On May 13, 1973, during the early years of the women’s liberation movement, tennis stars Bobby Riggs and Margaret Court face off in a $10,000 winner-take-all challenge match. The 55-year-old Riggs, a tennis champion from the late 1930s and 40s who was notoriously skeptical of women’s talents on the tennis court, branded the contest a […]
Continue ReadingAIM Occupation Of Wounded Knee Ends
On the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, armed members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) surrender to federal authorities, ending their 71-day siege of Wounded Knee, site of the infamous massacre of 300 Sioux by the U.S. 7th Cavalry in 1890. AIM was founded in 1968 by Russell Means, Dennis Banks, and other Native-American […]
Continue Reading“Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree” Tops The U.S. Pop Charts And Creates A Cultural Phenomenon.
The yellow ribbon— has long been a symbol of support for absent or missing loved ones. There are some who believe that the tradition of the yellow ribbon dates back as far as the Civil War era, when a yellow ribbon in a woman’s hair indicated that she was “taken” by a man who was […]
Continue ReadingPresident Nixon Hints At Reintervention
President Nixon hints that the United States might intervene again in Vietnam to prevent communist violations of the truce. A cease-fire under the provisions of the Paris Peace Accords had gone into effect on January 27, 1973, but was quickly and repeatedly violated by both sides as they jockeyed for control of territory in South […]
Continue ReadingJohnny Bench Hits Tthree Home Runs Off Steve Carlton
On May 9, 1973, Johnny Bench, All-Star catcher for the Cincinnati Reds, hits three home runs in one game off All-Star pitcher Steve Carlton of the Philadelphia Phillies. As Bench had homered in his previous at-bat the game before as well, this gave him four home runs in four consecutive trips to the plate. In […]
Continue ReadingCease-Fire Goes Into Effect
A cease-fire goes into effect at 8 a.m., Saigon time (midnight on January 27, Greenwich Mean Time). When the cease-fire went into effect, Saigon controlled about 75 percent of South Vietnam’s territory and 85 percent of the population. The South Vietnamese Army was well equipped via last-minute deliveries of U.S. weapons and continued to receive […]
Continue ReadingParis Peace Accords Signed
The United States, South Vietnam, Viet Cong, and North Vietnam formally sign “An Agreement Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam” in Paris. Due to South Vietnam’s unwillingness to recognize the Viet Cong’s Provisional Revolutionary Government, all references to it were confined to a two-party version of the document signed by North Vietnam and […]
Continue ReadingU.S. Officially Ends Participation In A Cold War Conflict
The Paris Peace Accords are signed by officials from the United States and North Vietnam, bringing an official end to America’s participation in its most unpopular foreign war. The accords did little, however, to solve the turmoil in Vietnam or to heal the terrible domestic divisions in the United States brought on by its involvement […]
Continue ReadingTruce Is Expected In Laos And Cambodia
National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger announces that a truce is expected in Laos and Cambodia. Kissinger had been meeting privately with Le Duc Tho and other North Vietnamese and Viet Cong representatives in Paris since early January. They had worked out a peace agreement that was initialled in Paris on January 23 “to end the […]
Continue ReadingNixon Announces Peace Settlement Reached In Paris
President Nixon announces that Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho, the chief North Vietnamese negotiator, have initialled a peace agreement in Paris “to end the war and bring peace with honor in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.” Kissinger and Tho had been conducting secret negotiations since 1969. After the South Vietnamese had blunted the massive North […]
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