June 1971


The following events occurred in June 1971:

[June 1], 1971 (Tuesday)

[June 2], 1971 (Wednesday)

[June 3], 1971 (Thursday)

[June 4], 1971 (Friday)

[June 5], 1971 (Saturday)

[June 6], 1971 (Sunday)

[June 7], 1971 (Monday)

  • Philippine government official Manuel Elizalde, the head of the PANAMIN Foundation, reported that he had discovered the Tasaday people, purported to be an isolated tribe, described as living in the "Stone Age", on the island of Mindanao, in the rain forest near Lake Sebu. For the next 15 years, contact with the Tasadays was restricted by the Philippine government, but after the fall of the regime of President Ferdinand Marcos, anthropologists were permitted to study the tribe further, discovering that the supposed cave people were living nearby in modern conditions and that Elizaide's discovery has been a hoax. The Australian Broadcasting Company would later produce a TV documentary called "The Tribe that Never Was" revealing the government had hired what would be described as "rain forest clock punchers".
  • The three Soyuz 11 cosmonauts become the first humans in history to step aboard an orbiting space station after their capsule successfully docked with Salyut 1.
  • All but three of 30 people on Allegheny Airlines Flight 485 died when the Convair CV-580 crashed on landing at New Haven, Connecticut and the plane burst into flames. The aircraft plowed through three vacant summer cottages and set fire to a fourth one, but the dwellings "were unoccupied because the season had not yet begun and no one on the ground was injured". Although all but one person survived the initial impact, the people killed had been unable to open the emergency exit.
  • The government of Pakistan issued a decree removing the two highest denominations of the Pakistani rupee paper currency notes from circulation and setting a deadline for citizens to exchange their 500-rupee and 100-rupee banknotes in return for a receipt promising new notes at some point in the next few weeks. The decision came after Bangladesh separatists in East Pakistan had flooded West Pakistan with counterfeited currency.
  • In Silver Spring, Maryland, the federal Alcohol Tobacco Firearms Division raided the home of Kenyon F. Ballew, beginning a cause célèbre in the debates between advocates of gun control and advocates of gun owner rights in the U.S.Died:
  • *J. I. Rodale, 72, American nutritionist, author and pioneer in organic gardening, died of a heart attack while appearing as a guest for the taping of The Dick Cavett Show that was scheduled to be shown that evening. After telling Cavett in the interview, "I've decided to live to be a hundred. I never felt better in my life," Rodale appeared to fall asleep while Cavett was interviewing his other guest, newspaper columnist Pete Hamill.
  • *Leo Burnett, 79, American advertising executive and creator of memorable ad campaign characters including "Tony the Tiger", the "Maytag Repairman" and slogans like "You're in Good Hands" for Allstate Insurance.
  • *Camille Gutt, 86, Belgian economist and politician and the first managing director of the International Monetary Fund, from 1946 to 1951
  • *Dr. Rolla Dyer, 84, U.S. physician and director of the National Institutes of Health from 1942 to 1950

[June 8], 1971 (Tuesday)

[June 9], 1971 (Wednesday)

[June 10], 1971 (Thursday)

[June 11], 1971 (Friday)

[June 12], 1971 (Saturday)

[June 13], 1971 (Sunday)

[June 14], 1971 (Monday)

[June 15], 1971 (Tuesday)

[June 16], 1971 (Wednesday)

  • The U.S. Senate defeated a resolution sponsored by Senators George S. McGovern of South Dakota and Mark O. Hatfield of Oregon, both Democrats, a proposed amendment to a bill extending the draft, that would have set a deadline of December 31, 1971, to withdraw all U.S. military forces from Indochina. The final vote was 42 for and 55 against. A compromise resolution that would have set a deadline of June 1, 1972, was defeated, 52 to 14. A similar resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives was defeated the next day, 158 to 253, with 105 Democrats and 149 Republicans voting against it.
  • Australia's Experimental Military Unit was withdrawn from Vietnam.Born: Tupac Shakur, American rapper, poet, and actor, as Parish Lesane Crooks in Brooklyn, New York City;

[June 17], 1971 (Thursday)

