1949
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'''1949''' '''(MCMXLIX)''' is a common year starting on Saturday.
Events
January-February
January 4 - ''RMS Caronia'' of the Cunard Line departs Southampton for New York on her maiden voyage
January 4 - February 22 - Series of winter storms in Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota, Utah, Colorado and Nevada - winds of up to 72 mph - tens of thousands of cattle and sheep perish
January 5 - U.S. President Harry S. Truman unveils his Fair Deal program.
January 11 - Los Angeles, California receives its first recorded snowfall.
January 22 - Chinese Communist Party|Communist forces enter Peking
January 25 - The first Emmy Awards are presented at the Hollywood Athletic Club.
January 25 - In the first Israeli election, David Ben-Gurion becomes Prime Minister of Israel|Prime Minister.
January 26 - Australian Citizenship comes into being.
February 1 - Rationing of clothes ends in Britain
February 8 - József Mindszenty|Cardinal Mindszenty of Hungary is sentenced to life imprisonment for treason against the Hungarian Communist government.
February 12 - The Vatican announces the excommunication of all persons involved in the trial and conviction of Cardinal Mindszenty.
February 14 - The Knesset (Israeli parliament) first convenes.
February 14 - António de Fragoso Carmona|Antonio Carmona re-elected president of Portugal for lack of opposing candidate
February 19 - Ezra Pound is awarded the first Bollingen Prize in poetry by the Bollingen Foundation and Yale University.
February 22 - Grady the Cow, a 1,200-pound cow gets stuck inside a silo on a farm in Yukon, Oklahoma and garners national media attention.
March-April
March 1 - World heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis retires
March 1 - Indonesia seizes Yogyakarta from the Dutch
March 2 - The B-50 Superfortress ''Lucky Lady II'' under Captain '''James Gallagher''' lands in Fort Worth, Texas after completing the first non-stop around-the-world airplane flight. It was refueled in flight four times.
March 3 - The Tucker automobile Corporation folds.
March 12 - The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, Denver & Rio Grande Western and Western Pacific Railroad|Western Pacific railroads inaugurate the ''California Zephyr'' passenger train between Chicago, Illinois and Los Angeles, California as the first train to feature Vista Dome cars as regular equipment.
March 28 - United States Secretary of Defense James Forrestal resigns suddenly.
March 31 - The former British colony of Newfoundland and Labrador|Newfoundland joins Canada as its 10th province.
April 1 - Éire leaves the Commonwealth_of_England|Commonwealth and becomes the Republic of Ireland
April 4 - NATO is formed.
April 18 - Éire formally became the Republic of Ireland.
April 20 - Royal Navy frigate ''HMS Amethyst'' goes up the Yangtze River to evacuate British Commonwealth refugees escaping the advance of the Mao's communist forces. Under heavy fire it rans aground off Rose Island. After an aborted rescue attempt at April 26 it anchors 10 miles upstream. Negotiations with the communist forces to let the ship leave drag on for weeks
April 23 - Chinese communist troops take Nanking
April 29 - ''News Review'' reveals that neither Selhurst College nor its headmaster H. Rochester Sneath exist
May-June
May 5 - The Council of Europe is founded by the signing of the Treaty of London.
May 9 - Rainier III, Prince of Monaco|Rainier III of Monaco becomes Prince of Monaco.
May 11 - Israel is admitted to the U.N. as its 59th member.
May 11 - Siam changes its name to Thailand.
May 12 - Cold War: The Soviet Union lifts its Berlin Airlift|Blockade of Berlin.
May 20 - The AFSA (predecessor of the National Security Agency|NSA) is established.
May 22 - After two months in Bethesda Naval Hospital, James Forrestal commits suicide, under circumstances that seem suspicious to many.
May 23 - The Federal Republic of Germany is established.
EDSAC, the first stored-program computer, begins operation at Cambridge University.
June 2 - Transjordan becomes kingdom of Jordan
June 6 - With the passage of the Bodh Gaya Temple Act by the India|Indian government, Mahabodhi Temple is restored to partial Buddhism|Buddhist control.
June 8 - Red Scare: Such celebrities as Helen Keller, Dorothy Parker, Danny Kaye, Fredric March, John Garfield, Paul Muni and Edward G. Robinson are named in an FBI report as Communist Party members.
