1973 in the United States

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Last updated March 01, 2025

Events from the year 1973 in the United States. The year saw a number of important historical events in the country, including the death of former President Lyndon B. Johnson, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on Roe v. Wade , the signing of the Paris Peace Accords and end of the United States participation in the Vietnam War, the end of the post-World War II boom and the beginning of the first of a series of recessions that continued over the next decade, and the first oil crisis.^[1]

Incumbents

Federal government

Spiro Agnew (R-Maryland) (until October 10)

vacant (October 10 – December 6)

Gerald Ford (R-Michigan) (starting December 6)

Chief Justice: Warren E. Burger (Virginia)
Speaker of the House of Representatives: Carl Albert (D-Oklahoma)
Senate Majority Leader: Mike Mansfield (D-Montana)
Congress: 92nd (until January 3), 93rd (starting January 3)

Governors and lieutenant governors
Governors Governor of Alabama: George Wallace (Democratic) Governor of Alaska: William A. Egan (Democratic) Governor of Arizona: Jack Richard Williams (Republican) Governor of Arkansas: Dale Bumpers (Democratic) Governor of California: Ronald Reagan (Republican) Governor of Colorado: John Arthur Love (Republican) (until July 16), John David Vanderhoof (Republican) (starting July 16) Governor of Connecticut: Thomas J. Meskill (Republican) Governor of Delaware: Russell W. Peterson (Republican) (until January 16), Sherman W. Tribbitt (Democratic) (starting January 16) Governor of Florida: Reubin Askew (Democratic) Governor of Georgia: Jimmy Carter (Democratic) Governor of Hawaii: John A. Burns (Democratic) Governor of Idaho: Cecil D. Andrus (Democratic) Governor of Illinois: Richard B. Ogilvie (Republican) (until January 8), Dan Walker (Democratic) (starting January 8) Governor of Indiana: Edgar Whitcomb (Republican) (until January 8), Otis R. Bowen (Republican) (starting January 8) Governor of Iowa: Robert D. Ray (Republican) Governor of Kansas: Robert Docking (Democratic) Governor of Kentucky: Wendell H. Ford (Democratic) Governor of Louisiana: Edwin W. Edwards (Democratic) Governor of Maine: Kenneth M. Curtis (Democratic) Governor of Maryland: Marvin Mandel (Democratic) Governor of Massachusetts: Francis W. Sargent (Republican) Governor of Michigan: William Milliken (Republican) Governor of Minnesota: Wendell R. Anderson (Democratic) Governor of Mississippi: Bill Waller (Democratic) Governor of Missouri: Warren E. Hearnes (Democratic) (until January 8), Kit Bond (Republican) (starting January 8) Governor of Montana: Forrest H. Anderson (Democratic) (until January 1), Thomas Lee Judge (Democratic) (starting January 1) Governor of Nebraska: J. James Exon (Democratic) Governor of Nevada: Mike O'Callaghan (Democratic) Governor of New Hampshire: Walter R. Peterson Jr. (Republican) (until January 4), Meldrim Thomson Jr. (Republican) (starting January 4) Governor of New Jersey: William T. Cahill (Republican) Governor of New Mexico: Bruce King (Democratic) Governor of New York: Nelson Rockefeller (Republican) (until December 18), Malcolm Wilson (Republican) (starting December 18) Governor of North Carolina: Robert W. Scott (Democratic) (until January 5), James Holshouser (Republican) (starting January 5) Governor of North Dakota: William L. Guy (Democratic) (until January 2), Arthur A. Link (Democratic) (starting January 2) Governor of Ohio: John J. Gilligan (Democratic) Governor of Oklahoma: David Hall (Democratic) Governor of Oregon: Tom McCall (Republican) Governor of Pennsylvania: Milton Shapp (Democratic) Governor of Rhode Island: Frank Licht (Democratic) (until January 2), Philip W. Noel (Democratic) (starting January 2) Governor of South Carolina: John C. West (Democratic) Governor of South Dakota: Richard F. Kneip (Democratic) Governor of Tennessee: Winfield Dunn (Republican) Governor of Texas: Preston Smith (Democratic) (until January 16), Dolph Briscoe (Democratic) (starting January 16) Governor of Utah: Cal Rampton (Democratic) Governor of Vermont: Deane C. Davis (Republican) (until January 4), Thomas P. Salmon (Democratic) (starting January 4) Governor of Virginia: Linwood Holton (Republican) Governor of Washington: Daniel J. Evans (Republican) Governor of West Virginia: Arch A. Moore Jr. (Republican) Governor of Wisconsin: Patrick J. Lucey (Democratic) Governor of Wyoming: Stanley K. Hathaway (Republican) Lieutenant governors Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: Jere Beasley (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Alaska: H. A. Boucher (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas: Bob C. Riley (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of California: Edwin Reinecke (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: John David Vanderhoof (Republican) (until July 16), Ted L. Strickland (Republican) (starting July 16) Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: T. Clark Hull (Republican) (until June 7), Peter L. Cashman (Republican) (starting June 7) Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: Eugene Bookhammer (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Florida: Thomas Burton Adams Jr. (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Georgia: Lester Maddox (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii: George Ariyoshi (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: Jack M. Murphy (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Paul Simon (Democratic) (until January 8), Neil Hartigan (Democratic) (starting January 8) Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Richard E. Folz (Republican) (until January 8), Robert D. Orr (Republican) (starting January 8) Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: vacant (until month and day unknown), Arthur A. Neu (Republican) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Reynolds Shultz (Republican) (until January 8), Dave Owen (Republican) (starting January 8) Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Julian Carroll (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Jimmy Fitzmorris (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Maryland: Blair Lee III (political party unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Donald R. Dwight (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: James H. Brickley (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Rudy Perpich (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: William F. Winter (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: William S. Morris (Democratic) (until January 8), William C. Phelps (Republican) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Montana: Thomas Lee Judge (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Bill Christiansen (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: Frank Marsh (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Harry Reid (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico: Roberto Mondragón (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of New York: Malcolm Wilson (Republican) (until December 18), Warren M. Anderson (Republican) (starting December 18) Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Hoyt Patrick Taylor Jr. (Democratic) (until January 6), Jim Hunt (Democratic) (starting January 6) Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Richard F. Larsen (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Wayne G. Sanstead (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: John William Brown (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma: George Nigh (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Ernest P. Kline (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: J. Joseph Garrahy (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Earle Morris Jr. (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: William Dougherty (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: John S. Wilder (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Texas: Ben Barnes (Democratic) (until January 16), William P. Hobby Jr. (Democratic) (starting January 16) Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: John S. Burgess (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Henry Howell (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Washington: John Cherberg (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Martin J. Schreiber (Democratic)

