the flight, Nixon sat in the first class section of the DC-10 and then surprised passengers by walking down down the aisle to the back of the aircraft to shake hands. Long Boret took office as the sixth, and last, Prime Minister of Khmer Republic in Cambodia, after accepting an appointment by President Lon Nol to form a government to succeed In Tam. He tried, unsuccessfully, to negotiate peace with the Khmer Rouge invaders during the Cambodian Civil War, and elected to stay in Phnom Penh while other officials were able to escape before the Communist takeover of the Asian nation. He would be arrested and executed on April 17, 1975. The eight-day spaceflight of Soyuz 13 ended with cosmonauts Pyotr Klimuk and Valentin Lebedev landing early, apparently because of a malfunction in the capsule's equipment. The ship landed in a heavy snowstorm near Karaganda in the Kazakh SSR. The controversial horror film The Exorcist, directed by William Friedkin and starring Ellen Burstyn and Linda Blair, premiered in the United States. Died: Harold B. Lee, 74, U.S. religious leader, 11th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Lee was succeeded by Spencer W. Kimball on December 31. December 27, 1973 (Thursday) William E. Simon, the director of the U.S. Federal Energy Office, outlined a gasoline rationing program that he emphasized was not being implemented but that would be "on standby" and that would not be implemented earlier than March 1, 1974, subject to approval by Congress. Under the rationing plan, each licensed driver 18 years old or over would be issued a coupon to purchase 35 gallons per month of gasoline, with the right to purchase extra coupons at a higher price or from other drivers. The island of Basilan was made one of the provinces of the Philippines by Presidential Decree No. 356 of Ferdinand Marcos, effective March 7, 1974. Died: Thomas Niedermayer, 45, West German industrialist and West Germany's honorary consul to Northern Ireland, was kidnapped from his home in West Belfast by two members of the IRA. His body would not be located until 1980. John Bradley would plead guilty to manslaughter in 1981. Lucy Partington, 21, British student and cousin of novelist Martin Amis, was abducted and murdered by serial killers Fred and Rosemary West. Her fate would not be confirmed until the discovery of her remains more than 20 years later, in