At A Glance

4 August 1973 at a glance

Day of the week
4 August 1973 was a Saturday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “The Morning After” by Maureen McGovern.
Top Film of 1973
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1973 was The Exorcist.
Bestselling Novel of 1973
“Jonathan Livingston Seagull” by Richard Bach was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1973.
Top-Rated TV Show
“All in the Family” (CBS) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1973–74 season.
Star sign
The star sign for 4 August is Leo.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 4 August 1973 fell in the Year of the Ox.
Birthstone
The birthstone for August is Peridot.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 4 August 1973 was Waxing Crescent.

On this day: 4 August

  • 1964 Second Gulf of Tonkin Incident: U.S. destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy mistakenly report coming under attack in the Gulf of Tonkin.
  • 1965 The Constitution of the Cook Islands comes into force, giving the Cook Islands self-governing status within New Zealand.
  • 1969 Vietnam War: At the apartment of French intermediary Jean Sainteny in Paris, American representative Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese representative Xuân Thuỷ begin secret peace negotiations. The negotiations will eventually fail.
  • 1972 Ugandan President Idi Amin announces that Uganda is no longer responsible for the care of British subjects of Asian origin, beginning the expulsions of Ugandan Asians.
  • 1977 U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy.

Famous people born on August 4

  • Barack Obama, American lawyer and politician, 44th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1961)
  • Billy Bob Thornton, American actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1955)
  • Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Duchess of Sussex, American member of British royal family, media personality and actress (born 1981)
  • Cole Sprouse, American actor (born 1992)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Choose your country: the charts, news and leaders change to match.

Events of 1973 in the United States

A selection from Wikipedia's '1973 in the United States'. Not a complete list.

  • January 22 – Roe v. Wade: The U.S. Supreme Court overturns state bans on abortion.
  • February 28 – The landmark postmodern novel Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon is published.
  • March 26 – TV soap opera The Young and the Restless and game show The $10,000 Pyramid debuts on CBS.

Life in the US in 1973

President

Richard Nixon

Gas (per gallon)

$0.40

Loaf of Bread

$0.27

Average House

$22,100

Weekly Wage

$165

Or

Browse by Year

Famous Faces Born in the 1970s

Well-known people born in the same decade as you, not on your birthday.

Sources: Wikidata and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

About The Day You Were Born

Ever wondered what was happening in the world when you took your first breath? Our birthday lookup tool reveals the fascinating history of your special day.

About The Birthday Chronicle and where our data comes from →