July 16, 1981 (Thursday)
- Mahathir bin Mohamad was sworn in as the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia, succeeding Hussein Onn, who retired because of ill health. Mahathir would serve for 22 years, retiring in 2003.
- Died: Harry Chapin, folk singer and hunger activist, was killed in a car wreck near Jericho, New York on the Long Island Expressway. Chapin had shifted lanes into the path of a Rickel Home Centers truck, which was unable to avoid a collision with his car, and died of a ruptured aneurysm caused by the impact. A jury later found Chapin to be 40% at fault in the accident, with the driver primarily liable, and awarded $7,200,000 to his widow.
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Famous quotes containing the word july:
“July 4. Statistics show that we lose more fools on this day than in all the other days of the year put together. This proves, by the number left in stock, that one Fourth of July per year is now inadequate, the country has grown so.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)