1971

Events in 1971 82

• 1882 – 1971 Igor Stravinsky Modernist ballet composer Russian-born composer whose ballets The Firebird, Petrushka and The Rite of Spring — which caused a riot at its premiere — transformed 20th-century music.
• 1883 – 1971 Coco Chanel (1883-1971) Died 10 January 1971, aged 87 Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel, the founder of the Chanel fashion house, died at the Hotel Ritz in Paris where she had lived for decades. She revolutionized women's fashion with simple, comfortable designs and created enduring products including Chanel No. 5 perfume and the tweed suit. She remained active in her business until shortly before her death.
• 1886 – 1971 Spring Byington (1886-1971) American actress, Marmee in Little Women and star of December Bride.
• 1893 – 1971 Dean Acheson (1893-1971) Died 12 October 1971, aged 78 Dean Acheson served as US Secretary of State under President Harry Truman, helping to design the Marshall Plan, NATO, and the broader containment strategy of the early Cold War. He remained an influential foreign policy advisor to later presidents. His memoir Present at the Creation won the Pulitzer Prize.
• 1893 – 1971 Harold Lloyd (1893-1971) Died 8 March 1971, aged 77 Harold Lloyd was one of the most popular and prolific stars of silent-era comedy, known for death-defying physical stunts such as hanging from a clock face in Safety Last!. He rivaled Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton in box-office popularity during the 1920s. He later became a philanthropist and photography enthusiast.
• 1894 – 1971 Nikita Khrushchev De-Stalinisation and the Cuban Missile Crisis Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (April 15, 1894 – September 11, 1971) led the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964. He denounced Stalin's cult of personality, launched Sputnik, and navigated the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was removed in a coup by Politburo colleagues in 1964.
• 1895 – 1971 Bill Wilson (1895-1971) Died 24 January 1971, aged 75 Bill Wilson co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous in 1935 and wrote much of its foundational literature, including the organization's Twelve Steps. His approach to peer-support recovery influenced addiction treatment worldwide. AA grew during his lifetime into a global fellowship with millions of members.
• 1901 – 1971 Bebe Daniels (1901-1971) American actress, Harold Lloyd's first leading lady, who later became a radio star in Britain.
• 1901 – 1971 Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (4 August 1901 -- 6 July 1971) was an American jazz trumpeter, vocalist and bandleader who is widely considered the most important individual in the history of jazz. Born into poverty in New Orleans, Armstrong transformed the trumpet from a section instrument into a solo voice, invented the jazz cadenza, established the primacy of the improvising soloist, and popularised scat singing. His recordings of the 1920s with the Hot Five and Hot Seven are the foundation documents of jazz. He subsequently became the most beloved entertainer in America -- a global ambassador for jazz and for a particular vision of American optimism that transcended the racism he navigated throughout his life.
• 1902 – 1971 Bobby Jones (1902-1971) Died 18 December 1971, aged 69 Bobby Jones was an American amateur golfer who won 13 major championships and completed the sport's only Grand Slam in 1930 before retiring from competition. He co-founded the Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament. He remained an influential figure in golf despite a debilitating spinal disease in his later years.
• 1904 – 1971 Ralph Bunche (1904-1971) Died 9 December 1971, aged 67 Ralph Bunche was an American diplomat and political scientist who won the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and its Arab neighbors. He was the first person of color to win a Nobel Prize. He held senior roles at the United Nations for over two decades.
• 1908 – 1971 Van Heflin (1908-1971) American actor, Oscar winner for Johnny Eager and the homesteader in Shane.
• 1921 – 1971 Whitney Young (1921-1971) Died 11 March 1971, aged 49 Whitney Young led the National Urban League and was a key strategist of the American civil rights movement, working to open corporate and government employment to Black Americans. He helped plan the 1963 March on Washington. He died of a heart attack while swimming in Lagos, Nigeria.
• 1923 – 1971 Diane Arbus (1923-1971) Died 26 July 1971, aged 48 Diane Arbus was an American photographer known for stark portraits of marginalized and unconventional subjects, including circus performers, transgender people, and psychiatric patients. Her work challenged conventions of beauty and normalcy in documentary photography. She died by suicide in New York City.
• 1925 – 1971 Audie Murphy (1925-1971) Died 28 May 1971, aged 45 Audie Murphy was the most decorated American combat soldier of World War II, earning every military combat award for valor available from the US Army. He later became a Hollywood actor, starring in numerous westerns and playing himself in the film adaptation of his memoir To Hell and Back. He died in a small plane crash in Virginia.
