1951 in History

Events in History

Events 1 - 100 of 247

Event of Interest

Feb 3 Tennessee Williams' "Rose Tattoo" premieres in NYC

Playwright Tennessee Williams — Playwright
Tennessee Williams

Feb 4 US female Figure Skating championship won by Sonya Klopfer
Feb 4 US male Figure Skating championship won by Richard Button
Feb 6 "Broker Special" train crashes in Woodbridge NJ, killing 84

Event of Interest

Feb 6 Radio commentator Paul Harvey arrested for trying to sneak into Argonne National Laboratory, a nuclear test site located 20 miles (32 km) west of Chicago

ABC Radio Broadcaster Paul Harvey — ABC Radio Broadcaster
Paul Harvey

Feb 6 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site Argonne Atomic Lab (Ill), to demonstrate lax in security

Election of Interest

Feb 11 Kwame Nkrumah wins 1st parliamentary election in the Gold Coast (Ghana)

First President of Ghana Kwame Nkrumah — First President of Ghana
Kwame Nkrumah

Feb 16 NYC passes bill prohibiting racism in city-assisted housing
Feb 16 San Francisco City Hall dome fire
Feb 18 Nepal becomes a constitutional monarchy
Feb 18 Netherlands Radio School forms
Feb 21 SC House urges "Shoeless Joe" Jackson be reinstated
Feb 24 Ice Pairs Championship at Milan won by Ria Baran & Paul Falk of GER
Feb 24 Ladies' Figure Skating Champion in Milan won by Jeanette Altwegg of Great Britain
Feb 24 Men's Figure Skating Championship in Milan won by Richard Button of USA
Feb 25 1st Pan American Games opens (Buenos Aires Argentina)
Feb 26 Bread rationing in Czechoslovakia begins
Feb 27 22nd amendment ratified, limiting US Presidents to 2 terms
Feb 28 French government of Pleven dissolves
Feb 28 Senate committee reports of at least 2 major US crime syndicates
Mar 6 Belgium extends conscription to 24 months

Event of Interest

Mar 6 The trial of Julius Rosenberg and his wife Ethel Rosenberg begins

Alleged Soviet Spy Julius Rosenberg — Alleged Soviet Spy
Julius Rosenberg

Alleged Soviet Spy Ethel Rosenberg — Alleged Soviet Spy
Ethel Rosenberg

Mar 7 Lillian Hellman's "Autumn Garden" premieres in NYC
Mar 8 Intl Table Tennis Federation bans Egypt (for refusing to play Israel)

Event of Interest

Mar 9 Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam submit a classified paper at the Los Alamos lab, in which they proposed their revolutionary new design, staged implosion, for a practical megaton-range hydrogen bomb

Physicist Edward Teller — Physicist
Edward Teller

Event of Interest

Mar 10 FBI director J. Edgar Hoover declines post of baseball commissioner

First Director of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover — First Director of the FBI
J. Edgar Hoover

Mar 12 Baseball Commish Happy Chandler loses fight (9-7) to stay in office
Mar 12 Communist troops driven out of Seoul
Mar 12 Comic strip "Dennis the Menace," 1st appears in the British comic magazine The Beano'
Mar 13 2nd Dutch government of Drees forms
Mar 13 Israel demands DM 6.2 billion compensation from Germany
Mar 14 Earthquake at Euskirchen, Germany
Mar 15 UN forces recapture Seoul, the fourth and final time the city changes hands in the Korean War
Mar 15 Persia nationalizes Anglo-Iranian Oil Company
Mar 17 Government of Drees takes power
Mar 19 Herman Wouk's "Caine Mutiny" published

Mar 20 Indonesian army offensive against Darul Islam on Java
Mar 20 Fujiyoshida, a city located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, in the center of the Japanese main island of Honshū is founded
Mar 21 2,900,000 US soldiers in Korea
Mar 23 Wages in France increase 11%
Mar 25 E Purcell & EM Ewen detect 21-cm radiation at Harvard physics lab

Event of Interest

Mar 26 United States Air Force flag officially adopted by President Harry S. Truman

