Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar.
Events of 1971
January
February
March
April
May
- May 1
- 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.
- East German leader Walter Ulbricht resigns as Communist Party leader but retains the position of head of state.
- 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.
June
July
July 22, when pro-Nimeiri troops win. Al-Atta and 3 officers are executed
August
September
- September 3
- 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.
October
November
- November 3 - The UNIX Programmer's Manual is published.
- November 6 - The U.S. tests a nuclear bomb on Amchitka Island in Alaska.
- November 10 - In Cambodia, Khmer Rouge forces attack Phnom Penh and its airport, killing 44, wounding at least 30 and damaging 9 airplanes.
- November 12 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - U.S. 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 becomes the first spacecraft to enter Mars orbit successfully.
- November 15 - Intel releases the world's first microprocessor, the Intel 4004.
- November 20 - A bridge still in construction, called Elevado Engenheiro Freyssinet, fell over the Paulo de Frontin Avenue, at Rio de Janeiro city (Brazil). 48 people died and several injured. Reconstructed, the bridge is currently a part of the Linha Vermelha elevate.
- November 23 - The People's Republic of China takes 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, and was never seen again. As of March 2008, this case remains the only unsolved skyjacking in history.
- November 24 - A Brussels court sentences pretender Alexis Brimeyer to 18 months in jail for falsely using a noble title; Brimeyer has already fled to Greece.
December
Undated
Ongoing
Births
January
- January 1
- Sammie Henson, American World Champion wrestler, Olympic silver medalist
- January 2
- January 3 - Cory Cross, Canadian ice hockey player
- January 5 - Mayuko Takata, Japanese actress
- January 7 - Chavo Guerrero, Jr., American pro wrestler
- January 8 - Jason Giambi, baseball player
- January 9 - Scott Thornton, Canadian hockey player
- January 11 - Mary J. Blige, American singer
- January 17
- January 18 - Jonathan Davis, American singer (Korn)
- January 19
- January 20 - Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, American musician, composer, producer, photographer, and author
- January 21 - Alan McManus, Scottish snooker player
- January 25 - Luca Badoer, Italian race car driver
- January 27
- January 31 - Patrick Kielty, Northern Irish comedian and television presenter
February
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