• 1928 – 1971 Georgy Dobrovolsky (1928-1971) Died 30 June 1971, aged 43 Georgy Dobrovolsky commanded the Soyuz 11 mission and served as commander of the Salyut 1 space station crew. He died along with his crewmates during reentry when their capsule depressurized. He remains one of only three humans known to have died in space.
• 1933 – 1971 Viktor Patsayev (1933-1971) Died 30 June 1971, aged 38 Viktor Patsayev served as test engineer on Soyuz 11 and became the first person to work aboard a space station, Salyut 1. He died during reentry alongside his crewmates when their capsule lost cabin pressure. He was posthumously honored as a Hero of the Soviet Union.
• 1935 – 1971 Vladislav Volkov (1935-1971) Died 30 June 1971, aged 35 Vladislav Volkov was a Soviet flight engineer who flew on the Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 11 missions. He died with his crewmates aboard Soyuz 11 when a cabin valve failure depressurized the capsule during reentry. His death, alongside those of his crew, remains among the only fatal accidents to occur in space rather than during launch or landing.
• 1943 – 1971 Jim Morrison American singer, songwriter & poet James Douglas "Jim" Morrison (1943-1971) was the lead singer and lyricist of The Doors, celebrated for his baritone voice, poetic lyrics and theatrical, unpredictable stage presence. Known as "The Lizard King", he became one of the defining and most controversial icons of 1960s counterculture before his death in Paris at the age of 27.
• 1946 – 1971 Duane Allman (1946-1971) Died 29 October 1971, aged 24 Duane Allman was a guitarist and founder of the Allman Brothers Band, celebrated for his slide guitar work and session contributions to recordings including Derek and the Dominos' Layla. He died in a motorcycle accident in Macon, Georgia, shortly after the band's breakthrough live album. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential rock guitarists of his era.
• 1970 – 1971 1971 World Snooker Championship John Spencer Title 2 Held in Australia across several months. Winner: John Spencer; Runner-up: Warren Simpson. Score: 37–29.
• 1971 First Network Email Sent Ray Tomlinson sends the first message between separate computers Engineer Ray Tomlinson sent the first email transmitted between two separate computers on the ARPANET, the precursor to the internet. He chose the @ symbol to separate the user name from the host machine, a convention still used in email addresses today. The experiment laid groundwork for electronic messaging as a mass communication tool.
• 1971 Fischer's dominant Candidates run 20 consecutive wins On his way to the 1972 title match, Fischer achieved one of chess history's greatest streaks: 20 consecutive wins including 6-0 against Taimanov and 6-0 against Larsen in the Candidates matches.
• 1971 – 2002 Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes (1971-2002) Died 25 April 2002, aged 30 Lisa Lopes was the rapper of TLC, the American trio whose albums CrazySexyCool and FanMail made them one of the best-selling girl groups ever, with hits including 'Waterfalls' and 'No Scrubs'. Known for a playful style and turbulent headlines, she wrote and performed the group's rap verses. She died in a car crash while on a retreat in Honduras.
• 1971 – 1973 Marvin, Welch & Farrar Vocal trio with John Farrar Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch formed the vocal trio Marvin, Welch & Farrar with Australian musician John Farrar — a departure from the instrumental Shadows sound toward close vocal harmonies.
• 1971 Microprocessor Intel 4004 Intel released the 4004 in 1971 — the world's first commercial microprocessor, placing a complete CPU on a single chip and launching the digital age.
• 1971 – present Davos - World Economic Forum Global Summit The annual gathering of world political and business leaders in the Swiss Alps.
• 1971 Janis Joplin's Pearl released Posthumous number one Number one for nine weeks, with Me and Bobby McGee.
• 1971 Idi Amin Seizes Power in Uganda Military coup ousts President Milton Obote Army commander Idi Amin overthrew President Milton Obote while Obote was abroad at a Commonwealth summit, installing himself as Uganda's president. Amin's eight-year rule became notorious for mass killings and economic collapse. The coup was initially welcomed by some Ugandans hoping for relief from Obote's policies.
• 1971 Apollo 14 Moon Landing Third crewed Moon landing Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell landed in the Fra Mauro highlands while Stuart Roosa orbited in the command module. Shepard became the fifth person to walk on the Moon and hit two golf balls on the lunar surface. The mission restored public confidence in NASA after the Apollo 13 failure.
