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Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar.
[edit] Events of 1971
[edit] January
[edit] February
- March 1 - A bomb explodes in the men's room at the U.S. Capitol; the Weather Underground Organization claims responsibility.
- March 1 - Pakistani President Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan indefinitely postpones the pending National Assembly session, precipitating massive civil disobedience in East Pakistan.
- March 1 - Canadian John Robarts ends his term of office as the 17th Premier of Ontario.
- March 4 - The southern part of Québec, and especially Montreal, receive 42 cm of snow in what becomes known as the Century's Snowstorm (la tempête du siècle).
- March 5 - The Pakistani army occupies East Pakistan.
- March 6 - A fire in a mental hospital at Burghölzli, Switzerland, kills 28 people.
- March 7 - The British postal workers' strike, led by UPW General Secretary Tom Jackson, ends after 47 days.
- March 7 - Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, political leader of then East Pakistan, delivers his great speech in the Racecourse Field in Dhaka, calling on the masses to be prepared to fight for national independence.
- March 8 - Boxer Joe Frazier defeats Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden.
- March 12 - Hafez al-Assad becomes president of Syria.
- March 12–13 - The Allman Brothers Band plays their legendary concert at the Fillmore East.
- March 16 - Trygve Bratteli forms a government in Norway.
- March 18 - A landslide at Chungar, Peru crashes into Lake Yanahuani, killing 200.
- March 23 - General Alejandro Lanusse of Argentina takes power in a military coup.
- March 25 - The Pakistani army starts Operation Searchlight in East Pakistan from midnight, after President Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan, a military ruler, voids election results that gave the Awami League an overwhelming majority in the parliament.
- March 26 - East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) independence is declared by local Awami League leader Hannan Sarker on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, from Kalurghat Radio Station in Chittagong.
- March 27 - East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) independence is repeatedly declared by Army Major (later President of Bangladesh) Ziaur Rahman on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from Kalurghat Radio Station, Chittagong.
- March 28 - The Ed Sullivan Show airs its final episode.
- March 29 - U.S. Army Lieutenant William Calley is found guilty of 22 murders in the My Lai massacre and sentenced to life in prison (later pardoned).
- March 29 - A Los Angeles, California jury recommends the death penalty for Charles Manson and 3 female followers.
- April 1 - The United Kingdom lifts all restrictions on gold ownership.
- April 3 - Un banc, un arbre, une rue by Séverine (music by Jean-Pierre Bourtayre, text by Yves Dessca) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1971 for Monaco.
- April 5 - In Ceylon, a group calling themselves the People’s Liberation Front begins a rebellion against the Bandaranaike government.
- April 5 - Chile and East Germany establish diplomatic relations.
- April 5 - Mount Etna erupts in Sicily.
- April 7 - Greece releases 261 political prisoners, 50 of which are sent to internal exile.
- April 8 - A right-wing coup attempt is exposed in Laos.
- April 9 - Charles Manson is sentenced to death; in 1972, the sentence for all California Death Row inmates is commuted to life imprisonment.
- April 12 - Palestinians retreat from Amman to the north of Jordan.
- April 17 - The People's Republic of Bangladesh forms, under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, at Mujibnagor.
- April 17 - Libya, Syria and Egypt sign an agreement to form a confederation.
- April 19 - The government of Bangladesh flees to India.
- April 19 - Sierra Leone becomes a republic.
- April 19 - The Soviet Union launches Salyut 1.
- April 19 - Followers of Charles Manson, the Manson Family, are sentenced to the gas chamber.
- April 20 - Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education: The Supreme Court of the United States rules unanimously that busing of students may be ordered to achieve racial desegregation.
- April 20 - Cambodian Prime Minister Lon Nol resigns, but remains effectively in power until the next elections.
- April 21 - Siaka Stevens is elected the first president of Sierra Leone.
- April 21 - François Duvalier, president of Haiti, dies; his son Jean-Claude Duvalier follows him as president-for-life.
- April 24 - Soyuz 10 docks with Salyut 1.
- April 24 - Five hundred thousand people in Washington, DC and 125,000 in San Francisco march in protest against the Vietnam War.
- April 24 - A tsunami 85 m high rises over the Ryukyu Islands in Japan. It throws a 750-ton block of coral 2.5 km inland.
- April 25 - Todor Zhivkov is re-elected as the leader of the Bulgarian Communist Party.
- April 25 - Franz Jonas is re-elected as chancellor of Austria.
- April 26 - The government of Turkey declares a state of siege in 11 provinces, Ankara included, due to violent demonstrations.
- April 28 - The first number of Il Manifesto is issued in Italy.
- April 29 - Bolivia nationalizes the American-owned Matilde zinc mine.
