Events in the US 50 years ago.
Lew Alcindor, named most valuable player in the National Basketball Association in 1970, announced on June 3 that he had changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The name change was in keeping, he said, with his conversion in 1968 from Roman Catholicism to Islam.
US President Richard Nixon, on June 10, ended the trade embargo with the People’s Republic of China, which had been in effect for 21 years. Nixon authorized the export of “non-strategic items” to China and removed all restrictions on imports from China.
The 19-month occupation of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay by American Indians from various tribes ended on June 11. The occupiers lived in the closed federal penitentiary there. By the time the last group was evacuated, only 15 remained on the island.
President Nixon’s daughter, Tricia, married Edward Cox on June 12 in the White House Rose Garden. It is the most recent wedding to take place there.
On June 13, the New York Times published the first installment of the “Pentagon Papers,” classified Department of Defense information about US strategy in Vietnam. After the Times was quickly enjoined from publishing more, the Washington Post independently began publishing content from the Pentagon Papers on June 18. The US Supreme Court voted 6-3 on June 30 that the Times could publish the classified information, rejecting governmental injunctions as unconstitutional prior restraint on speech. Publication of the Pentagon Papers by the Times resumed the following day.
President Nixon announced on June 17 the start of a “War on Drugs.” Describing drug abuse as America’s number one public enemy, he said that, in order to defeat it, “it was necessary to wage a new, all-out offensive.”
Southwest Airlines, a low-cost airline based in Texas, began operations on June 18, serving Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.
For the first time since the Vietnam War began, the US Senate voted 57-42 on June 22 to remove all US troops by the end of 1971, on the condition that North Vietnam and the Viet Cong release all US prisoners of war. The House of Representatives rejected the measure six days later, 176 for-219 against.
Fillmore East, an iconic rock music venue in New York City, was closed on June 27 after only three years, by concert promoter Bill Graham.
The US Supreme Court voted 8-0 on June 28 to overturn the conviction of Muhammad Ali, four years after he had been convicted of refusing induction into the Army. The court determined Ali had been improperly drafted after claiming conscientious objector status.