Verisoph story dossier
The pivot year across every sector: Roe and Watergate, the oil embargo and floating money, the Endangered Species Act, recombinant DNA and the mobile phone, The Dark Side of the Moon and Secretariat, as the postwar order came apart.
The pivot year across every sector: Roe and Watergate, the oil embargo and floating money, the Endangered Species Act, recombinant DNA and the mobile phone, The Dark Side of the Moon and Secretariat, as the postwar order came apart.
73 newly added in the last 14 days
also in Media, education, and information, Media, propaganda, and influence
In 1973, on the order of outgoing CIA Director Richard Helms, most MK-Ultra files were destroyed, leaving only scattered financial records. The destruction is a documented fact and limited what later investigations could reconstruct.
precedented level and a civil war sustained by the United States left the country in utter ruins. Though Congress legislated an end to the bombing in August 1973, U.S. government participation in the ongoing slaughter continued until the Khmer Rouge
Though Congress legislated an end to the bombing in August 1973, UManufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media
also in From Bretton Woods to the euro: monetary regimes around Japan, Money and finance, The history of money
After the fixed-rate system broke down, major economies let their currencies float against one another with values set by markets. Floating exchange rates became the norm for the world's leading currencies.
also in The global drug trade and how it ties to everything
New York's Rockefeller Drug Laws imposed harsh mandatory minimum sentences for drug possession and sale. They became a model for the mandatory-minimum approach that filled American prisons and fell hardest on poor and minority communities.
From a January 1973 peak the US stock market slid into a long bear market, deepened by the oil shock and stagflation. By late 1974 the Dow had lost roughly 45 percent of its value, one of the worst declines since the Depression, and marked the end of the postwar boom in shares.
PBS aired An American Family, a 12-part documentary that filmed the everyday life of the Loud family of Santa Barbara. Cameras captured a marriage falling apart and a son coming out as gay, which was rare on television then. It is seen as an early ancestor of reality TV.
Elvis Presley performed a concert at the Honolulu International Center that was broadcast live around the world by satellite. It was the first entertainment event carried live to a global audience this way. The show reached viewers in more than 40 countries.
The Miami Dolphins beat the Washington Redskins 14-7 in Super Bowl VII at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The win finished the season at 17-0, still the only perfect season in NFL history. Coach Don Shula's team remains the sole side to go unbeaten through the playoffs and take the title.
In the bout billed as the Sunshine Showdown, George Foreman knocked down the undefeated champion Joe Frazier six times before the referee stopped it in the second round. Foreman took the world heavyweight title in a major upset. The broadcast is remembered for Howard Cosell's call of Down goes Frazier.
also in Feminism and the fight for women's rights
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution protected a woman's right to choose abortion. The decision was a landmark of the women's movement and was overturned nearly 50 years later.
also in Making peace: the great settlements, State, law, and coercion
Agreement among the United States, North and South Vietnam, and the Viet Cong ending direct American involvement in the Vietnam War. Fighting between the Vietnamese parties continued until Saigon fell in 1975.
also in Anatomy of a superpower: the American state
The Defense Department ended military conscription and shifted to an all-volunteer force. The change reshaped the relationship between the armed forces and the public.
The animated series Schoolhouse Rock! began airing between cartoons on the ABC network. Its short musical segments taught children grammar, math, science, and civics through catchy songs. The series ran for years and shaped how a generation of American kids learned basic lessons.
A magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck Luhuo County in the Garze region of western Sichuan. It leveled much of the county town and surrounding villages. Reports placed the death toll at roughly 2,200 people.
also in Science and technology
Work started on the CN Tower, a concrete communications and observation tower for the Canadian National Railway. Crews used a slip-form technique to pour the shaft continuously as it rose. On completion in 1976 it stood 553 meters tall and became the world's tallest free-standing structure.
