July 1971

[July 1], 1971 (Thursday)

• The semi-independent United States Postal Service began administration of U.S. postal delivery of letters and packages through thousands of post offices, succeeding the cabinet-level United States Post Office Department. Winton M. Blount continued as United States Postmaster General, but was no longer a member of the Presidential cabinet nor part of the presidential line of succession.
• The British Royal Navy submarine sank in of water while moored at Gosport during refueling, because the repair crew had loaded ballast into the sub for testing without having made sure to "batten down the hatches", causing salt water to flood the interior and destroy most of the electronics and machinery. A book about the blunder, HMS Artemis — The Lessons Learnt, would be produced by the Royal Navy "and is still required reading for submarine commanders" nearly 50 years later.
• Following the retirement of Bert Hendrickson, Justin O'Byrne became Father of the Australian Senate, having served longer than any other currently-serving senator.
• The United States made the largest single withdrawal of troops — 6,100 — from South Vietnam since the beginning of the Vietnam War. leaving only 236,000 troops, almost half of the 542,500 that were stationed in Vietnam during the height of the war in 1969.
• Born: Missy Elliott, American singer, in Portsmouth, Virginia
• Died:
• *William Lawrence Bragg, 81, Australian physicist and 1915 Nobel laureate
• *Learie Constantine, 69, Trinidadian-British cricketer, broadcast journalist, administrator, lawyer, politician and peer

  [July 2], 1971 (Friday)

• Evonne Goolagong, the 19-year-old "daughter of an Australian aboriginal sheep-shearer" won the women's singles title at Wimbledon, defeating fellow Australian and three-time Wimbledon champion Margaret Court, 6–4, 6-1 for the All-England women's tennis championship.
• The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards was formed at Holyrood, Edinburgh, by the amalgamation of the 3rd Carabiniers and The Royal Scots Greys.
• Born: Evelyn Lau, Canadian poet and novelist, in Vancouver

  [July 3], 1971 (Saturday)

• The first national election in 16 years in Indonesia took place for all 360 seats of the lower house of Indonesia's parliament, the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat. Preparation for election day had taken several months because Indonesia's 992 inhabited islands are spread out over a width of along the Equator. When the results were announced on August 7, President Suharto's political party, Sekber Golkar, captured 70 percent of the seats in the House of Representatives.
• Sir Anthony Mamo was named by the United Kingdom to serve as the new Governor-General of Malta, replacing Sir Maurice Dorman, following the request of Malta's Prime Minister Dom Mintoff. Mamo had previously been the Chief Justice of Malta.
• Born: Julian Assange, Australian publisher, journalist, computer programmer and Internet activist, in Townsville, Queensland
• Died: Jim Morrison, 27, American singer and leader of the Doors, was found dead in his bathtub in Paris, France; the cause of death remains uncertain, but an unintentional heroin overdose was the most popular theory.

  [July 4], 1971 (Sunday)

• Scottish driver Jackie Stewart won the 1971 French Grand Prix motor race at Circuit Paul Ricard.
• Born: Koko, American lowland gorilla known for her skill in picking up language skills, at the San Francisco Zoo
• Died:
• * Maurice Bowra, 73, British critic;
• * August Derleth, 62, American novelist and anthologist

  [July 5], 1971 (Monday)

• The Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution was formally certified by U.S. President Richard Nixon, who signed the certification in a ceremony at the White House as the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18.
• Former Chancellor of West Germany Kurt Georg Kiesinger announced that he was retiring from his role as leader of the opposition Christian Democratic Union political party

  [July 6], 1971 (Tuesday)

• Hastings Kamuzu Banda was proclaimed President for Life of Malawi on the occasion of the African nation's seventh anniversary of independence. The Malawian constitution had been amended in November to provide for Banda specifically to be given lifetime tenure.
• The July Theses were introduced by Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu in his speech to the executive committee of the Romanian Communist Party, marking the beginning of a "mini cultural revolution"
• Died: Louis Armstrong, 69, American jazz trumpeter and singer

  [July 7], 1971 (Wednesday)

• The U.S. Army began the process of destroying its stockpile of biological warfare weapons. All of the germ and toxin weapons had been created and stored from 1953 to 1969 at the Pine Bluff Arsenal in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, without being used. Microorganisms kept for use were capable of infecting people with anthrax, tularemia, Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, Q fever, botulism or a staph infection.
• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered a nationwide recall of all canned products of the Bon Vivant Soup Company and a shutdown of the factory in Newark, New Jersey., one week after the June 30 death of a New York man from botulism poisoning from a contaminated can of vichyssoise. Out of 324 cans sampled, five were found to be contaminated by the botulism toxin; the shutdown caused the Bon Vivant Company to go out of business by 1974.
• Todor Zhivkov, already the de facto leader of Bulgaria as the First Secretary of that nation's Communist Party and the nation's Prime Minister, was elected to the newly created position of Chairman of the State Council as head of state. Georgi Traykov, the last "Chairman of the Presidium of the National Assembly" had been the ceremonial head of state and became the State Council First Deputy Chairman, while Stanko Todorov took Zhivkov's place as Prime Minister.

