On this day
Revisit the news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
In 1973, the world population was approximately 3,920,805,042 people[â ]
1973Donyell Marshall, American basketball player and coach[â ]
Donyell Lamar Marshall is an American basketball coach and former professional player. Drafted with the fourth pick in the 1994 NBA draft, he played for eight different teams during his National Basketball Association (NBA) career which lasted until 2009. In 2005, he hit a then-record 12 three-pointers in a single game.
1973Aleksandr Olerski, Estonian footballer (died 2011)[â ]
Aleksandr Olerski was a football forward from Estonia. His last club was FC Puuma Tallinn.
1973Jeannette Rankin, American social worker and politician (born 1880)[â ]
Jeannette Pickering Rankin was an American politician and women's rights advocate who became the first woman to hold federal office in the United States. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican from Montana in 1916 for one term, then was elected again in 1940. Rankin remains the only woman ever elected to Congress from Montana.
1973Aeroflot Flight 109 is hijacked mid-flight and the aircraft is subsequently destroyed when the hijacker's bomb explodes, killing all 82 people on board.[â ]
Aeroflot Flight 109 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Moscow to Chita with stopovers in Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk, and Irkutsk. On the final leg of the route on 18 May 1973 a terrorist hijacked the aircraft, demanding to be flown to China; the terrorist's bomb detonated in flight after he was shot by the air marshal. The aircraft broke-up at altitude, killing all 81 on board.
Lebanese Govt and Palestinian guerrillas on May 17 announce that they have reached 'identical viewpoints' on settlement of conflict in which at least 250 persons have been killed since May 2; Lebanese radio repts that com of Palestinian guerrillas and Lebanese authorities has been set up to see that measures agreed upon are carried out; measures that are involved were not announced by either side after 2 days of negotiations ended on May 16 between team of 3 Lebanese Army officers and reprs of 3 major guerrilla orgns, Al Fatah, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Popular Democratic Front; Attalah Attalah, also known as Abu Zaim, mil commander of Palestinian guerrillas in Lebanon, says that 'complete understanding' has been reached in negotiations, in which he took part; diplomatic sources say that guerrillas agreed to refrain from making illegal arrests; issue raised by Lebanese Army was removal from Palestinian refugee camps, which serve as bases for guerrillas, of heavy mortar and rockets; it is not clear what agreement was reached on this point; state of emergency has placed Lebanon under martial law and curfew remains in effect after dark; despite heavy bombing by tanks and air force jets, guerrillas remain entrenched in major refugee camps in Beirut, with no shortage of ammunition and supplies; Lebanese econ has suffered because of crisis
NYC City Council votes, 34 to 1, to repeal rent control law's controversial maximum base rent formula; landlord spokesmen warn that action could touch off widespread strike by bldg service employes; Lindsay denounces repeal bill, which he says is illegal under state law
Nixon campaign official R C Odle Jr, 1st witness to testify before nationally televised Sen Watergate Com hearings May 17, says that deputy dir of orgn J S Magruder ordered file that apprently contained pot intelligence removed from his desk hrs after Watergate burglary for 'security' reasons; says he did not read file but suspected that things 'which have no place in a pol campaign were in it'; says he returned file to Magruder upon his return to Washington 2 days later but so far as is known documents contained in it have never been found by investigators; Odle is questioned closely about Magruder's file, suggesting that com is attempting to develop evidence of highâlevel involvement in coverâup immediately after arrests; com's interest in file appears to stem in part from possibility that Nixon campaign aide moved almost immediately to safeguard and then to destroy or hide crucial documents; there have also been repts that folder held documents on wiretapping operations against Dems and possession of such material by Magruder would be highly incriminating; Odle says J N Mitchell took part in making pol decisions while he was still Atty Gen; testifies that 'decision memos' were sent to Mitchell at Justice Dept and that Mitchell was involved in 'major campaign decisions' as early as '71; B A Kehrli, special asst to Pres, testifies about White House structure using orgn charts; burden of organizational testimony is that many officials at Nixon com had gone there from White House and that White House retained overâall direction of reâelection effort; final witness May 17 is Sgt P W Leeper, 1 of 3 men who apprehended Watergate burglars; illus of com members Gurney, Baker, Ervin, Talmadge and chief counsel S Dash; illus of R C Odle Jr
Atty Genâdesignate Richardson issues detailed set of guidelines May 17 for special Watergate prosecutor as yet unnamed; Richardson asserts, in lr to Sen Judiciary Com, that special prosecutor will be apptd by Atty Gen to serve within Justice Dept, and will be given 'full authority for investigating and prosecuting offenses against the US arising out of Watergate breakâin; says prosecutor will also handle 'all offenses arising out of '72 Pres election' as well as 'allegations involving the Pres, members of his staff, or Pres appointees and any other matters assigned to him by the Atty Gen'; concept of 'full' authority used in guidelines still does not meet insistence among some members of Cong that prosecutor be given 'final' authority; Justice W H Erickson, 1 of major candidates for job, counters Richardson's guidelines with set of his own but refuses to say what was in proposal he forwarded to Richardson; his only elaboration is that he made it clear to Richardson that prosecutor would have to be 'independent'; Richardson says prosecutor will have 'greatest degree of independence that is consistent with Atty Gen's statutory accountability for all matters falling within the jurisdiction of Justice Dept; White House press sec Ziegler says 'independence' problem 'is totally and completely in the hands of Mr Richardson' and that Richardson is Tree to grant total independence if he chose'; Sens Kennedy, Tunney and Burdick praise Richardson for agreeing to release guidelines for public inspection; Richardson's brother Dr E P Richardson says his brother was reluctant to take on task of Atty Gen but did so out of sense of service to US
