1971
1971 is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar).
Events
- January 1 - British divorce Reform Act comes into force
- January 2 - 66 die in stairway crush at Rangers v Celtic football match, Glasgow, Scotland. See Ibrox disaster.
- January 2 - A ban on television cigarette advertisements goes into effect in the United States.
- January 3 - BBC Open University commences
- January 7 - Howard Hughes breaks his silence to announce that his supposed biography is a forgery.
- January 15 - Aswan Dam officially opened
- January 19 - No, No Nanette premieres (46th Street Theatre, New York City).
- January 25 - Charles Manson and three female "family members" are found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Sharon Tate and others
- January 25 - Idi Amin leads a coup deposing Milton Obote and becomes Uganda's president
- January 25 - Himachal Pradesh becomes the 18th Indian state
- January 31 - Apollo program: Astronauts aboard Apollo 14 lift off for a mission to the moon.
- February 2 - In Uganda after a coup, Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader.
- February 4 - In Britain, Rolls Royce goes bankrupt - state takes over
- February 5 - Apollo 14 lands on the Moon.
- February 7 - Tuscany, Italy, wrecked in an earthquake
- February 7 - Men of Switzerland vote for giving voting rights to women in state elections - but not in all canton-specific ones.
- February 8 - A new stock-market index called the Nasdaq debuts.
- February 9 - The 6.4 on the Richter Scale Sylmar earthquake hits the San Fernando Valley area of California.
- February 9 - Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro League player to become voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame
- February 9 - Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third manned moon landing.
- February 11 - US, UK, USSR, others sign Seabed Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons.
- February 13 - Vietnam War: Backed by American air and artillery support, South Vietnamese troops invade Laos.
- February 15 - "Decimalization Day" - United Kingdom and Ireland both switch to decimal currency. See also decimalization.
- March 1 - Bomb explodes in men's room in the White House - Weather Underground claims responsibility.
- March 10 - Twenty-sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution lowers voting age to 18.
- March 12 - Hafez al-Assad becomes president of Syria.
- March 18 - A landslide at Chungar, Peru crashes into Lake Yanahuani killing 200.
- March 25 - The Pakistani miltary moves to crush dissent in East Pakistan
- March 26 - East Pakistan declares its independence from Pakistan and the establishment of Bangladesh.
- March 29 - William Calley is found guilty of 22 murders in My Lai massacre and sentenced to life in prison. He is later pardoned.
- March 29 - A Los Angeles, California jury recommends the death penalty for Charles Manson and three female followers.
- April 5 - Mount Etna erupts.
- April 9 - Charles Manson is sentenced to death but the sentence is commuted to life imprisonment.
- April 17 - Libya, Syria and Egypt sign an agreement to form a confederation.
- April 19 - Soviet Union launches Saljut I.
- April 19 - Followers of Charles Manson, the Manson Family, are sentenced to gas chamber.
- April 20 - Supreme Court of the United States rules unanimously that busing of students may be ordered to achieve racial desegregation.
- April 24 - 500.000 demonstrate against Vietnam War in Washington DC.
- April 29 - The third anniversary of the Broadway musical Hair was celebrated with a concert at a Central Park bandshell.
- 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 3 - All Things Considered, National Public Radio's flagship news program, broadcasts for the first time.
- May 19 - Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union.
- May 30 - Mariner program: Mariner 9 is launched toward Mars.
- May 31 The birth of a new country, Bangladesh. It is out of territory formerly part of Pakistan.
- June - The Pentagon Papers are published.
- 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 launches.
- June 13 - Vietnam War: The New York Times begins to publish the Pentagon Papers. [1]
- June 14 - Norway begins oil production in North Sea.
- June 17 - Representatives of Japan and the United States sign the Okinawa Reversion Agreement, setting out a plan where the U.S. would return control of Okinawa.[2]
- June 28 - Black assassin shoots Joe Colombo to the head in a middle of a Italian-American rally. Colombo goes into coma.
- June 30 - The crew of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft are killed when their air supply leaks out through a faulty valve.
- July 5 - Right to vote: The voting age in the United States is reduced to 18 from 21 (provision of the 26th Amendment formally certified by President Richard Nixon on this day).
- July 9 - Britain sends 500 more soldiers to Northern Ireland.
- July 16 - Franco makes Prince Juan Carlos his successor.
- July 16 - The four billionth baby was born. (see World Population).
