1950
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'''1950''' '''(MCML)''' was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar).
Events
January
January 5 - U.S. Senator Estes Kefauver introduces a Resolution (law)|resolution calling for examination of organized crime in the U.S.
January 6 - The United Kingdom recognizes the People's Republic of China. The Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with Britain in response.
January 9 - The Israeli government recognizes the People's Republic of China.
January 11 - Huk guerillas attack the town of Hermosa, Bataan|Hermosa in Bataan, Philippines.
January 12 - Huk guerillas attack the town of Tuyn, kill two and torch the city of Staingnacan.
January 12 - British submarine ''Truculent'' collides with a Sweden|Swedish oil tanker in River Thames - 64 dead.
January 13 - Finland forms diplomatic relations to People's Republic of China
January 15 - Volcanic cloud kills 5000 in Mount Lamington, New Guinea
January 17 - The Great Brinks Robbery - 11 thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car in Boston, Massachusetts
January 21 - Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury
January 23 - The Knesset passes a resolution that states Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
January 24 - Cold War: Klaus Fuchs confesses his wartime espionage at Los Alamos to United Kingdom|British interrogators - formally charged February 2
January 26 - India promulgates its constitution forming a republic and Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as its first President of India|president.
January 28 - Somaliland is put under Italian mandate
January 29 - Lord Balfour criticizes the fact that rationing is still in force in United Kingdom|Britain
January 31 - President of the United States|President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb
January 31 - Last Kuomintang troops surrender in continental China
February
February 1 - Chiang Kai-shek re-elected as a president of the Republic of China
February 4 - Ingrid Bergman's illegitimate child arouses ire in USA
February 9 - Red scare: In his speech to the Republican Women's Club at the McClure Hotel in Wheeling, West Virginia, United States Senate|Senator Joseph McCarthy accuses the United States Department of State of being filled with 205 communism|Communists.
February 11 - Two Vietcong battalions attack a France|French base in French Indochina|Indochina
February 11 - Finland recognizes Indonesia
February 12 - Pro-communist riots in Paris
February 12 - European Broadcasting Union founded
February 13 - In USA army begins to deploy anti-aircraft cannons to protect nuclear stations and military targets
February 14 - The Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China sign a mutual defense treaty
February 15 - Juho Kusti Paasikivi re-elected president of Finland
February 19 - Konrad Adenauer tries unsuccessfully to negotiate with East Germany to begin unification.
February 12 - Albert Einstein warns that nuclear war could lead to mutual destruction
February - British Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party forms a new government.
March-April
March 1 - 7.25 PM West South Baptist Church(negro) in Bestridge, Nebraska blows up - all the choir is late for rehearsals
March 1 - Klaus Fuchs is convicted of spying for the Soviet Union by giving them top secret atomic bomb data.
March 1 - Acting Chinese President Li Tsung-jen ends his term in office
March 1 - Chiang Kai-shek resumes his duties as Chinese president after moving his government to Taipei, Taiwan
March 3 - Poland states that it intends to exile all Germans.
March 8 - The Soviet Union claims to have an atomic bomb.
March 12-March 13 - In Belgium, the referendum over the monarchy shows 57.7% support the return of king Léopold III of Belgium|Léopold III, 42.3% against.
March 14 - Ship Cygnet hits mine off the Netherlands|Dutch coast.
March 17 - University of California, Berkeley researchers announce the creation of element 98 which they have named "californium".
March 20 - Government of Poland decides to confiscate the property of Polish church
March 22 - Egypt demands that Britain remove all its troops in Suez Canal
April 15 - King Léopold III of Belgium announces that he is ready to abdicate in favor of his son Baudouin
April 24 - Jordan formally annexes West Bank
April 27 - Apartheid: In South Africa, the Group Areas Act is passed formally segregating races.
April 27 - Britain formally recognizes Israel
May-June
May 6 - Tollund Man found
May 9 - Robert Schuman presents his proposal on the creation of an organized Europe, indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful relations. This proposal, known as the "Schuman declaration", is considered to be the beginning of the creation of what is now the European Union.
May 11 - Kefauver Committee hearings about US organized crime begin
May 25 - Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel is formally opened to traffic
May 29 - St. Roch, first ship to circumnavigation|circumnavigate North America arrives in Halifax, Nova Scotia|Halifax Nova Scotia.
June 3 - First ascent of Annapurna|Annapurna I, 10th highest mountain in the world.
June 6 - Turkey: The Adhan in Arabic language|Arabic is legalized
June 8 - Sir Thomas Blamey becomes the only Field Marshal in Australian history.