May 18: NY Times survey on Palestinian Arabs notes that 25 yrs after creation of state of Israel, uprooted Palestinian Arabs not only are at war with Israel but are in conflict with Arab Govts and among themselves; notes loss of bases in Jordan during fighting in '70 and '71 between Jordanian King Hussein's army and guerrillas is recognized as severe setback to aspirations of Palestinians, who are believed to number 3 million; says they are determined to prevent repetition of '70 and '71 in Lebanon where ceaseâfire between Lebanese Army and guerrillas was consolidated recently; notes Israeli retaliation at guerrilla bases in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria has resulted in curtailed guerrilla raids into Israel from Syria; holds now Lebanon is seeking to place stricter controls on armed guerrilla activities on its territory; notes that of approximately 3 million Palestinians, 1.5 million are registered refugees and 400,000 are displaced persons from '67 war; holds that although sentiment among rank and file is strong, 1 of weakest aspects of Palestinian struggle is lack of unified political leadership enjoying broad support; says Palestine Liberation Orgn, in which all major guerrilla groups and some Palestinian professionals and intellectuals are represented, is recognized by Arab League and its member govts as official voice of 'Palestinian entity'; notes Y Arafat, founding member of Al Fatah, largest guerrilla group, is chmn of Palestine Liberation Orgn; says Arafat shares leadership with other Fatah figures such as S Khalef and with leaders of more radical groups such as Dr G Habash of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and N Hawatmeh of Popular Dem Front, who is Maoist Marxist; illus
launching of crew of Skylab, 1st US orbiting laboratory, is again postponed on May 17 until May 25 to enable astronauts to undergo training to effect necessary repair job on overheated spacecraft, which has resulted from failure of solar panels to deploy and from spacecraft's loss of heat shield during launching from Cape Kennedy; NASA says crew will attempt to install a thin mylar awning over sunlit side of vehicle to deflect solar rays that are causing interior temperatures to soar above 100 degrees Fahrenheit; Sklab crew member Dr Kerwin reptdly is undergoing training with mockâup of vehicle at Marshall Space Flight Center; scientists are confident mission can be continued without malfunctioning solar panels; say electricity can be drawn from Apollo spacecraft but that some experiments may have to be curtailed; alternate plans to salvage mission discussed; drawing of Skylab space station
Sen Select Com on Pres Campaign Activities, investigating Watergate bugging case, begins hearings on May 17 in Room 318 of Old Sen Office Bldg; constant lines of 150 or more persons clog foyer of Sen bldg as public seeks access to hearings; among spectators is D Ellsberg who says he came 'to pay my respects to the independent legislative branch'; Sen H H Baker Jr, member of 7âman panel that is presiding over hearings, says in opening statement that it is Amer people who must be final judge of Watergate; Pres press sec R Ziegler repts that Nixon is not watching televised hearings, 'He doesn't watch much television'; illus of students and others crowed into hearing room to hear opening session
Project Rio Blanco, detonation of 3 nuclear devices equal to 90,000 tons of TNT, in northwest Colo, set off May 17 with less resulting damage than expected; project sponsored by AEC and CER Geonuclear Corp to stimulate gas production; local effects and reaction described; are minor; AEC aide J Toman says blast went off as planned; AEC Chmn Ray and Gov Love watch detonation from helicopters; Ray says experiment proceeded 'perfectly'; some local residents picket in protest; environmentalists arguments against blast recalled; local poem on it quoted; schematic diagram of blast; map of site
South St Seaport Museum officials on May 17 announce that museum plans to set up passenger ferry service between Manhattan and Bklyn at peak travel hrs, 'hopefully by next spring'; say ferry would operate virtually in shadow of Bklyn Bridge; last ferry service on this 600âyd route was discontinued in '26; officials contend that small ferry could be economically viable because of traffic snarls on bridge and overcrowding in subways at rush hrs; drawing shows proposed ferry route
Jewish sources rept on May 17 that Y Levich has been inducted into army as a private and sent to mil dist in Siberia; entire Levich family has been refused permission to emigrate to Israel
confirms Pres Nixon's plan to visit Latin Amer in late '73 or early '74
Sen Foreign Relations Com, by 16 to 0 vote, approves May 17 Javits bill restricting warâmaking powers of Pros; bill provides that in absence of war declaration by Cong a Pres may commit armed forces to combat for only 30 days and only in emergencies such as repelling or forestalling an attack on US or its forces overseas; bill does not apply to 'present hostilities'; HR Foreign Affairs subcom has approved bill allowing emergency use of troops for 120 days; Repub Sens Scott and Griffin voted in Sen com for bill, indicating opinion is bldg up in Cong against Nixon on issue; com chmn Sen Fulbright withholds his approval, voting 'present,' because he thinks bill is not restrictive enough