• 1971 Introduction of Women's Suffrage Late Democracy Switzerland was one of the last Western countries to grant women the right to vote at the federal level.
• 1971 Carole King releases Tapestry Best-selling album Number one for 15 weeks, one of the best-selling albums ever.
• 1971 Weather Underground Bombs US Capitol Radical group attacks the Capitol building in protest of the Vietnam War The Weather Underground detonated a bomb in a restroom on the Senate side of the US Capitol, causing damage but no injuries, in protest of the US invasion of Laos. The group claimed responsibility in a call warning of the attack beforehand. It was one of several bombings the radical left-wing organization carried out in the early 1970s.
• 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War Pakistan's civil war ends in Bangladeshi independence Following a Pakistani military crackdown on Bengali nationalists, the Mukti Bahini waged a nine-month war for independence. India intervened militarily in December, and Pakistani forces surrendered in Dhaka on 16 December 1971. The war created the new nation of Bangladesh and one of the largest refugee crises of the century.
• 1971 – present David Coulthard DC Thirteen-time race winner who drove for Williams, McLaren, and Red Bull.
• 1971 Charles Manson Sentenced to Death Cult leader condemned for the Tate-LaBianca murders Charles Manson and three followers were sentenced to death for orchestrating the 1969 murders of Sharon Tate and six others in Los Angeles. California's abolition of the death penalty the following year commuted the sentences to life imprisonment. The trial and murders became emblematic of the end of 1960s countercultural optimism.
• 1971 Lieutenant Calley Convicted of My Lai Massacre US officer found guilty of murdering Vietnamese civilians A military court-martial convicted Lieutenant William Calley of premeditated murder for his role in the 1968 My Lai massacre, in which US soldiers killed hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese villagers. He was sentenced to life in prison, later reduced, and served only a few years under house arrest. The case became a symbol of the atrocities and moral costs of the Vietnam War.
• 1971 Starbucks Founded Coffee retailer opens its first store in Seattle Starbucks opened its first store in Seattle's Pike Place Market, selling whole-bean coffee, tea and spices. Founded by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker, the company later grew under Howard Schultz into the world's largest coffeehouse chain. It became a defining symbol of American coffee culture.
• 1971 – present Jacques Villeneuve The Outspoken Champion 1997 World Champion who beat Michael Schumacher in a dramatic title decider.
• 1971 – 1995 Selena (1971-1995) Died 31 March 1995, aged 23 Selena Quintanilla-Perez, known simply as Selena, was a Tejano singer whose crossover success made her one of the most popular Latin artists in the United States. She was shot and killed by Yolanda Saldivar, the former manager of her fan club and boutiques. Her death prompted an outpouring of grief and inspired a hit biographical film.
• 1971 Salyut 1 Launched World's first space station reaches orbit The Soviet Union launched Salyut 1, the first space station ever placed into orbit, opening a new phase of long-duration human spaceflight. Its only crew, the Soyuz 11 cosmonauts, spent 23 days aboard before dying during their return to Earth. The station later reentered the atmosphere in October 1971.
• 1971 The Doors release L.A. Woman Riders on the Storm Their last album with Morrison.
• 1971 Sticky Fingers Ninth album — April 23, 1971 Sticky Fingers, released on April 23, 1971, was the first album on their own Rolling Stones Records label. The Andy Warhol-designed cover with a real zip became iconic. The album reached number 1 on both sides of the Atlantic.
• 1971 Amtrak Begins Operations National passenger railroad corporation takes over US intercity rail Amtrak, formally the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, began operating intercity passenger trains after Congress created it to relieve private railroads of unprofitable passenger service. It consolidated most remaining US passenger rail routes under a single federally subsidized operator. The company remains the primary provider of intercity passenger rail in the United States.
• 1971 Queen Máxima born Queen consort of the Netherlands Máxima Zorreguieta was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and later became Queen of the Netherlands.
• 1971 – present Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Nigerian novelist Adichie writes novels and essays about identity, feminism, and postcolonial experience.
• 1971 Marvin Gaye releases What's Going On Protest soul A song cycle on war, poverty and the environment that Berry Gordy didn't want to release.