June 8 - George Orwell's book Nineteen Eighty-Four is published.
June 29 - Last US troops withdraw from South Korea
June 29 - Dock strike in the United Kingdom|UK
June 29 - Beginning of Apartheid - The ''South African Citizenship Act'' suspends the granting of citizenship to British Commonwealth immigrants after five years and imposes a ban on mixed marriages
July 31 - Captain Kerans of ''HMS Amethyst'' decides to make a break after the nightfall under heavy fire from both sides of the river and successfully rejoins the fleet at Woosung the next day
August
August 5 - In Ecuador an earthquake destroys 50 towns and kills more than 8000
August 5 - 6.75 Richter scale earthquake kills 6000 in Ecuador
August 8 - Bhutan becomes independent
August 14 - Gang of Salvatore Giuliano explodes mines under police barracks outside Palermo, Sicily
August 14 - Military coup in Syria ousts the president
August 28 - Last surviving veterans of the United States Civil War meet in Indianapolis - all six
August 29 - First meeting of the Council of Europe
August 29 - Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb.
September
September 5 - A former sharpshooter in World War II, Howard Unruh kills 13 neighbors in Camden, New Jersey with a souvenir Luger to become America's first single-episode mass murderer.
September 6 - Allies|Allied military authorities relinquish control of former Nazi Germany assets back to Germany|German control.
September 7 - Federal Republic of Germany officially founded. Konrad Adenauer is the first federal chancellor
September 9 - Albert Guay affair: dynamite bomb destroys Canadian Pacific Airlines Douglas DC-3 in Quebec
September 13 - Soviet Union vetoes United Nations membership of Ceylon, Finland, Iceland, Italy, Jordan and Portugal
September 17 - Canadian steamship SS Noronic burns in Toronto Harbor with the loss of over 118 lives.
September 24 - Laszlo Rajk, ex-foreign minister of Hungary, is sentenced to death.
September 29 - First Plenary Session of the National People's Congress approves design for the Flag of the People's Republic of China.
September 29 - Mrs. Iva Toguri D'Aquino is found guilty of broadcasting for Japan as "Tokyo Rose" during World War II.
October-December
October 1 - Birth of the People's Republic of China.
October 7 - Democratic Republic of Germany Deutsche Demokratische Republik|DDR established officially
October 13 - Severe flooding in Guatemala
October 16 - Civil war ends in Greece - communist troops surrender
October 17 - Chinese communist troops take Canton,_China
October 27 - An airliner flying from Paris to New York crashes near the Azores. Among the victims are violinist Ginette Neveu and boxer Marcel Cerdan.
November 24 - Opening day at the ski resort Squaw Valley California.
November 26 - The Indian Constituent Assembly adopts India's constitution. http://lawmin.nic.in/coi.htm December 8 - Nationalist Chinese finish their evacuation to Taiwan.
December 10- Robert Gordon (Bob) Menzies elected.
December 14 - Traicho Kostov, ex-vice prime minister of Bulgaria, is sentenced to death.
December 15 - Typhoon strikes fishing fleet off Korea - several thousand reported dead.
December 16 - Sukarno elected president of Republic of Indonesia.
December 17 - Burma recognizes People's Republic of China.
December 27 - Queen Juliana of the Netherlands grants Indonesia sovereignty.
December 30 - India recognizes People's Republic of China.
An Unknown Date
The Fourth Geneva Convention is signed.
''Pamir (ship)|Pamir'' is the last ''commercial'' sailing ship to sail round Cape Horn.