[June 18], 1971 (Friday)

[June 19], 1971 (Saturday)

[June 20], 1971 (Sunday)

[June 21], 1971 (Monday)

  • The International Court of Justice, commonly known as "The World Court", ruled 13 to 2 in an advisory opinion that South Africa's occupation of the trust territory of South-West Africa was illegal and that its administration of the territory should halt at once. The British and French judges opposed the ruling, and South Africa's government refused to abide by the World Court's judgment. South African Prime Minister John Vorster called the decision "an international political vendetta" and said that South Africa was administering South-West Africa "with a view to self-determination for all population groups".
  • Golfer Lee Trevino won the U.S. Open in an 18-hole playoff against Jack Nicklaus, after both players had identical scores of 280 the day before. Trevino had 68 and Nicklaus 71 in the 3-stroke win.
  • Britain began new negotiations in Luxembourg, led by Geoffrey Rippon, for EEC membership. By the morning of June 23, more than 40 hours of talks resulted in the United Kingdom's entry into the Common Market.

[June 22], 1971 (Tuesday)

  • For the first time since the Vietnam War began, the U.S. Senate voted for a pullout of all troops, but only on the condition that North Vietnam and the Viet Cong release American prisoners of war. The vote, an amendment to the authorization of an extension of the draft, passed, 57 to 42, and was sent to the House of Representatives. The House rejected the amendment six days later by a vote of 176 for and 219 against.Born:
  • *Kurt Warner, American football quarterback, who went from being a bagger in an Iowa supermarket to becoming the NFL's Most Valuable Player; in Burlington, Iowa
  • *Laila Rouass, British actress, in London

[June 23], 1971 (Wednesday)

  • "Inhibition of Prostaglandin Synthesis as a Mechanism of Action for Aspirin-like Drugs", a paper by University of London pharmacologist John R. Vane, was published in the scientific journal Nature New Biology, providing his findings that would later earn him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, that aspirin and similar pain relievers work by inhibiting the release of prostaglandin.
  • After a marathon negotiating session that lasted until 5:00 in the morning in Luxembourg, representatives of the European Economic Community and the United Kingdom came to an agreement on terms for the UK to enter the Community and to join the Common Market. Among the points of dispute resolved, the two sides agreed that the UK's payment to the EEC for its first year would be 100 million British pounds, to be trebled by 1978.
  • In "a stock offering that made Wall Street history... because it no doubt will establish a precedent for public ownership of many of the other Wall Street houses, Merrill Lynch became the second Wall Street stockbroking firm to go public. The initial price a share of Merrill Lynch common stock was $28.00 as part of raising $112,000,000 through sales.
  • The government of Poland turned over ownership of 6,900 former German church buildings and parsonages to the Roman Catholic Church, in a new law that provided for the transfer in those archdioceses in territory acquired from Germany at the end of World War II. The transfer, dated retroactively to the beginning of the 1971, fulfilled a promise made by Polish United Workers Party Chairman Edward Gierek as part of ending the December riots. Many of the churches that became Catholic houses of worship had formerly been used by German Lutherans.

[June 24], 1971 (Thursday)

[June 25], 1971 (Friday)

The Death of Actaeon, a 16th-century masterpiece painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Titian was purchased at an auction in London for £1.6 million by an American art dealer, Julius Weitzner. At the time, the amount paid at the auction by Christie's was the second highest ever for a painting, but much less than the three million pounds that had been forecast within the London art community.

[June 26], 1971 (Saturday)

  • In Paris, French tightrope walker Philippe Petit gained worldwide fame after stringing a steel cable between the two towers of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and then spent the next few hours walking back and forth across the wire without a safety net or a balancing pole, juggling balls and laying down, all above the ground. After Petit climbed down, Paris police took him to a nearby precinct headquarters for a check of his identity, then accompanied him to make sure that he dismantled his high-wire equipment, and released him without filing charges.Died: Johannes Frießner, 79, German World War II general

[June 27], 1971 (Sunday)