Events

January

January 1 – CBS sells the New York Yankees baseball team for $10 million to a 12-person syndicate led by George Steinbrenner ($3.2 million more than CBS paid for the Yankees).
January 7 – Mark Essex kills four civilians and three police officers during a siege at the Downtown Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge in New Orleans. Ten hours after the siege began, Essex is killed by a volley of gunfire from police officers stationed inside a Marine helicopter.
January 14
- Elvis Presley's concert in Hawaii is the first worldwide telecast by an entertainer watched by more people than the Apollo Moon landings. However, it is not shown in Eastern Bloc countries because of communist censorship (with the sole exception of East Germany, where it is shown on Der schwarze Kanal). In the United States and Brazil, it does not air until April of this year.
- Super Bowl VII: The Miami Dolphins defeat the Washington Redskins 14–7 to complete the National Football League's first (and only, thus far) perfect season.
January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, President Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam.
January 20 – President Nixon and Vice President Agnew are sworn in for their second term.
January 22
- Roe v. Wade : The U.S. Supreme Court overturns state bans on abortion.^[2]
- Former President Lyndon B. Johnson dies at his ranch in Johnson City, Texas, leaving no former U.S. president living until the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974.
- George Foreman wins boxing's World Heavyweight Championship, defeating Joe Frazier by technical knockout in the second round at Kingston, Jamaica.
January 23 – President Nixon announces that a peace accord has been reached in Vietnam.
January 27 – U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War ends with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords. The U.S. military draft is also abolished on this same day, as the Nixon administration announces on this day that there will be no draft calls in 1973, and that it will not request an extension of the U.S. government's draft authority, which goes on to expire on June 30 of this year.
January 30 – G. Gordon Liddy is found guilty of Watergate charges.
January 31 – Pan American and Trans World Airlines cancel their options to buy 13 Concorde airliners.

