1971

Daily writing prompt

Share what you know about the year you were born.

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I was born in 1971. One super important event occurred that year but I am going to make you wait for it. First, I Googled “events from 1971” and figured I’d share a few things that I found.

This site gave a top 10 list. Allow me to share it:

1. The New York Times begins to publish sections of the Pentagon Papers
2. The Voting Age in the United States is lowered to 18 yrs old when the 26th Amendment to the US Constitution is ratified
3. Border battles between India and Pakistan erupt into full-scale war
4. The Walt Disney World Theme Park is opened in Florida
5. The Soviet Union launches the first space station, Salyut 1, into low Earth orbit
6. Ibrox disaster in Scotland when On January 2nd 66 die in stairway crush at Rangers v Celtic football match
7. A new stock market index called the Nasdaq debuts
8. Decimalisation in United Kingdom and Ireland both switch to decimal currency.
9. Education Secretary Margaret Thatcher’s ends free school milk for children over the age of seven
10. The US table tennis team visits to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) known as “Ping Pong Diplomacy”

https://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1971.html

You can click the link to get more details. Interesting stuff. Americans, you’re welcome for the 26th amendment. Also, for Disney World.

This site also gave a short list. There’s a lot of cross over, but I’ll share a few highlights.

1. The total number of American troops in Vietnam dropped to 196,700, the lowest amount since January 1966. On the other hand, the number of British troops stationed in Northern Ireland increased to 11,000.
2. The Supreme Court “unanimously upheld the constitutionality of busing as a means to ‘dismantle the dual school system,’ of the South.”
3. Charles Manson, along with three of his female followers, were convicted of the Tate-LaBianca murders.
4. Here are some sports facts from 1971: The Pittsburgh Pirates won their 4th World Series, the Baltimore Colts were the Super Bowl champs, and the Montreal Canadiens clinched the Stanley Cup.
5. Satchel Paige became the first African-American MLB player to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
6. The first Starbucks opened at the historic Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington. The coffeehouse chain was founded by Jerry Baldwin, Gordon Bowker, and Zev Siegl, who later sold the company to Howard Schultz. Today, Starbucks has 32,938 retail locations worldwide.
7. The South Tower of the World Trade Center “topped out at 1,362 feet, making it the second tallest building in the world.”
8. In 1971, Amanda Holden, Corey Haim, Denise Richards, Justin Trudeau, Lance Armstrong, Mark Wahlberg, and Ricky Martin were all born.

Yup, my birth year sent Charles Manson to jail for what turned out to be the rest of his psychotic life.

So what is that one huge event that I teased at the start of this post? It’s mega. It’s universe altering.

In July of 1971, Rick Wakeman joined Yes. By the end of 1972 the universe had been granted the musical masterpieces that are the albums Fragile and Close to the Edge.

You’re welcome.