June 10 - French police capture escaped murderer Emile Buisson in Paris restaurant
June 24 - 58 persons were killed when a commercial airliner crashed into Lake Michigan. The reason for the disaster is unknown. Only fragments of the plane and the bodies of passengers were ever found.
June 25 - Beginning of Korean War. In the USA, people began to hoard supplies in case of rationing and shortages.
June 25 - NSC-68 enacted by President Truman, setting US foreign policy for the next twenty years.
June 28 - Korean War - North Korean forces capture Seoul
June 29 - United States men's national soccer team|United States defeats England national football team|England 1-0 in the . For more details, see England v United States (1950).
July
July 5 - Sicilian bandit leader Salvatore Giuliano killed in a shootout with carabinieri
July 5 - Korean War: Task Force Smith - First clash between United States | American and North Korean forces.
July 5 - Zionism: The Knesset passes the Law of Return which grants all Jews the right to immigrate to Israel.
July 6 - East Germany agrees with Poland on the Oder-Neisse line - West Germany does not at this time
July 16 - Uruguay national football team|Uruguay beat Brazil national football team|Brazil 2-1 to win Football World Cup 1950|1950 World Cup
July 17 - Julius and Ethel Rosenberg arrested
July 19 - 15 SS-men sentenced to death in East Germany
July 20 - Tydings committee report to US senate denounces Joe McCarthy - he begins a public attack on members of the committee standing for election in 1950
July 20 - In Belgium, the United Chambers adopt a decree which reinstates King Léopold III of Belgium|Léopold III in his royal dignity.
July 23 - King Léopold III of Belgium returns to Brussels
July 24 - Hoax by J. Bam Morrison begins the tradition of "Sucker Day" in Wetumka, Oklahoma
July 25 - Walter Ulbricht elected the general secretary of the communist party of East Germany
July 28 - In Belgium, demonstrations and strikes break out as a result of King Léopold III of Belgium|Léopold III's return. In Liège (city)|Liège, three labourers are shot.
August-September
August 5 - Florence Chadwick swims over English Channel in 13 hours, 22 minutes
August 5 - A bomb-laden B-29 Superfortress crashes into a residential area in California. 17 dead, 68 injured.
August 6 - Riot in Brussels in monarchist demonstrations
August 8 - Winston Churchill supports idea of pan-European army allied with Canada and USA
August 15 - Earthquake and floods in Assam, India - 574 deaths, 5,000,000 believed homeless
September 1 - Hungarian major general Laszlo Viragen defects to Austria and applies for refugee|political asylum
September 4 - Beetle Bailey comic strip started.
September 7 - Coal mine collapses in New Cumnock, Scotland - 13 miners dead. 116 rescued.
September 7 - The gameshow Truth or Consequences debuts on television.
September 12 - Communist riots in Berlin
September 13 - First main-line diesel-electric locomtives run in Australia
September 15 - Allied troops land in Incheon|Inchon, occupied by North Korea, to begin the Battle of Inchon.
September 19 - West Germany decides to fire all its communist officials
September 26 - Indonesia admitted to the United Nations
October
October 1 - The comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz is first published in seven US newspapers.
October 3 - Getúlio Dornelles Vargas, elected president of Brazil, for a five-year term.
October 5 - Indonesian government quells riots in the Moluccas
October 11 - The Federal Communications Commission issues the first license to broadcast television in color, to CBS (RCA will successfully dispute and block the license from taking effect, however).
October 15 - In East Germany, communists win 99.7% of the vote
October 20 - Australia passes the Communist Party Dissolution Act, later struck down by the High Court.
October - Sister Mary Teresa begins her charity work in Calcutta and becomes known as Mother Teresa
November
November 1 - Pope Pius XII dogmatic definition|defines a new dogma of Roman Catholicism: that God assumption of Mary|assumed Mary's body into Heaven after her death.
November 1 - Puerto Rican nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempt to assassinate US President Harry S. Truman, who is staying at the Blair-Lee House in Washington, D.C. during White House repairs.
November 4 - United Nations ends the diplomatic isolation of Spain
November 8 - Korean War: While in an F-80, United States Air Force Lt. Russell J. Brown intercepts two North Korean MiG-15s near the Yalu River and shots them down in the first jet-to-jet dogfight in history.
November 11 - The Mattachine Society founded in Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles as the first Gay liberation organization
November 13 - Colonel Carlos Delgado Chalbaud is kidnapped and murdered in Caracas.
