Israel defeats Arabs in Yom Kippur War

US and North Vietnam sign peace agreement (Paris Peace Treaty)

Oil priced doubled by Persian Gulf states

General Pinochet overthrows the elected government in Chile in a violent coup

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). Background: Arab-Israeli Wars
 

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) hikes oil prices tremendously in retaliation for Western countries' involvement in Yom Kippur War.

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).
 

US Supreme Court rules on Roe v. Wade.

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:   5.6%
Cost of a first-class stamp:   $0.08
Loaf of bread: $0.25
Milk: $1.33
Gas:  $0.65 / Gallon (up from $0.29 the year before due to oil embargo)
Car: $3200.00
House: $45250.00
McDonalds: Burger, Fries, Shake - $1.50
Movie Ticket: $4.00
Color TV: $500.00

Super Bowl
Miami d. Washington (14-7)

World Series
Oakland A's d. NY Mets (4-3)

NBA Championship
New York d. LA Lakers (4-1)

Stanley Cup
Montreal d. Chicago (4-2)

Wimbledon
Women: Billie Jean King d. C. Evert (6-0 7-5)
Men: Jan Kodes d. A. Metreveli (6-1 9-8 6-3)

Kentucky Derby Champion
Secretariat

NCAA Basketball Championship
UCLA d. Memphis St. (87-66)

NCAA Football Champions
Notre Dame (AP, FW, NFF) (11-0-0) & Alabama (UPI) (11-1-0)

Movies: The Harder They Come, American Graffiti, The Exorcist, The Sting, Last Tango in Paris
 

Entertainment Awards

Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: The Optimist's Daughter, Eudora Welty
Music: String Quartet No. 3, Elliott Carter
Drama: That Championship Season, Jason Miller

Oscars awarded in 1973
Academy Award, Best Picture: The Godfather, Albert S. Ruddy, producer (Paramount)

Nobel Prize for Literature: Patrick White (Australia)

Grammys awarded in 1973
Record of the Year: "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," Roberta Flack
Album of the Year: The Concert for Bangla Desh, George Harrison, Ravi Shanker, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Eric Clapton and Klaus Voormann (Apple)
Song of the Year: "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," Ewan MacColl, songwriter

Miss America: Terry Anne Meeuwsen (WI)
 

Top 10 songs

1. Tie a yellow ribbon round the ole oak tree - Tony Orlando and Dawn
2. Bad bad Leroy Brown - Jim Croce
3. Killing me softly with his song - Roberta Flack
4. Let's get it on - Marvin Gaye
5. My love - Paul McCartney and Wings
6. Why me? - Kris Kristofferson
7. Crocodile rock - Elton John
8. Will it go round in circles? - Billy Preston
9. You're so vain  - Carly Simon
10. Touch me in the morning - Diana Ross
 

  Top 5 Movies of 1973

   5. Paper Moon ($13M)
   4. Live and Let Die  ($15.5M)
   3. The Getaway ($17.5M)
   2. Deliverance ($18M)
   1. The Poseidon Adventure ($40M)
 

1973 Movies
The Poseidon Adventure was the runaway winner at the box office while The Sting won Best Picture at the Oscars. Other notable movies of 1973 include:

American Graffiti
Badlands
The Day of the Jackal
Enter the Dragon
The Exorcist
Live and Let Die
Mean Streets
Paper Moon
Save the Tiger
Serpico
The Getaway
The Last Detail
 

 Top TV Shows of 73-74

   5. Hawaii Five-0
   4. M*A*S*H*
   3. Sanford and Son
   2. The Waltons
   1. All in the Family
 
 

There were no PCs, DVDs, CDs, Music came on RECORDS, Cassettes, or 8 Track tape.

Big computer companies: IBM, DEC, Data General, Xerox, Univac, Burroughs, CDC

First primitive video games we just coming out (PONG anyone?)

Video: No home VCRs, not VHS, not 8mm, not even Betamax, cable TV was N E W.

Communications:  No Cell Phones, No Internet, No PDAs, No DSL, no cordless phones, there was only one Phone Company

CB Radios were the major mode of "wireless communications" good buddy!

Computers: Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is designed in 1973.  Later this becomes the standard for communicating between computers over the Internet and becomes the foundation of the World-Wide-Web.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), the technology behind MRI scanning, is developed.

Skylab, the first American space station, is launched (May 14).   Man on the moon was already OLD news (happened in 1969!)

Nobel Prizes in Science

Chemistry: Ernst Otto Fischer (W. Germany) and Geoffrey Wilkinson (UK), for work that could solve problem of automobile exhaust pollution

Physics: Ivar Giaever (US), Leo Esaki (Japan), and Brian D. Josephson (UK), for theories that have advanced and expanded the field of miniature electronics

Physiology or Medicine: Karl von Frisch, Konrad Lorenz (both Austria), and Nikolaas Tinbergen (Netherlands), for their studies of individual and social behavior patterns