1971
From dKosopedia
Contents |
Events
- People's Republic of China joins the United Nations. China's population is 852.29 million.
- Marcel Ophuls releases his famous 4 hour documentary of the Occupation, Le Chagrin et al Pitie or "The Sorrow and the Pity."
- Dee Brown publishes Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.
- Republican Pres. Richard M. Nixon makes Elvis Presley a Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) Federal Agent-at-Large. Presley is addicted to barbituates and other prescription drugs.
- The 1971 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Priduction, and Stickpiling of Bacteriological and Toxin Weapons and their Destruction and the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances are negotiated by the United Nations.
- Keith Stroup establishes the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws or NORML.
- The 1971 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Priduction, and Stickpiling of Bacteriological and Toxin Weapons and their Destruction is opened for signature.
- William Casey is appointed Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, serves until 1973. He will later support Nicaraguan Contra terrorism as Ronald Reagan's CIA Director.
Timeline
January
- January 25: Dictator Idi Amin seizes power in Uganda.
- January 31-February 2: Winter Soldier Investigation at Howard Johnson;s Motor Lodge in Detriot, MI.
February
- February 8: Lam Son 719 - South Vietnamese (ARVN) invasion of Laos crumbles and routed ARVN troops have to rescued by U.S. troops.
- February 12: Darwin Day
- February 28: Weather Underground bombs U.S. Capitol. Pres. Richard Nixon, who knows something about bombing and attacking democratic institutions, calls it "the most dastardly act in U.S. history."
March
- March: In a poll by the Allensbach Institute, 10% of Germans in the 16-29 year old age group siad they would give shelter to mmebers of the Baader-Meinhof Group if they were asked. Poll published in July 1971.
- March 3: The 26th Amendment is passed by Congress.
- March 25: Pakistani Army launches genocidal Operation Searchlight in East Pakistan.
- March 26: Sheikh Mujib calls upon the people of East Bengal (the future Bangladesh) to resist the Pakistani Army occupation. Bangaldeshi war of independence begins.
April
- April 7: Right-wing miltiary junta in Greece, supported by the U.S. government, releases 261 political prisoners, 50 of whom are sent to internal exile.
- April 8-April 23: Operation Dewey Canyon III anti-war demonstration by Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) in Washington, DC.
- April 19: Soviet Union launches Salyut I (meaning "Salute 1") , the first space station, into orbit.
- April 22: John Kerry testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on behalf of Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
- April 24: National Peace Action Coalition organizes anti-war demonstration in Washington, DC.
May
- May 15: Armed Forces Day becomes Armed Farces Day with anti-war demonstrations at 19 military bases across the country.
- May 20: Two MiGs shoot down a B-%2 over Khe sank-Lao Bao (west of Quang Tri).
- May 31: 300 Air Force personnel representing disaffected USAF personnel stationed in Britain present anti-war petition to the U.S. Embassy in London.
June
- June 13: The New York Times publishes the Pentagon Papers.
- June 16: Future French Presidnet Francois Nitterand is elected leader of the French Socialist Party, goes on to rebuild party membership and electoral fortunes.
- June 29: Cosmonauts Georgi Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev die in space accident aboard Soyuz 11.
- June 30: The 26th Amendment is added to the Constitution.
- Jean Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier becomes new dictator of U.S. ally Haiti after the death of his father Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier. In a Face the Nation interview U.S. Ambasador to Haiti Knox proudly announces that the dreaded Tonton Macoutes had been disbanded and in their place a new organization called the Volunteers for National Security.
July
- Life magazine covers the Winter Soldier investigations.
August
- August 1: Concert for Bangladesh.
- August 13: IRS raids apartmment of Silver Spring, Maryland gun collector/gun dealer Kenyon Ballew on a tip that he has ilegal hand grenades. In the gun battle the agents take out Ballew, leaving him unable to walk or talk due to bullet fragments left in his brain. The sgents find 3 illegal grenades. Did his guns make him safe? Why would anyobe but a terrorist want hand grenades?
- August 18: Last Australian and Neww Zealand troops withdrawn from South Vietnam.
- August 21: Black Panther Party Field Marshall George Jackson is killed bu guards in prison breal at San Quintin prison.
- August 30: Hours after the funeral of Black Panther Party Field Marshall George Jackson, the Weather Underground sets off bombs at the California Department of Corrections in San Francisco and Sacramento.
December
- December 3: Pakistan attacks India from the west in an effort to forestall liberation of East Pakistan.
- December 14: Indian Army surrounds Dhaka.
- December 26: Operation Peace on Earth protest by Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) occupies the Statue of Liberty.