What Happened in 1973 — Events, Births & Deaths

In his second shooting spree of the week, Mark Essex fatally shoots seven people and wounds five others at Howard Johnson's Hotel in New Orleans, before being shot to death by police officers.

Soviet space mission Luna 21 is launched.

Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of illegal entry into Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.

Major League Baseball owners vote in approval of the American League adopting the designated hitter position.

Elvis Presley's concert Aloha from Hawaii is broadcast live via satellite, and sets the record as the most watched broadcast by an individual entertainer in television history.

Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, President Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam.

Amílcar Cabral, leader of the independence movement in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, is assassinated in Conakry, Guinea.

The Supreme Court of the United States delivers its decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, legalizing elective abortion in all fifty states. This decision is subsequently overturned in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization in 2022.

The crew of Apollo 17 addresses a joint session of Congress after the completion of the final Apollo Moon landing mission.

A chartered Boeing 707 explodes in flames upon landing at Kano Airport, Nigeria, killing 176.

In a bout for the world heavyweight boxing championship in Kingston, Jamaica, challenger George Foreman knocks down champion Joe Frazier six times in the first two rounds before the fight is stopped by referee Arthur Mercante Sr..

The Paris Peace Accords officially ends the Vietnam War. Colonel William Nolde is killed in action becoming the conflict's last recorded American combat casualty.

EgyptAir Flight 741 crashes into the Kyrenia Mountains in Cyprus, killing 37 people.

The Ms 7.6 Luhuo earthquake strikes Sichuan Province, causing widespread destruction and killing at least 2,199 people.

Over the Sinai Desert, Israeli fighter aircraft shoot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 jet killing 108 people.

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

The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee in protest of the federal government.

Aeroflot Flight X-167 crashes during takeoff from Semey Airport, killing 32 people.

Black September storms the Saudi embassy in Khartoum, Sudan, resulting in the assassination of three Western hostages.

An Iberia McDonnell Douglas DC-9 collides in mid-air with a Spantax Convair 990 Coronado over Nantes, France, killing all 68 people aboard the DC-9, including music manager Michael Jeffery.

The Pulitzer Prize–winning photograph Burst of Joy is taken, depicting a former prisoner of war being reunited with his family, which came to symbolize the end of United States involvement in the Vietnam War.

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

Operation Barrel Roll, a covert American bombing campaign in Laos to stop communist infiltration of South Vietnam, ends.

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

Martin Cooper of Motorola makes the first handheld mobile phone call to Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs.

The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City are officially dedicated.

A Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, dubbed the Hanoi Taxi, makes the last flight of Operation Homecoming.

Launch of Pioneer 11 spacecraft.

The American League of Major League Baseball begins using the designated hitter.

Invicta International Airlines Flight 435 crashes in a snowstorm on approach to Basel, Switzerland, killing 108 people.

The Portuguese Socialist Party is founded in the German town of Bad Münstereifel.

The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, recorded in Abbey Road Studios goes to number one on the US Billboard chart, beginning a record-breaking 741-week chart run.

Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard Nixon fires White House Counsel John Dean; other top aides, most notably H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, resign.

The 108-story Sears Tower in Chicago is topped out at 1,451 feet (442 m) as the world's tallest building.

Secretariat wins the 1973 Kentucky Derby in 1:59.4, an as-yet-unbeaten record.

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.

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

Aeroflot Flight 6551 crashes in Semey, Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (now Kazakhstan), killing all 63 aboard.

Skylab, the United States' first space station, is launched.

Watergate scandal: Televised hearings begin in the United States Senate.

Aeroflot Flight 109 is hijacked mid-flight and the aircraft is subsequently destroyed when the hijacker's bomb explodes, killing all 82 people on board.

In protest against the dictatorship in Greece, the captain and crew on Greek naval destroyer Velos mutiny and refuse to return to Greece, instead anchoring at Fiumicino, Italy.

Tom Bradley is elected the first black mayor of Los Angeles, California.

The United States Senate votes to cut off funding for the bombing of Khmer Rouge targets within Cambodia, hastening the end of the Cambodian Civil War.

Indian Airlines Flight 440 crashes near Palam Airport in Delhi, killing 48.

A Soviet supersonic Tupolev Tu-144 crashes near Goussainville, France, killing 14, the first crash of a supersonic passenger aircraft.

In horse racing, Secretariat wins the U.S. Triple Crown.

In a game versus the Philadelphia Phillies at Veterans Stadium, Los Angeles Dodgers teammates Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Ron Cey and Bill Russell play together as an infield for the first time, going on to set the Major League Baseball record of staying together for 8+1⁄2 years.

Snipers fire upon left-wing Peronists in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in what is known as the Ezeiza massacre. At least 13 are killed and more than 300 are injured.

Aeroméxico Flight 229 crashes on approach to Licenciado Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International Airport, killing all 27 people on board.

The Primer Congreso del Hombre Andino is inaugurated in Arica, Chile.

