1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1973rd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 973rd year of the 2nd millennium, the 73rd year of the 20th century, and the 4th year of the 1970s decade.

Events

• January 1 – United Kingdom, Ireland, and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, now known as the European Union.
• January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, President of the United States Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam.
• January 17 – Ferdinand Marcos becomes President for Life of the Philippines.
• January 22 – Supreme Court of the United States rules on Roe v. Wade.
• January 22 – George Foreman defeats Joe Frazier for the heavyweight world boxing championship.
• January 23 – Eruption in Heimaey begins.
• January 23 – President Richard Nixon announces that a peace accord has been reached in Vietnam.
• January 27 – U.S. involvement in Vietnam War ends with the signing of peace pacts. See Paris Peace Accords.
• April 3 – The World Trade Center opens in New York City.
• September 11 – Augusto Pinochet takes power in Chile, in a coup, in which President Salvador Allende dies.
• September 15 – Ascension to the throne of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
• The rock group KISS form in New York City.
• Homosexuality is no longer considered a mental disorder.
• Japans first video game, Elepong is produced

Births

• January 8 – Sean Paul, Jamaican reggae singer
• January 22 – Rogério Ceni, brazilian football player
• February 16 – Cathy Freeman, Australian Aborigine athlete
• March 22 – Elvis Stojko, Canadian figure skater
• April 6 – Donnie Edwards, former American football linebacker, philanthropist, television personality, actor, and executive producer
• April 8 – Emma Caulfield, American actress
• April 14 – Adrien Brody, American actor
• April 23 – John Cena, American professional wrestler
• May 24 – Ruslana, Ukrainian singer
• June 10 – Faith Evans, American singer
• June 26 – Gretchen Wilson, American singer
• July 15 – John Dolmayan, Armenian-American drummer (System of a Down)
• July 23 – Monica Lewinsky, White House member of staff under Bill Clinton
• July 30 – Markus Näslund, Swedish hockey player
• August 7 – Zane Lowe, New Zealand disc jockey and television presenter
• September 13 – Fabio Cannavaro, Italian footballer
• September 18 – Mark Shuttleworth, South African businessman
• October 22 – Ichiro Suzuki, Professional baseball player for the Seattle Mariners
• October 28 – Alvin Burke, Jr., American professional wrestler
• October 30 – Adam Copeland, Canadian professional wrestler
• October 31 – Beverly Lynne, American actress
• November 6 – Sandy Robson, Canadian actor
• November 17 – Bernd Schneider, German footballer
• November 30 – Kate Fischer, Australian actress and model
• December 3 – Holly Marie Combs, American actress

Deaths

January

• January 20 – Amilcar Cabral, Guinea-Bissau politician (b. 1924)
• January 22 – Lyndon Johnson, 36th President of the United States (b. 1908)

February

• February 11 – J. Hans D. Jensen, German physicist (b. 1907)

March

April

• April 8 – Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1881)
• April 21 – Arthur Fadden, 13th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1894)
• April 25 – Frank Jack Fletcher, US Navy admiral during World War II (b. 1885)
• April 25 – Tanzan Ishibashi, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1884)

May

• May 6 – Ernest MacMillan, Canadian conductor (b. 1893)
• May 29 – P. Ramlee, Malaysian actor and singer (b. 1929)

June

July

• July 2 – Betty Grable, American actress (b. 1916)
• July 7 - Max Horkheimer, German philosopher and sociologist (b. 1895)
• July 7 - Veronica Lake, American actress and singer (b. 1922)
• June 13 – Viriato Clemente da Cruz, Angolan poet and politician (b. 1928)
• July 20 – Bruce Lee, Chinese-American actor and martial artist (b. 1940)
• July 25 – Louis St. Laurent, Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1882)

August

• August 1 – Walter Ulbricht, leader of East Germany (b. 1893)
• August 4 – Eddie Condon, American jazz guitarist (b. 1904)
• August 6 – Fulgencio Batista, President of Cuba (b. 1901)
• August 12 – Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss physiologist (born 1881)
• August 12 – Karl Ziegler, German chemist (born 1898)
• August 31 – John Ford, American movie director (b. 1894)

September

• September 2 – J.R.R. Tolkien, English writer (b. 1892)
• September 11 – Salvador Allende, President of Chile (b. 1908)
• September 15 – Víctor Jara, Chilean singer (b. 1932)
• September 23 – Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet (b. 1904)
• September 26 – Anna Magnani, Italian actress (b. 1908)
• September 29 – W. H. Auden, English-American poet (b. 1907)

October

• October 2 – Paavo Nurmi, Finnish athlete (b. 1897)
• October 25 – Abebe Bikila, Ethiopian athlete (b. 1932)
• October 25 - Robert Scholl, German politician (b. 1891)
• October 25 - Cleo Moore, American actress (b. 1928)

November

December

• December 1 – David Ben-Gurion, Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1886)
• December 20 – Bobby Darin, American singer (b. 1936)
• December 25 – İsmet İnönü, 2nd President of Turkey (b. 1884)

Movies released

• American Graffiti
• Enter the Dragon
• Magnum Force
• Last Tango in Paris
• Papilon
• The Exorcist
• The Sting

Hit songs

• "Killing Me Softly with His Song" – Roberta Flack
• "Radar Love" – Golden Earring
• "Smoke on the Water" – Deep Purple
• "You're So Vain" – Carly Simon
• "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" – Jim Croce
• "Crocodile Rock" – Elton John
• "Delta Dawn" – Helen Reddy
• "D'yer Mak'er" – Led Zeppelin
• "Frankenstein" – The Edgar Winter Group
• "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" – Elton John
• "Half Breed" – Cher
• "Higher Ground" – Stevie Wonder
• "Keep On Truckin' " – Eddie Kendricks
• "Kodachrome" – Paul Simon
• "Let's Get It On" – Marvin Gaye
• "Live and Let Die" – Paul McCartney and Wings
• "Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)" – ABBA
• "Loves Me Like a Rock" – Paul Simon (with The Dixie Hummingbirds)
• "Me and Mrs. Jones" – Billy Paul
• "Midnight Train to Georgia" – Gladys Knight
• "Morning After"- Maureen McGovern
• "My Love" – Paul McCartney and Wings
• "The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia" – Vicki Lawrence
• "Over the Hills and Far Away" – Led Zeppelin
• "Photograph" – Ringo Starr
• "Ramblin' Man" – Allman Brothers Band
• "Ring Ring" – ABBA
• "Saturday Night's All Right for Fighting" – Elton John
• "Superstition" – Stevie Wonder
• "Take Me to the Mardi Gras" – Paul Simon
• "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin
• "Tie a Yellow Ribbon around the Old Oak Tree" – Tony Orlando & Dawn
• "Top of the World" – Carpenters
• "Touch Me in the Morning" – Diana Ross
• "Why Me" – Kris Kristofferson
• "Will It Go Around in Circles" – Billy Preston

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1973.