33rd US President Harry Truman — 33rd US President
Harry Truman

Event of Interest

Mar 29 American citizens Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are convicted and sentenced to death for conspiracy to commit espionage for the Soviet Union

Mar 31 US tanks exceed 38° of latitude in Korea
Apr 3 Christopher Fry's "Sleep of Prisoners" premieres in Oxford

Event of Interest

Apr 4 Dutch Prince Bernhard visits Argentine President Juan & Eva Perón in Buenos Aires

First Lady of Argentina Eva Perón — First Lady of Argentina
Eva Perón

Apr 5 Julius & Ethel Rosenberg, atomic spies, sentenced to death
Apr 7 American Bowling Congress begins 1st masters tournament
Apr 7 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak
Apr 11 US President Harry Truman relieves General Douglas McArthur of command in Korea
Apr 12 Israeli Knesset officially designates April 13 as Holocaust Day
Apr 15 Michael Gorsira is 1st person in charge of Curacao
Apr 16 British submarine Affray sank in English Channel, killing 75
Apr 18 Dutch Antilles government of Da Costa Gomez forms
Apr 18 France, West Germany & Benelux form European Steel & Coal Community

Event of Interest

Apr 19 General Douglas MacArthur ends his military career

US WWII General Douglas MacArthur — US WWII General
Douglas MacArthur

Apr 20 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak
Apr 20 Velsen city council demands investigation of police collaborators
Apr 22 Ticker-tape parade for General MacArthur in NYC
Apr 26 Queen Juliana opens Brielsche Mausoleum

Election of Interest

Apr 28 Mohammad Mosaddegh elected Prime Minister of Iran by the Parliament of Iran (Majlis)

Prime Minister of Iran Mohammad Mosaddegh — Prime Minister of Iran
Mohammad Mosaddegh

Apr 29 China seizes the assets of the Asiatic Petroleum Company, a joint venture between the Shell and Royal Dutch oil companies in retaliation for the Hong Kong Government's requisitioning of the tanker Yung Hao
May 1 600,000 march for peace & freedom in Germany
May 1 Dutch Reformed Church introduces new church choir
May 3 Royal Festival Hall opens in London

Birthdays in History

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 225

Jan 1 Frans Kellendonk, author (Ruin, The Good for Nothing)
Jan 1 Ashfaq Hussain, Urdu poet
Jan 2 Alexander Pogrebinsky, Russian painter
Jan 3 Frank Chikane, Secretary-General of South African Council of Churches
Jan 3 Gary Nairn, Australian politician
Jan 7 Talgat Musabayev, Kazakh test pilot & cosmonaut (TM-19, TM-27), born in Kargaly, Kazakhstan
Jan 7 Mike Ward, American politician, born in White Plains, New York
Jan 8 Kenny Anthony, Saint Lucian politician, born in Laborie, Saint Lucia
Jan 12 Rush Limbaugh, American right wing radio personality, born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Jan 12 Ann Althouse, American law professor, born in Wilmington, Delaware
Jan 18 Bram Behr, Surinamese journalist, born in Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles (d. 1982)
Jan 20 Magomed Omarovich Tolboyev, Russian cosmonaut & test-pilot, born in Sogratl', Russia

Eric Holder

Jan 21 Eric Holder, American lawyer and judge (1st African American US Attorney General 2009-2015), born in The Bronx, New York

Chesley Sullenberger

Jan 23 Chesley Sullenberger III, American pilot (successfully executed emergency landing US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River), born in Denison, Texas

Jan 28 Gordon Prentice, British MP
Jan 28 Leonid Konstantinovich Kadenyuk, Kkishkov Ukraine, astronaut (STS 87)
Jan 28 Brian Bilbray, American politician
Jan 31 Presiley Baxendale, British QC, born in London, England
Feb 1 Andrew Smith, British politician, born in Wokingham, United Kingdom
Feb 6 Maria Christina, Belgian princess & daughter of Leopold III, born in Brussels, Belgium
Feb 8 Z'EV, American text/sound artist (born Stefan Weisser)
Feb 9 Jay Inslee, (Rep-D-Washington)
Feb 10 Roxanne Pulitzer, author (Prize Pulitzer), born in Glendale, California
Feb 10 Zeudi Araya, Asmara Ethiopia, Miss Ethiopia (1969)
Feb 12 Steven Parent, Manson murder victim (d. 1969)
Feb 18 Isabel Preysler, Philippines-born Spanish socialite
Feb 19 Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri (Db), Pakistani Islamic Sufi Scholar

