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Historical Context for November 21, 1981

In 1981, the world population was approximately 4,528,777,306 people[†]

In 1981, the average yearly tuition was $804 for public universities and $3,617 for private universities. Today, these costs have risen to $9,750 and $35,248 respectively[†]

Notable Births

1981Wesley Britt, American football player[†]

Wesley Britt is an American former professional football player who was a tackle for three seasons with the New England Patriots in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide and received third-team All-American and a first-team All-SEC honors as a senior. Selected by the San Diego Chargers in the fifth round of the 2005 NFL draft, Britt was released before making the final roster and signed with the Patriots, where he played from 2006 to 2008. He is the husband of Alabama United States Senator Katie Britt.

1981Ainārs Kovals, Latvian javelin thrower[†]

Ainārs Kovals is a Latvian track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. His personal best throw is 86.64 m. He achieved this at the 2008 Summer Olympics, where he finished second.

1981Jonny Magallón, Mexican footballer[†]

José Jonny Magallón Oliva is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a centre-back.

Notable Deaths

1981Harry von Zell, American actor and comedian (born 1906)[†]

Harry Rudolph von Zell was an American announcer of radio programs, and an actor in films and television shows. He is best remembered for his work on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show.

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Headlines from November 21, 1981

SOVIET IN ACCORD ON SENDING GAS TO WEST EUROPE

By John Tagliabue, Special To the New York Times

An agreement was signed today that is expected to remove the last obstacle to the construction of a multibillion-dollar pipeline to bring gas from Siberia to Western Europe. The agreement between a West German gas company and the Soviet Union is expected to lead to the biggest transaction ever between the East and West, with an estimated value of more than $10 billion. The Reagan and Carter Administrations both have feared that the pipeline would expose Western Europe to possible Soviet coercion by increasing Europe's dependency for energy on the Soviet Union. 'A Continuing Dialogue' In Washington today, Dean E. Fischer, a State Department spokesman, said that the United States had expressed its concern on the issue in recent talks with European officials.

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KARPOV WINNER IN CHESS TITLE MATCH

By Robert Byrne, Special To the New York Times

Anatoly Karpov of the Soviet Union retained his world chess championship here this afternoon by defeating the challenger, Viktor Korchnoi of Switzerland, in the 18th game of their title match. This game gave the 30-year-old titleholder the six victories needed to win the match and the prize of 500,000 Swiss francs (about $280,000). The 50-year-old challenger, who won two games, will be awarded 300,000 Swiss francs (about $167,000). In their previous title match in Baguio City, the Philippines, in 1978, which lasted three months and 32 games, Karpov had won by a narrow 6-to-5 margin. ''I am glad to inform you that your wish has been fulfilled,'' Karpov said in a telegram to Leonid I. Brezhnev, the Soviet leader, after the match. The champion was reported to have drunk ''just a little vodka'' at a quiet celebration dinner.

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AGENTS OF F.B.I. TOLD TO RESUME INQUIRY ON ALLEN

By Edward T. Pound, Special To the New York Times

The Justice Department has ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation back into the field in its investigation of Richard V. Allen, the national security adviser, department officials said today. The department concluded that the bureau's initial inquiry, which tentatively cleared Mr. Allen of wrongdoing in the receipt of a $1,000 payment from a Japanese magazine, was incomplete and might make the department vulnerable to cover-up charges, the officials said. They said high-level Justice Department officials began reviewing the F.B.I. investigation last Friday, the day the Allen inquiry became public knowledge. The officials concluded, one department source said, that the bureau ''had not touched all of the bases.'' The sources - all of whom spoke with the understanding that their names and positions would not be disclosed - said the officials, including Associate Attorney General Rudolph W. Giuliani, felt that the F.B.I. needed to conduct additional interviews and take other steps that would insure that the soundness of the inquiry could not be questioned.

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SENIOR SOVIET AIDE CALLS REAGAN PLAN A WELCOME CHANGE

By John F. Burns, Special To the New York Times

A senior Soviet official said today that President Reagan's proposal for a mutual renunciation of mediumrange missiles in Europe was a welcome change from Mr. Reagan's ''bellicose'' pronouncements in recent months. However, Vadim V. Zagladin, a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, implied at a news conference that the Kremlin would give a chilly response to the proposal when negotiations on the missiles open in Geneva on Nov. 30. Mr. Zagladin, believed to be an influential foreign policy adviser to the Soviet leader, Leonid I. Brezhnev, was the first senior Kremlin figure to comment on the missile plan set forth by Mr. Reagan in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington two days ago. Mr. Zagladin made his remarks at a news conference where he presented a 74-page booklet on Soviet military doctrine. And in Washington, the Soviet Embassy released the text of a letter in which Mr. Brezhnev challenged President Reagan's view of Soviet-American relations but urged that they meet because ''private conversation is better.'' (Page 25.)

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SURVEY FINDS TAX INCENTIVES DOING LITTLE TO LURE BUSINESS

By John Herbers

The proliferation of tax reductions enacted by states in recent years to lure industrial development has had very little effect on where the companies decide to put their plants, according to a national survey by an advisory group to the National Governors Association. State taxes are such a small factor in in relocation decisions that more than half the businesses responding to the survey said they did not even know that the incentives existed in states where they had built or expanded operations. The survey was conducted by the Council of State Planning Agencies, an arm of the governors' association. It found that factors such as access to markets and the availability of capital and labor were the overriding considerations and that the state tax incentives were largely wasted so far as attracting develoment was concerned.