• 1971 Pentagon Papers Published Leaked Vietnam War documents expose government deception The New York Times began publishing a classified Department of Defense history of US involvement in Vietnam, leaked by analyst Daniel Ellsberg. The papers revealed that successive administrations had misled the public about the war's scope and chances of success. The Nixon administration's attempt to block publication was rejected by the Supreme Court.
• 1971 – 1996 Tupac Shakur (1971-1996) Died 13 September 1996, aged 25 Tupac Shakur was an American rapper and actor whose albums, including "All Eyez on Me," made him one of the best-selling and most influential musicians in hip-hop history. He was shot in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996, and died of his injuries six days later. His unsolved murder remains one of the most notorious cases in American music history.
• 1971 Federal Express Founded Fred Smith incorporates an overnight air-cargo company Fred Smith incorporated Federal Express in Little Rock, Arkansas, based on a business plan he had written as a Yale undergraduate. The company pioneered the hub-and-spoke model for overnight package delivery when operations began in 1973. It grew into FedEx, one of the world's largest logistics companies.
• 1971 Joni Mitchell releases Blue Confessional masterpiece A raw, personal album often voted among the greatest ever.
• 1971 – present Elon Musk Tesla, SpaceX founder Elon Musk co-founded PayPal, founded SpaceX and Tesla, revolutionising electric vehicles and private space travel.
• 1971 Soyuz 11 Disaster Cabin depressurization kills returning cosmonaut crew The three-man crew of Soyuz 11 died when a valve failure depressurized their capsule during reentry after 23 days aboard the Salyut 1 space station. Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev remain the only humans known to have died in space. The disaster grounded Soviet crewed spaceflight for more than two years.
• 1971 James Taylor tops the charts with You've Got a Friend Carole King song His only number one single.
• 1971 26th Amendment Ratified US voting age lowered to eighteen The amendment barred states from setting a minimum voting age above eighteen, extending the franchise to millions of young Americans. It was ratified faster than any other US constitutional amendment, driven partly by the argument that soldiers old enough to be drafted for Vietnam should be old enough to vote. President Nixon signed the certification on 5 July 1971.
• 1971 Shaft Released Blaxploitation classic reshapes Black representation in film Gordon Parks's crime thriller Shaft, starring Richard Roundtree as a private detective, became a landmark of the blaxploitation genre and a major box-office success. Isaac Hayes's Academy Award-winning score helped define the film's cultural impact. It opened doors for a wave of Black-led studio productions in the 1970s.
• 1971 The Doors' Jim Morrison dies in Paris Aged 27 Found dead in his bathtub, buried at Pere Lachaise.
• 1971 The Allman Brothers Band release At Fillmore East Live breakthrough Recorded in March, often called the best live rock album ever.
• 1971 Apollo 15 Mission First mission with a Lunar Roving Vehicle David Scott and James Irwin drove the first Lunar Roving Vehicle across the Hadley-Apennine region of the Moon while Alfred Worden orbited overhead. The mission collected the largest sample of lunar material returned to that point. It was the first of NASA's extended-duration J missions.
• 1971 George Harrison organises the Concert for Bangladesh Madison Square Garden The first major charity rock concert.
• 1971 Ravi Shankar co-creates the Concert for Bangladesh With George Harrison His idea for a benefit for refugees.
• 1971 The Concert for Bangladesh Benefit concerts raise relief funds for Bangladeshi refugees George Harrison organized two benefit concerts at Madison Square Garden, featuring Ravi Shankar, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Ringo Starr, to raise money and awareness for refugees of the Bangladesh Liberation War. It is widely regarded as the first large-scale benefit concert of its kind. The accompanying live album and film raised millions for humanitarian relief.
• 1971 Internment Introduced in Northern Ireland Operation Demetrius detains suspects without trial British and Northern Irish security forces launched Operation Demetrius, arresting and interning hundreds of suspected republican paramilitaries without trial. The operation, which overwhelmingly targeted the Catholic nationalist community, inflamed sectarian tensions and fueled recruitment for the IRA. It marked a significant escalation of the Troubles.
• 1971 – present Pete Sampras Pistol Pete Held the men's record of 14 Grand Slams for years; famous for his dominant serve-and-volley.
• 1971 The Who release Who's Next Baba O'Riley and Won't Get Fooled Again Rescued from the abandoned Lifehouse project, with pioneering synthesizers.