- July 26 - Apollo program: Launch of Apollo 15. On July 31 the Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover a day after landing on the surface.
- August 9 - India signs a twenty year treaty of friendship and cooperation with the Soviet Union.
- August 9 - British security forces in Northern Ireland detain hundreds of guerilla suspects and put them into Long Kesh - the beginning of an internment without trial policy. 20 die in riots that follow.
- August 14 - Emirate of Bahrain declares independence.
- August 15 - President Richard Nixon announced that the United States would no longer convert dollars to gold at a fixed value, effectively ending the Bretton Woods Gold Standard.
- August 18 - Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.
- August 26 - Civilian government in Greece.
- September 3 - Qatar regains independence from the United Kingdom.
- September 4 - A Boeing 727 carrying 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 - 43 dead, 10 of them hostages.
- September 24 - Britain expels 90 KGB and GRU officials and 15 are not allowed to return
- September 27 - October 11 - Emperor Hirohito travels abroad.
- September 28 - Cardinal Mindszenty, who has resided in US embassy in Budapest from 1956 is allowed to move out of Hungary.
- September 29 - Cyclone and tsunami in the Bay of Bengal in Orissa state in India kills 10.000.
- October 1 - Walt Disney World opens.
- October 25 - The United Nations General Assembly admits the People's Republic of China and expels the Republic of China (on Taiwan).
- October 27 - Democratic Republic of the Congo is renamed Zaire.
- October 28 - British House of Commons votes in favour of joining the EEC by 356-244.
- October 29 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - The total number of American troops still in Vietnam drops to a record low of 196,700 (the lowest level since January 1966).
- October 30 - Rev. Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party founded in Northern Ireland
- November 3 - The UNIX Programmer's Manual is published.
- November 6 - US nuclear bomb test in Aleuts.
- November 10 - In Cambodia, Khmer Rouge forces attack the city Phnom Penh and its airport, killing 44, wounding at least 30 and damaging nine airplanes.
- November 12 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - US President Richard M. Nixon sets February 1, 1972 as the deadline for the removal of another 45,000 American troops from Vietnam.
- November 13 - Mariner program: Mariner 9 enters Mars orbit.
- November 15 - Intel releases world's first microprocessor, the 4004.
- November 23 - The People's Republic of China is given the Republic of China's seat on the United Nations Security Council (see China and the United Nations).
- November 24 - During a severe thunderstorm over Washington, a man calling himself D.B. Cooper parachutes from the Northwest Orient Airlines plane he hijacked with US$200,000 in ransom money (he was never heard from again).
- December 1 - Cambodian Civil War: Khmer Rouge rebels intensify assaults on Cambodian government positions, forcing their retreat from Kompong Thmar and nearby Ba Ray, 10 kilometers northeast of Phnom Penh.
- December 2 - Six Sheikdoms in Persian Gulf founds United Arab Emirates.
- December 3 - The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 begins as Pakistan attacks eight India aribases. The next day India launches a massive invasion of East Pakistan.
- December 16 - Victory Day of Bangladesh: marks surrender of occupying Pakistan army after nine months of war.
- December 18 - US dollar devalued for the second time in US history.
- December 18 - World's largest hydroelectric plant in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, begins operations.
- December 29 - The United Kingdom gives up its military bases in Malta.
- Don't Make A Wave Committee changes its name to Greenpeace.
- Ray Tomlinson sends the first e-mail.
- Libertarian party established in USA.
- First Concorde test flights.
- Free City of Christiania is founded.
- Intelsat IV
Year in topic
- 1971 in film
- 1971 in literature
- 1971 in music
- John Lennon recorded Imagine
- 1971 in sports
- 1971 in television
- January 10 - Masterpiece Theatre debuts on PBS
- All in the Family premieres January 12 on TV
Births
- January 11 - Mary J. Blige, pop singer
- January 17 - Kid Rock, singer
- January 19 - Shawn Wayans, actor, writer, producer
- January 19 - John Wozniak, singer, songwriter of Marcy Playground
- February 3 - Sarah Kane, playwright
- February 15 - Renée O'Connor, actress, director
- February 17 - Denise Richards.
