- January 22
- The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Roe v. Wade that women, as part of their constitutional right to privacy, can terminate a pregnancy during its first two trimesters. [1] [129] [162.24]
- US, North and South Vietnam and Vietcong sign boundary accord. [1]
- January 23
- US President Richard Nixon announces an accord has been reach to end the Vietnam War. [1]
- January 27
- William Rogers and Nguyen Duy Trinh sign US-North Vietnam treaty. [1]
- January 30
- US Jury finds Watergate defendants Liddy and McCord guilty on all counts. [1]
- February 2
- James R Schlesinger becomes director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (until July). [1]
- February 3
- US President Richard Nixon signs Endangered Species Act into law. [1]
- February 5
- Funeral for Lieutenant Colonel William Nolde, last US soldier killed in Vietnam War. [1]
- February 7
- US Senate creates Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities. [1]
- February 8
- US Senate names seven members to investigate Watergate scandal. [1]
- February 10
- 83-metre-wide gas tank on Staten Island, New York, explodes, crushing 40. [1]
- February 12
- First US POWs in North Vietnam released; 116 of 456 flown to Philippines. [1]
- Ohio becomes the first US state to post distances on signs in System International (Metric) units. [5]
- February 13
- US dollar devalued by 10 percent. [1]
- February 14
- The last American is conscripted into the armed forces. [224.28]
- February 22
- US and China agree to establish liaison offices in Beijing and Washington DC. [1]
- February 27
- American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee in South Dakota. [1]
- February 28
- In New Jersey, USA, a magnitude 3.8 earthquake occurs. [53]
- March 2
- Cleo Noel, US ambassador to Sudan, is assassinated. [1]
- March 4
- 15th Grammy Awards: "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", America. [1]
- March 5
- The US Treasury calls for new designs for the half dollar and the dollar coins for the 1976 American bicentennial. [434.92]
- March 8
- Eisenhower Tunnel, world's highest/US longest, opens. [1]
- US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site. [1]
- March 15
- In San Juan Capistrano, California, USA a building is hit by a falling meteorite. [521]
- March 19
- Howard Dean tells US President Richard Nixon, "There is a cancer growing on the Presidency". [1]
- March 23
- US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site. [1]
- March 25
- 27th Tony Awards: That Championship Season and Little Night Music win. [1]
- March 27
- 45th Academy Awards: The Godfather, Marlon Brando and Liza Minnelli win. Marlon Brando turns down Oscar for best actor in support of Indians. [1]
- March 29
- The last U.S. combat troops leave South Vietnam as Hanoi frees the remaining American prisoners of war held in North Vietnam. [1] [129]
- March 30
- Ellsworth Bunker resigns as US ambassador to South Vietnam. [1]
- April 2
- CBS radio begins on-hour news 24 hours a day. [1]
- International Telephone And Telegraph pleads guilty to asking US Central Intelligence Agency to affect Chilean presidential election. [1]
- April 3
- The first portable cell phone call is made in New York City. [5]
- April 6
- US launches Pioneer 11 to Jupiter and Saturn. [1]
- April 9
- Otto Kerner, former Governor of Illinois, convicted for his role in an illegal racetrack scheme. [1]
- April 14
- Acting FBI director L Patrick Gray resigns after admitting he destroyed evidence in the Watergate scandal. [1]
- April 25
- US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site. [1]
- April 26
- US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site. [1]
- April 30
- US President Richard Nixon announces resignation of Chief of Staff Harry Haldeman, Ehrlichman, et al. [1]
- May 2
- Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries sells a US 1868 3-cent rose George Washington postage stamp with "B" grill embossing for US$23,000 The stamp is one of four known; this is the first time one is sold at public auction. [302.24]
- May 3
- Chicago's Sears Tower, world's tallest building (443 metres), tops out. [1]
- May 4
- First US TV network female nudity-Steambath (PBS)- Valerie Perrine. [1]
- May 8
- Indians surrender after holding South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for ten weeks. [1]
- May 14
- Skylab launched, the first Space Station. [1]
- US Supreme court approves equal rights to females in military. [1]
- May 17
- US Senate Watergate Committee begins its hearings. [1]
- US performs three nuclear tests at Rifle, Colorado. [1]
- May 20
- In Los Angeles, California, the 25th Annual Emmy Awards are presented, hosted by Johnny Carson.
- Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Drama/Comedy - Limited Episodes): Anthony Murphy for Tom Brown's Schooldays
- Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Drama Series - Continuing): Richard Thomas for The Waltons
- Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Laurence Olivier for Long Day's Journey Into Night
- Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series: Jack Klugman for The Odd Couple
- Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Drama Series - Continuing): Michael Learned for The Waltons
- Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Drama/Comedy - Limited Episodes): Susan Hampshire for Vanity Fair
- Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series: Mary Tyler Moore for Mary Tyler Moore
- Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Cloris Leachman for A Brand New Life
- Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Comedy: Ted Knight for Mary Tyler Moore
- Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Drama: Scott Jacoby for That Certain Summer
- Outstanding Achievement by a Supporting Performer in Music or Variety: Tim Conway for The Carol Burnett Show
- Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Comedy: Valerie Harper for Mary Tyler Moore
- Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Drama: Ellen Corby for The Waltons
- Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy: Jay Sandrich for episode "It's Whether You Win Or Lose" of Mary Tyler Moore
- Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction of a Variety, Musical or Dramatic Program: Peter Matz for The Carol Burnett Show
- Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Variety or Music: Bill Davis for The Julie Andrews Hour
- Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama - A Single Program: Joseph Sargent for The Marcus-Nelson Murders
- Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama - A Single Program of a Series with Continuing Characters and/or Theme: Jerry Thorpe for episode "An Eye for an Eye" for Kung Fu
- Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy, Variety or Music: Bob Fosse for Liza with a 'Z'
- Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama - Original Teleplay: Abby Mann for The Marcus-Nelson Murders
- Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama - Adaptation: Eleanor Perry for The House Without a Christmas Tree
- Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy: Michael Ross, Bernard West, and Lee Kalcheim for episode "The Bunkers And The Swingers" of All in the Family
- Outstanding Writing Achievement in Variety or Music: Stan Hart, Larry Siegel, Gail Parent, Heywood Kling, Roger Beatty, Tom Patchett, Jay Tarses, Robert Hilliard, Arnie Kogen, Bill Angelos, and Buz Kohan for The Carol Burnett Show
- Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama: John McGreevey for episode "The Scholar" of The Waltons
- Outstanding Achievement in Makeup: Del Armstrong, Ellis Burman Jr., and Stan Winston for Gargoyles
- Outstanding Variety Musical Series: The Julie Andrews Hour
- Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition - For a Special Program: Jerry Goldsmith for The Red Pony
- Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition - For a Series or a Single Program of a Series (First Year of Music's Use Only): Charles Fox for Love, American Style
- Outstanding Single Program - Variety and Popular Music: Liza with a 'Z'
- Outstanding Achievement in Music, Lyrics and Special Material: Fred Ebb and John Kander for Liza with a 'Z'
- Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming - Informational/Factual: William Hanna and Joseph Barbera for "The Last of the Curlews" of ABC Afterschool Specials and Shari Lewis for A Picture of Us
- Outstanding Drama Series - Continuing: The Waltons
- Outstanding Achievement by Individuals in Daytime Drama: Mary Fickett for All My Children
- Outstanding Program Achievement in Daytime Drama: Erwin Nicholson for The Edge of Night
- Outstanding Comedy Series: All in the Family
- Outstanding New Series: America
- Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming - Entertainment/Fictional: Tom Whedon, John Boni, Sara Compton, Tom Dunsmuir, Thad Mumford, Jeremy Stevens, and Jim Thurman for The Electric Company and Jon Stone and Robert Cunniff for Sesame Street and Christopher Sarson for Zoom
- Outstanding Program Achievement in Daytime: Henry Jaffe, Fred Tatashore, and Dinah Shore for Dinah's Place
- Outstanding Drama/Comedy - Limited Episodes: Tom Brown's Schooldays
- Outstanding Achievement in Choreography: Bob Fosse for Liza with a 'Z'
- Outstanding Single Program - Drama or Comedy: A War of Children.