Gordon Brown

Feb 20 Gordon Brown, British Labour Prime Minister (2007–10), born in Giffnock, Scotland

Feb 22 Harley O Staggers Jr, (Rep-D-WV, 1983- )
Feb 23 Nicholas Kenyon, controller (BBC Radio 3)
Feb 27 Lee Atwater, Republican National Committee Chairman (1989-91)
Mar 1 Barbara DeAngelis, talk show hostess (Barbara DeAngelis Show)
Mar 3 Sergei Aleksandrovich Yemelyanov, Russian cosmonaut
Mar 4 Edelgard Bulmahn, German politician
Mar 4 Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, American novelist (d. 1982)
Mar 9 Michael Kinsley, American journalist and editor, born in Detroit, Michigan
Mar 9 Helen Zille, South African politician, born in Johannesburg
Mar 14 Jerry Greenfield, American businessman and co-founder of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, born in Brooklyn, New York
Mar 17 Donald Findlay, Scottish lawyer
Mar 18 Ben Cohen, American co-founder of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, born in Brooklyn, New York
Mar 20 Curt Smith, American author and media host
Mar 22 Musa Khiramanovich Manarov, USSR, cosmonaut (Soyuz TM-4, TM-11)
Mar 24 Kenneth S Reightler Jr, Patuxent R Md, Cmdr USN/astro (STS 48, 60)
Mar 24 Tommy Hilfiger, American fashion designer, born in Elmira, New York
Mar 30 Yves Séguin, Quebec politician
Apr 1 John Philip Abizaid, U.S. Army General, former CENTCOM commander
Apr 2 Moriteru Ueshiba, Japanese martial artist, born in Tokyo
Apr 4 Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia, born in Kampong Cham, Cambodia
Apr 5 Roosevel Ferguson, Arkansas, murderer (FBI Most Wanted List)
Apr 5 Dean Kamen, American engineer and inventor (Segway), born in Long Island, New York
Apr 10 Mark Roth, American professional bowler (4-time PBA Player of Year), born in Brooklyn, New York
Apr 10 David Helvarg, American journalist and environmental activist, born in Long Island, New York
Apr 11 Doris Angleton, American socialite and murder victim (d. 1997)
Apr 11 James Patrick Kelly, American sci-fi author (Think Like a Dinosaur), born in Mineola, New York
Apr 13 Jack Quinn, (Rep-R-New York)
Apr 14 Gregory [Greg] Winter, British Chemist (Nobel Prize for Chemistry 2018), born in Leicester, England
Apr 14 Gregory "Greg" Winter, British biochemist (Nobel Prize Chemistry 2018 antibodies for therapeutic use), born in Leicester, England
Apr 15 Hansel, Cuba, spanish personality
Apr 15 Heloise II, columnist (Heloise's Helpful Hints)
Apr 15 John L Phillips, Ft Belvoir Va, PhD/astronaut
Apr 15 Marsha S Ivins, astronaut (STS 32, 46, 62, 81), born in Baltimore, Maryland
Apr 16 Pierre Toutain-Dorbec, French photographer
Apr 16 Ioan Mihai Cochinescu, Romanian writer and photographer
Apr 18 Pierre Pettigrew, Canadian politician
Apr 19 Jóannes Eidesgaard, Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands
Apr 21 Aleksandr Ivanovich Laveykin, Russian cosmonaut (Soyuz TM-2)
Apr 21 Tony Danza, (Tony Banta-Taxi, Tony Micelli-Who's the Boss), born in Brooklyn, New York
Apr 21 Michael Hartley Freedman, American mathematician
Apr 22 Ana María Shua, Argentine poet
Apr 24 Andrew John Fairclough, trade union educator
Apr 25 Ian McCartney, Kirkintilloch, United Kingdom, British MP (1987-2010)
Apr 25 Linda Stone, pharmacist
May 1 Antony Worrall Thompson, English celebrity chef
May 3 Tatyana Tolstaya, Russian writer, born in St Petersburg, Russia
May 6 Samuel Doe, President of Liberia (d. 1990)
May 7 Mic Gillette, American brass player (Tower of Power, Cold Blood, The Sons of Champlin), born in Oakland, California (d. 2016)
May 10 Steve Gunderson, (Rep-R-WI, 1981- )
May 13 Jim Douglas, American politician, governor of Vermont
May 15 Frank Wilczek, American Physicist (2004 Nobel Prize), born in Mineola, New York
May 16 Christian Lacroix, French fashion designer, born in Arles
May 17 I R Evans, CEO (Hyder, Welsh Water)
May 17 Simon Hughes, British politician and government minister (SD)
May 20 Michael D Crapo, (Rep-R-Idaho)
May 20 Thomas D Akers, American former astronaut (STS 41, 49, 61, 79), born in St. Louis, Missouri
May 23 Antonis Samaras, Greek politician
May 24 Ronald A Parise, Warren Ohio, PhD/astronaut (STS 35, STS 67)
May 26 Muhammed Ahmad Faris, Syria, cosmonaut (Soyuz TM-3)
May 26 Madeleine Taylor-Quinn, Irish politician

