Events 1 - 200 of 360
Bradman Honored
Jan 1 Arguably cricket's greatest ever batsman, ex-Australian captain Don Bradman is knighted; first time a cricketer is bestowed with the honour solely for his contribution to the game
- Jan 1 KPRC TV channel 2 in Houston, TX (NBC) begins broadcasting
- Jan 1 KTTV TV channel 11 in Los Angeles, CA (MET) begins broadcasting
- Jan 1 Tokelau (Union) Islands formally becomes part of New Zealand
- Jan 2 KDKA TV channel 2 in Pittsburgh, PA (CBS) begins broadcasting
- Jan 2 Luis Muñoz Marín becomes the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico
- Jan 3 "Colgate Theater" dramatic anthology series premieres on NBC TV
- Jan 3 The central bank of the Philippines, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, is founded
- Jan 3 US Representative William Dawson becomes 1st Black to head congressional committee - Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments (now known as Committee on Oversight and Reform)
Weekes Record Century
Jan 3 West Indian cricket batsman Everton Weekes scores 101 in 3rd Test against India in Calcutta; his world record fifth consecutive Test century
- Jan 5 General Spoor orders cease-fire on Sumatra
"Fair Deal"
Jan 5 US President Harry Truman labels his administration the "Fair Deal"
Film & TV History
Jan 10 Gene Roddenberry applies for a position with the Los Angeles Police Department
- Jan 10 RCA introduces 45 RPM record
Arthur Godfrey and His Friends
Jan 12 "Arthur Godfrey and his Friends" premieres on CBS TV
- Jan 12 Dutch court affirms death sentence against SS chief Hanns Rauter
- Jan 14 Black and Indian race rebellion in Durban, South Africa; 142 die
- Jan 15 Mao's Red army conquers Ten-tsin
- Jan 16 KNBH (now KNBC) TV channel 4 in Los Angeles, CA (NBC) 1st broadcast
- Jan 16 WTOP (now WUSA) TV channel 9 in Washington, D.C. (CBS) 1st broadcast
- Jan 17 Radio series "The Goldbergs" by Gertrude Berg premieres on US TV on CBS
- Jan 18 "They Stand Accused" courtroom drama premieres on CBS (later DuMont)
- Jan 18 1st US Congressional standing committee headed by Negro (W Dawson)
- Jan 19 Cuba recognises Israel.
- Jan 20 1st inaugural parade televised, for Harry Truman, watched by 10 million people
Hoover's Shirley Temple Present
Jan 20 J. Edgar Hoover gives Shirley Temple a tear gas fountain pen
- Jan 20 US President Harry Truman announces his four point program
- Jan 22 Chinatown telephone exchange in San Francisco is closed
- Jan 25 1st Emmy Awards: Shirley Dinsdale & Pantomime Quiz (KTLA) win
First Israeli Election
Jan 25 First Israeli election won by David Ben-Gurion's Mapai party
- Jan 26 200" (5.08-m) Hale telescope 1st used at Palomar observatory in Palomar Mountain, California [see also June 3, 1948]
- Jan 26 Australia's Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948 comes into force granting Australian citizenship and nationality to all people born or naturalised in Australia including First Nations people
- Jan 26 WHIO TV channel 7 in Dayton, OH (CBS) begins broadcasting
- Jan 27 Chinese liner "Taiping" collides with a collier off south China
- Jan 28 NY Giants sign their 1st black players, Monte Irvin & Ford Smith
- Jan 28 UN Security council convicts Dutch aggression in Indonesia
- Jan 29 Great Britain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland recognize Israel
- Jan 31 1st US daytime soap on TV "These Are My Children" (NBC in Chicago)
Shah Assassination Attempt Fails
Feb 4 Failed assassination attempt on Shah of Persia Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
- Feb 5 Huaso sets official world equestrian high-jump record, 2.47 m, Chic
1st 100,000 Yankees Player
Feb 7 Joe DiMaggio becomes 1st $100,000 a year baseball player for the New York Yankees
- Feb 8 Hungarian cardinal József Mindszenty sentenced to life in prison
Lovesick Blues
Feb 11 "Lovesick Blues" single released by Hank Williams (Cashbox "Best Hillbilly Record of the Year", Billboard Song of the Year 1949)
- Feb 11 Willie Pep recaptures world featherweight boxing title
Radio History
Feb 12 Panic in Quito, Ecuador, after "War of the Worlds" played on radio
- Feb 12 Team Canada beats Denmark 47-0 in hockey
