Important Events in 1946
- Jan 10 UN General Assembly meets for 1st time in London
- Jan 17 United Nations Security Council holds its 1st meeting
- Feb 24 General Juan Perón first elected President of Argentina
- Mar 2 Ho Chi Minh elected President of North Vietnam
- Mar 5 Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech in Fulton, Missouri, popularizes the term and draws attention to the division of Europe
- Mar 28 Cold War: The United States State Department releases the Acheson-Lilienthal Report, outlining a plan for the international control of nuclear power.
- May 22 First US rocket (WAC Corporal) to reach edge of space fired from White Sands Missile Range New Mexico
- Aug 16 Direct Action Day: Widespread riots erupt in Calcutta between Muslims and Hindus over whether Pakistan should be a separate state, killing over 4,000 and leaving 100,000 homeless
- Sep 30 22 Nazi leaders, including Joachim von Ribbentrop and Hermann Goering, are found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to death or prison at the Nuremberg war trials
- Dec 11 UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) established (Nobel 1965)
- Dec 12 UN accepts 6 Manhattan blocks as a gift from John D. Rockefeller Jr
More Historical Events
1946 in Film & TV
- Jul 25 At Club 500 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis stage their first show as a comedy team
- Aug 23 "The Big Sleep" directed by Howard Hawks and starring Humphrey Bogart (Philip Marlowe) and Lauren Bacall first premieres
- Dec 20 Christmas classic "It's a Wonderful Life" film premieres in New York, directed by Frank Capra, starring James Stewart, Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore
1946 in Music
- May 16 "Annie Get Your Gun" musical by Irving Berlin, Dorothy and Herbert Fields opens at Imperial Theater NYC, starring Ethel Merman and featuring "There's no Business Like Show Business"
- Oct 18 Aaron Copland's 3rd Symphony premieres
- Dec 11 Hank Williams begins to record on Sterling label
1946 in Sport
Did You Know?
World War II: Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 116 of 156 captured U-boats
On February 11, 1946
Famous People in 1946
Fredric March
Oscar for Best ActorJames F. Byrnes
Time Person
of the YearOlivia de Havilland
Oscar for Best Actress
World Leaders in 1946
Clement Attlee
British Prime MinisterHarry Truman
33rd US PresidentJoseph Stalin
Soviet General Secretary
Famous Weddings in 1946
- Jan 17 Actor John Wayne (38) weds actress Esperanza Baur in Long Beach, California
- Feb 10 1st black pro-baseball player Jackie Robinson marries Rachel Isum
- Feb 18 MLB baseball player Hank Greenberg (35) weds heiress Caral Gimbel in Sea Island, Georgia
Famous Divorces in 1946
- Aug 8 Esta Krakower divorces mobster Bugsy Siegel (40) after 17 years of marriage
More Weddings & Divorces
1946 in Articles and Photos
Bikini Atoll is Evacuated
Residents of Bikini Atoll are evacuated to make way for nuclear testing
March 7, 1946Swimwear Reduced to Bare Essentials
Now a common sight on beaches across the world, the bikini created a sensation when a French mechanic launched it on this day in history.
July 5, 1946Nuremberg Trials
Hermann Goering on trial at the Nuremberg Trials. He would later be sentenced to death, but committed suicide the night before his sentence was to be carried out.
September 30, 1946