February

February 11 – Vietnam War: The first American prisoners of war are released from Vietnam.
February 12 – Ohio becomes the first U.S. state to post road distance signs in metric (see Metric system in the United States).
February 13 – The United States Dollar is devalued by 10%.
February 21 – The 5.8 M_w Point Mugu earthquake affected the south coast of California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). Several people were injured and damage totaled $1 million.
February 27 – The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee, South Dakota.^[3]
February 28 – The landmark postmodern novel Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon is published.

March

March 1 – Charlotte's Web , the animated film based on the children's book of the same name, is released.
March 12 – Last episode of original Laugh-In airs on NBC. The show will continue with re-runs until May 14, 1973.
March 17 – Many of the few remaining United States soldiers begin to leave Vietnam. One reunion of a former POW with his family is immortalized in the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph Burst of Joy .
March 23 – Watergate scandal (United States): In a letter to Judge John Sirica, Watergate burglar James W. McCord Jr. admits that he and other defendants have been pressured to remain silent about the case. He names former Attorney General John Mitchell as 'overall boss' of the operation.
March 26
- UCLA captures its seventh consecutive college basketball national championship and eighth in ten seasons under John Wooden, defeating Memphis State 87–66 in the finals of the NCAA tournament at St. Louis. UCLA center Bill Walton sets championship game records by connecting on 21 of 22 field goal attempts and scoring 44 points.
- TV soap opera The Young and the Restless and game show The $10,000 Pyramid debuts on CBS.
March 27 – The 45th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Carol Burnett, Michael Caine, Charlton Heston and Rock Hudson, is held at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather wins Best Picture, also tied with Bob Fosse's adaptation of Cabaret in receiving ten nominations. The latter film wins eight awards, including Best Director for Fosse. The ceremony draws a television audience of 85 million viewers.
March 29 – The last United States soldier leaves Vietnam.

April

April 3 – The first handheld cellular phone call is made by Martin Cooper in New York City.^[4]
April 4 – The World Trade Center officially opens in New York City with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
April 6
- Pioneer 11 is launched on a mission to study the Solar System.
- Ron Blomberg of the New York Yankees becomes the first designated hitter in Major League Baseball.
April 17
- Federal Express officially begins operations, with the launch of 14 small aircraft from Memphis International Airport. On that night, Federal Express delivers 186 packages to 25 U.S. cities from Rochester, New York, to Miami, Florida.
- For the first time, the Army Corps of Engineers opens the Morganza Spillway near Baton Rouge to relieve record flooding along the lower Mississippi River.
April 26 – The first day of trading on the Chicago Board Options Exchange.
April 28 – The last section of the IRT Third Avenue Line from 149th Street to Gun Hill Road in The Bronx is closed.
April 30 – Watergate scandal: President Richard Nixon announces that White House Counsel John Dean has been fired and that Attorney General Richard Kleindienst has resigned along with staffers H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman.

May

May 1 – Following President Richard Nixon's visit to mainland China, the United States establishes a liaison office in Beijing.
May 3 – The Sears Tower in Chicago is finished, becoming the world's tallest building (record held until 1998).
May 5
- Secretariat wins the Kentucky Derby and sets a new time record for the event.
- Led Zeppelin plays before 56,800 people at Tampa Stadium on the band's 1973 North American Tour, thus breaking the August 15, 1965, record of 55,600 set by The Beatles at Shea Stadium.
May 8 – A 71-day standoff between federal authorities and American Indian Movement activists who were occupying the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, ends with the surrender of the militants.
May 10 – The New York Knicks defeat the Los Angeles Lakers, 102–93 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals to win the NBA title.
May 13 – Bobby Riggs challenges and defeats Margaret Court, the world's #1 women's player, in a nationally televised tennis match set in Ramona, CA northeast of San Diego. Riggs wins 6–2, 6-1 which leads to the huge Battle of the Sexes match against Billie Jean King later in the year on September 20.
May 14 – Skylab, the United States' first space station, is launched.
May 17 – Watergate scandal: Televised hearings begin in the United States Senate.
May 19 – Secretariat wins the Preakness Stakes by 2+1⁄2 lengths over the amazingly quick second placed Sham. A malfunction in the track's timing equipment prevented a confirmed new track record.
May 25 – Skylab 2 (Pete Conrad, Paul Weitz, Joseph Kerwin) is launched on a mission to repair damage to the recently launched Skylab space station.
May 30 – Gordon Johncock wins the Indianapolis 500 in the Patrick Racing Special Eagle-Offenhauser, after only 133 laps, (The race was begun on May 28 but called off because of accidents and rain, and could not be restarted May 29.)^[5]

