The Nation 1971

Rand employee Daniel Ellsberg was commissioned by the US State Department to write an in depth paper on Vietnam from 1964 to 1968. Ellsberg decided to release his top secret papers to the New York Times who named them The Pentagon Papers. The documents showed those in charge of the war, including President Johnson knew early on that it could not won, that casualties would increase and showed a cynicism for the American public and a disregard for the suffering it caused on all sides. The Nixon Administration, though not the subject of the papers, tried to throw everyone involved in jail anyway.

The carpet drops on Cambodia, the invasion of Laos, the My Lai massarce, the students killled at Kent State and now the Pentagon Papers had together finally swayed the majority of Americans into the Peace Movement. 500,000 showed up in Washington DC, 125,000 in San Francisco... Vietnam was both militarily and politically over. Nixon began withdrawals in earnest. The Pentagon Papers History.

After years of fruitless complaints about conditions (one issue was the one roll of toilet paper a month) a revolt broke out at the maximum-security prision in Attica, New York. After 4 days of negotiation Governor Nelson Rockefeller sent the state police and the United States National Guard in to storm the facility. 32 prisonors were killled and 10 hostages. Nine of the ten hostages were killled by police which gave the shout of ATTICA! ATTICA! some degree of moral standing. Attica Prison Riot

After conviction for the 1969 Tate-LaBianca killlings, Charles Manson - wanting to make a good impression on the jury during the punishment phase - shaved his head and carved a swastika into his forehead. Manson, Patricia Krenwinkel, Susan Atkins, Leslie Van Houten and Tex Watson (tried separately in Texas) were all sentenced to the gas chamber. All five had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment in 1972 after the Supreme Court ruled capital punishment cruel and unusual punishment. Xecutions were reinstated in 1976 but not for the Manson Family. The Manson Trial

Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education: The Supreme Court of the United States rules unanimously that busing of students may be ordered to achieve racial desegregation.The law lost most of its power in 1974 when the Courts required proof of segregation across district lines. This good will gesture at racial integration created so much anger that what we call White Flight to the far suburbs increased as dramatically as did those Whites left behind sending their children to resurgent Catholic schools. Public School Desperation busing

After hijacking a Northwest Orient Airlines plane and collecting $200,000 a man calling himself D. B. Cooper jumped with a parachute from the 727 into a thunderstorm over Southwestern Washington state, The airliner was going at a survivable speed and altitude of 200mph and 10,000 feet. Cooper became a folk hero of sorts because he was never caught. Though it is quite likely he did not survive the jump. D.B. Cooper

The Libertarian Party is established under the auspices of political writer and philosopher Ayn Rand's Objectivism (the Virtue of Selfishness). Libertarian Party

Lieutenant William Calley was found guilty of 22 mmurders in the My Lai massarce and sentenced to life in prision. Under pressure from various veteran groups President Nixon pardoned him resulting in Calley spending 2 years under House Arrest. Upon release his father in law gave him a chain of jewelry stores in Atlanta Georgia. William Calley.

The 26th Amendment to the United States Constitution was formally certified by President Richard Nixon which lowers the voting age from 21 to 18.

"He reached for a place in history by opening a dialogue with China, ending a quarter-century of vitriolic estrangement between two of the world's major powers. He embarked upon a dazzling round of summitry that will culminate in odysseys to Peking and Moscow. He doggedly pursued his own slow timetable withdrawing the nation's combat troops from their longest and most humiliating war, largely damping domestic discord unparalleled in the U.S. in more than a century."

The entire 1971 Cover Story on Richard Nixon

The World 1971

The United Nations General Assembly admits the People's Republic of China and expels the Republic of China (Taiwan). UPI story and audio of China admitted to the UN.

In Uganda, Idi Amin Data deposes Milton Obote in a coup, and becomes president. Idi Amin rise to power in Uganda

"Papa Doc" François Duvalier, dictator of Haiti left the land of the living and his son "Baby Doc" Duvalier follows him as president-for-life. JEAN-CLAUDE DUVALIER, 1971-86

Spanish dictator and head of state Francisco Franco makes Prince Juan Carlos his successor. March 28, 1939 el Generalísimo Franco became dictator for life

Nobel prizes 1971

Physics - Dennis Gabor
Chemistry - Gerhard Herzberg
Medicine - Earl W. Sutherland, Jr
Literature - Pablo Neruda
Peace - Willy Brandt
Economics - Simon Kuznets

The Class of 1971