Information for the Year 1973

Click Here to Return to the Home Page

  • Great Britain, Ireland, and Denmark enter European Economic Community (Jan. 1).
  • A ceasefire is signed, ending involvement of American ground troops in the Vietnam War. (Jan. 28).
  • US bombing of Cambodia ends, marking official halt to 12 years of combat activity in Southeast Asia (Aug. 15).
  • Chile's Marxist president, Salvadore Allende, is overthrown (Sept. 11); Gen. Augusto Pinochet takes power.
  • Fourth and largest Arab-Israeli conflict begins when Egyptian and Syrian forces attack Israel as Jews mark Yom Kippur, holiest day in their calendar (Oct. 6). Egypt and Israel sign US-sponsored cease-fire accord (Nov. 11).
  • Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) hikes oil prices tremendously in retaliation for Western countries' involvement in Yom Kippur War.
  • Population:  3.937 billion
  • Nobel Peace Prize:  Henry A. Kissinger (United States) and Le Duc Tho (North Vietnam)
  • Nixon, on national TV, accepts responsibility, but not blame, for Watergate; accepts resignations of H. R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman, fires John W. Dean III as counsel (April 30).
  • Spiro T. Agnew resigns as Vice President and then pleads no contest to charges of evasion of income taxes while Governor of Maryland (Oct. 10).
  • In the "Saturday Night Massacre," Nixon fires special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox and Deputy Attorney General William D. Ruckelshaus; Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson resigns (Oct. 20).
  • President:  Richard M. Nixon
  • Vice President:  Spiro T. Agnew
  • Population:  211,908,788
  • Life expectancy:  71.4 years
  • US GDP (1998 dollars):   $1,382.60 billion
  • Federal spending:   $245.71 billion
  • Federal debt:   $466.3 billion
  • Median Household Income(current dollars): $10,512
  • Consumer Price Index:   44.4
  • Unemployment:  4.9%
  • Cost of a first-class stamp:   $0.08
  • Super Bowl  Miami Dolphins defeated Washington Redskins (SCORE 14-7)
  • World Series of Baseball  Oakland A's defeated New York Mets
  • National Basketball Association Championship  New York Defeated Los Angeles Lakers
  • National Hockey League Stanley Cup  Montreal Canadiens defeated Chicago Blackhawks
  • Women Wimbledon Tennis  Billie Jean King d. Chrissy Evert (6-0 7-5)
  • Men Wimbledon Tennis   Jan Kodes d. A. Metreveli (6-1 9-8 6-3)
  • Kentucky Derby Horse Race Champion   Secretariat (also won the Triple Crown: Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes)
  • National College Athletic Association Basketball Championship  UCLA defeated Memphis St. (SCORE 87-66)
  • National College Athletic Association Football Champions  Notre Dame(RECORD 11-0-0) and Alabama (RECORD 11-1-0)
  • At the 1972 Academy Awards, Sacheen Littlefeather stands in for Marlon Brando and refuses his Best Actor Oscar for his role in The Godfather, to protest the U.S. government's treatment of Native Americans.
  • Academy Award, Best Picture:  The Godfather
  • Grammy Award - Record of the Year  The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face by Roberta Flack
  • Emmy Award - Best Television Comedy  All In The Family - CBS
  • Miss America:  Terry Anne Meeuwsen (Wisconsin)
  • Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is designed and in 1983 it becomes the standard for communicating between computers over the Internet.
  • Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), the technology behind MRI scanning, is developed.
  • The video disk is introduced by Philips Company (Netherlands).
  • Skylab, the first American space station, is launched (May 14).

 

All of the Information on this site is from Fact Monster