In its decision in Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, the Supreme Court of the United States establishes the Miller test for determining whether something is obscene and not protected speech under the U.S. constitution.

A fire at a house in Hull, England, which kills a six-year-old boy is passed off as an accident; it later emerges as the first of 26 deaths by fire caused over the next seven years by serial arsonist Peter Dinsdale.

The UpStairs Lounge arson attack takes place at a gay bar located on the second floor of the three-story building at 141 Chartres Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, US. Thirty-two people die as a result of fire or smoke inhalation.

The President of Uruguay Juan María Bordaberry dissolves Parliament and establishes a dictatorship.

Elections are held for the Northern Ireland Assembly, which will lead to power-sharing between unionists and nationalists in Northern Ireland for the first time.

Concorde 001 intercepts the path of a total solar eclipse and follows the moon's shadow, experiencing the longest total eclipse observation.

David Bowie retires his stage persona Ziggy Stardust with the surprise announcement that it is "the last show that we'll ever do" on the last day of the Ziggy Stardust Tour.

Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago sign the Treaty of Chaguaramas in Chaguaramas, Trinidad and Tobago establishing the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). It replaces the Caribbean Free Trade Association as another step towards Caribbean regional integration.

A boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE) in Kingman, Arizona, following a fire that broke out as propane was being transferred from a railroad car to a storage tank, kills eleven firefighters.

Juvénal Habyarimana seizes power over Rwanda in a coup d'état.

The Bahamas gains full independence within the Commonwealth of Nations.

Varig Flight 820 crashes near Paris on approach to Orly Airport, killing 123 of the 134 on board. In response, the FAA bans smoking in airplane lavatories.

A fire destroys the entire sixth floor of the National Personnel Records Center of the United States.

Watergate scandal: Alexander Butterfield reveals the existence of a secret Oval Office taping system to investigators for the Senate Watergate Committee.

King Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan, while having surgery in Italy, is deposed by his cousin Mohammed Daoud Khan.

In Lillehammer, Norway, Mossad agents kill a waiter whom they mistakenly thought was involved in the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre.

Pan Am Flight 816 crashes after takeoff from Faa'a International Airport in Papeete, French Polynesia, killing 78.

Soviet Mars 5 space probe is launched.

Summer Jam at Watkins Glen: Nearly 600,000 people attend a rock festival at the Watkins Glen International Raceway.

Greeks vote to abolish the monarchy, beginning the first period of the Metapolitefsi.

Driver Roger Williamson is killed during the Dutch Grand Prix, after a suspected tire failure causes his car to pitch into the barriers at high speed.

A Delta Air Lines jetliner, flight DL 723, crashes while landing in fog at Logan International Airport, Boston, Massachusetts, killing 89.

A flash fire kills 50 people at the Summerland amusement centre at Douglas, Isle of Man.

Mars 6 is launched from the USSR.

Kim Dae-jung, a South Korean politician and later president of South Korea, is kidnapped.

Mars 7 is launched from the USSR.

At the 1520 Sedgwick Avenue apartment building in The Bronx, New York, DJ Kool Herc hosts a house party widely considered to mark the birthplace of hip-hop culture and music. DJ Kool Herc demonstrates a new technique of beat juggling and Coke La Rock performs a new style of vocal performance called rapping.

Aviaco Flight 118 crashes on approach to A Coruña Airport in A Coruña, Spain, killing all 85 people on the plane and one other one the ground.

Vietnam War: The US Air Force bombing of Cambodia ends.

Aeroflot Flight A-13 crashes after takeoff from Baku-Bina International Airport in Azerbaijan, killing 56 people and injuring eight.

The Congress of Chile votes in favour of a resolution condemning President Salvador Allende's government and demands that he resign or else be unseated through force and new elections.

A bank robbery gone wrong in Stockholm, Sweden, turns into a hostage crisis; over the next five days the hostages begin to sympathise with their captors, leading to the term "Stockholm syndrome".

Norrmalmstorg robbery: Stockholm police secure the surrenders of hostage-takers Jan-Erik Olsson and Clark Olofsson, defusing the Norrmalmstorg hostage crisis. The behaviours of the hostages later give rise to the term Stockholm syndrome.

A 76-hour multinational rescue effort in the Celtic Sea results in the rescue of Roger Mallinson and Roger Chapman.

World Airways Flight 802 crashes into Mount Dutton in King Cove, Alaska, killing six people.

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

JAT Airways Flight 769 crashes into the Maganik mountain range while on approach to Titograd Airport, killing 35 passengers and six crew.

Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes tennis match at the Houston Astrodome.

Singer Jim Croce, songwriter and musician Maury Muehleisen and four others die when their light aircraft crashes shortly after takeoff from Natchitoches Regional Airport in Louisiana.

Argentine general election: Juan Perón returns to power in Argentina.

Guinea-Bissau declares its independence from Portugal.

Texas International Airlines Flight 655 crashes into the Black Fork Mountain Wilderness near Mena, Arkansas, killing all 11 people on board.