During repairs to an empty liquefied natural gas storage tank in Bloomfield, residual gas ignited and a fire raised pressure inside the structure. The concrete dome collapsed onto the crew working below. Reports said 40 workers were killed. The disaster hardened public opposition to LNG storage near cities.
A Libyan Boeing 727 flying from Tripoli to Cairo strayed off course in bad weather over the Israeli-occupied Sinai. Israeli F-4 Phantom jets intercepted the airliner and shot it down. Reports put the death toll at 108 of the 113 people on board. The shootdown drew international condemnation.
also in The oppression of Native Americans
AIM activists and Oglala Lakota traditionalists occupied the town of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation, the site of the 1890 massacre, to protest tribal government corruption and demand renewed federal enforcement of treaty rights. The occupation led to a 71-day standoff with federal marshals and FBI agents; two Native occupiers, Frank Clearwater and Buddy Lamont, were killed by gunfire before the siege ended in May 1973. The event drew international media attention to Native American grievances.
Thomas Pynchon published Gravity's Rainbow, a dense, sprawling novel set around the German V-2 rocket in the final months of World War II. Critics saw it as a landmark of postwar American fiction. It won the National Book Award, though the Pulitzer board rejected it as too difficult.
also in Science and technology
The French firm R2E released the Micral N, a computer built around the Intel 8008 microprocessor and sold as a finished machine rather than a kit. It was first used to control processes such as highway toll systems. Many historians count it among the first commercial microcomputers.
Pink Floyd released The Dark Side of the Moon, recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London. The concept album explored stress, money, time, and mental illness. It became one of the best-selling records ever and stayed on the Billboard 200 for hundreds of weeks.
also in Science and technology
Czech astronomer Lubos Kohoutek discovers a bright new comet at the Hamburg Observatory. Found far from the Sun, it was predicted to become spectacularly bright and was hyped as the comet of the century. It underwhelmed skywatchers at the end of 1973, though the Skylab 4 crew and other scientists studied it closely.
also in Health and medicine
Candace Pert and Solomon Snyder at Johns Hopkins demonstrate the receptor in nervous tissue to which opiate drugs like morphine bind. Published in Science, the finding explained how opiates act on the brain. It pointed the way to the discovery of the body's own opioid molecules, the endorphins, a few years later.
also in Health and medicine
Chemist Paul Lauterbur publishes in Nature the first image made with nuclear magnetic resonance, a technique he called zeugmatography. By adding magnetic field gradients he turned NMR signals into a spatial picture. The method became magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, and earned Lauterbur a share of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Medicine.
At the 45th Academy Awards, held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather won Best Picture. Marlon Brando was named Best Actor but declined the award. He sent Sacheen Littlefeather, an Apache actress, to the stage to refuse it in protest of Hollywood's treatment of Native Americans.
also in Science and technology
Xerox PARC put its first Alto computer into operation, a machine built around a bitmapped screen, a mouse, and windows. It was among the earliest computers designed for one person to use with a graphical interface. The Alto's ideas later shaped the Apple Macintosh and modern personal computing.
Heavy spring rains sent the Mississippi River over its banks in one of the worst floods on the lower river since 1927. The river stayed above flood stage for record stretches at St. Louis and downstream. Millions of acres were flooded and damage ran into the hundreds of millions of dollars. The strain nearly overwhelmed the Old River Control Structure in Louisiana.
also in Science and technology
Motorola engineer Martin Cooper stood on a Manhattan street and made the first public call from a handheld cellular phone, a prototype that weighed about a kilogram. He phoned Joel Engel, his rival at Bell Labs. The demonstration proved that personal, portable phones were possible.
also in Science and technology
The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were dedicated in Lower Manhattan after years of construction. At 110 stories, the North Tower briefly ranked as the tallest building in the world. The complex, designed by Minoru Yamasaki, reshaped the city's skyline until its destruction in 2001.
also in Science and technology
NASA launches the Pioneer 11 probe on a mission to the outer planets. It would fly past Jupiter in 1974 and become the first spacecraft to reach Saturn, in 1979. Like its twin Pioneer 10, it carried a plaque meant to describe humanity to any future finder.