November 18 - United Nations accepts the formation of Libyan national council
November 20 - T. S. Eliot speaks against television in the UK
November 22 - Anti-British riots in Egypt
November 22 - Shirley Temple announces her retirement from show business
November 23 - George Robb was born in Aylth, Scotland
November 26 - Korean War: Troops from the People's Republic of China move into North Korea and launch a massive counterattack against South Korean and United States | American forces, ending any thought of a quick end to the conflict.
November 28 - Greece and Yugoslavia reform diplomatic relations
November 29 - Korean War: North Korean and People's Republic of China | Chinese troops force a desperate retreat of United Nations forces from North Korea.
November 30 - Truman threatens to use nuclear weapons in Korea
December
December 3 - Etna volcano erupts in Sicily
December 12 - Paula Ackerman becomes the first woman in the United States to serve a congregation as a Rabbi, a few weeks after the death of her husband.
December 24-December 25 - Scottish nationalists take the Stone of Scone from Westminster Abbey
December 28 - The Peak District becomes Britain's first National parks (England and Wales)|National Park.
Unknown date
Ralph Schneider founds Diners Club - it initially only works in 27 restaurants in New York City.
United Nations building finished.
First pagers developed.
Antihistamine discovered.
First TV remote control, Zenith Electronics Corporation|Zenith Radio's ''Lazy Bones'' is marketed.
IBM Israel begins operating in Tel Aviv
Japanese soldier Yuichi Akitsu surrenders in the Philippines
President Harry Truman sends United States military personnel to Vietnam to aid France|French forces.
National Council of Churches|National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA founded.
Births
January-February
January 12 - Sheila Jackson Lee, American politician
January 16 - Debbie Allen, American actress, dancer, and choreographer
January 18 - Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver
January 21 - Billy Ocean, West Indian-born musician
January 23 - Richard Dean Anderson, American actor
January 24 - Benjamin Urrutia, Ecuadoran author and scholar
January 29 - Jody Scheckter, South African race car driver
February 3 - Morgan Fairchild, American actress
February 4 - Pamela Franklin, British actress
February 6 - Natalie Cole, American singer
February 10 - Mark Spitz, American swimmer
February 12 - Michael Ironside, American actor
February 13 - Peter Gabriel, British musician
February 16 - Peter Hain, British politician
February 18 - John Hughes (film director)|John Hughes, American film director, producer, and writer
February 20 - Ken Shimura, Japanese television performer and actor
February 22 - Julius Erving, American basketball player
February 22 - Julie Walters, English actress
February 22 - Miou-Miou, French actress
February 22 - Ellen Greene, American actress
February 25 - Neil Jordan, Irish film director, writer, and producer
February 25 - Néstor Kirchner, President of Argentina
February 26 - Helen Clark, Prime Minister of New Zealand
March-April
March 2 - Carpenters|Karen Carpenter, American singer and drummer (d. 1983)
March 4 - Rick Perry, Governor of Texas
March 9 - Doug Ault, baseball player (d. 2004)
March 9 - Danny Sullivan, American race car driver
March 11 - Bobby McFerrin, American singer
March 11 - Jerry Zucker, American film producer, director, and writer
March 13 - William H. Macy, American actor
March 18 - Brad Dourif, American actor
March 20 - William Hurt, American actor
March 26 - Teddy Pendergrass, American singer
March 29 - Bud Cort, American actor
March 30 - Robbie Coltrane, British actor and comedian
April 3 - Sally Thomsett, British actress
April 4 - Christine Lahti, American actress
April 5 - Agnetha Fältskog, Swedish singer and songwriter (ABBA)
April 10 - Ken Griffey, Sr., baseball player
April 12 - Kari Palaste, Finnish architect
April 22 - Peter Frampton, English musician
April 25 - Lenora Fulani | Lenora Branch Fulani, American Presidential candidate
April 28 - Jay Leno, American comedian and talk show host
April 29 - Paul Holmes , a radio and television broadcaster in New Zealand
May-September
May 1 - Danny McGrain, Scottish footballer
May 1 - Dann Florek, American actor
May 3 - Howard Ashman, American lyricist (d. 1991)
May 7 - Randall Cobb|Randall 'Tex' Cobb, American boxer and actor
May 12 - Bruce Boxleitner, American actor
May 12 - Gabriel Byrne, Irish actor
May 13 - Stevie Wonder, American singer and musician
May 16 - Johannes Georg Bednorz, German physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel Prize laureate
May 17 - Janez Drnovšek, Slovene politician
May 17 - Valeria Novodvorskaya, Russian politician and dissident
May 18 - Thomas Gottschalk, German television host
