1949

1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar).

Events

January

January 2 - Luis Muñoz Marín became the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
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 17 - The first Volkswagen Beetle to arrive in the United States, a 1948 model, is brought over to New York by Dutch businessman Ben Pon. Unable to interest dealers or importers in the Volkswagen, Pon sells the sample car to pay his travel expenses. Only two 1949 models will be sold in America. that year, convincing Volkswagen chairman Heinrich Nordhoff that the car has no future in the U.S. (The VW Beetle goes on to become the greatest automobile phenomenon in American history.)
January 22 - Communist Party of China 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.
January 26 - Australian Citizenship comes into being.

February

February 1 - Rationing of clothes ends in Britain
February 8 - 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 - 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

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 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 25 - The extensive deportation campaign was conducted in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The Soviet authorities deported more than 92,000 people from Baltics to remote areas of the Soviet Union.
March 28 - United States Secretary of Defense James Forrestal resigns suddenly.
March 31 - The former British colony of Newfoundland joins Canada as its 10th province.

April

April 1 - Éire leaves the British Commonwealth and becomes the Republic of Ireland
April 1 - Founding of the Tokyo Stock Exchange
April 4 - North Atlantic Treaty is signed in Washington, DC.
April 14 - The day the N'Ko alphabet is held to have been completed by Solomana Kante.
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 runs 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

May 5 - The Council of Europe is founded by the signing of the Treaty of London.
May 9 - Rainier III of Monaco becomes Prince of Monaco, upon the death of his maternal grandfather Louis II.
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 Blockade of Berlin.
May 20 - The AFSA (predecessor of the 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-July

June 2 - Transjordan becomes kingdom of Jordan
June 6 - With the passage of the Bodh Gaya Temple Act by the Indian government, Mahabodhi Temple is restored to partial 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 24 - First Television Western, Hopalong Cassidy, airs on NBC.
June 29 - Last US troops withdraw from South Korea
June 29 - Dock strike in the 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 the HMS Amethyst decides to make a break after nightfall under heavy fire from the Chinese People's Liberation Army both sides of the Yangtze River and successfully rejoins the fleet at Woosung the next day.

August

August 5 - 6.75 Richter scale earthquake in Ecuador kills 6000 and destroys 50 towns.
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, code named "Joe 1." Its design imitated the American plutonium bomb that was droped on Nagasaki in 1945.

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 - Allied military authorities relinquish control of former Nazi Germany assets back to 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-November

October 1 - Birth of the People's Republic of China.
October 7 - Democratic Republic of Germany 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 in the Azores island of São Miguel. Among the victims are violinist Ginette Neveu and boxer Marcel Cerdan.
November 15 - Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte executed for assassinating Mahatma Gandhi.
November 24 - Opening day at the ski resort Squaw Valley California.
November 26 - The Indian Constituent Assembly adopts India's constitution. ^*

December

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.

unknown date

The Fourth Geneva Convention is signed.
Pamir is the last commercial sailing ship to sail round Cape Horn.
The Malta Labour Party is founded
The Vatican announced that bones uncovered in its subterranean catacombs could be the apostle Peter. 19 years later, Pope Pius XII announced confirmation that the bones belonged to this first saint. "Year by Year 1949" -- History Channel International

Births

January

January 2 - Christopher Durang, American playwright
January 3 - Sylvia Likens, torture victim.
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 15 - Ronnie Van Zant, lead singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd (d. 1977)
January 17 - Andy Kaufman, American comedian (d. 1984)
January 18 - Philippe Starck, French designer
January 19 - Robert Palmer, English musician (d. 2003)
January 19 - Dennis Taylor, Northern Irish snooker player
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 3 - Hennie Kuiper, Dutch cyclist, World Champion in 1975
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 16 - Lyn Paul, English female singer
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 12 - Natalia Kuchinskaya, Soviet gymnast
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 17 - Pat Rice, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
March 18 - Alex Higgins, Northern Irish snooker player
March 21 - Eddie Money, American musician
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
March 30 - Naomi Sims, American fashion model and businesswoman

April

April 1 - Gérard Mestrallet, French businessman
April 1 - Sammy Nelson, Northern Irish footballer
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 laureate
April 7 - John Oates, American musician (Hall and Oates)
April 14 - John Shea, American actor
April 16 - Sandy Hawley, Canadian jockey
April 18 - Geoff Bodine, American race car driver

May

May 4 - John Force, American race car driver
May 7 - Tanya Falan, American singer
May 9 - Billy Joel, American musician
May 18 - Rick Wakeman, English musician and songwriter (Yes)
May 18 - Bill Wallace, Canadian musician (The Guess Who)
May 19 - Archie Manning, American football player
May 24 - 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

June 2 - Heather Couper, British Astronomer
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 18 - Chris Van Allsburg, American author and illustrator
June 18 - Lech Kaczynski, Polish president, 2005-present
June 18 - Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Polish politician, twin brother of Lech Kaczynski
June 18 - Prince Lincoln Thompson, Jamaican musician (d. 1999)
June 21 - John Agard, British poet and playwright
June 21 - Jane Urquhart, Canadian author

July

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 Taylor, English musician (Queen)

August

August 6 - Alan Campbell, Northern Irish clergyman
August 7 - Walid Jumblatt, leader of the Lebanese Druze
August 12 - Mark Knopfler, English guitarist, Dire Straits
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 laureate

September

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 19 - Twiggy Lawson, English model
September 23 - Bruce Springsteen, American singer and songwriter
September 27 - Mike Schmidt, baseball player

October

October 1 - Isaac Bonewits, American author and occultist
October 7 - Ronnie Mund, Ronnie The Limo Driver from radio's The Howard Stern Show
October 8 - Sigourney Weaver, American actress
October 12 - Carlos (Ilich Ramírez Sánchez), Assassin and Terrorist
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

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 25 - Kerry James O'Keeffe, Australian Test cricketer and commentator
November 26 - Juanin Clay, American actress (d. 1995)
November 28 - Alexander Godunov, Russian-born dancer and actor (d. 1995)
November 29 - Jerry Lawler, American professional wrestler, and commentator

December

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 14 - Bill Buckner, baseball player
December 16 - Billy Gibbons, American guitarist (ZZ Top)
December 17 - Paul Rodgers, British singer (Free)
December 19 - Sebastian, Danish musician
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

Bill Farmer, American comedian, voiceover actor
William Hope, Canadian actor

Deaths

January-June

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 - Imam Hassan al Banna, Egyptian founder of the Muslim Brotherhood (b. 1906)
March 30 - Friedrich Bergius, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1884)
April 18 - Will Hay, British comedian & actor (b. 1888)
April 19 - Ulrich Salchow, Swedish figure skater (b. 1877)
May 6 - Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian writer, 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 laureate (b. 1882)
June 14 - Russell Doubleday, American author and publisher (b. 1872)

July-December

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 - George Shiels, Northern Irish dramatist (b. 1886)
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

References

1949

Gourt Home::Gourt :: 1949

Events

January

February

March

April

May

June-July

August

September

October-November

December

unknown date

Births

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Unknown date

Deaths

January-June

July-December

Nobel prizes

References