On this day
Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
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WASHINGTON, Feb. 8—Gov ernors and other state officials, declaring their treasuries bank 1:rupt and without new sources of revenue, are moving to levy additional taxes for covering the deficits.
S Vietnamese troops move into some areas of enemy's supply-route network in Laos, hrs after sweeping across border; 1 regiment of S Vietnamese 1st Inf Div, numbering 3,000 soldiers, lands 20 mi S of key enemy supply center of Tchepone; US helicopter is downed in southern panhandle of Laos, killing all 4 crewmen aboard; another helicopter was downed earlier; repts from field say other helicopters have been hit by enemy ground fire; US command announces 1 Amer killed, 8 wounded in ambush near Khesanh; initial enemy resistance in Laos is light; Nguyen Van Thieu's statement noted; details on action; S Vietnamese command spokesman says newsmen will be barred from witnessing operation in Laos until security can be assured; S Vietnamese Govt spokesman says he 'thinks' Souvanna Phouma agrees to S Vietnamese action; mil spokesman says he is not aware of any coordination between S Vietnamese and Laotian forces; illus
US portrays US-backed S Vietnamese invasion of Laos as limited operation to protect 'security and safety of Amer forces in S Vietnam', State Dept statement; contends 'limited operation is not an enlargement of the war; sources at White House and State Dept say operation plans call for S Vietnamese to remain in Laos up to 3 mos to disrupt flow of N Vietnamese supplies along Ho Chi Minh Trail for rest of dry season; say no Amer ground forces will enter Laos, even if mil tide begins to turn against S Vietnamese; statement, amplified in briefings at White House and State and Defense Depts, seeks to justify use of Amer air power; statement and spokesmen stress operation is intended to buy time for S Vietnamese armed forces to improve themselves and facilitate withdrawal of Amer troops; US contends invasion of Laos is 'fully consistent with internatl law', based on right of S Vietnam to protect itself against threatened attack; Saigon submits declaration to that effect to members of UN Security Council; spokesman says US considers submitting parallel statement; group of Dem and Repub Sens challenges contention that operation does not constitute widening of war, but initial, reaction on Capitol Hill is mild compared with furor that followed incursion into Cambodia last spring; statements by Sens Mansfield, Scott, Humphrey, Hughes and others noted; White House press sec says basic decision to invade Laos was made in Jan after intelligence reptd unusually heavy concentration of N Vietnamese troops and supplies in southern Laos; says final decision was made last wk; insists there were no delays in planning and execution of operation; says news blackout was designed for security reasons in connection with operations in NW corner of S Vietnam; US officials say Laotian operation will be revd from wk to wk; State Dept spokesman says Rogers was aware that S Vietnamese might strike in Laos when he testified before Sen com Jan 28, but, because of continuing reassessments of plans, 'it would not have been possible' for Rogers to say more before com than he did in pub at his news conf the next day; says US considers Geneva accords on Laotian neutrality to still be in effect
Hobart Coll acquitted of criminal charges of coercion that had been leveled at it by special grand jury investigating June 5 riot; State Sup Ct Justice Marshall says that evidence presented by prosecution has been insufficient to warrant conviction
Shepard, Mitchell and Roosa hold televised 25-min space-to-earth news conf; questions are submitted in writing by newsmen and relayed to astronauts by Manned Spacecraft Center capsule communicator; astronauts call mission 'resounding scientific success'; Shepard estimates he and Mitchell got to within 100 yds of Cone Crater's rim; says, contrary to earlier repts, they collected 96 lbs of lunar samples, including 3 or 4 relatively large rocks; repts rocks on crater's slope ranged up to 12 ft high; says they could not see more than 150 yds and had trouble picking out landmarks because of many rolling hills and ridges; Mitchell holds they could have reached top if given another 30 or 40 mins; Roosa repts he was able to see lunar module as he orbited 10 mi above landing site in command ship; Shepard says he encountered clouds of dust about 100 to 150 ft above lunar surface while he was steering module in final mins before landing; says it did not interfere with his vision; repts he hit 2 golf balls and missed 1; estimates 2 balls traveled hundreds of yds in low lunar gravity; spacecraft is now 115,000 mi from earth; schematic diagrams showing craft's planned re-entry and splashdown and mission highlights; map
Music on My Birthday
The Top 50 albums for the chart week of February 3, 1971, covering February 9, 1971.
George Harrison
Various Artists
Santana
Elton John
Sly & The Family Stone
1971Sharon Case, American actress and model[†]
Sharon Case is an American actress and former model. At the age of 17, Case began working as a model, relocating briefly to Japan, before pursuing an acting career. She is best known for her roles on daytime television soap operas, scoring parts in the serials General Hospital and As the World Turns during the early stages of her career. In 1994, she stepped into the role of Sharon Newman on the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless, which she still plays. Case, who is considered a leading actress in the series, won the 1999 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her performance.
1971Matt Gogel, American golfer[†]
Matthew John Gogel is an American professional golfer and golf commentator who currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He previously played on the PGA Tour and the Nike Tour.
1971Johan Mjällby, Swedish footballer and manager[†]
Karl Johan Siward Mjällby is a Swedish football manager and former professional player who played as a centre-back. He represented AIK, Celtic, and Levante during a career that spanned between 1989 and 2006. A full international between 1997 and 2004, he won 49 caps and scored 4 goals for the Sweden national team. Mjällby was the team captain during the 2002 FIFA World Cup, and also took part in UEFA Euro 2000 and 2004. He has been assistant manager of Bolton Wanderers and Celtic, working alongside former Celtic team-mate and manager Neil Lennon.
1971The 6.5–6.7 Mw Sylmar earthquake hits the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing 64 and injuring 2,000.[†]
The 1971 San Fernando earthquake occurred in the early morning of February 9 in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California. The unanticipated thrust earthquake had a magnitude of 6.5 on the Ms scale and 6.6 on the Mw scale, and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). The event was one in a series that affected Los Angeles County during the late 20th century. Damage was locally severe in the northern San Fernando Valley and surface faulting was extensive to the south of the epicenter in the mountains, as well as urban settings along city streets and neighborhoods. Uplift and other effects affected private homes and businesses.
1971Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro league player to be voted into the USA's Baseball Hall of Fame.[†]
Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Negro league baseball and Major League Baseball (MLB). His career spanned five decades and culminated with his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
1971Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third human Moon landing.[†]
The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo followed Project Mercury that put the first Americans in space. It was conceived in 1960 as a three-person spacecraft during President Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration. Apollo was later dedicated to President John F. Kennedy's national goal for the 1960s of "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" in an address to Congress on May 25, 1961. It was the third American human spaceflight program to fly, preceded by Project Gemini conceived in 1961 to extend spaceflight capability in support of Apollo.
In 1971, the world population was approximately 3,769,847,865 people[†]