Pablo Picasso, the Spanish painter who co-founded Cubism and reshaped modern art, died at his home in Mougins, France. He worked almost until the end, leaving behind tens of thousands of works. His death closed one of the most influential careers in 20th-century art.
Federal Express started service from a hub in Memphis, flying 186 packages to 25 cities on its first night. Founder Fred Smith built the company around a hub-and-spoke model that gathered parcels at one center for sorting and quick redistribution. FedEx turned reliable overnight delivery into a large industry.
also in Science and technology
Ironworkers bolted the final beam into place on the Sears Tower in Chicago, bringing it to 442 meters and 110 stories. It passed the World Trade Center to become the tallest building in the world. The tower, now called Willis Tower, held that record for nearly 25 years.
also in Science and technology
NASA launches Skylab, the first American space station, on the last flight of a Saturn V rocket. During ascent the micrometeoroid and thermal shield tore away, ripping off one main solar wing and jamming the other, which left the station overheating and short of power. The orbital workshop reached orbit but could not be occupied until it was repaired.
The Senate's Ervin Committee began televised hearings into the Watergate break-in and cover-up. John Dean testified that the president was involved, and in July the aide Alexander Butterfield revealed that Nixon had taped his own conversations. The tapes became the center of the constitutional fight that followed.
also in Science and technology
Robert Metcalfe circulated a memo at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center laying out a scheme to link computers over a shared cable, which he named Ethernet. Working with David Boggs, he built the system to connect the lab's Alto workstations to a laser printer. Ethernet became the dominant standard for wired local area networks.
also in Science and technology
Astronauts Charles Conrad, Paul Weitz and Joseph Kerwin fly to Skylab and rescue it in orbit. They deployed a parasol sunshade to cool the overheated workshop and freed the jammed solar wing during a spacewalk, restoring power. The crew spent 28 days aboard, then a record for human spaceflight, proving that astronauts could repair large structures in space.
Ajax beat Juventus 1-0 in the European Cup final in Belgrade, with Johnny Rep scoring the only goal. It was the club's third consecutive European Cup, capping the era of the Dutch Total Football side led by Johan Cruyff. The result confirmed Ajax as the dominant force in European club football.
also in The secret agencies: CIA, FBI, and NSA
CIA director James Schlesinger orders senior staff to compile a report of all agency activities that may have violated its charter, later known as the Family Jewels. The roughly 700-page document catalogs domestic spying on journalists and activists, assassination plots, and drug testing on unwitting subjects. It remained classified until the CIA released most of it in 2007.
Secretariat swept the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes to win the first Triple Crown in 25 years. In the Belmont he won by 31 lengths in a time of 2:24, a track and world record for the distance that still stands. He is widely rated among the greatest racehorses in history.
also in Eugenics and forced sterilization in America
Minnie Lee Relf, age 14, and her sister Mary Alice, age 12, both Black girls from a low-income family, were surgically sterilized at a federally funded clinic in Montgomery, Alabama, after their illiterate mother was misled into signing a consent form with an X she believed authorized birth control shots. The case became a national symbol of coercive sterilization of poor Black women and girls under federally funded family planning programs.
also in Obscenity and pornography on trial
The Supreme Court set a new three-part test for obscenity, turning partly on contemporary community standards and whether a work has serious value. It gave local prosecutors more room to act and shaped American obscenity law for decades.
also in Armies and navies: the machinery of war, Military and security
The United States inducted its last conscript under the draft and moved to an all-volunteer force, ending a system of compulsory military service that, with gaps, had run since the Civil War and continuously since 1948. The shift followed intense controversy over draft fairness and deferments during the Vietnam War. Registration for a possible future draft continued, but active conscription ended.
