- May 3 Chicago's Sears Tower, world's tallest building (443 m), tops out
- May 4 1st TV network female nudity in "Steambath" on PBS by Valerie Perrine
- May 4 BPAA US Women's Bowling Open won by Millie Martorella
- May 4 Longest baseball game in Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium, Phillies beat Braves 5-4 in 20 innings
- May 4 Patriarch Shenuda II of Kopitisch church visits the pope
- May 4 Wings release "Red Rose Speedway" in UK
Kentucky Derby
May 5 99th Kentucky Derby: Ron Turcotte aboard Secretariat wins in 1:59.4 - fastest Kentucky Derby ever
There Goes Rhymin' Simon
May 5 Columbia Records releases "There Goes Rhymin' Simon", the third solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Paul Simon; it features songs "Loves Me Like a Rock", "Kodachrome", and "American Tune"
Baseball History
May 8 Ernie Banks fills in for Cubs managerr Whitey Lockman who is ejected during the game, technically becoming baseball's 1st African American manager
Wounded Knee Occupation Ends
May 8 Wounded Knee Occupation ends after 10 weeks as 200 Oglala Lakota of the American Indian Movement surrender the South Dakota hamlet
Baseball History
May 9 For 2nd time, Johnny Bench hits 3 HRs in a game
- May 10 27th NBA Championship: NY Knicks beat LA Lakers, 4 games to 1
- May 10 Establishment of Frente Polisario in Mauritania
- May 10 Stanley Cup Final, Chicago Stadium, Chicago, IL: Yvan Cournoyer has a goal and 2 assists as Montreal Canadiens beat Chicago Blackhawks, 6-4 to take title, 4 games to 2
- May 11 Citing government misconduct, Daniel Ellsberg has his charges for his involvement in releasing the "Pentagon Papers" to The New York Times dismissed
- May 11 Dutch government of Uyl forms
Zanjeer
May 11 Ground-breaking Indian crime film "Zanjeer" directed by Prakash Mehra and starring "The Angry Young Man" Amitabh Bachchan released
Sports History
May 13 Bobby Riggs beats Margaret Smith Court in Mother's Day match in California
- May 14 French film "Day for Night" written and directed by François Truffaut, starring Jacqueline Bisset and Jean-Pierre Léaud premieres at Cannes (Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film)
- May 14 Gold hits record $102.50 an ounce in London
- May 14 Skylab launched, 1st Space Station
- May 14 US Supreme court approves equal rights to females in military
Sports History
May 15 California Angel Nolan Ryan's 1st no-hitter beats KC Royals, 3-0
- May 16 ABC Masters Bowling Tournament won by Dave Soutar
- May 16 AC Milan of Italy win 13th European Cup Winner's Cup against Leeds of England 1-0 in Saloniki
- May 17 "Nash at Nine" opens at Helen Hayes Theater NYC for 21 performances
- May 17 Angels outfielder Bobby Valentine breaks his leg trying to scale wall to prevent a Dick Green home run during a 5-4 loss to the A's
- May 17 Five British Army soldiers are killed by a Provisional Irish Republican Army booby-trap bomb in Omagh, County Tyrone
- May 17 Joe Ferguson, hits the 6,000th Dodger home run
#1 in the Charts
May 17 Stevie Wonder releases the music single "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life", goes to #1 and wins him a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
- May 17 US performs 3 nuclear tests at Rifle Colorado
- May 17 US Senate Watergate Committee begins its hearings into the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C.
Brezhnev Visits West Germany
May 18 Soviet party leader Leonid Brezhnev visits West Germany
- May 18 WIBC Bowling Queens won by Dotty Fothergill
- May 19 "Smith" opens at Eden Theater, NYC: runs for 17 performances
- May 19 98th Preakness: Ron Turcotte aboard Secretariat wins in 1:54 - fastest Preakness race ever (recognized 2012)
- May 19 Sentimental ballad "Daisy A Day" single by Jud Strunk hits #14
- May 20 2 motorcycle racers killed and a dozen injured in a crash during the 1973 Nations Grand Prix in Monza,Italy
Emmy Awards
May 20 25th Emmy Awards: The Waltons, All in the Family & Mary Tyler Moore win
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
May 20 Galt MacDermot and John Guare's musical adaptation of William Shakespeare's "The Two Gentlemen of Verona", starring Clifton Davis and Raul Julia, closes at St James Theater, NYC, after 614 performances and 2 Tony Award wins
- May 22 President Nixon confesses his role in Watergate cover-up
- May 24 George [Earl] Jellicoe resigns as British Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords
- May 25 26th Cannes Film Festival: "The Hireling" directed by Alan Bridges and "Scarecrow" directed by Jerry Schatzberg jointly awarded the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film
Give Me Love
May 25 George Harrison releases single "Give Me Love" in UK
- May 25 Peronist Hector Campora installed as President of Argentina
- May 25 US launches 1st Skylab crew Kerwin, Conrad, Weitz
- May 26 "Funky Worm" by Ohio Players hits #15
- May 26 "Super Fly Meets Shaft" by John & Ernest hits #31
- May 26 Bahrain adopts its constitution
- May 26 Beatles' "Beatles 1967-1970" album (the blue one) goes #1
- May 26 British composer Michael Tippett's 3rd Piano Sonata premieres
- May 27 American athlete Rick Wohlhuter runs world record 880 yards in 1:44.6
- May 28 Chicago White Sox beat Cleveland Indians, 6-3, in 21 innings (game started 5/26)
- May 28 Indianapolis 500: Gordon Johncock wins first of his two Indy triumphs after rain halts the race at lap 133
- May 29 Columbia Records fires president Clive Davis for misappropriating $100,000 in funds, Davis will start Arista records
- May 29 Thomas Bradley elected 1st African American mayor of Los Angeles, California
- May 30 17th European Cup: Ajax beats Juventus 1-0 at Belgrade
- May 30 George Harrison releases his fourth studio album "Living in the Material World" in the US
- May 31 Glenn Turner scores his 1,000th run of English cricket season
Authors
Dictators
Explorers
Outlaws
Queens
Spies