On this day
Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
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joint US-Vietnamese invasion of Ashau Valley set to start from operation's forward command post south of Quangtri; commander of operation is Brig Gen Vu Van Giai; in keeping with US command policy of playing down US involvement in joint operations, US officers say Amers will only have 'support role'; map
NEWARK, April 18—The bit ter 11‐week‐old Newark teach ers' strike ended today when the Board of Education and the Newark Teachers Union voted to accept a contract proposed by Mayor Kenneth A. Gibson.
Conv held, Jackson, by Loyalist Dems, racially integrated party recognized by natl orgn; nominations; Fayette Mayor Evers nominated for Gov, 1st Negro candidate in Miss history; T C Sorensen keynote speaker
environmentalists in mos ahead apparently plan increasingly blunt confrontation with indus; Sen Nelson, in Earth Wk talks, to charge developing indus effort to discredit environmental movement
8 Panthers or Panther sympathizers are arrested on gun charges, Manhattan, NYC, including E Howard ('Big Man'), who is Panther deputy min and ed of Panther newspaper, G D Morton and B Shertzer, white member of pro-Panther group; police decline comment on whether arrests are linked to Napier slaying; police and Panther sources link murder to Cleaver-Newton rift; list of arrested persons
Music on My Birthday
The Top 50 albums for the chart week of April 14, 1971, covering April 19, 1971.
Janis Joplin
Various Artists
Andy Williams
Soundtrack
Jimi Hendrix
1971Luigi Piotti, Italian race car driver (born 1913)[†]
Luigi Piotti was a racing driver from Italy. He participated in nine Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on January 22, 1956. He scored no championship points.
1971Sierra Leone becomes a republic, and Siaka Stevens the president.[†]
Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is 73,252 km2 (28,283 sq mi). It has a tropical climate and environments ranging from savannas to rainforests. As of the 2023 census, Sierra Leone has a population of 8,460,512. Freetown is its capital and largest city.
1971Launch of Salyut 1, the first space station.[†]
Salyut 1, also known as DOS-1, was the world's first space station. It was launched into low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on April 19, 1971. The Salyut program subsequently achieved five more successful launches of seven additional stations. The program's final module, Zvezda (DOS-8), became the core of the Russian Orbital Segment of the International Space Station and remains in orbit today.
1971Charles Manson is sentenced to death (later commuted to life imprisonment) for conspiracy in the Tate–LaBianca murders.[†]
Charles Milles Manson was an American criminal, cult leader, and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Some cult members committed a series of at least nine murders at four locations in July and August 1969. In 1971, Manson was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for the deaths of seven people, including the film actress Sharon Tate. The prosecution contended that, while Manson never directly ordered the murders, his ideology constituted an overt act of conspiracy.
In 1971, the world population was approximately 3,769,847,865 people[†]