also in Science and technology
Scientists at Los Alamos publish the discovery of gamma-ray bursts, brief and powerful flashes of gamma rays from deep space. The bursts had been recorded years earlier by the Vela satellites, which were built to watch for secret nuclear weapon tests. The finding opened a new field of high-energy astrophysics whose origin stayed a mystery for decades.
also in The other badges: private police and federal agencies
President Richard Nixon created the DEA by executive reorganization, merging the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs with several other federal drug-enforcement offices into a single agency under the Justice Department. Its creation followed Nixon's 1971 declaration of a "war on drugs," and the DEA became the lead federal agency for enforcing controlled-substances law both domestically and, increasingly, overseas.
At the Hammersmith Odeon in London, David Bowie told the audience it was the last show he would ever do. He was retiring his Ziggy Stardust character rather than quitting music, which shocked fans and his band. The moment became one of the most famous in rock history.
Varig Flight 820, a Boeing 707 flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, filled with smoke from a fire believed to have started in a lavatory. The crew made an emergency landing in a field short of Orly Airport. Reports said 123 of the 134 people on board died, most from smoke inhalation, with survivors mainly among the crew.
Martial arts star Bruce Lee died suddenly in Hong Kong at age 32. About a month later his film Enter the Dragon opened in the United States and became a worldwide hit. It brought Hong Kong martial arts cinema to a mass global audience and made Lee an icon after his death.
also in Science and technology
Physicists working with the Gargamelle bubble chamber at CERN report the first evidence of weak neutral currents, a form of the weak nuclear force that leaves particles unchanged in charge. The result confirmed a central prediction of the emerging electroweak theory of Glashow, Weinberg and Salam. It was a milestone in building the Standard Model of particle physics.
Fire tore through the Summerland leisure complex in Douglas while thousands of holidaymakers were inside. Flammable materials in the building's design let the blaze spread with deadly speed. Reports set the death toll at about 50 people. The disaster led to major changes in fire safety rules for public buildings.
Stevie Wonder released Innervisions, an album that mixed social commentary on poverty, drugs, and politics with love songs. He played most of the instruments himself, including synthesizers. It won the Grammy for Album of the Year.
George Lucas released American Graffiti, a coming-of-age film about teenagers cruising a California town in 1962. Made on a small budget, it earned huge profits and helped fund the making of Star Wars. Its soundtrack of old rock and roll songs fueled a wave of 1950s nostalgia.
Billie Jean King, 29, beat the 55-year-old former champion Bobby Riggs in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, before about 30,000 fans at the Houston Astrodome. Reports estimated a worldwide television audience near 90 million. The match became a landmark moment for women's tennis and the wider push for gender equality in sport.
The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 included Section 504, the first federal law to bar discrimination against people with disabilities in programs receiving federal money. Its regulations, won after disability activists staged sit-ins in 1977, became a foundation for later disability rights law.
also in The Gulf and the oil monarchies
Arab members of OPEC cut production and embargoed states supporting Israel in the Yom Kippur War, quadrupling oil prices. The embargo demonstrated Gulf oil power and reshaped global energy politics.
The Sydney Opera House was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II at Bennelong Point after 14 years of construction. Designed by Danish architect Jorn Utzon, its shell-like roofs became one of the world's most recognized buildings. Utzon had resigned during the troubled project and did not attend.
