1971: Attica, D.B. Cooper, San Fernando Earthquake, Pentagon Papers

By Patrick Mondout

A deadly riot at Attica, the successful hijacking by D.B. Cooper, the publication of the Pentagon Papers, the on-going protests against the Vietnam war, an earthquake near Los Angeles, and a war between India and Pakistan were the major stories on 1971.

Major Stories

January 1: Advertising of cigarettes on radio and television ceases as the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act goes into effect.

January 17: The Baltimore Colts defeat the Dallas Cowboys 16-13 on a last second field goal in Super Bowl V.

January 25: Uganda's President Milton Obote is overthrown by Idi Amin.

February 9: An earthquake centered 40 miles north of Los Angeles leaves 64 dead.

March 14: Carole King is the big winner at the Grammy Awards held in Los Angeles.

April 17: The United States table tennis team ends its week-long visit to China.

May 5: More than 12,000 were arrested during three days of anti-war protests in the Washington, D.C. Thousands were imprisoned in the Washington Coliseum.

June 30: Three Soviet Soyuz 11 cosmonauts die when their oxygen supply leaks due to a faulty valve during re-entry.

June 30: The Supreme Court gives the go ahead for the New York Times and Washington Post to resume publication of the Pentagon Papers.

July 1: Ratification of the 26th Amendment to the Constitution, which granted voting rights to 18-year-olds, was completed when the legislature of the 38th State, North Carolina, ratified it.

July 3: Elections are held in Indonesia for the first time in 16 years.

August 15: President Nixon orders a 90 day wage and price freeze.

September 13: Over 1,000 state troopers storm and take back the state prison in Attica, New York, leaving 10 hostages and 30 convicts dead.

October 23: The United Nations recognizes the communists in Peking (Beijing) as the legitimate government of China in a vote opposed by the United States.

November 13: Mariner 9 becomes the first space probe to orbit another planet as it encounters Mars.

November 15: The People's Republic of China is seated at the United Nations for the first time.

November 24: Hijacker D.B. Cooper parachutes out of a Northwest Orient 727 with $200,000 at 10,000 feet and is never seen again.

December 3: War breaks out between Pakistan and India over Kashmir.

December 10: William Rehnquist becomes the fourth Nixon Supreme Court appointee to be confirmed by Congress.

December 17: A 15-day war between India and Pakistan over Bangladesh ends.

December 22: Austrian Kurt Waldheim is chosen as secretary-general of the United Nations.