- May 1 - Amtrak begins inter-city rail passenger service in the United States.
- May 1 - The Ceylonese government promises amnesty for those guerillas who surrender before April 5.
- May 2 - In Ceylon, left-wing guerillas launch a series of assaults against public buildings.
- May 3 - The Harris Poll claims that 60% of Americans are against the Vietnam War.
- May 3 - East German leader Walter Ulbricht resigns as Communist Party leader but retains the position of head of state.
- May 3 - Anti-war militants attempt to disrupt government business in Washington, D.C.; police and military units arrest as many as 12,000, most of whom are later released.
- May 5 - The US dollar floods the European currency markets and threatens especially the Deutsche Mark; the central banks of Austria, Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland stop the currency trading.
- May 6 - The Ceylon government begins a major offensive against the People's Liberation Front.
- May 9 - Mariner 8 fails to launch.
- May 12 - An earthquake in Turkey destroys most of the city of Burdur.
- May 15 - Efraim Elrom, Israeli ambassador to Turkey, is kidnapped; he is found killed in Istanbul May 25.
- May 16 - A coup attempt is exposed and foiled in Egypt.
- May 19 - Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union.
- May 22 - An earthquake lasting 20 seconds destroys most of Bingöl, Turkey - more than 1,000 are killed, 10,000 made homeless.
- May 23 - An air crash at Rijeka Airport, Yugoslavia kills 78 people, mostly British tourists.
- May 26 - Austria and the People's Republic of China establish diplomatic relations.
- May 26 - Qantas agrees to pay $500,000 to bomb hoaxer-extortionist Mr. Brown (Peter Macari), who is later arrested.
- May 27 - Six armed passengers hijack a Romanian passenger plane and force it to fly to Vienna.
- May 27 - Christie's auctions a diamond known as Deepdene; it is later found to be artificially colored.
- May 28 - Portugal resigns from UNESCO.
- May 30 - Mariner program: Mariner 9 is launched toward Mars.
- May 31 - The birth of Bangladesh is declared by the government in exile, in territory formerly part of Pakistan.
- Massachusetts passes its Chapter 766 laws enacting Special Education.
- June 1 - Vietnam War: Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace, claiming to represent the majority of U.S. veterans who served in Southeast Asia, speak against war protests.
- June 6 - Soyuz program: Soyuz 11 (Vladislav Volkov, Georgi Dobrovolski, Viktor Patsayev) is launched.
- June 6 - A midair collision between Hughes Airwest Flight 706 Douglas DC-9 jetliner and a U.S. Marine Corps McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom jet fighter near Duarte, California, claims 50 lives.
- June 10 - The U.S. ends its trade embargo of China.
- June 10 - Corpus Thursday: A student rally on the streets of Mexico City is roughly dispersed.
- June 13 - Vietnam War: The New York Times begins to publish the Pentagon Papers. [1].
- June 13 - Gijs van Lennep wins the 24 hours of Le Mans together with Helmut Marko.
- June 14 - Norway begins oil production in the North Sea.
- June 17 - Representatives of Japan and the United States sign the Okinawa Reversion Agreement, whereby the U.S. will return control of Okinawa.[2]
- June 18 - Southwest Airlines, the most successful low cost carrier in history, begins its first flights between Dallas, Houston, And San Antonio.
- June 20 - Britain announces that Soviet space scientist Anatoli Fedoseyev has been granted asylum.
- June 21 - Britain begins new negotiations for EEC membership in Luxembourg.
- June 25 - Madagascar accuses the U.S. of being connected to the plot to oust the current government; the U.S. recalls its ambassador.
- June 27 - Concert promoter Bill Graham closes the legendary Fillmore East, which first opened on 2nd Avenue (between 5th and 6th Streets) in New York City on March 8, 1968.
- June 28 - Assassin Jerome A. Johnson shoots Joe Colombo in the head in a middle of an Italian-American rally, putting him in a coma.
- June 30 - After a successful mission aboard Salyut 1, the world's first manned space station, the crew of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft are killed when their air supply leaks out through a faulty valve.
- June 30 - New York Times Co. v. United States: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Pentagon Papers may be published, rejecting government injunctions as unconstitutional prior restraint.
- July 3 - Jim Morrison, leader of The Doors is found dead in his bathtub in Paris, France.
- July 5 - Right to vote: The 26th Amendment to the United States Constitution, formally certified by President Richard Nixon, lowers the voting age from 21 to 18.
- July 6 - Hastings Banda is proclaimed President for Life of Malawi.
- July 9 - The United Kingdom increases its troops in Northern Ireland to 11,000.