• 1971 Nixon Shock Ends Gold Convertibility United States suspends the dollar's convertibility to gold President Richard Nixon unilaterally ended the convertibility of the US dollar into gold, effectively terminating the Bretton Woods international monetary system. The move, paired with a 90-day wage and price freeze, was intended to combat inflation and a worsening balance of payments. It ushered in the era of floating exchange rates that continues today.
• 1971 – present Eagles American rock band Los Angeles band of Glenn Frey, Don Henley and others — Take It Easy, Desperado, Hotel California, and the best-selling album in US history.
• 1971 – 2018 Dolores O'Riordan (1971-2018) Died 15 January 2018, aged 46 Irish singer and lead vocalist of the rock band The Cranberries, known for hits including "Zombie" and "Linger". She died suddenly in London during a recording trip. The band released a final album completed with her vocals later in 2019.
• 1971 Attica Prison Riot Inmate uprising ends in deadly police retaking Prisoners at Attica Correctional Facility in New York seized control of the prison and took hostages to protest inhumane conditions. After four days of failed negotiations, state police stormed the facility, killing 29 inmates and 10 hostages. It remains one of the deadliest prison uprisings in US history.
• 1971 John Lennon releases Imagine Title song Imagine becomes his signature song.
• 1971 Greenpeace Founded Environmental activist group launched in Vancouver A group of Canadian and American activists sailed a chartered boat toward Amchitka Island, Alaska, to protest US nuclear testing, an action that led to the founding of Greenpeace. The organization grew into one of the world's most prominent environmental campaigning groups. Its early direct-action tactics became a template for later environmental activism.
• 1971 Walt Disney World Opens Disney's Florida resort welcomes its first guests The Magic Kingdom theme park opened near Orlando, Florida, becoming the centerpiece of what would grow into the world's most visited vacation resort. It was built on land quietly assembled by Walt Disney before his 1966 death. The resort transformed central Florida's economy and tourism industry.
• 1971 Jesus Christ Superstar Opens on Broadway Rock opera musical debuts in New York Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar opened on Broadway after first succeeding as a concept album. The production drew both large audiences and criticism from religious groups over its depiction of Jesus's final days. It helped establish the rock musical as a viable Broadway genre.
• 1971 UN Seats People's Republic of China General Assembly transfers China's seat from Taipei to Beijing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 recognized the People's Republic of China as the sole legitimate representative of China at the United Nations, expelling the Republic of China (Taiwan). The vote reflected shifting Cold War alignments and growing international recognition of the mainland government. It gave Beijing a permanent seat on the Security Council.
• 1971 The Allman Brothers Band's Duane Allman dies Motorcycle crash, Macon Dies at 24, months after their breakthrough.
• 1971 Al Green releases Let's Stay Together Number one His signature song, number one in 1972.
• 1971 Led Zeppelin release Led Zeppelin IV Stairway to Heaven The untitled fourth album — one of the best-selling albums of all time.
• 1971 – 2000 Big Pun (1971-2000) Died 7 February 2000, aged 28 Christopher Rios, known as Big Pun, was a Bronx rapper of Puerto Rican descent and the first solo Latino hip-hop artist to have an album certified platinum, with 1998's Capital Punishment. Admired for his rapid, intricate rhyming, he belonged to the Terror Squad collective. He died of a heart attack after long struggles with his weight.
• 1971 Sly and the Family Stone release There's a Riot Goin' On Dark funk A murky, drum-machine funk album, a number one.
• 1971 D.B. Cooper Hijacking Unidentified hijacker parachutes from a Boeing 727 with ransom cash A man using the alias Dan Cooper hijacked a Northwest Orient Airlines flight, extorted $200,000 in ransom, and parachuted from the plane over Washington state, never to be identified or found. It remains the only unsolved air piracy case in American aviation history. Portions of the ransom money later surfaced along the Columbia River in 1980.
• 1971 Diamonds Are Forever — Sean Connery Connery returns for a final official Eon appearance, lured back for a then-record salary of $1.25 million. Bond pursues a diamond-smuggling operation and faces Blofeld in Las Vegas. The film is campy and entertaining but marks the end of the definitive era of Bond. Budget: $7.2 million. Box office: $116 million.
• 1971 A Clockwork Orange Released Stanley Kubrick's dystopian film opens in cinemas Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Anthony Burgess's novel premiered in the United States, provoking controversy over its depiction of violence. The film received an X rating on release and was later withdrawn from UK distribution at Kubrick's own request. It went on to become one of the most influential and analyzed films of the era.