  • Elections were held in Japan for 126 of the 252 seats of the House of Councillors, the upper house of the Japanese parliament. Although the Liberal Democratic Party maintained its control of the Councillors, losing only three seats, the Japan Socialist party made some gains, taking 28 of the "constituency" seats for district representatives, and 39 of the at-large national seats.
  • U.S. concert promoter Bill Graham closed the legendary Fillmore East venue, which had first opened on 2nd Avenue in New York City in 1968.Born: Dipendra Bir Birkam, Crown Prince of Nepal; in Kathmandu

[June 28], 1971 (Monday)

  • Reputed Brooklyn Mafia chief Joseph Colombo was shot in the head during the Italian-American Civil Rights League "Unity Day" rally at Columbus Circle in New York City, despite protection by police and his own bodyguards. His assailant, Jerome A. Johnson, had gotten within close range of Colombo while wearing a press pass that he had picked up from IACRL officials. At 11:45 in the morning, Colombo was asked to pose for a photo with a bystander, and was shot twice by Johnson. Moments later, Johnson was shot to death, apparently by one of Colombo's bodyguards. Colombo survived after five hours of surgery, but suffered brain damage and would be paralyzed for the rest of his life.
  • By a vote of 8 to 0, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reversed the conviction of heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali, four years after he had been found guilty of refusing induction into the U.S. Army, and after Ali's world championships had been revoked by boxing commissions. The Court concluded that Ali had been improperly drafted despite his claim to be a conscientious objector to military service based on his religious faith as a Muslim.
  • Born:
  • *Fabien Barthez, French racing driver and former professional footballer, in Lavelanet
  • *Kenny Cunningham, Irish sports commentator and former professional footballer, in Dublin
  • *Elon Musk, South African-Canadian-American technology entrepreneur, founder of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla, in Johannesburg, South Africa
  • *Aileen Quinn, American actress, in Yardley, PennsylvaniaDied: Camille Clifford, 85, Belgian actress and model

[June 29], 1971 (Tuesday)

  • U. S. Senator Mike Gravel attempted to read the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record, but was unable to do so because a quorum of at least 51 U.S. Senators was not available and the session was forced to adjourn. As an alternative, Senator Gravel went to a hearing room in the new Senate Office Building. In his capacity as Chairman of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Public Buildings and Grounds, Gravel found a quorum of members and then began reading the documents for three hours before adjourning.

[June 30], 1971 (Wednesday)

  • After a successful mission aboard Salyut 1, the world's first crewed space station, the crew of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft were killed during their return to Earth after 24 days on the orbiting station. When the recovery team reached the capsule after its landing, they opened the hatch and found all three cosmonauts dead — Colonel Georgi T. Dobrovolsky and engineers Vladislav N. Volkov and Viktor I. Patsayev. An investigation later determined that a faulty valve within the Soyuz capsule had caused the oxygen within the capsule to slowly leak out as the craft was descending to Earth. More than two years after the accident, the Soviet Union provided full details to the U.S. in advance of the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission. The shock of firing 12 explosive bolts to separate the re-entry capsule from the orbiter had forced the exhaust valve open and loosened a valve cap that had acted as a safety device. While the cosmonauts realized that the valve was emptying the cabin's oxygen into space, the cabin pressure fell within 10 seconds while they were trying to assess the problem, and the capsule was completely empty of air 45 seconds after they were unconscious.
  • In New York Times Co. v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 6 to 3, that the Pentagon Papers could be published, rejecting government injunctions as unconstitutional prior restraint. The Times resumed publication of the documents the next day.
  • The U.S. State of Ohio approved ratification of the Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution by a vote of 81 to 9 in the state House of Representatives, one day after the state Senate had voted 30 to 2 in favor of approval. In so doing, Ohio became the 38th of the 50 U.S. states to ratify the amendment to lower the minimum voting age nationwide from 21 years old to 18 years old, providing the necessary three-quarters majority necessary for the Twenty-Sixth Amendment to become law.
  • The musical fantasy film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, based on the novel Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and starring Gene Wilder and Jack Albertson, was released. Died: Nikola Kotkov, 32, and Georgi Asparuhov,, Bulgarian footballers, were killed in a car accident