Nixon ordered the firing of Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox, who had subpoenaed the White House tapes. Attorney General Elliot Richardson and his deputy William Ruckelshaus resigned rather than carry it out before Robert Bork did. The public backlash turned impeachment from a possibility into a live prospect.
also in Science and technology
The Bosphorus Bridge opened in Istanbul, the first bridge to span the strait between the European and Asian sides of the city. The suspension bridge stretched over a kilometer across the water. Its opening on the 50th anniversary of the Turkish Republic joined the two continents by road for the first time.
also in Science and technology
NASA launches Mariner 10, bound for Venus and Mercury. It was the first spacecraft to use a gravity assist, swinging past Venus to reach Mercury, and the first to visit two planets on one mission. It returned the first close-up images of Mercury during three flybys in 1974 and 1975.
also in Anatomy of a superpower: the American state
Congress passed the War Powers Resolution over a presidential veto to limit the president's power to commit forces without its approval. Presidents have often disputed its reach.
also in Science and technology
Gerald Carr, Edward Gibson and William Pogue launch on the third and final crewed Skylab mission. They stayed in orbit for 84 days, a human spaceflight duration record that stood for years, and studied the Sun and the newly found Comet Kohoutek. The mission also saw the crew push back against an overloaded schedule set by ground control.
also in Science and technology
Stanley Cohen of Stanford and Herbert Boyer of the University of California, San Francisco report splicing genes from one organism into a bacterial plasmid that then replicated in E. coli. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the work showed genes could be cut, joined and cloned at will. It launched genetic engineering and the biotechnology industry.
also in Science and technology
Pioneer 10 becomes the first spacecraft to fly past Jupiter, passing about 130,000 kilometres above the cloud tops. It sent back the first close-up images of the giant planet and measured its intense radiation belts, proving a probe could survive them. The mission was run from NASA's Ames Research Center in California.
also in Science and technology
Karl von Frisch, Konrad Lorenz and Nikolaas Tinbergen share the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their study of animal behaviour. Their work covered the honeybee's dance language, imprinting in young animals and the instinctive triggers of behaviour. It was the first Nobel awarded for the science of ethology.
The American Psychiatric Association voted to remove homosexuality from its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. It reframed being gay as not in itself a mental illness, a turning point for both psychiatry and the gay rights movement.
Playing for the Buffalo Bills against the New York Jets in the final game of a 14-game season, O.J. Simpson passed 2,000 rushing yards to finish with 2,003. He was the first player in NFL history to reach the mark. The record came in a shorter schedule than the 16-game seasons that followed.
also in The oppression of Native Americans
Congress restored federal recognition to the Menominee Nation, reversing its 1961 termination after years of organizing led by activist Ada Deer and the group DRUMS (Determination of Rights and Unity for Menominee Shareholders). It was the first successful reversal of a termination-era decision and became a model for other tribes seeking restoration.
William Friedkin's horror film The Exorcist, based on William Peter Blatty's novel, opened in American theaters. Stories spread of viewers fainting and fleeing screenings of the tale of a possessed girl and two priests. It was the first horror film nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.
President Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act, the strongest wildlife-protection law any country had passed. It required federal agencies to protect listed species and their critical habitat, and it would later be tested in fights from the snail darter to the spotted owl. It remains the backbone of US conservation law.
also in Science and technology
Vint Cerf and Robert Kahn worked out the Transmission Control Program, a way to join separate packet networks into one network of networks. The design let different networks pass data through common gateways without knowing each other's internals. This work became the foundation of the modern Internet's TCP/IP protocols.
also in Science and technology
A group in Berkeley set up Community Memory, placing a computer terminal in a record store so ordinary people could post and read messages. It let strangers share notices, find rides, and trade goods through a shared database. It was one of the first attempts to use computers as a public communication network.
also in Health and medicine
Godfrey Hounsfield publishes his full description of computed tomography in the British Journal of Radiology, and the EMI head scanner begins spreading from its British birthplace to hospitals abroad. The first units reached the United States in 1973, including one at the Mayo Clinic. CT let doctors see cross-sections of the living brain for the first time, transforming diagnosis.
Years of failed rains across the Sahel brought famine to a peak in 1973, spanning Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, Upper Volta, and Senegal. Crops and herds were devastated and millions of people were displaced. Reports estimated that the drought killed well over 100,000 people across the region. It spurred a large international relief effort.
Linked to "Money and finance" as part of in this story