- July 10–11 - Coup attempt in Morocco: 1,400 cadets take over the king's palace for 3 hours and kill 28 people; 158 rebels die when the king's troops storm the palace. Ten high-ranking officers are later executed for involvement.
- July 13 - Ólafur Jóhannesson forms a government in Iceland.
- July 13 - Jordanian army troops launch an offensive against Palestinian guerillas in Jordan.
- July 13 - The Yugoslavian government begins allowing foreign companies to take their profits from the country.
- July 14 - Libya severs its diplomatic ties with Morocco.
- July 16 - Spanish dictator and head of state Francisco Franco makes Prince Juan Carlos his successor.
- July 17 - Italy and Austria sign a treaty that ends the schism about Alto Adige/Südtirol.
- July 18 - The Trucial States are formed in the Persian Gulf.
- July 19 - The South Tower of the World Trade Center is topped out at 1,362 feet, making it the second tallest building in the world.
- July 19–23 - Major Hashem al-Atta ousts Jaafar Muhammad al-Nimeiri in a military coup in Sudan. Fighting continues until on July 22, when pro-Nimeiri troops win. Al-Atta and 3 officers are executed.
- July 25–30 - Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli records in Munich two Debussy works for Deutsche Grammophon; it's his fifth recording.
- July 26 - Apollo 15 (carrying astronauts David Scott, Alfred Worden, and James Irwin) is launched.
- July 28 - Abdel Madgoub, Sudanese communist leader, is hanged.
- July 29 - The United Kingdom opts out of the Space Race, with the cancellation of its Black Arrow launch vehicle.
- July 30 - In Japan, an All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 collides with a Japanese fighter jet; 162 people are killed.
- July 31 - Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin become the first to ride in a lunar rover, a day after landing on the Moon.
[edit] August
- August 1 - In New York City, 40,000 attend the Concert for Bangladesh.
- August 6 - A lunar eclipse lasting 1 hour, 40 minutes, and 4 seconds is observed.
- August 7 - Apollo 15 returns to Earth.
- August 9 - India signs a 20-year treaty of friendship and cooperation with the Soviet Union.
- August 9 - Internment in Northern Ireland: British security forces arrest hundreds of nationalists and detain them without trial in Long Kesh prison; 20 people die in the riots that follow.
- August 11 - Construction begins on the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.
- August 12 - Three thousand people from Belfast and Derry flee to Ireland because of the violence.
- August 12 - Syria severs diplomatic relations with Jordan because of border clashes.
- August 14 - British troops are stationed on the Ireland border to stop arms smuggling.
- August 14 - Bahrain declares independence as the State of Bahrain (Kingdom of Bahrain as of February 2002).
- August 15 - The number of British troops in Northern Ireland is raised to 12,500.
- August 15 - President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will no longer convert dollars to gold at a fixed value, effectively ending the Bretton Woods system. He also imposes a 90-day freeze on wages, prices and rents.
- August 18 - Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.
- August 18 - British troops are engaged in a firefight in Derry, Northern Ireland.
- August 19–22 – A right-wing coup ignites a rebellion in Bolivia. Miners and students join troops to support president Juan Jose Torres, but eventually Hugo Banzer takes over.
- August 21 - The first orca to be named "Shamu" dies.
- August 25 - Border clashes occur between Tanzania and Uganda.
- August 25 - Bangladesh and eastern Bengal are flooded; thousands flee the area.
- August 26 - A civilian government takes power in Greece.
- August 30 - The Alberta Progressive Conservatives under Peter Lougheed defeat the Social Credit government under Harry E. Strom in a general election, ending 36 years of uninterrupted power for Social Credit in Alberta.
[edit] September
- September 3 - Qatar gains independence from the United Kingdom. Unlike most nearby emirates, Qatar declines to become part of either the United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia.
- September 3 - Manlio Brosio resigns as NATO Secretary General.
- September 4 - A Boeing 727 (Alaska Airlines Flight 1866) crashes into the side of a mountain near Juneau, Alaska, killing all 111 people on board.
- September 8 - In Washington, DC, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is inaugurated, with the opening feature being the premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass.
- September 9 - September 13 - Attica Prison riots: - A revolt breaks out at the maximum-security prison in Attica, New York. In the end, state police and the United States National Guard storm the facility; 42 are killed, 10 of them hostages.
- September 21 - Pakistan declares a state of emergency.
- September 24 - Britain expels 90 KGB and GRU officials; 15 are not allowed to return.
- September 27 – October 11 - Japanese Emperor Hirohito travels abroad.
- September 28 - József Cardinal Mindszenty, who has taken refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Budapest since 1956, is allowed to leave Hungary.
- September 29 - A cyclone in the Bay of Bengal, in Orissa State in India, kills 10,000.
[edit] October