- February 25 - Sean Astin, actor
- February 26 - Erykah Badu, singer
- March 5 - John Frusciante, musician, former member of Red Hot Chili Peppers
- March 10 - Ugonna Wachuku, creative writer, author
- March 11 - Johnny Knoxville, ("Jackass"), television personality
- March 27 - David Coulthard, Formula One racing driver
- March 31 - Ewan McGregor, actor
- March 31 - Pavel Bure, hockey player
- April 1 - Method Man, musician
- April 3 - Picabo Street, Olympic gold-medalist skier
- April 17- Selena Quintanilla, famous Mexican-American tejano music singer (died 1995)
- May 17 - Máxima Zorreguieta, wife of Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands
- May 20 - Tony Stewart, auto racing driver
- May 25 - Sonya Smith, actress
- May 26 - Matt Stone, co-creator of South Park
- June 2 - Anthony Montgomery, actor (Star Trek: Enterprise)
- June 16 - Tupac Shakur, rapper, poet, actor (d. 1996)
- June 22 - Kurt Warner, two-time NFL MVP
- July 1 - Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, hip hop artist
- July 9 - Marc Andreessen, software developer - co-author of Mosaic and cofounder of Netscape
- July 12 - Kristi Yamaguchi, figure skater
- July 17 - Cory Doctorow, author, activist
- July 22 - Kristine Lilly, American soccer star; all-time leader in international matches played (men or women)
- August 4 - Jeff Gordon, NASCAR racing driver
- August 6 - Merrin Dungey, actress
- August 12 - Pete Sampras, tennis player
- August 26 - Thalía, Mexican actress
- September 1 - Hakan Sükür, Turkish football star
- September 8 - Brooke Burke, model
- September 18 - Lance Armstrong, cyclist, five-time Tour de France winner
- September 11 - Richard Ashcroft, singer
- September 20 - Henrik Larsson, Swedish football star
- October 25 - Pedro Martínez, baseball pitcher, three-time Cy Young Award winner
- October 29 - Winona Ryder, actress
- November 24 - Keith Primeau, Canadian NHL star
- November 25 - Christina Applegate, actress
- November 25 - Magnus Arvedson, hockey player
- November 30 - Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez, baseball player
- December 24 - Ricky Martin, singer
- December 25 - Dido, singer
- December 28 - Frank Sepe, bodybuilder and male model
- December 31 - Brent Barry, NBA basketball player
Deaths
- January 5 - Douglas Shearer, pioneer motion-picture sound engineer
- January 6 - Sonny Liston (date he was found dead)
- January 9 - Elmer Flick, baseball player (b. 1876)
- January 10 - Gabrielle Chanel, aka Coco Chanel, fashion designer
- January 11 - Jose Arigo,"psychic surgeon"
- January 19 - Harry Shields, jazz musician (b. 1899)
- January 20 - Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, actor, director, writer, producer
- January 28 - Donald Winnicott, British psychoanalyst
- February 11 - Whitney Young Jr, National Urban League director.
- February 26 - Fernandel, French comedian
- March 8 - Harold Lloyd, silent screen comedian
- March 11 - Philo T. Farnsworth, television pioneer
- March 16 - Thomas Dewey, candidate for President of the United States in 1944 and 1948
- April 6 - Igor Stravinsky, composer
- April 19 - Earl Thomson, Canadian athlete
- April 21 - Papa Doc Duvalier, despotic President of Haiti.
- May 11 - Sean Lemass, former Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland
- May 12 - Heinie Manush, Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1901)
- May 15 - Sir Tyrone Guthrie, director, producer, writer
- May 19 - Ogden Nash, poet
- May 28 - Audie Murphy, World War II hero, actor
- June 30 - Viktor Patsayev, Georgi Dobrovolsky, and Vladislav Volkov, Soyuz 11 cosmonauts
- July 3 - Jim Morrison, American singer, songwriter and poet.
- July 4 - August Derleth, American author and anthologist.
- July 6 - Louis Armstrong, jazz musician
- July 7 - Claude Gauvreau, Quebec playwright, poet and polemist
- July 7 - Ub Iwerks, American animator
- July 19 - John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever, British businessman
- August 25 - Ted Lewis, jazz musician, entertainer (b. 1890)
- September 11 - Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, Soviet politician and leader. He was buried without official honors.
- September 12 - Lin Biao, China's defense minister. Air crash in suspicious circumstances
- September 19/ 20- William F. Albright, American archeologist and Biblical scholar.
- October 24 - Carl Ruggles, composer
- November 15 - Edie Sedgwick actor and model.
- December 20 - Roy Oliver Disney, older brother and business partner of Walt Disney.