Births
January
January 2 - Christopher Durang, American playwright
January 7 - Steven Williams, American actor
January 8 - Wolfgang Puck, Austrian chef
January 10 - George Foreman, American boxer
January 10 - James Lapine, American stage director and librettist
January 10 - Linda Lovelace, American actress (d. 2002)
January 11 - Kalev Ots, Estonian statesman
January 12 - Wayne Wang, Hong Kong-born film director
January 13 - Brandon Tartikoff, American television executive (d. 1997)
January 14 - Lawrence Kasdan, American director and screenwriter
January 17 - Andy Kaufman, American comedian (d. 1984)
January 18 - Philippe Starck, French designer
January 19 - Robert Palmer (British singer)|Robert Palmer, English musician (d. 2003)
January 20 - Göran Persson, Prime Minister of Sweden
January 24 - John Belushi, American actor (d. 1982)
January 30 - Peter Agre, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
January 31 - Ken Wilber, American philosopher
February
February 2 - Brent Spiner, American actor
February 9 - Jim Sheridan, Irish film director
February 10 - Maxime Le Forestier, French singer
February 10 - Harold Sylvester, American actor
February 15 - Ken Anderson, American football player
February 18 - Gary Ridgway, American serial killer
February 19 - Dan Bunten, American computer game designer(d. 1998)
February 22 - Niki Lauda, Austrian race car driver
February 25 - Ric Flair, American professional wrestler
March
March 2 - Gates McFadden, American actress
March 2 - Eddie Money, American singer
March 2 - JPR Williams, Welsh rugby player
March 3 - Jesse Jefferson, baseball player
March 6 - Shaukat Aziz, Prime Minister of Pakistan
March 6 - Martin Buchan, Scottish footballer
March 7 - Ghulam Nabi Azad, Indian politician
March 10 - Larry Wall, American computer programmer
March 12 - Bill Payne, American musician (Little Feat)
March 13 - Julia Migenes, American soprano
March 16 - Erik Estrada, Puerto Rican actor
March 16 - Victor Garber, Canadian actor
March 17 - Patrick Duffy, American actor
March 22 - Fanny Ardant, French actress
March 23 - Ric Ocasek, American musician (The Cars)
March 24 - Nick Lowe, American musician
March 26 - Patrick Süskind, German writer
March 30 - Marcia Ball, American musician
March 30 - Lene Lovich, American singer
April-June
April 1 - Gérard Mestrallet, French businessman
April 1 - Gil Scott-Heron, American musician and composer
April 3 - Richard Thompson, British musician and songwriter
April 6 - Horst Ludwig Störmer, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel Prize laureate
April 7 - John Oates, American musician (Hall and Oates)
April 14 - John Shea, American actor
April 16 - Sandy Hawley, Canadian jockey
April 17 - Claudia de Santa-Fe, American painter and sculptor
April 18 - Geoff Bodine, American race car driver
May 4 - John Force, American race car driver
May 9 - Billy Joel, American musician
May 18 - Rick Wakeman, English musician and songwriter (Yes (band)|Yes)
May 18 - Bill Wallace, Canadian musician (The Guess Who)
May 19 - Archie Manning, American football player
May 24 - Tomaz Pisanski|Tomaž Pisanski, Slovenian mathematician
May 26 - Philip Michael Thomas, American actor
May 26 - Hank Williams Jr., American singer
May 31 - Tom Berenger, American actor
June 8 - Emanuel Ax, Polish-born pianist
June 13 - Ann Druyan, writer
June 14 - Jimmy Lea, English musician (Slade)
June 14 - Harry Turtledove, American historian and novelist
June 21 - John Agard, British poet and playwright
June 21 - Jane Urquhart, Canadian author
June 24 - Albert Zappelli, American Educator
July-September
July 3 - Jan Smithers, American actress
July 15 - Carl Bildt, Prime Minister of Sweden
July 17 - Charlie Steiner, American sportscaster
July 22 - Alan Menken, American composer
July 26 - Roger Meddows-Taylor|Roger Taylor, English musician (Queen (band)|Queen)
August 6 - Alan Campbell (pastor)|Alan Campbell, Irish minister
August 7 - Walid Jumblatt, leader of the Lebanese Druze
August 12 - Mark Knopfler, Swiss guitarist
August 15 - Richard Deacon, Welsh sculptor
August 23 - Shelley Long, American actress
August 23 - Rick Springfield, Australian singer and actor
August 25 - Martin Amis, English novelist
August 31 - Richard Gere, American actor
August 31 - H. David Politzer, American physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel Prize laureate
September 1 - P.A. Sangma, Indian politician
September 3 - Patriarch Peter VII of Alexandria (d. 2004)
September 7 - Lee McGeorge Durrell, American author, television presenter, and zookeeper