  [July 8], 1971 (Thursday)

• A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Chile at 11:03 p.m. local time, killing 83 people and injuring 447 near Valparaiso, with a heavy toll at the town of Illapel.
• Frank Fitzsimmons was elected as the new president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters labor union, succeeding Jimmy Hoffa, who had resigned in June.
• Died: Charlie Shavers, 50, American jazz trumpeter and composer, died from throat cancer. Shavers, hearing of the death of Louis Armstrong two days earlier, had requested that his own trumpet mouthpiece be buried in Armstrong's coffin.

  [July 9], 1971 (Friday)

• U.S. National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger made a secret trip to the People's Republic of China after boarding a jet in Pakistan, part of his itinerary for an official worldwide "fact finding trip" and diplomatic visit to Asian nations. On its flight to Pakistan, Kissinger's plane turned north and flew to Beijing, where he met with Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai for three days. While Kissinger was in China, the international press in Pakistan was told that Kissinger was "temporarily incapacitated by a stomach ailment" and staying in "a mountain resort in the hills of northeast Pakistan" overnight. The visit was disclosed six days later by U.S. President Nixon.
• Elections were held in Iran for the 268 seats of the Majlis and the 30 elected seats of the 60-seat Iranian Senate. The ruling Iran Novin Party, backed by the Shah of Iran and led by Prime Minister Amir-Abbas Hoveyda, won 230 of the 268 Majlis seats and all 30 of the contested Senate seats; the other 30 members were appointed by the Shah. The People's Party, led by former Prime Minister Asadollah Alam, finished second, with 37 Majlis seats.
• The funeral of Louis Armstrong was attended by 500 people at the Corona Congregational Church in New York City. "When the Saints Go Marching In", his theme tune, was played at the service, and Peggy Lee sang The Lord's Prayer. A crowd of 2,000 people gathered outside the church for what The New York Times described as "to ogle the invited celebrities".
• The Australian Aboriginal flag was first flown, on National Aborigines Day, at a land rights rally in Victoria Square in Adelaide, South Australia.

  [July 10], 1971 (Saturday)

• During the 42nd birthday party of King Hassan II of Morocco, 1,400 cadets took over the king's palace for three hours and killed 93 guests; 158 rebels died when the king's troops stormed the palace. Ten high-ranking Moroccan Army officers — four generals, five colonels and a major— were executed by a firing squad a few days later for involvement.
• Gloria Steinem made her Address to the Women of America at the founding of the National Women's Political Caucus.
• American golfer Lee Trevino won the British Open by a single stroke over Lu Liang-Huan of Taiwan. The margin of victory was Trevino's 69 to 70 lead over Lu on the first day of play; in the other rounds, the two had finished identically every day with 70, 69, and 70 strokes, giving Trevino the 278 to 279 victory on 72 holes.
• Died: Samuel Bronfman, 80, Canadian whiskey distiller who built the Seagram liquor company into a worldwide billion dollar retailer.

  [July 11], 1971 (Sunday)

• The wreckage of England's first royal yacht, HMY Mary, was discovered off the coast of Anglesey almost 300 years after its sinking. On March 25, 1675, HMY Mary struck rocks and shattered, with the loss of 35 of the 74 passengers and crew.
• The Chilean Congress unanimously approved an amendment to the South American nation's constitution to give authority to President Salvador Allende to nationalize the nation's largest copper mines. Those affected were operated by the U.S. companies Kennecott, Anaconda and Cerro, which had previously operated as a joint venture with the state-owned Codelco corporation. The vote was 158 to 0, with 42 of the 200 members not in attendance, and was written to take effect immediately.
• Died:
• *Bold Ruler, 17, American thoroughbred racehorse and 1957 horse of the year whose descendants would win seven of the 10 Kentucky Derby races during the decade of the 1970s.
• *Pedro Rodríguez, 31, Mexican Formula One racing driver, was killed in an Interserie sports car race at the Norisring Nürnberg 200 at Nuremberg in West Germany. Rodríguez, whose brother Ricardo Rodríguez had been killed in 1962, was driving a 750-horsepower Ferrari 513M on its racing debut, rather than his own British Racing Motors BRM car, which was not ready for entry. On the 12th lap of the race, a tire blew and the Ferrari "struck a guard rail and the wall of a bridge spanning the track, was catapulted across the track and immediately caught fire".