support to Israël.
October 20 - The Saturday Night Massacre
October 20 - Sydney Opera House is opened by Elizabeth II
October 26 - Yom Kippur War ends