August 1950 in History

Events in History

Aug 11 Ethel Rosenberg testifies before grand jury on allegations of spying for the Soviet Union

Aug 12 Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Humani generis

Aug 13 US President Harry Truman gives military aid to Vietnamese regime of Bảo Đại

Aug 15 Sukarno proclaims the unitary Republic of Indonesia and becomes its 1st President

Aug 16 West Indies complete historic 3-1 series win against England
Aug 17 Indonesia gains independence from Netherlands
Aug 18 Julien Lahaut, the chairman of the Communist Party of Belgium is assassinated by far-right elements.
Aug 22 Abdel Rehim swims English Channel (10:50)
Aug 22 Rotterdam dock strike ends
Aug 23 West Germany & Japan readmitted to Intl Amateur Athletic Federation
Aug 24 Edith Sampson named 1st African American US delegate to UN
Aug 25 US President Harry Truman orders army to take control of railroad to avert a strike
Aug 27 General Foods blacklists Jean Muir of Aldrich Family for alleged communist sympathies
Aug 28 Earle & Roy Mack, purchase 54% of the Philadelphia A's from Connie Mack Jr

Aug 1 Doug Tracht, American radio DJ (Greaseman), born in The Bronx, New York
Aug 2 Lance Ito, American judge (O.J. Simpson trial), born in Los Angeles, California
Aug 2 Sue Rodriguez, Canadian assisted suicide advocate, born in Winnipeg, Manitoba (d. 1994)
Aug 3 John Landis, American director (Animal House; The Blues Brothers; Michael Jackson's Thriller video), born in Chicago, Illinois
Aug 6 Winston E Scott, USN Commander/astronaut (STS 72, 87), born in Miami, Florida

Aug 9 Canadian journalist who created the board game "Trivial Pursuit", born in Welland, Ontario

Aug 11 American pioneer of the personal computer revolution of the 1970s and co-founder of Apple Computer, born in San Jose, California

Aug 14 American cartoonist (The Far Side), born in Tacoma, Washington

Aug 16 Stockwell Day, Canadian politician
Aug 21 Arthur Bremer, American criminal who shot George Wallace in May 1972 leaving him paralyzed, born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Aug 22 I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney and convicted felon, born in New Haven, Connecticut
Aug 24 Tim White, American paleoanthropologist best known for leading the team which discovered Ardi, the type specimen of Ardipithecus ramidus, a 4.4 million-year-old likely human ancestor, born in Los Angeles County, California
Aug 27 Edmund Weiner, British lexicographer (Oxford English Dictionary), philologist, and co-author (The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary), born in Oxford, England
Aug 29 Dave Reichert, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Washington) and sheriff, born in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota
Aug 30 Antony Gormley, British sculptor (Angel of the North), born in London, England

Aug 5 Emil Abderhalden, Swiss physiologist and biochemist, dies at 73
Aug 8 Ernest Douwes Dekker, Indo-Dutch nationalist and founder of National-India Party, dies at 70
Aug 8 Fergus McMaster, Australian businessman and aviation pioneer (Qantas), dies at 71
Aug 18 Julien Lahaut, chairman Belgian Communist Party, murdered
Aug 19 Giovanni Giorgi, Italian physicist and electrical engineer (Giorgi system of measurement), dies at 78
Aug 22 Kirk Bryan, American geologist (b. 1888)
Aug 24 Ernst Wiechert, writer, dies at 63
Aug 26 Ransom Eli Olds, American auto (Oldsmobile) & truck (REO) manufacturer, dies at 86
Aug 27 Cesare Pavese, Italian writer (Fuoco Grande), dies at 41
Aug 30 Ralph Hancock, Welsh garden designer (Rockefeller Center), dies at 57