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1971 was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1971st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 971st year of the 2nd millennium, the 71st year of the 20th century, and the 2nd year of the 1970s decade.
The Nixon shock was the effect of a series of economic measures, including wage and price freezes, surcharges on imports, and the unilateral cancellation of the direct international convertibility of the United States dollar to gold, taken by United States President Richard Nixon on 15th August 1971 in response to increasing inflation.
The Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified on July 1, 1971, lowering the voting age for all federal and state elections from 21 years to 18 years. The primary impetus for this change was the fact that young men were being drafted to fight in the Vietnam War before they were old enough to vote. [33]
January 1 – President Nixon spends New Year's Day at Camp David with his family and aides. [1]January 2 – The White House releases the text of a message sent to Congress by President Nixon the previous day alongside his vetoing of a bill raising the pay for roughly 850,000 federal workers.
By the summer of 1971, Nixon was under strong public pressure to act decisively to reverse the economic tide. On August 15, 1971, he ended the convertibility of the U.S. dollar into gold, which meant the demise of the Bretton Woods system, in place since World War II. As a result, the U.S. dollar fell in world markets.
In many banks, the conversion was done manually, as few bank branches were then computerised. February had been chosen for Decimal Day because it was the quietest time of the year for the banks, shops and transport organisations. Many items were priced in both currencies for some time before and after the change.
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It will move to CBS a year later and would return to NBC in 2024. December 25 – In the longest game in NFL history, the Miami Dolphins beat the Kansas City Chiefs 27–24 after 22 minutes, 40 seconds of sudden death overtime.