[1] [217]
- May 22
- US President Richard Nixon confesses his role in Watergate cover-up. [1]
- At Xerox PARC, Bob Metcalfe invents the Ethernet computer connectivity system, describing in a memo how the technology would work. The name "Ethernet" refers to medium-independent transmission of data packets, and is based on a discredited physical theory of an existing "ether" in space allowing transmission of light rays from the sun to the Earth. [4]
- May 25
- US launches first Skylab; crew Kerwin, Conrad, Weitz. [1]
- May 29
- Columbia Records fires president Clive Davis for misappropriating $100,000 in funds. (Davis will start Arista records.) [1]
- June
- The GSA announces it will auction off 2 million ounces of silver. [582.52]
- June 25
- John Dean begins testimony before US Senate Watergate Committee. [1]
- June 27
- John W Dean tells Watergate Committee about President Richard Nixon's "enemies list". [1]
- (month unknown)
- In the USA, the Commission on the Review of National Policy toward Gambling is created to study gambling in the United States. [39]
- July 5
- The MGM Grand Hotel opens in Las Vegas, built at a cost of US$107 million. It features 2100 rooms, Jai-alai fronton, and 1200-seat showroom. [386.309]
- July 16
- During Watergate hearings, Butterfield reveals existence of tapes. [1]
- July 23
- Ozark Air Lines' plane knocked out of the air by lightning over Saint Louis - 36 die. [1]
- July 31
- Delta Airlines DC-9 crashes in fog at Logan Airport, Boston, Massachusetts. [1]
- August 8
- US Vice President Spiro T Agnew brands as "damned lies" reports he took kickbacks from government contracts in Maryland. He vows not to resign. [1]
- August 14
- August 23
- Intelsat communications satellite launched. [1]
- September 6
- New York Times reports almost all Superfecta harness racing run at Yonkers, Roosevelt and Monticello from January to March of 1973 were fixed. [1]
- September 12
- Two bettors win the largest US Daily Double (US$19,909.60 in Detroit, Michigan). [1]
- September 13
- US Congress passes and sends a bill to President Richard Nixon to lift football's blackout. [1]
- September 14
- US President Richard Nixon signs into law a measure lifting pro football's blackout. [1]
- September 19
- Pirate Radio Free America (off Cape May, New Jersey) goes on the air. [1]
- September 22
- Henry Kissinger, a German immigrant, is sworn in as America's first Jewish Secretary of State. [1] [37]
- September 25
- Three-man crew of Skylab II make safe splashdown in Pacific after 59 days. [1]
- September 26
- Concorde flies from Washington DC to Paris, France, in record-breaking 3 hours 33 minutes. [1] [5]
- September 29
- Insurance industry announces auto racers get into more highway accidents. [1]
- October 10
- US Vice President Spiro T Agnew pleads no contest to tax evasion and resigns. [1]
- October 12
- US President Richard Nixon nominates Gerald Ford to replace Spiro Agnew as Vice President. [1]
- October 16
- US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho jointly awarded Nobel Peace Prize. [1] [37]
- October 17
- Five-month oil embargo by Arab states against US and Netherlands begins. [1]
- October 18
- US President Richard Nixon signs the Bicentennial Coinage Act into law, providing for commemorative quarter dollar, half dollar, and dollar coins. The coins can be issued between July 4, 1775 and January 1, 1977, bearing the dual date "1776-1976". [1] [434.18,93] (October 17 [553.36])
- October 19
- US President Richard Nixon asks Congress for US$2.2 billion aid to Israel. [240.170]
- October 20
- Arab oil producers impose total oil embargo on USA. [1] [240.170]
- Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox dismissed by Solicitor General Bork, Attorney General Richardson and Deputy Attorney General Ruckelshaus resign. [1]
- October 23
- US President Richard Nixon agrees to turn over White House tape recordings to Judge Sirica. [1]
- October 24
- Heavy fog causes 65-car collision killing nine on New Jersey Turnpike. [1]
- October 27
- In Canon City, Colorado, USA a building is hit by a falling meteorite. [521]
- November 3
- Mariner 10 launched; will make first Venus pictures, first mission to Mercury. [1]
- November 7
- New Jersey becomes first state to allow girls into US baseball little league. [1] [56]
- November 16
- US President Richard Nixon authorizes construction of the Alaskan pipeline. [1]
- November 17
- US President Richard Nixon tells Associated Press "...people have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook". [1]
- November 26
- Albert DiSalvo, Boston strangler, stabbed to death. [1]
- US President Richard Nixon's personal secretary, Rose Mary Woods, tells a federal court she accidentally caused part of 18-minute gap in a key Watergate tape. [1]
- November 27
- US Senate votes 92-3 to confirm Gerald R Ford as Vice President. [1]
- November 29
- US President signs Hobby Protection Act into law as Public Law 93-167. [455.28] [547.38] [563.34]
- December 6
- Gerald Ford sworn-in as first unelected US Vice-President, succeeds Spiro T Agnew. [1]
- December 7
- The Bureau of the Mint announces tests are being conducted with aluminum alloy cents; the US Treasury requests authority to coin aluminum cents. [548.42]
- December 15
- American Psychiatric Association declares homosexuality is not mental illness. [1]
- Pirates of the Caribbean ride opens at Disneyland, Anaheim, California. [1]
- December 16
- American kidnapping victim Paul Getty III freed. [1]
- December 21
- Israel, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, US and USSR meet in Geneva, Switzerland. [1]
- December 24
- In New Mexico, USA, a magnitude 4.1 earthquake occurs. [53]
- December 25
- The ARPANET crashes when a programming bug causes all ARPANET traffic to be routed through the server at Harvard University, causing the server to freeze. [5]
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