March 1973

[March 1], 1973 (Thursday)

• Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, one of rock's landmark albums, was released in the U.S.; sale in the UK began on March 24.
• U.S. Ambassador to Sudan Cleo A. Noel Jr., and his chargé d'affaires, Curtis Moore, were kidnapped and murdered by terrorists from the Palestinian group Black September Organization, in an attack on the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Khartoum. Guy Eid, the Belgian Embassy's chargé d'affaires, was wounded in the attack. After the U.S. refused to meet the terrorist demand for the release of assassin Sirhan Sirhan, the terrorists killed Noel, Moore and Eid.
• The Xerox Alto, the first computer with a graphical operating system and a mouse, became available for sale or lease. The Alto I was developed by the Palo Alto Research Center of the Xerox Corporation.
• The Iraq Petroleum Company, whose assets and operations were nationalized by Iraq in 1968, reached a settlement agreement with the Iraqi government, clearing the way for other Middle Eastern nations to take control of the oil production in their nations.
• British MP Dick Taverne, having resigned from the Parliament on leaving the Labour Party, was re-elected as a 'Democratic Labour' candidate.
• Admiral Sourendra Nath Kohli became Chief of Staff of the Indian Navy.
• The American Indian Movement occupiers of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, released the 11 hostages that they had taken two days earlier, but continued their standoff and seizure of the Bureau of Indian Affairs building. On March 10, agents of the U.S. Department of Justice ended their blockade of the town and AIM activists left the trenches that they had dug in preparation for a fight, but the cease-fire ended the next day when an FBI agent, Curtis Fitzgerald, was shot and wounded by an AIM sniper.
• Two men kidnapped the mayor of Gallup, New Mexico, from City Hall and then barricaded themselves in a nearby sporting goods store, apparently because of his nomination to the board of regents of the University of New Mexico. Mayor Emmett Garcia was able to escape from a window after police fired tear gas into the store. His kidnapper, a university student, then killed himself.

  [March 2], 1973 (Friday)

• Fourteen construction workers were killed and 34 injured when the center section of the 26-story Skyline Plaza collapsed in Bailey's Crossroads, Virginia, sending concrete and steel down on workers below. Workers had completed 23 of the stories and were working on the 24th floor that suddenly gave way under the weight of a crane that was hauling wet concrete to the top. Six bodies were recovered immediately and 12 other people were missing and feared dead.
• U.S. Secretary of State William P. Rogers announced that the U.S. and China had reached an agreement in principle to settle U.S. claims against the People's Republic dating back to 1949 for $200 million worth of confiscated property, and the Communists claim for $100 million of frozen Chinese assets in U.S. banks.
• The popular Hungarian musical Képzelt riport egy amerikai popfesztiválról, with music by Gábor Presser and lyrics by Anna Adamis, premiered at the Comedy Theatre of Budapest and popularized rock music in the Communist-ruled nation, then toured other Communist nations with performances in East Germany, Romania, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.
• Died: Joe "Red" Hayes, 46, American fiddle player and songwriter with the Faron Young country music band, died of a heart attack after playing at a concert in Manchester while on the "Road to Nashville" tour of the United Kingdom. Young's band was traveling on a bus to its next stop when, as a British newspaper noted, he "died in a coach while travelling from Manchester to Chatham for a concert."

  [March 3], 1973 (Saturday)

• All 25 people aboard Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Flight 307 were killed when the Ilyushin Il-18 airplane crashed while attempting a landing at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport after having departed from Sofia.
• King Hassan II announced his policy of "Moroccanization", forcing the transfer of any businesses, farmlands and assets that were more than 50% owned by foreigners to Moroccan individuals, generally political and military allies of the King.
• The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora was signed in Washington D.C. at a meeting of representatives of 80 nations, and would enter into effect on July 1, 1975.
• Two IRA bombs exploded in London, injuring 250 people, one fatally. Ten people were arrested hours later at Heathrow Airport, on suspicion of being involved in the bombings.
• The Indian state of Orissa was brought under President's rule at the request of Governor B. D. Jatti, after the government of Chief Minister Nandini Satpathy had lost its majority in the state legislature. Jatti dissolved the state legislative assembly after opposition leader Biju Patnaik was preparing to form a state government.
• The International Track Association, the first attempt to pay track and field athletes for their work, held its first track meet. Competition took place at an indoor event at Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho, in front of a crowd of 10,480. Three indoor world records being improved upon, though the marks were not recognized as world records by the International Amateur Athletic Federation. In 10 events for men and four for women, winners received $500, with $250 for second place, $100 for third and $50 for fourth. An additional $500 was awarded for setting a new world record. The ITA had originally announced its plans on October 25, 1972, after the Summer Olympics in Munich, and signed several of the most famous stars of the time. The ITA was unable to become viable, in part because star amateur athletes were privately being paid higher amounts. The last ITA meet would take place on August 25, 1976.
• Tottenham Hotspur won the English Football League Cup final at Wembley, beating Norwich City 1–0. The Spurs had finished in sixth place in First Division competition in 1972, while Norwich City had won the Second Division and a promotion.
• At the 15th Grammy Awards, Record of the Year was won by Joel Dorn & Roberta Flack for "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" performed by Roberta Flack, and Album of the Year by Phil Spector, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Billy Preston, Leon Russell, Ravi Shankar, Ringo Starr & Klaus Voormann for The Concert for Bangla Desh
• The aging British liner HMS Royal Ulsterman was sabotaged and sunk in the Lebanese harbor of Beirut.
• Born: Xavier Bettel, Prime Minister of Luxembourg since 2013; in Luxembourg City
• Died:
• *Louis Prosper Gros, 79, French flying ace
• *Nikolai Nikitin, 65, Soviet structural designer and construction engineer
• *Antanina Vainiūnaitė-Kubertavičienė, 76, Lithuanian—Soviet stage actress