September 7 - Gloria Gaynor, American singer
September 14 - Eikichi Yazawa, Japanese singer
September 15 - Joe Barton, American politician
September 17 - Cassandra Peterson, American actress Elvira
September 18 - Mo Mowlam, British politician (d. 2005)
September 23 - Bruce Springsteen, American singer and songwriter
September 27 - Mike Schmidt, baseball player
October-December
October 1 - Isaac Bonewits, American author and occultist
October 2 - Lorraine Bracco, American actress
October 8 - Sigourney Weaver, American actress
October 14 - Katy Manning, British actress
October 20 - Valeri Borzov, Ukrainian athlete
October 21 - Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel
October 22 - Stiv Bators, American musician (The Dead Boys) (d. 1990)
November 5 - Armin Shimerman, American actor
November 6 - Arturo Sandoval, Cuban musician
November 7 - Aiswarya, Queen of Nepal (d. 2001)
November 7 - Judi Bari, American environmental activist (d. 1997)
November 24 - Nicholas Richard Ainger, British politician
November 26 - Juanin Clay, American actress (d. 1995)
November 29 - Alexander Godunov, Russian-born dancer and actor (d. 1995)
December 3 - John Akii-Bua Ugandan hurdler (d. 1997)
December 4 - Jeff Bridges, American actor
December 4 - Pamela Stephenson, New Zealand-born comedienne, actress, and singer
December 7 - Tom Waits, American singer, composer, and actor
December 12 - Bill Nighy, English actor
December 13 – Randy Owen, lead singer of the country music band Alabama (band)|Alabama
December 14 - Bill Buckner, baseball player
December 15 - Don Johnson, American actor
December 17 - Paul Rodgers, British singer (free (band)|Free)
December 22 - Maurice Gibb, Australian musician (The Bee Gees) (d. 2003)
December 22 - Robin Gibb, Australian musician (The Bee Gees)
December 24 - Randy Neugebauer, American politician
December 25 - Sissy Spacek, American actress
December 25 - Joe Louis Walker, American musician
December 26 - José Ramos Horta, Foreign Minister of East Timor, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
Unknown date
William Hope (actor)|William Hope, Canadian actor
Deaths
January 6 - Victor Fleming, American director (b. 1883)
January 11 - Nelson Doubleday, American publisher (b. 1889)
January 14 - Joaquín Turina, Spanish composer (b. 1882)
January 28 - Jean-Pierre Wimille, French race car driver (b. 1908)
February 12 - Hassan al Banna|Imam Hassan al Banna, Egyptian founder of the Muslim Brotherhood (b. 1906)
March 30 - Friedrich Bergius, German chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1884)
April 19 - Ulrich Salchow, Swedish figure skater (b. 1877)
May 6 - Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian writer, Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
May 9 - Louis II, Prince of Monaco (b. 1870)
May 22 - James Forrestal, U.S. Secretary of Navy and Defense (suicide) (b. 1892)
May 22 - Klaus Mann, German writer (suicide) (b. 1906)
June 10 - Sigrid Undset, Norwegian writer, Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1882)
June 14 - Russell Doubleday, American author and publisher (b. 1872)
July 9 - Fritz Bennicke Hart, English-born composer (b. 1874)
July 12 - Douglas Hyde, first President of Ireland (b. 1860)
July 18- Vítězslav Novák, Czech composer (b. 1870)
August 18 - Paul Mares, American musician (b. 1900)
August 30 - Arthur Fielder, English cricketer (b. 1877)
September 8 - Richard Strauss, German composer (b. 1864)
September 13 - August Krogh, Danish zoophysiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1874)
September 19 - Will Cuppy, American humorist (b. 1884)
September 19 - Nikolaos Skalkottas, Greek composer (b. 1901)
October 27 - Marcel Cerdan, French boxer (plane crash) (b. 1916)
October 27 - Ginette Neveu, French violinist (plane crash) (b. 1919)
December 6 - Leadbelly, American musician (b. 1885)
December 11 - Krishna Chandra Bhattacharya, Indian philosopher (b. 1875)
December 16 - Sidney Olcott, Canadian film director (b. 1873)
December 28 - Hervey Allen, American author (b. 1889)
December 28 - Jack Lovelock, New Zealand athlete (b. 1910)
Nobel Prizes
Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics - Yukawa Hideki
Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry - William Francis Giauque
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Medicine - Walter Rudolf Hess, Antonio Caetano De Abreu Freire Egas Moniz
Nobel Prize in Literature|Literature - William Faulkner
Nobel Peace Prize|Peace - John Boyd Orr
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