Sally Ride

May 26 Sally Ride, American astronaut (first American woman to go to space), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2012)

May 27 Norma Jean Almodovar, American author (Cop to Call Girl) and sex worker activist, born in Binghampton, New York
May 29 Peter Chernin, President of News Corporation
May 30 Fernando Lugo, Paraguayan politician
Jun 2 Gilbert Baker, American gay activist, designed the rainbow flag, born in Canute, Kansas (d. 2017)
Jun 4 Yvonne MCT van Rooy, Dutch Secretary of State Secretary (CDA)
Jun 4 Charles Dickinson, American author
Jun 4 Wendy Pini, American comic book writer and artist
Jun 11 Mark D. Siljander, American politician, U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan (1981-87), born in Chicago, Illinois
Jun 11 Yasumasa Morimura, Japanese appropriation artist, born in Osaka, Japan
Jun 12 Andranik Margaryan, 14th Prime Minister of Armenia (2000-07), born in Yerevan, Armenia (d. 2007)
Jun 14 Paul Boateng, British politician

Weddings in History

Wedding of Interest

Feb 27 Activist W.E.B. Du Bois (83) weds award-winning author Shirley Graham (54) in Queens, New York

Civil Rights Activist W.E.B. Du Bois — Civil Rights Activist
W.E.B. Du Bois

Wedding of Interest

Apr 10 Industrialist Henry J. Kaiser (68) weds nurse Alyce Chester

Wedding of Interest

Apr 18 Cartoonist Charles M. Schulz (28) weds Joyce Halverson

Wedding of Interest

Jul 3 Author Maya Angelou (23) weds Thomas J. Angelos

Author, Poet and Activist Maya Angelou — Author, Poet and Activist
Maya Angelou

Wedding of Interest

Dec 13 British PM Margaret Thatcher (26) weds businessman Denis Thatcher (36) at Wesley's Chapel in City Road, London

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher — British Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher

Deaths in History

Jan 2 Sir William Campion, Governor of Western Australia (b. 1870)
Jan 5 Andrei P Platonov, Russian author (Prok, Kotlovan), dies at 51
Jan 7 Johanna C H "Nelly" Bodenheim, painter (Luilekkerland), dies at 76
Jan 7 René Guénon, French-Egyptian author (b. 1886)
Jan 10 [Harry] Sinclair Lewis, American writer (Nobel Prize in Literature 1930), dies from advanced alcoholism at 65
Jan 10 Yoshio Nishina, Japanese physicist (known as the founding father of modern physics research in Japan), dies at 60
Jan 18 Robert Mark, US chairman (Caste World Congress), dies at 41
Jan 22 Karl Nessler, inventor of the perm (b. 1872)
Jan 28 Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, president of Finland (b.1867)
Jan 29 James Bridie, [Osborne Henry Mavor], dramatist, dies
Jan 30 Ferdinand Porsche, German automotive engineer (Volkswagen Beetle, Mercedes-Benz SS) and founder of the Porsche car company, dies at 75
Feb 12 Choudhary Rehmat Ali, Pakistani nationalist (b. 1897)
Feb 13 Lloyd C. Douglas, American novelist (The Big Fisherman), dies at 73
Feb 16 Henri Velge, 1st chairman (Belgian Council of State), dies at 65
Feb 18 Piet A W Hopmans, bishop of Breda (Crusade), dies at 85

André Gide

Feb 19 Andre Gide, French writer (Lafcadio's Adventures-Nobel 1947), dies of pneumonia at 81

Feb 27 Henry Louis Smith, American physicist who made the first X-ray photograph, dies at 91
Feb 28 Vsevolod Vishnevsky, Russian playwright and journalist, dies at 50
Mar 6 Volodymyr Vynnychenko, Ukrainian politician and statesman, dies at 70
Mar 7 Haj Ali Razmara, 33rd Prime Minister of Iran (1950-51), assassinated at 49
Mar 8 Honeymoon Killers, dies in electric chair
Mar 10 Kijūrō Shidehara, Prime minister of Japan (b. 1872)
Mar 11 Philippe of Isacker, Belgian minister, dies at 66
Mar 13 Alfred Hugenberg, German RC pres-dir of Krupp/media magnate, dies
Mar 13 James I Wedgwood, British theosophist and bishop (Liberal Catholic Church), dies at 67
Mar 15 John S. Paraskevopoulos, Greek-born astronomer (b. 1889)
Mar 26 James F. Hinkle, American politician, sixth Governor of New Mexico (d. 1864)
Apr 3 Johannes C Kielstra, Dut economist/gov (Suriname 1933-44), dies at 72
Apr 4 George Albert Smith, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS or Mormon Church) (b. 1870)
Apr 9 Sadiq Hidajat, Persian writer (Hadji Aga), dies at 48
Apr 9 Vilhelm F K Bjerknes, Norwegian/US physicist/meteorology, dies at 89
Apr 16 Emile Erens, Dutch hagiographer (Pastor of Ars), dies at 85
Apr 18 António Óscar Carmona, 97th Prime Minister of Portugal and 11th President of Portugal (b. 1869)
Apr 20 Ivanoe Bonomi, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1873)
Apr 22 Horace Donisthorpe, British entomologist (b. 1870)
Apr 23 Charles Gates Dawes, American politician (30th Vice President of the United States) and Nobel laureate (1925), dies at 85
Apr 23 Charles G. Dawes, Vice President of the United States, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1865)
Apr 26 Arnold Sommerfeld, German physicist, dies at 82
Apr 29 Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austria English philosopher (Philosophical Investigations), dies at 62
May 6 Élie Cartan, French mathematician (b. 1869)
May 9 Marie Ault, dies at 80
May 12 Oscar DePriest, (Rep-D-Ill), dies at 80
May 13 Marianne [Goudeket-]Philips, author (Issue Beukennoot), dies at 65
May 25 Paula von Preradović, Croatian-Austrian poet and writer, dies at 63
May 26 Lincoln Ellsworth, Arctic explorer, dies at 71
May 27 Thomas Blamey, Australian general (WWI, WWII), dies at 67
May 30 Hermann Broch, writer, dies at 64
Jun 1 Rafael Altamira Crevea, Spanish lawyer/historian, dies at 85
Jun 2 Alain, [Emile-Auguste Chartier], French philosopher, dies at 83
Jun 7 Bobel, Braune, Naumann, Ohlendorf, Pohl, Schallenmair & Otto Schmidt, Nazi war criminals, hanged
Jun 8 Eugène Fiset, French Canadian military officer and politician (b. 1874)
Jun 14 Hendrik Baels, Belgian politician, dies at 73
Jun 19 Angelos Sikelianos, Greek poet (b. 1884)
Jun 21 Charles Dillon Perrine, American-born astronomer, dies at 83
Jul 2 Earnest F Sauerbruch, German nazi/surgeon, dies at 75
Jul 2 Ernst Ferdinand Sauerbruch, German surgeon, dies at 75
Jul 20 Abdullah Ibn Hussein, Jordan's King (1946-51), killed in Jerusalem
Jul 20 Mustafa Shuqri Ashu, tailor/murderer of king Abdullah, shot to death
Jul 20 Friedrich Wilhelm Hohenzollern, Crown Prince of Germany (b. 1882)