- Feb 14 1st session of Knesset (Jerusalem Israel)
- Feb 14 Dutch Drees government presents plan for the building of 30,000 houses
- Feb 17 Chaim Weitzman elected 1st president of Israel
- Feb 17 Ice Pairs Championship at Paris won by Andrea Kekesy and Ede Kiraly of Hungary
- Feb 17 Ladies' Figure Skating Champions in Paris won by Alena Vrzanova of CZE
Event of Interest
Feb 19 1st Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to Ezra Pound
- Feb 19 Mass arrests of communists in India
- Feb 20 1st International Pancake Race held (Liberal Ks)
- Feb 21 US TV soap opera "A Woman to Remember" is 1st broadcast on DuMont Television Network
- Feb 24 Israel & Egypt sign an armistice agreement
- Feb 24 V-2/WAC-Corporal rocket 1st object to reach 5x the speed of sound at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico
- Feb 25 WAC Corporal rocket achieves height of 400k (record)
- Feb 26 USAF plane began 1st nonstop around-the-world flight
First Israeli President
Feb 27 Chaim Weizmann becomes 1st President of Israel
- Mar 1 Indonesia seizes Yogyakarta from the Dutch
- Mar 2 1st automatic street light (New Milford, Ct)
- Mar 2 Lucky Lady II (USAF B-50 Superfortress), completes 1st nonstop round- the-world flight at Fort Worth, Texas, covering 23,452-mis in 94 hrs
- Mar 4 Piet Van de Pol of the Netherlands crowned world champion in billiards
- Mar 4 Security Council of UN recommends membership for Israel
- Mar 5 Bradman plays his last innings in 1st-class cricket, gets 30
- Mar 5 The Jharkhand Party is founded in India.
- Mar 8 WAGA TV channel 5 in Atlanta, GA (CBS) begins broadcasting
- Mar 8 WBAP-FM, Fort Worth Texas, begins broadcasting
- Mar 9 Brigadier General Edwin K Wright, USA, ends term as deputy director of CIA
- Mar 9 England beat South Africa by scoring 174 runs in 94 minutes
- Mar 15 Cricket's master batsman Don Bradman receives his knighthood from the Governor-General of Australia, the Rt Hon. WJ McKell at the investiture in Queen’s Hall, Parliament House, Melbourne
- Mar 15 WICU TV channel 12 in Erie, PA (NBC) begins broadcasting
- Mar 15 WLWD (now WDTN) TV channel 2 in Dayton, OH (NBC) begins broadcasting
- Mar 16 KFMB TV channel 8 in San Diego, CA (CBS) begins broadcasting
- Mar 18 WGAL TV channel 8 in Lancaster, PA (NBC) begins broadcasting
- Mar 19 1st museum devoted exclusively to atomic energy, Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Peggy Kirk Wins LPGA
Mar 20 LPGA Titleholders Championship Women's Golf, Augusta CC: Amateur Peggy Kirk wins her only major title by 2 strokes from Patty Berg and Dorothy Kirby
21st Academy Awards
Mar 24 21st Academy Awards: "Hamlet", Laurence Olivier & Jane Wyman win, Walter & John Huston become 1st father-and-son team to win awards
- Mar 24 SS police chief in the Netherlands Hanns Albin Rauter's request for a pardon denied, executed by firing squad
- Mar 25 The Soviet Union begins Operation Pribioi, the mass deportation of 90,000 Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians to inhospitable areas in the Soviet Union
- Mar 28 English astronomer Fred Hoyle coins the term "Big Bang" in a BBC radio talk while actually arguing for the alternative "steady-state" theory [1]
- Mar 29 Turkey recognizes Israel
- Mar 30 Riot breaks out in Austurvöllur square in Reykjavík, when Iceland joins NATO
- Mar 31 Newfoundland becomes Canada's 10th province
- Mar 31 RCA Victor of Camden, New Jersey, introduces the 45 RPM record player and the 7-inch single, a vinyl disc more durable than the 78 RPM shellac; initial releases include: Eddy Arnold's "Texarkana Baby"; Spade Cooley's "Spanish Fandango"; Arthur Crudup's "Crudup's After Hours"; and Saul Meisel's "A Klein Melamedl"
Troubled Island
Mar 31 William Grant Still's opera "Troubled Island" with libretto by Langston Hughes and Verna Arvey, premieres at the New York City Opera; 1st grand opera composed by an African American produced by a major company
- Apr 3 KQW-AM in San Francisco CA changes call letters to KCBS
- Apr 3 WLWS (now WCMH) TV channel 4 in Columbus, OH (NBC) begins broadcasting
- Apr 4 Israel & Jordan sign armistice agreement
- Apr 4 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) treaty signed in Washington, D.C.
