1971

The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10 and August 6).

The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history.

Events

January

January 1 – Fifth Street Women's Building Takeover: A coalition of over 100 feminists illegally occupy an abandoned city building in New York City. They establish a women's center, homeless shelter, food co-operative, and lesbian center before being raided by police 13 days later. January 2 – 1971 Ibrox disaster: During a crush, 66 people are killed and over 200 injured in Glasgow, Scotland. January 5 – The first ever One Day International cricket match is played between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. January 8 – Tupamaros kidnap Geoffrey Jackson, British ambassador to Uruguay, in Montevideo, keeping him captive until September. January 9 – Uruguayan president Jorge Pacheco Areco demands emergency powers for 90 days due to kidnappings, and receives them the next day. January 12 – The landmark United States television sitcom All in the Family, starring Carroll O'Connor as Archie Bunker, debuts on CBS. January 14 – Seventy Brazilian political prisoners are released in Santiago, Chile; Giovanni Enrico Bucher is released January 16. January 15 – The Aswan High Dam officially opens in Egypt. January 18 Strikes in Poland demand the resignation of Interior Minister Kazimierz Świtała. He resigns January 23 and is replaced by Franciszek Szlachcic. Ivan Koloff defeats Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship in wrestling ending a seven and two thirds years reign, the longest in the Championships history. A South Korean marine kills 6 people in a mass shooting in Kimpo, South Korea. January 19 – Representatives of 23 western oil companies begin negotiations with OPEC in Tehran to stabilize oil prices; February 14 they sign a treaty with 6 Arab states of the Persian Gulf. January 24 – The Guinean government sentences to death 92 Guineans who helped Portuguese troops in the failed landing attempts in November 1970; 72 are sentenced to hard labor for life; 58 of the sentenced are hanged the next day. January 25 In Uganda, Idi Amin deposes Milton Obote in a coup, and becomes president. In Los Angeles, Charles Manson and 3 female "Family" members are found guilty of the 1969 Tate–LaBianca murders. Himachal Pradesh becomes the 18th Indian state. Intelsat IV (F2) is launched; it enters commercial service over the Atlantic Ocean March 26. January 29 – The last of its many UFO sightings is made at Pudasjärvi, Finland. January 31 – Apollo program: Apollo 14 (carrying astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell) lifts off on the third successful lunar landing mission.

February

February 4 In Britain, Rolls-Royce goes bankrupt and is nationalised. The Nasdaq stock exchange is founded in New York City. February 5 – Apollo 14 lands on the Moon. February 6 – The 4.6 Mb Tuscania earthquake shakes the Italian province of Viterbo with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), causing 24 deaths, 150 injuries and extreme damage. February 7 Switzerland gives women voting rights in state elections, but not in all canton-specific ones. Władysław Gomułka is expelled from the Central Council of the Polish Communist Party. February 8 – A new stock market index called the Nasdaq Composite debuts in the United States. February 9 The 6.5–6.7 Sylmar earthquake hits the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing 64 and injuring 2,000. Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro league player to be elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third human Moon landing. February 10 – A total lunar eclipse is visible from Pacific, Americas, Europe and Africa, and is the 50th lunar eclipse of Lunar Saros 123. February 11 – The US, UK, USSR and others sign the Seabed Treaty, outlawing nuclear weapons on the ocean floor. February 11–12 – Palestinian and Jordanian fighters clash in Amman. February 13 – Vietnam War: Backed by American air and artillery support, South Vietnamese troops invade Laos. February 15 – Decimal Day: The United Kingdom and Ireland both switch to decimal currency (see also decimalisation). February 16 – In Italy, a local parliament elects the city of Catanzaro as the capital of Calabria; residents of Reggio di Calabria riot for 5 days because of the decision. February 20 – The U.S. Emergency Broadcast System sends an erroneous warning across the nation's radio and television stations, meant to be a standard weekly test conducted by NORAD in Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado. Some stations cease broadcasting until the message is rescinded, as required by federal rules, while most ignore it."One Man's Mistake Triggers U.S. Alert; Many Stations Go Off Air", Los Angeles Times, February 21, 1971, p1 February 21 The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna. Between February 21 and 22, an outbreak of nineteen tornadoes rages across the Mississippi Delta in Mississippi and Louisiana, killing 123 people. February 23 – Operation Lam Son 719: South Vietnamese General Do Cao Tri is killed in a helicopter crash en route to taking control of the faltering campaign. February 25 – A partial solar eclipse is visible from Europe, Africa and Asia, and is the 18th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 149. February 26 – Secretary General U Thant signs the United Nations proclamation of the March equinox (March 21) as Earth Day. February 27 – Doctors in the first Dutch abortion clinic (Mildredhuis in Arnhem) start to perform abortions. February 28 – Evel Knievel sets a world record and jumps 19 cars on a motorbike in Ontario, California.

