The Attica Prison Riot was put down on this day, on day four of the siege.
It's an event I can recall from my childhood.
About half, somewhat over 1,000, of the prisoners rioted over conditions at the prison. They held it for four days, before the grounds were retaken by force. The scene looked like a civil war battleground.
32 inmates, and 11 guards, died in the event.
It was one more thing that made the 1970s, well, crappy.
On the same day, a possible coup in Communist China fell apart and one of the proponents, Marshal Lin Biao, died in an airplane crash seeking to flee as a result.
Lin had been in the Chinese Communist Party dating back to the 1930s, and he was second in line for Chinese leadership at the time. Due to the era in which he died, and the circumstances, a great deal of mystery remains on what occurred. According to the PRC he was at the top of a plot to replace Mao, which acted to assassinate him but failed. Lin then fled. Sources outside of China have doubted the story however, and all that remains clear is that he died in the airplane's crash.
Draft of Project 571
The plot itself may have in fact existed, although It's hard to tell, but rather than being a product of Lin Biao, it might have been the product of his son Lin Liguo, a member of the Chinese Air Force. Indeed, the noted attempts to effect a coup were conducted principally by members of the Chinese Air Force, not the Army, which would have been an odd choice for a high ranking army official. And the plans were below the quality of that which would have been expected by Lin Biao, who was a highly respected and experienced ground commander. Lin Liguo died in the same airplane crash, which would support that overall the Lin family was connected with a plot and when it failed sought to flee to the Soviet Union.
The event resulted in the predictable purge of the Chinese military.