- Apr 4 WKRC TV channel 12 in Cincinnati, OH (ABC) begins broadcasting
- Apr 5 60 year old St Anthony's Hospital in Effingham, Illinois, catches fire, killing 77 people
- Apr 5 Fireside Theater debuts on US television.
- Apr 9 UN International Court of Justice holds Albania responsible for incidents in Corfu Channel and awards Britain damages
- Apr 13 Philip S. Hench at Mayo Clinc announces discovery of cortisone to treat rheumatoid arthritis
- Apr 14 International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg's last judgment
Shoemaker's First Win
Apr 20 Jockey Bill Shoemaker wins his 1st race, in Albany, California
Event of Interest
Apr 25 Friedrich Durrenmatt's "Romulus der Grosse" premieres in Basel
- Apr 26 Transjordan is officially renamed the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
- Apr 28 Former Philippine First Lady Aurora Quezon, 61, assassinated while en route to dedicate a hospital in memory of her late husband; her daughter and 10 others also killed
- May 1 Athletics' Elmer Valo is the first AL baseball player to hit 2 bases-loaded triples in a game
- May 1 Gerard Kuiper discovers Nereid, (2nd satellite of Neptune)
Event of Interest
May 2 Arthur Miller wins a Pulitzer Prize for his play "Death of a Salesman"
- May 2 Bolivian state of siege proclaimed
- May 3 1st firing of a US Viking rocket; reached 80 km
- May 4 Plane carrying the entire Torino Serie A soccer squad crashes on the outskirts of Turin, Italy; 31 killed; Torino awarded League title at the request of their rivals
- May 5 Detroit Tigers second baseman Charlie Gehringer is elected in the Baseball Hall of Fame
- May 5 KGO TV channel 7 in San Francisco, California (ABC) begins broadcasting
- May 5 Statute of Council of Europe drawn up
- May 7 Roem–Van Roijen Agreement negotiated in Jakarta between Indonesian Republican Mohammad Roem and Jan Herman van Roijen for Netherlands - paves the way for independence
- May 8 West German constitution approved
- May 9 Britain's 1st launderette opens in Queensway, London
Rainier III
May 9 Prince Rainier III becomes monarch of Monaco
- May 11 By a vote of 37-12, Israel becomes 59th member of UN
- May 11 Siam renames itself Thailand
1st Foreign Woman Ambassador
May 12 1st foreign woman ambassador received in USA (Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit of India)
- May 13 1st British-produced jet bomber, the Canberra, makes its 1st test flight
- May 14 US President Harry Truman signs bill establishing a rocket test range at Cape Canaveral
- May 17 British government recognises Republic of Ireland (previously Irish Free State)
- May 18 Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America incorporates
- May 22 Brooklyn Dodgers Don Newcombe, in 1st MLB start, shuts out Cincinnati on 5 hits to win 3-0
- May 23 Federal Republic of [West] Germany created out of the American, British and French occupation zones
- May 25 Chinese Red army occupies Shanghai
- May 27 Martin Canine, cartoon character, spoofs Martin Kane
- May 27 MLB Cleveland Indians start 12-17, owner Bill Veeck arranges a "Second Opening Day"
- May 29 Candid Camera, TV comedy show, moves to NBC
- May 30 East German constitution approved
- May 30 NPS/VHP win 1st general election in Suriname
- May 30 WRTV TV channel 6 in Indianapolis, IN (ABC) begins broadcasting
- May 31 Charley Lupica begins stay on 4 foot square platform atop a 60' pole, vowing to stay until Indians clinch pennant. (They don't, & stays 117 days)
- Jun 1 British government grants Cyrenaica (East-Libya) independence
- Jun 1 KSL TV channel 5 in Salt Lake City, UT (CBS) begins broadcasting
- Jun 3 1st African American to graduate from US Naval Academy (Wesley Anthony Brown)
- Jun 3 Dragnet is 1st broadcast on radio (KFI in Los Angeles)
- Jun 3 Georgia Neese Clark Gray becomes the 1st female Treasurer of the United States
Cavalcade of Stars