The ITT Building in New York City is bombed in protest at ITT's alleged involvement in the coup d'état in Chile.

Egypt and Syria launch coordinated attacks against Israel, beginning the Yom Kippur War.

Yom Kippur War: Israel loses more than 150 tanks in a failed attack on Egyptian-occupied positions.

Spyros Markezinis begins his 48-day term as prime minister in an abortive attempt to lead Greece to parliamentary rule.

U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew resigns after being charged with evasion of federal income tax.

President Nixon nominates House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford as the successor to Vice President Spiro T. Agnew.

In the Thammasat student uprising, over 100,000 people protest in Thailand against the military government. Seventy-seven are killed and 857 are injured by soldiers.

Henry Kissinger and Lê Đức Thọ are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

OPEC imposes an oil embargo against countries they deem to have helped Israel in the Yom Kippur War.

President Nixon rejects an Appeals Court decision that he turn over the Watergate tapes.

Watergate scandal: "Saturday Night Massacre": United States President Richard Nixon fires U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus after they refuse to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox, who is finally fired by Solicitor General Robert Bork.

The Sydney Opera House is opened by Elizabeth II after 14 years of construction.

Fred Dryer of the Los Angeles Rams becomes the first player in NFL history to score two safeties in the same game.

Egypt and Israel accept United Nations Security Council Resolution 339.

The Bosphorus Bridge in Turkey is completed, connecting the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosphorus for the second time.

Three Provisional Irish Republican Army members escape from Mountjoy Prison, Dublin aboard a hijacked helicopter that landed in the exercise yard.

Watergate scandal: Leon Jaworski is appointed as the new Watergate Special Prosecutor.

The Indian state of Mysore is renamed as Karnataka to represent all the regions within Karunadu.

Aeroflot Flight 19 is hijacked and diverted to Vnukovo International Airport, where the aircraft is stormed by authorities.

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

The Netherlands experiences the first car-free Sunday caused by the 1973 oil crisis. Highways are used only by cyclists and roller skaters.

The United States Congress overrides President Richard Nixon's veto of the War Powers Resolution, which limits presidential power to wage war without congressional approval.

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

In the United Kingdom, Princess Anne marries Captain Mark Phillips, in Westminster Abbey.

The Athens Polytechnic uprising, a massive demonstration of popular rejection of the Greek military junta of 1967–74, begins.

Skylab program: NASA launches Skylab 4 with a crew of three astronauts from Cape Canaveral, Florida for an 84-day mission.

U.S. president Richard Nixon signs the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act into law, authorizing the construction of the Alaska Pipeline.

Watergate scandal: In Orlando, Florida, U.S. President Richard Nixon tells 400 Associated Press managing editors "I am not a crook."

The Athens Polytechnic uprising against the military regime ends in a bloodshed in the Greek capital.

A national speed limit is imposed on the Autobahn in Germany because of the 1973 oil crisis. The speed limit lasts only four months.

Georgios Papadopoulos, head of the military Regime of the Colonels in Greece, is ousted in a hardliners' coup led by Brigadier General Dimitrios Ioannidis.

Twenty-fifth Amendment: The United States Senate votes 92–3 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President of the United States. (On December 6, the House will confirm him 387–35).

Papua New Guinea gains self-government from Australia.

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

The Twenty-fifth Amendment: The United States House of Representatives votes 387–35 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President of the United States. (On November 27, the Senate confirmed him 92–3.)

British and Irish authorities sign the Sunningdale Agreement in an attempt to establish a power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive and a cross-border Council of Ireland.

John Paul Getty III, grandson of American billionaire J. Paul Getty, is found alive near Naples, Italy, after being kidnapped by an Italian gang on July 10.

The American Psychiatric Association votes 13–0 to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Aeroflot Flight 2022 crashes in the Soviet Union's (now Russia) Volokolamsky District, killing all 51 aboard, including four Lithuanian doctors.

Thirty passengers are killed in an attack by Palestinian terrorists on Rome's Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport.

Soviet Soyuz Programme: Soyuz 13, crewed by cosmonauts Valentin Lebedev and Pyotr Klimuk, is launched from Baikonur in the Soviet Union.

Assassination of Luis Carrero Blanco: A car bomb planted by ETA in Madrid kills three people, including the Prime Minister of Spain, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco.

The Geneva Conference on the Arab–Israeli conflict opens.

A Royal Air Maroc Sud Aviation Caravelle crashes near Tangier-Boukhalef Airport in Tangier, Morocco, killing 106.

District of Columbia Home Rule Act is passed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to elect their own local government.

The United States Endangered Species Act is signed into law by President Richard Nixon.

Derrick Brooks, American football player

Haile Gebrselassie, Ethiopian runner

Julie Powell, American food writer and memoirist (died 2022)

Tegla Loroupe, Kenyan runner

Jackie Arklöv, Swedish mercenary and convicted murderer