March

March 1 A bomb explodes in the men's room at the United States Capitol; the Weather Underground claims responsibility. Pakistani president Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan indefinitely postpones the pending National Assembly session, precipitating massive civil disobedience in East Pakistan. Canadian John Robarts ends his term of office as the 17th Premier of Ontario. March 2 – All-Pakistan Awami League leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman launched the non-cooperation movement in East Pakistan. March 4 – The southern part of Quebec, and especially Montreal, receives " (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. In Belfast, a Led Zeppelin show includes the first public performance of "Stairway to Heaven," a song from the band's fourth album. March 6 – A fire in a mental hospital in Burghölzli, Switzerland kills 28 people. March 7 Die Sendung mit der Maus airs its first episode on Das Erste. The British postal workers' strike, led by UPW General Secretary Tom Jackson, ends after 47 days. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, political leader of East Pakistan (modern day-Bangladesh), delivers a public speech at the Racecourse Field in Dhaka calling for masses to be prepared to fight for national independence. March 8 The Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI breaks into the Media, Pennsylvania offices of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and removes all of its files. "Fight of the Century": Boxer Joe Frazier defeats Muhammad Ali in a 15-round unanimous decision at Madison Square Garden. March 10 – William McMahon replaces John Gorton as the Liberal/Country Coalition Prime Minister of Australia after Gorton resigns following a vote of confidence that was tied 33-all. March 11 – THX 1138, George Lucas' first full-length film, premieres in theaters. 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 in Chungar, Peru crashes into Yanawayin Lake, killing 200. March 23 – General Alejandro Lanusse of Argentina takes power in a military coup. March 25 – Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistani army starts Operation Searchlight in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) at midnight after President Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan, a military ruler, voids election results that gave the Awami League an overwhelming majority in the parliament; start of the 1971 Bangladesh genocide. That ended the non-cooperation movement. The North East Mall opens in Hurst, Texas March 26 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is arrested by the Pakistan army. East Pakistan's independence is declared by M. A. Hannan on the behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from Kalurghat Radio Station, Chittagong. Nihat Erim (a former CHP member) forms the new government of Turkey (33rd government, composed mostly of technocrats). March 27 – East Pakistan's independence is declared by army major (later president of Bangladesh) Ziaur Rahman from Kalurghat Radio Station. March 29 U.S. Army lieutenant William Calley is found guilty of 22 murders during the My Lai Massacre and is sentenced to life in prison (he is later pardoned). A Los Angeles jury recommends the death penalty for Charles Manson and female followers Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten. March 30 – Starbucks coffee shop is founded in the U.S. state of Washington.

April

April 1 – The United Kingdom lifts all restrictions on gold ownership. April 5 In Ceylon, a group calling themselves the People's Liberation Front begins a rebellion against the Bandaranaike government. Mount Etna erupts in Sicily. April 8 – A right-wing coup attempt is exposed in Laos. 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. Libya, Syria and Egypt sign an agreement to form a confederation."Accord on Union Reached By Egypt, Libya and Syria", by Raymond H. Anderson, The New York Times, April 18, 1971, p1 April 19 The government of Bangladesh flees to India. Sierra Leone becomes a republic. The Soviet Union launches Salyut 1."Soviet Sends Another Space Vehicle Into Orbit", The New York Times, April 19, 1971, p4 Charles Manson is sentenced to death in the United States; in 1972, the sentence for all California death-row inmates will be commuted to life imprisonment. 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. Cambodian prime minister Lon Nol resigns but remains effectively in power until the next elections."Lon Nol Resigns, Blaming Health", The New York Times, April 20, 1971, p1 National Public Radio (NPR) airs its first broadcast. April 21 – Siaka Stevens is sworn in as the first president of Sierra Leone. April 23 - The Rolling Stones release their ninth studio album Sticky Fingers. April 24 Soyuz 10 fails to dock with Salyut 1. An estimated 200,000 people in Washington, D.C., and a further 125,000 in San Francisco march in protest against the Vietnam War."200,000 Rally in Capital to End War", by James M. Naughton, The New York Times, April 25, 1971, p1 April 25 Todor Zhivkov is reelected as the leader of the Bulgarian Communist Party."Zhivkov Renamed as Head of Communists in Bulgaria", The New York Times, April 26, 1971, p2 Franz Jonas is reelected as president of Austria."President Jonas of Austria Is Re-Elected", The New York Times, April 26, 1971, p3 April 26 – The government of Turkey declares a state of siege in 11 provinces, including Ankara, in response to violent demonstrations."Turkey Imposes Martial Law in 11 Areas", The New York Times, April 27, 1971, p April 30 – The Milwaukee Bucks sweep the Baltimore Bullets in four games to win their first NBA championship.

May

May 1 Amtrak begins intercity rail passenger service in the United States.