May 18 - Rodney Milburn, American athlete (d. 1997)
May 18 - Mark Mothersbaugh, American composer and musician (Devo)
May 22 - Bernie Taupin, English songwriter
May 22 - Mary Tamm, British actress
June 1 - Tom Robinson, English singer and musician
June 3 - Suzi Quatro, American singer and actress
June 6 - John Byrne, American comic book creator
July 18 - Richard Branson|Sir Richard Branson, British entrepreneur
July 18 - Glenn Hughes (singer)|Glenn Hughes, American vocalist (d. 2001)
July 19 - Per-Kristian Foss, Norwegian Minister of Finance
August 11 - Gennidy Nikonov, Russian weapon designer
August 14 - Bob Backlund, American professional wrestler
August 15 - Anne, Princess Royal of England
August 16 - Hasely Crawford, West Indian athlete
August 27 - Charles Fleischer, American actor
September 2 - Rosanna DeSoto, American actress
September 14 - Paul Kossoff, British guitarist (free (band)|Free) (d. 1976)
September 17 - Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat
September 21 - Charles Clarke, British politician
September 21 - Bill Murray, American actor and comedian
September 28 - John Sayles director and screenwriter
October-December
October 1 - Randy Quaid, American actor
October 5 - Jeff Conaway, American actor
October 9 - Jody Williams, American teacher and aid worker, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
October 12 - Takeshi Kaga|Kaga Takeshi, Japanese actor
October 22 - Bill Owens, Governor of Colorado
October 28 - Sihem Bensedrine, Tunisian human rights activist
October 31 - John Candy, American comedian and actor
October 31 - Jane Pauley, American television broadcaster and journalist
November 1 - Robert B. Laughlin, American physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel Prize laureate
November 21 - Alberto Juantorena, Cuban athlete
November 22 - Lyman Bostock, baseball player (d. 1978)
November 28 - Russell Alan Hulse, American physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel Prize laureate
December 1 - Keith Thibodeaux, American actor and musician
December 5 - Camarón de la Isla, Spanish singer (d. 1992)
December 18 - Leonard Maltin, American film critic
December 23 - Michael C. Burgess, American politician
December 25 - Manny Trillo, baseball player
Unknown date
Charles Lee Ray, American serial killer (d. 1988)
Deaths
January 21 - George Orwell, English author (b. 1903)
February 6 - Georges Imbert, Alsatian chemist (b. 1884)
February 25 - George Minot, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1885)
March 5 - Sid Grauman, American restaurateur (b. 1895)
March 9 - Danny Sullivan, American race car driver
March 19 - Walter Haworth, British chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1883)
March 19 - Edgar Rice Burroughs, American author (b. 1875)
March 24 - James Rudolph Garfield, U.S. politician (b. 1865)
March 30 - Joe Yule, Scottish-born comedian (b. 1894)
April 19 - Ernst Robert Curtius, Alsatian philologist (b. 1886)
May 1 - Lothrop Stoddard, American eugenicist (b. 1883)
May 9 - Esteban Terradas i Illa, Catalan mathematician, scientist, and engineer (b. 1883)
May 10 - Belle da Costa Greene, American librarian, bibliographer, and archivist (b. 1883)
July 22 - William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canadian politician (b. 1874)
September 10 - Raymond Sommer, American race car driver (b. 1906)
September 11 - Jan Smuts|Jan Christian Smuts, Prime Minister of South Africa (b. 1870)
September 21 - Arthur Milne, British space physicist (b. 1896)
October 23 - Al Jolson, American musician (b. 1886)
October 29 - King Gustav V of Sweden (b. 1858)
November 2 - George Bernard Shaw, Irish writer, Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1856)
November 3 - Koiso Kuniaki, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1880)
November 25 - Johannes Vilhelm Jensen, Danish writer, Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1873)
December 2 - Dinu Lipatti, Romanian pianist (b. 1917)
December 5 - Shri Aurobindo, Indian guru (b. 1872)
December 11 - Leslie Comrie, New Zealand astronomer and computing pioneer (b. 1893)
December 27 - Max Beckmann, German painter (b. 1884)
Date unknown
Ernest Cherrington, American temperance movement leader (b. 1877)
William E. Johnson, American Anti-Saloon League leader (b. 1862)
Nobel Prizes
Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics - Cecil Frank Powell
Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry - Otto Paul Hermann Diels, Kurt Alder
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Medicine - Edward Calvin Kendall, Tadeus Reichstein, Philip Showalter Hench
Nobel Prize in Literature|Literature - Bertrand Russell|Earl (Bertrand Arthur William) Russell
Nobel Peace Prize|Peace - Ralph Bunche
Laurent Schwartz, Atle Selberg
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