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CITY BANS PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS FOR UNITED WAY

By Robin Herman

For the first time in 12 years, New York City is not permitting the United Way, the largest charity in the nation, to solicit funds from city employees through automatic payroll deductions. The Koch administration quietly changed the policy late last year after discovering that some employees' weekly pledges to United Way for 1979 had been allowed to spill over into 1980 paychecks, creating an unknown amount of unauthorized overpayments to the organization. The city blames United Way for the mistake. Also, according to Mayor Koch's administrative assistant, Diane M. Coffey, the Mayor believed that United Way's solicitation methods made employees feel coerced into contributing and that these methods wasted the time of city workers.

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LEGISLATORS MISS MIDNIGHT DEADLINE ON SPENDING BILL

By Martin Tolchin, Special To the New York Times

Congress gave up Friday night on efforts to meet a midnight deadline on a stopgap spending bill, but House and Senate conferees narrowed their differences on the scope of further reductions in Federal funds for the current fiscal year. The Senate voted early Friday morning to make a 4 percent reduction in the spending bill. The House had defied President Reagan on Monday by refusing to make any of the new spending reductions he sought. The House-Senate negotiators recessed at midnight, after working against a background of a threatened Presidential veto, as well as a possibility that Government agencies would run out of operating funds. But everyone believes that Congress has at least a few days to get its fiscal house in order before essential Government services will begin to be curbed.

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News Analysis

By James M. Markham, Special To the New York Times

As Prime Minister Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo labors to form a new cabinet - and others celebrate the sixth anniversary of Francisco Franco's death - rumblings of discontent from the Spanish armed forces are troubling the country's fragile democracy. On the surface there are few obvious reasons for unease in the military. The Basque guerrilla movement, whose killings prompted an attempted coup in February, has been quiet since the summer. The separatists have been disrupted by improved police work, internal divisions, a loss of popular support and uncertainty about what France will do with guerrillas in its territory.

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WALESA APPEALS TO THE WEST FOR FOOD AID

By John Darnton, Special To the New York Times

Lech Walesa, Solidarity's leader, addressed an unusual appeal to ''the working people and trade unions of Western Europe'' today, asking them to pressure their governments to provide food aid to get Poland through a difficult winter. The nation's economic situation was so alarming, he said, that it could lead to ''spontaneous outbursts of public discontent'' in the coming months that ''would have disastrous economic and political consequences.'' If Western trade unions were to persuade their governments to provide emergency food aid, he said, then the Solidarity union would ''insure public control of the distribution'' and also the fastest possible repayment. The Solidarity leadership also appealed to its members for restraint over strikes and other protests.

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POLES OFFER DEAL FOR FREEING U.N. AIDE

By Bernard D. Nossiter, Special To the New York Times

The Polish authorities have offered conditionally to free Alicja Wesolowska, a United Nations secretary who was jailed in August 1979 on charges of spying, officials here said today. They said the condition was that the United Nations dismiss her and thereby strip her of diplomatic privilege. Erik Suy, the United Nations legal counsel, said he was offered the deal on Wednesday by Eugeniuz Wyzner, the Polish delegate here. A United Nations committee is to begin debate Monday on the Wesolowska affair and on similar cases in other countries.

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SOVIET WARNS FINNS TO SELECT PRESIDENT WITH CARE

By Werner Wiskari

The Soviet Union cautioned Finland yesterday against ''any miscalculation'' in the choice of a President to succeed 81-year-old Urho Kekkonen, who resigned last month for reasons of ill health. In the first extensive comment on the Finnish leadership question, Pravda, the newspaper of the Soviet Communist Party, said that otherwise the result might be ''events that are at present difficult to forecast.'' There was no elaboration.

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I was wondering if anything interesting on the news was going on when I was born, and decided to create this website for fun. The purpose is to show people what was going on when they were born. With this website I've found out that it was a pretty slow news day on my birthday, but I bet it would feel cool to know a historical event happened on your birthday.

The data used in this project is provided by the New York Times API. They have by far the best API I was able to find, with articles dating back to the 1950s. There weren't any other major newspapers that had an API with close to as much data. The closest was the Guardian API, but theirs only went back to the 1990s. I decided to only use articles from the New York Times because their API was by far the best. This tool works if you have a birthday after the 1950s or so.

Some important dates in history I'd recommend looking up on this website are:

  • 9/11/2001: The September 11 Attacks happened on this day, the news articles from this date provide great context to the tragedy our nation suffered and the immediate response from the American people. The headlines capture the shock, confusion, and unity that emerged in the aftermath of this devastating event.
  • 7/20/1969: The historic Apollo 11 moon landing, when humans first set foot on another celestial body. The articles from this date showcase humanity's greatest achievement in space exploration and the culmination of the space race.
  • 11/9/1989: The fall of the Berlin Wall, marking the beginning of the end of the Cold War. The coverage provides fascinating insights into this pivotal moment in world history and the emotions of people as decades of division came to an end.
  • 1/20/2009: Barack Obama's inauguration as the first African American President of the United States, a watershed moment in American history that represented a major milestone in the ongoing journey toward racial equality.
  • 8/15/1969: The Woodstock Music Festival began, marking a defining moment in American counterculture and music history. The coverage captures the spirit of the era and the unprecedented gathering of young people.

These historical events are just a few examples of the fascinating moments in history you can explore through this tool. Whether you're interested in your own birthday, significant historical dates, or just curious about what was making headlines on any given day, this website offers a unique window into the past through the lens of contemporary news coverage.

You can read more on our blog.