June

June 4 – A United States patent for the Docutel automated teller machine is granted to Donald Wetzel, Tom Barnes and George Chastain.
June 9 – Secretariat wins the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths becoming a Triple Crown winner and breaking a 25-year hiatus since 1948.
June 16 – U.S. President Richard Nixon begins several talks with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
June 17 – The submersible Johnson Sea Link becomes entangled on the wreckage of the USS Fred T. Berry off Key West, Florida. The submersible is brought to the surface the following day, but two of the four men aboard die of carbon dioxide poisoning.
June 21 – The Supreme Court of the U.S. delivers its decision in the landmark case Miller v. California , establishing the "Miller test" for determining obscenity.
June 22 – W. Mark Felt ("Deep Throat") retires from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
June 24 – UpStairs Lounge arson attack: A fire at a gay bar in New Orleans' French Quarter kills 32.
June 25 – Watergate scandal: Former White House counsel John Dean begins his testimony before the Senate Watergate Committee.

July

July 1 – The United States Drug Enforcement Administration is founded.
July 2 – The United States Congress passes the Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA), mandating Special Education federally.
July 5 – A catastrophic BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion) in Kingman, Arizona kills 11 firefighters. The explosion occurred after a fire broke out as propane was being transferred from a railroad car to a storage tank. This explosion has become a classic incident, studied in fire department training programs worldwide.
July 12 – 1973 National Archives Fire: A major fire destroys the entire 6th floor of the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
July 15 – Nolan Ryan of the California Angels pitches his second no-hitter of the season against the Detroit Tigers. He previous no-hit the Kansas City Royals exactly two months prior.
July 16 – Watergate Scandal: Former White House aide Alexander Butterfield informs the United States Senate Watergate Committee that President Richard Nixon had secretly recorded potentially incriminating conversations.
July 28
- Skylab 3 (Owen Garriott, Jack Lousma, Alan Bean) is launched, to conduct various medical and scientific experiments aboard Skylab .
- The Summer Jam at Watkins Glen, a massive rock festival featuring the Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers Band and The Band, attracts over 600,000 music fans.
July 31 – A Delta Air Lines Flight 173 DC9-31 aircraft lands short of Boston's Logan Airport runway in poor visibility, striking a sea wall about 165 feet (50 m) to the right of the runway centerline and about 3,000 feet (914 m) short. All 6 crew members and 83 passengers are killed, one of the passengers dying several months after the accident.

August

August 8 – Serial killer, rapist, kidnapper and torturer Dean Corll is shot to death by one of his teenage accomplices, Elmer Wayne Henley, at Corll's home in Pasadena, Texas. Henley turns himself in and confesses, uncovering the Houston mass murders, a series of murders in which 28 young boys had been abducted, tortured and murdered by Corll and his accomplices Henley and David Brooks (who is also arrested).
August 11
- DJ Kool Herc originates the hip hop music genre in New York City.^[6]
- The second film directed by George Lucas, American Graffiti is released.^[7]
August 15 – The U.S. bombing of Cambodia ends, officially halting 12 years of combat activity in Southeast Asia.

September

September 9 – Portuguese-American socialite, Joana Santos, is born. She would single-handedly see to the revitalization of Down Neck (Newark, NJ) and on the eve of her 50th birthday (late summer of 2023) the CTT Correios de Portugal issued a commemorative postal stamp in honor of her countless contributions for both Portugal and the United States.
September 11 – American singer Art Garfunkel finally releases his solo debut album Angel Clare , 17 years after starting his career.
September 20
- The Battle of the Sexes : Billie Jean King defeats Bobby Riggs in a televised tennis match, 6–4, 6–4, 6–3, at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas. With an attendance of 30,492, this remains the largest live audience ever to see a tennis match in US history. The global audience that views on television in 36 countries is estimated at 90 million.
- Singer-songwriter Jim Croce dies following a gig at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana, having boarded a small chartered plane that crashes on takeoff; all six people aboard are killed.
- Baseball legend Willie Mays announces his retirement.
September 22 – Henry Kissinger, United States National Security Advisor, starts his term as United States Secretary of State.
September 23 – In American football, the Oakland Raiders defeat the Miami Dolphins 12–7, ending the Dolphins' unbeaten streak at 18. It is the Miami Dolphins' first loss since January 16, 1972 in Super Bowl VI.
September 28 – ITT is bombed in New York City by the Weather Underground, protesting its involvement in the 1973 Chilean coup d'état.
September 30 – Yankee Stadium, known as "The House That Ruth Built," closes for a two-year renovation at a cost of $160 million. The New York Yankees play all of their home games at Shea Stadium in 1974 and 1975.