Jun 4 "Cavalcade of Stars" television variety program debuts (DuMont); Jackie Gleason made host in 1950
Noddy's 1st Appearance
Jun 5 Enid Blyton's wooden toy character Noddy first appears in the "Sunday Graphic"
- Jun 6 "It Pays To Be Ignorant" game show debut on CBS-TV
- Jun 6 Orapin Chaiyakan becomes the first Thai woman to be elected to the Parliament of Thailand
- Jun 6 WKY (now KTVY) TV channel 4 in Oklahoma City, OK (NBC) 1st broadcast
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Jun 8 Secker & Warburg publishes George Orwell's seminal novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four", set in the totalitarian state of Oceania
Ghana's Convention People's Party
Jun 12 Kwame Nkrumah announces the formation of Ghana's Convention People's Party (CPP), the word "convention" chosen "to carry the masses with us"
'Gorgeous Gussie' Shocks Wimbledon
Jun 20 Tennis star Gussie Moran shocks Wimbledon by wearing a short dress "to look good and "move more freely on the court"
Charles vs Walcott
Jun 22 Ezzard Charles beats Jersey Joe Walcott in 15 for National Boxing Association world heavyweight title, at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois
- Jun 23 Dutch Constellation aircraft plunges into the sea near Bari, 33 die
- Jun 23 First twelve women graduate from Harvard Medical School
- Jun 24 "Hopalong Cassidy" becomes 1st network western (NBC)
- Jun 24 A. M. de Jong's murderer, Ton van Gog, arrested in Scheveningen, Netherlands
- Jun 24 Cargo airlines 1st licensed by US Civil Aeronautics Board
- Jun 25 "Long-Haired Hare", animated short starring Bugs Bunny, is released in theaters
- Jun 25 Presidential election in Syria (some women allowed to vote)
- Jun 26 1st Belgian parliamentary election where women can vote (CVP gains)
- Jun 27 "Captain Video & His Video Rangers" debut on DUMONT-TV - Television's first sci-fi series
- Jun 29 US troops withdraw from Korea after WW II
- Jun 30 Dutch troops evacuate Jakarta
Magna Carta of the Information Age
Jul 1 "Magna Carta of the Information Age" "A Mathematical Theory of Communication", article of book by Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver laying foundation for information theory, published in "Scientific American" [1]
- Jul 1 WBRC TV channel 6 in Birmingham, AL (ABC) begins broadcasting
- Jul 1 WCCO TV channel 4 in Minneapolis-St Paul, MN (CBS) begins broadcasting
- Jul 2 "Red Barber's Clubhouse" sports show premieres on CBS (later NBC) TV
- Jul 2 The State of Vietnam is internationally recognised, governing the southern half of Vietnam, with Bảo Đại as chief of state
- Jul 6 Cincinnati Reds catcher Walker Cooper goes 6 for 7, (3 HRs, 3 singles, 5 runs scored, 10 RBI) in 23-4 win v Chicago Cubs
- Jul 6 Freak heat wave sent central coast of Portugal to 158°F for 2 minutes
- Jul 7 "Dragnet" premieres on NBC radio; also a TV series in 1951 & 1967
- Jul 8 Monte Irvin & Hank Thompson, 1st black players for New York Giants, 4-3 loss to Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field
- Jul 8 South Africa's Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act commences, prohibiting marriage or a sexual relationship between White people and people of other races [1]
- Jul 10 1st practical rectangular TV tube announced in Toledo, Ohio
- Jul 10 WJAR TV channel 10 in Providence, Rhode Island (NBC) begins broadcasting
- Jul 12 Baseball owners agree to erect warning paths before each fence
- Jul 12 Dutch KLM Constellation crashes near Bombay, 45 die
- Jul 12 LA Rams sign Norm Van Brocklin
- Jul 13 Pope Pius XII excommunicates communist catholics
Spring Symphony
Jul 14 Benjamin Britten's choral symphony "Spring Symphony" premieres in Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
Czech Tennis Defections
Jul 14 Czech tennis stars Jaroslav Drobný and Vladimir Černík defect while playing in a tournament in Gstaad, Switzerland; Drobny accepts Egyptian citizenship
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