Philippe Pétain

Jul 23 Philippe Pétain, French marshal and Chief of the French State (1940-44), dies at 95

Jul 31 J of Oudshoorn, [John K Feylbrief], writer (Maze of Sentences), dies

William Randolph Hearst

Aug 14 William Randolph Hearst, American newspaper publisher (San Francisco Examiner, Seattle P-I), dies at 88

Sep 1 Wolfgang Schulze, [Wols], German drawer/painter, dies at 38
Sep 6 James W. Gerard, American jurist and diplomat, dies at 84
Sep 7 John French Sloan, American painter and etcher, dies at 80
Sep 8 Jürgen Stroop, SS General during World War II and commander of Nazi forces during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, executed by hanging for crimes against humanity at 56
Sep 18 John Douglas Cockcroft, physicist, dies
Sep 24 Georges Rency, Belgian poet/literature, dies at 75
Sep 26 Hans Cloos, German geologist (b. 1885)
Oct 4 Willie Moretti, American gangster (b. 1894)
Oct 4 Henrietta Lacks [Loretta Pleasant], African-American tobacco farmer whose cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line, extensively used in medical research since the 1950s (1st immortalised cell line),dies of cervical cancer at 31
Oct 6 Henry Gurney, British high commissioner to Malaya, assassinated
Oct 6 Otto Fritz Meyerhof, German-born physician and biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1884)
Oct 6 Will Keith Kellogg, American cereal manufacturer (Kellogg's cereal brand), dies at 91
Oct 6 Otto Meyerhof, German psychologist and biochemist (Nobel 1922), dies at 67
Oct 7 Anton Philips, Co-Founder of Royal Philips Electronics N.V., dies at 77
Oct 12 Simon Kimbangu/Kibangu, Congolese religious leader and founder of Kimbanguism, dies in captivity at 62
Oct 16 Liaquat Ali Khan, 1st Prime Minister of Pakistan (1947-51), assassinated by Said Akbar at 56
Oct 25 Amélie of Orléans, Queen of Portugal, wife of Carlos I, dies at 86
Oct 29 De Raymond, French High Director of Cambodia, murdered
Oct 29 Robert G Aitken, US astronomer (New General Catalogue), dies at 86
Nov 18 Johan van Maarseveen, Dutch Minister of Justice and Internal minister, dies at 57
Nov 20 Thomas Quinlan (impresario) (b. 1881)
Nov 25 Raden Mas Noto Soeroto, Javanese poet (Wayang Songs), dies at 63
Dec 4 Pedro Salinas, Spanish writer (Generation of 1927), dies at 61
Dec 5 Abanindranath Tagore, Indian writer (b. 1871)
Dec 6 Harold Ross, American magazine editor and co-founded The New Yorker, dies at 59
Dec 10 Algernon Blackwood, English novelist (The Willows), dies at 82
Dec 15 Eric Drummond, British 1st Secretary-General of the League of Nations (1919-33), dies at 75
Dec 23 Benito Lynch, Irish-Argentine writer (Palo Verde), dies at 66
Dec 25 Harry T Moore, Florida NAACP official, killed by bomb
Dec 31 Maxim M Litvinov, [Meyer H Wallach], Russian diplomat, dies at 75
Dec 31 Philipp A Kohnstamm, Dutch philosopher/physicist, dies at 76

1950
On This Day in History
1952