October

October 1 – The Ideal Toy Company debuts the Evel Knievel stunt-cycle, which would go on to become one of the best-selling toys of Christmas 1973.
October 6 – American Country Countdown , a country music-oriented spin off of the nationally syndicated radio program American Top 40 , debuts with host Don Bowman. The countdown, featuring the top 40 country hits of the week according to the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart, becomes a major success.
October 10
- Spiro T. Agnew resigns as Vice President of the United States. In federal court in Baltimore, Maryland, he pleads no contest to charges of income tax evasion on $29,500 he received in 1967, while he was governor of Maryland. He is fined $10,000 and put on 3 years' probation.
- The New York Mets win the National League pennant.
October 20 – The Saturday Night Massacre: President Richard Nixon orders Attorney General Elliot Richardson to dismiss Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. Richardson refuses and resigns, along with Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus. Solicitor General Robert Bork, third in line at the Department of Justice, then fires Cox. The event raises calls for Nixon's impeachment.^[8]
October 21 – The Oakland A's repeat as champions of Major League Baseball, defeating the New York Mets 5–2 in game 7 of the World Series.
October 27 – The Canon City meteorite, a 1.4 kilogram chondrite type meteorite, strikes Earth in Fremont County, Colorado.

November

"People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got."

President Richard Nixon, November 17, 1973

November 1 – Watergate scandal: Acting Attorney General Robert Bork appoints Leon Jaworski as the new Watergate Special Prosecutor.^[9]
November 3
- Pan Am Flight 160, a Boeing 707-321C, crashes at Logan International Airport, Boston, killing three.
- Mariner program: NASA launches Mariner 10 toward Mercury (on March 29, 1974, it becomes the first space probe to reach that planet).
November 7 – The Congress of the United States overrides President Richard Nixon's veto of the War Powers Resolution, which limits presidential power to wage war without congressional approval.
November 8 – Walt Disney Productions' 21st feature film, Robin Hood , is released to critical praise and box office success, though critical reception has gradually waned over the years.
November 11 – Egypt and Israel sign a United States-sponsored cease-fire accord.
November 16
- Skylab program: NASA launches Skylab 4 (Gerald Carr, William Pogue, Edward Gibson) from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on an 84-day mission.
- President Richard Nixon signs the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act into law, authorizing the construction of the Alaska Pipeline.
November 17 – Watergate scandal: In Orlando, Florida, President Richard Nixon tells 400 Associated Press managing editors "I'm not a crook."^[8]
November 20 – The animated Thanksgiving special A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving premieres on CBS. It ends up winning an Emmy Award the following year.
November 21 – President Richard Nixon's attorney, J. Fred Buzhardt, reveals the existence of an 18+1⁄2-minute gap in one of the White House tape recordings related to Watergate.
November 27 – The United States Senate votes 92–3 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President of the United States.

December

December 3 – Pioneer program: Pioneer 10 sends back the first close-up images of Jupiter.
December 6 – The United States House of Representatives votes 387–35 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President of the United States; he is sworn in the same day.
December 15
- Gay rights: The American Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from its DSM-II.
- SeaWorld Orlando opens to the public.
December 16 – O. J. Simpson of the Buffalo Bills becomes the first running back to rush for 2,000 yards in a pro football season.
December 26 – The Exorcist , the film adaptation of William Peter Blatty's 1971 bestselling novel, is released in 30 theaters nationwide. Long lines form as it becomes a huge success, helped by accounts of audiences fainting and vomiting.
December 28 – The Endangered Species Act is passed in the United States.

Ongoing

Cold War (1947–1991)
Space Race (1957–1975)
Vietnam War, U.S. involvement (1964–1973)
Détente (c. 1969–1979)
Watergate scandal (1972–1974)
Capital punishment suspended by Furman v. Georgia (1972–1976)
1973 oil crisis (1973–1974)
1970s energy crisis (1973–1980)
DOCUMERICA photography project (1972–1977)
1973 Mississippi river flood (1972–1973)
Lite Beer is introduced in the U.S. by the Miller Brewing Company.