The Year 1973

History and Politics

Great Britian, Ireland, and Denmark formally join the Common Market.

President Nixon ends wage-price controls except in the food, health care, and building industries.

Watergate: the 5 original defendents plead guilty before Judge John J. Sirica; Nixon aids H R Haldeman
and John Ehrlichman are forced to resign; John Mitchell and Maurice Stans indicted by grand jury for
obstruction of justice and perjury; Attorney-General Elliott L. Richardson resigns; serious
talk of impeachment begins; White House releases tape recordings.

Spiro T. Agnew, US Vice President since 1969, resigns and pleads
"nolo contendere" to one count of income tax evasion>

Gerald Ford replaces Agnew as Vice President.

War in Indochina: US and S. Vietnam/N. Vietnam-Vietcong cease-fire agreement signed Jan. 23;
American losses 1065-1973-combat deaths 45,948, wounded 303,640, deaths from noncombat causes
10,298; S. Vietnamese losses-deaths 184,546, wounded 495,931; Vietcong & N. Vietnamese losses
and combat deaths, 937,562; civillians killed, 415,000 (est.); civillians wounded, 935,000 (est.)
maximum American troop level during war, 543,000 (1969); total US expenditures 1956-1973,
$109.5 billion; fighting continues after cease-fire agreement; second
four-party pact signed in June; fighting continues.

Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President to the US dies>

US devalues dollar for second time in two years.

Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi nationalizes all foreign operated oil firms in Iran.

Fighting breaks out in Middle East between Arab and Isrealis; after initial gains the Arabs
are pushed back, although at great costs to both sides; an unstable cease-fire remains in
force as peace talks are begun and broken off several times.

Arab oil-producing nations move to embargo shipments to the US,western
Europe, and Japan in retaliation for thier support of Isreal; the cutoff
precipitates an energy crisis in the industrialized world.

E. and W. germany establish diplomatic realtions, formally acknowledging
their post-World War II seperation for the first time.

Premier george Papadopolous announces the aboliton of the Greek monarchy; months
later he is ousted in a bloodless coup; Gen. Phaedon Gizikis becomes president.

Brezhnev and Nixon sign treaty to limit nuclear war.

Salvador Allende Gossens, Marxist President of Chile since 1970,
is overthrown by a military junta & reportedly commits suicide.

The Bahamas are granted independence from Britian.

Swedish King Gustav dies; Crown Prince Carl Gustav crowned King Carl XVI Gustav.

Edward "Capt. Eddie" Rickenbacker, Word War I flying ace dies.

Juan Peron & his wife, Maria Estela Martinez elected President & Vice President of Argentina.

Nobel Peace Prize: Henry Kissinger (US) & Le Duc Tho, who refuses the award.

India begins to release 90,000 Pakistani prisoners of war held since 1971.

David Ben-Gurion, Isreali founder and former premier dies.

Nelson A Rockefeller resigns as Govenor to head Commission on Critical Choices.

Violence continues in Northern Ireland; 250 people are killed during the year.

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