On this day
Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
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State Sec Rogers says on Aug 20, in discussing Watergate scandal, that US must not become 'so obsessed with security matters that laws are freely violated,' news conf; condemms operations of special White House investigations unit known as 'the plumbers'; says he leans toward strict observance of legal requirements and supports 'variance from that in very unusual circumstances'; illus
Cost of Living Council announces on Aug 20 that it will begin public hearings in Aug on steel and automobile price increases announced at end of Nixon Adm's 60‐day price freeze; Cost of Living Council Dir J T Dunlop says that Govt is particularly interested in examining potential impact that increases in basic industries could have on total econ; virtually every major steel and automobile co has notified IRS that they intend to raise prices on steel used in home appliance and automobile mfg; increases become effective if IRS does not challenge them within 30 days; steel hearings will be held Aug 30‐31 and will include examination of relationship of prices, profits, capital investment, plant capacity and effect of productivity
Brig Gen Thao Ma, leader of coup attempt, dies, Aug 20, after a small plane he was flying is shot down near the end of the Vientiane airport runway; Premier Souvanna retains firm control of the Govt; declares 'all is calm in the kingdom'; mil policemen check throughout Vientiane for escaping insurgents; city placed under a curfew from 7 PM to 6 AM; although there is growing anger among mil men over expected agreement between the Govt and the Pathet Lao, insurgent leaders miscalcualted, believing regular armed forces would join them when they brought their 400 to 500 men into Laos from Thailand; coup attempt detailed; US charge d'affaires J G Dean met with Ma at the airport in a futile effort to dissuade him from continuing the attack; uprising was over by noon Aug 20
Prime interest rates—the rates charged their most creditworthy customers by banks — were raised yesterday by more than a dozen of the nation's largest banks to a record of 9½ per cent, up from 9¼. Page 41.
NYS PSC repts on Aug 20 sharp decline in number of complaints to comm about NY Telephone Co's service during last 3 yrs, particularly in NYC area; repts that complaints, which numbered 40,207 in '70 and dropped to 19,249 in '72, totaled 7,591 for 1st 6 mos of '73; spokesman attributes decline to start of monitoring of co performance by PSC, to agency's orders to improve service, and its provision for rebates to customers for chronic poor service or for extended loss of service; telephone co spokesman says co is spending $1‐billion a yr to improve its service and cites efforts to eliminate delays in receiving dial tone to complete repairs more quickly and to improve billing procedure
Music on My Birthday
The Top 50 albums for the chart week of August 15, 1973, covering August 21, 1973.
Jethro Tull
Chicago
Pink Floyd
Seals & Crofts
Cat Stevens
1973Sergey Brin, Russian-American computer scientist and businessman, co-founded Google[†]
Sergey Mikhailovich Brin is an American computer scientist and businessman who co-founded Google with Larry Page. He was the president of Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc., until stepping down from the role on December 3, 2019. He and Page remain at Alphabet as co-founders, controlling shareholders and board members. As of June 2025, Brin is the tenth richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $149 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and 141.5 billion, according to Forbes, making him the eighth-richest person in the world.
1973Steve McKenna, Canadian ice hockey player and coach[†]
Steve McKenna is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played both defense and left wing. He was a veteran of eight seasons in the NHL. McKenna is currently a constable with the Waterloo Regional Police Service in Waterloo Region, Ontario.
In 1973, the world population was approximately 3,920,805,042 people[†]