  [March 4], 1973 (Sunday)

• Elections were held in Chile for the 150 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and for 25 of the 50 seats in the Chilean Senate. The opposition Confederation of Democracy won 30-19 control of the Senate and 87–63 in the House against President Salvador Allende's leftist Popular Unity alliance, but still lacked a two-thirds majority necessary for impeaching Allende or blocking his policies. The parliament's activities would be suspended almost four months later after the Chilean Armed Forces staged a coup d'état.
• The first round of voting took place in France the elections for the 490-seat National Assembly, with followup voting on March for races where no candidate had initially received a majority.
• The British yacht Auralyn was struck by a whale off of the coast of Guatemala and sank in the Pacific Ocean. Sailors Maurice and Maralyn Bailey would drift for 117 days later on a life raft before being rescued on June 30.
• The release of a large group of American prisoners of war took place, including Colonel Norman C. Gaddis; Major Leo K. Thorsness, awarded the Medal of Honor on his return; Captain Douglas "Pete" Peterson, who would later return to Hanoi as the first U.S. Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam; Major James H. Kasler; First Lieutenant Edward L. Hubbard; First Lieutenant Leroy W. Stutz and from the Navy, Lieutenant Commander Richard A. Stratton; Lieutenant Commander John H. Fellowes; and Captain Eugene McDaniel; Commander William P. Lawrence ; Lieutenant George Coker; Naval Aviator Edward H. Martin
• Born:
• *Penny Mordaunt, British politician, Leader of the House of Commons since 2022, former Secretary for Defence; in Torquay, Devonshire
• *Chandra Sekhar Yeleti, Telugu language Indian film director; in Tuni, Andhra Pradesh
• Died:
• *Adi Bitar, 48, Palestinian Dubaian judge who authored the first constitution of the United Arab Emirates, died of colon cancer.
• *Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, 68, Indian historian

  [March 5], 1973 (Monday)

• The crash of Iberia Airlines Flight 504 after a mid-air collision in France killed all 68 people aboard after the DC-9 was struck by another airliner in an accident which happened while both were flying over La Planche in the Loire-Atlantique département, near Nantes. The Iberia DC-9, with 61 passengers and nine crew, was returning mostly passengers to London after a holiday on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca. Spantax Flight 400 was a Convair CV-990 on its way to London from Madrid. Both aircraft had been cleared for an altitude of by substitute air traffic controllers who were filling in during a strike. Without clearance from any controller, the crew of the Spantax began a 360 degree turn and its left wing struck the Iberia plane, which went out of control. The Spantax airliner was able to make an emergency landing at Cognac-Châteaubernard Air Base.
• The Pacific Legal Foundation was incorporated in Sacramento, California, making it the first and oldest conservative/libertarian public interest law firm in the United States.
• The "Great Michigan Pizza Funeral" was held by the frustrated owner of a food processing factory, Mario Fabbrini of Fabbrini Family Foods, near Ossineke, Michigan. The company had been ordered by the Food and Drug Administration to recall the pizzas on suspicion that the mushroom pizzas had botulism-causing bacteria. The pizzas were tipped into an deep hole in the ground before a crowd of onlookers, who were addressed by Michigan governor William Milliken.
• Donald DeFreeze, who would co-found the U.S. Symbionese Liberation Army terrorist group, escaped from Soledad Prison in California, where he was two years away from completing a 6-year sentence. After his escape, he met Patricia Soltysik and the two created the SLA.
• Died: Michael Jeffery, 39, English music business manager, was killed in Nantes mid-air collision.