Historical Events in 1946

Events 1 - 200 of 366

Emperor Not a God

Jan 1 Emperor Hirohito of Japan announces he is not a god

Jan 1 ENIAC, US 1st computer finished by Mauchly/Eckert
Jan 1 National Assembly proclaims Hungary a republic

Luciano's Sentence Commuted

Jan 3 As a reward for his wartime cooperation, Governor Thomas E. Dewey commutes Charles "Lucky" Luciano's pandering sentence on condition that he does not resist deportation to Italy

Quemadmodum

Jan 6 Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Quemadmodum

Jan 6 Vietnam holds its first ever general election
Jan 7 Cambodia becomes autonomous state inside French Union
Jan 10 UN General Assembly meets for the first time in London
Jan 10 US Army bounces 1st radar signal off the Moon from Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey
Jan 11 Bert Bell becomes second NFL commissioner, moves Chicago headquarters to Philadelphia

People's Republic of Albania

Jan 11 Enver Hoxha declares People's Republic of Albania with himself dictator

Jan 12 Edouardo de Filippo's stage drama "Questi Fantasmi!" premieres in Rome
Jan 12 NFL champs Cleveland Rams owner Daniel Reeves announces plans to move team to Los Angeles, to avoid having to compete with the incoming AAFC Browns team
Jan 14 1946 NFL Draft: Frank Dancewicz from University of Notre Dame first pick by Boston Yanks
Jan 14 2 jetties collapse in Ganges, crushing 160 Hindu pilgrims
Jan 17 United Nations Security Council holds its 1st meeting, at Westminster Central Hall in Westminster, England
Jan 20 F Gouin follows De Gaulle as temporary leader of French government
Jan 23 Rear Admiral Sidney W. Souers, USNR, becomes 1st director of CIA

Metamorphosis

Jan 25 Richard Strauss' composition "Metamorphosen" premieres with the Collegium Musicum in Zürich

Jan 25 United Mine Workers union rejoins American Federation of Labor
Jan 30 1st issue of Franklin Roosevelt dime
Jan 31 Yugoslavia adopts new constitution, becomes a federal republic

Trygve Lie First Secretary General

Feb 1 Norwegian politician Trygve Lie elected the 1st Secretary General of the United Nations

Feb 1 Republic of Hungary proclaims Zoltán Tildy as its communist president
Feb 2 The Proclamation of Hungarian Republic made
Feb 4 Garson Kanin's "Born Yesterday" premieres in NYC
Feb 5 The Chondoist Chongu Party is founded in North Korea
Feb 7 Filibuster in US Senate kills FEPC (Fair Employment Practices Committee) bill

Bartók's 3rd Piano Concerto

Feb 8 Béla Bartók's 3rd Piano Concerto premieres in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy with György Sándor as piano soloist

Salazar Forbids Opposition

Feb 8 Portuguese Dictator António de Oliveira Salazar forbids opposition parties

Dictator of Portugal António de Oliveira Salazar

Feb 9 Dutch Labor Party (Dutch Social Democratic Party) forms
Feb 10 Charles "Lucky" Luciano is deported to Italy, and never returns to the United States
Feb 11 World War II: The Royal Navy's Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 116 of 156 captured German U-boats
Feb 16 1st commercially designed helicopter tested, Bridgeport, Connecticut
Feb 17 Humanistic Covenant forms in Amsterdam
Feb 19 New York Giants outfielder Danny Gardella is 1st major leaguer to announce he is jumping to the "outlaw" Mexican Baseball League for a fee of $10,000
Feb 21 Anti-British demonstrations in Egypt

Election of Interest

Feb 24 General Juan Perón first elected President of Argentina

General and President of Argentina Juan Perón

Feb 26 2 killed & 10 wounded in race riot in Columbia, Tennessee
Feb 27 4th "Road" film "Road to Utopia" premieres (NYC)
Mar 1 British government nationalises and takes control of the Bank of England, after 252 years
Mar 1 Panama accepts its new constitution
Mar 2 Dutch troops land on East Bali

Ho Chi Minh Elected

Mar 2 Ho Chi Minh is elected President of North Vietnam

Vietnamese Communist Revolutionary Ho Chi Minh

Mar 2 Kingman Douglass becomes deputy director of CIA
Mar 5 Hungarian Communists and Social Democrats co-found the Left Bloc.

Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech

Mar 5 Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech in Fulton, Missouri, popularizes the term and draws attention to the division of Europe

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill

Mar 6 France recognizes Vietnam statehood within Indo-Chinese federation

18th Academy Awards

Mar 7 18th Academy Awards: "The Lost Weekend" Ray Milland & Joan Crawford win

Bikini Atoll is Evacuated

Mar 7 Bikini Atoll islanders are evacuated by the US government to make way for a nuclear testing site

Residents of Bikini Atoll are evacuated to make way for nuclear testing

Mar 7 Max Frisch's play "Santa Cruz" premieres in Zürich
Mar 8 1st helicopter licensed for commercial use (NYC)
Mar 9 Dutch troops land at Batavia/Semarang

Williams' Mexican League Offer

Mar 9 Ted Williams is offered $500,000 to play in Mexican Baseball League, he refuses

Mar 10 Train derailment kills 185 near Aracaju, northeast Brazil
Mar 13 Paul-Henri Spaak (Belgium Socialist Party) forms Belgian government - then shortest Belgian government (ends 31 March)

Gilda

Mar 14 American film noir classic "Gilda", starring Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford, and directed by Charles Vidor, premieres in New York City

Attlee Agrees Indian Independence

Mar 15 British Prime Minister Clement Attlee agrees with India's right to independence

Mar 19 French Guyana, Guadeloupe, Martinique & Reunion become overseas "departments" of France
Mar 19 Nikolai Mikhailovich Schwernik succeeds Kalinin as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR
Mar 21 Kenny Washington signs with Rams, 1st black NFLer since 1933
Mar 21 UN set up temporary HQ at Hunter (now Lehman) College (Bronx)
Mar 22 1st US rocket to leave the Earth's atmosphere (50 miles up)
Mar 22 Britain signs treaty granting independence to Jordan

Ebony Concerto

Mar 25 1st performance of Igor Stravinsky's "Ebony Concerto", by Woody Herman and His Thundering Herd, at Carnegie Hall, New York City

Mar 28 Cold War: The United States State Department releases the Acheson-Lilienthal Report, outlining a plan for the international control of nuclear power.
Mar 29 1st Test Cricket between Australia & NZ
Mar 29 Australian cricket bowlers Bill O'Reilly (5/14) and Ernie Toshack (4/12) rout NZ for 42 in one-off Test in Wellington; Test debuts of greats Ray Lindwall, Keith Miller & Don Tallon
Mar 30 Australia beats NZ in cricket at 3 30pm on 2nd day
Mar 30 Last Test Cricket appearance of Bill O'Reilly (5-14 & 3-19)
Mar 31 Belgian government of Acker forms
Mar 31 Belgian government of Spaak resigns - shortest ever Belgian government
Mar 31 First election is held in Greece after World War II
Apr 1 400,000 US mine workers strike
Apr 1 The Malayan Union is formed as a federation of the Malay states and the Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca
Apr 1 Tsunamis generated by a quake in Aleutian Trench strike Hilo, Hawaii
Apr 1 Van Acker forms Belgian government (without CVP)
Apr 3 Netherlands-German postal relations resume

Ives' 3rd Symphony

Apr 5 1st performance of Charles Ives' 3rd Symphony

Apr 7 Part of East Prussia incorporated into Russian SFSR
Apr 7 Syria's independence from France is officially recognised.
Apr 8 League of Nations assembles for the last time
Apr 9 Stanley Cup Final, Montreal Forum, Montreal, Quebec: Montreal Canadiens beat Boston Bruins, 6-3 for a 4-1 series victory
Apr 10 1st election for Japanese Parliament

LPGA Titleholders

Apr 12 LPGA Titleholders Championship Women's Golf, Augusta CC: Louise Suggs wins her first major title by 2 strokes from Eileen Stulb

Golfer and Co-Founder of the LPGA Louise Suggs

Apr 12 Syria gains independence from France
Apr 13 Belgian Prime Minister Acker proclaims wage & price freeze ended
Apr 13 Eddie Klepp, a white pitcher signed by defending Negro League champ Cleveland Buckeyes, is barred from field in Birmingham, Alabama
Apr 16 1st US launch of captured V-2 rocket, White Sands, New Mexicao; reaches altitude of 8 km
Apr 16 Dutch Special Court of Justice sentences Frederik Müller, Socialist mayor of Rotterdam, to 10 years in jail for his wartime support of Germany

Ott's Final MLB HR

Apr 16 Mel Ott playing in right field for NY Giants hits his 511th and final MLB home run in 8-4 Opening Day win over Philadelphia Phillies

Apr 17 Syria declares independence from French administration
Apr 18 International Court of Justice opens at The Hague Netherlands

Robinson 2nd Baseman

Apr 18 Jackie Robinson debuts as 2nd baseman for the Montreal Royals

Apr 18 League of Nations dissolves (3 months after UN starts)

Tito Government Recognised

Apr 18 US recognizes Tito's Yugoslavia government

President of Yugoslavia and Revolutionary Josip Broz Tito

Apr 19 Yankees switch from 3rd base to 1st base dug out
Apr 20 1st baseball broadcast in Chicago, Cards vs Cubs

Make Mine Music

Apr 20 Walt Disney's animated film anthology "Make Mine Music" premieres in New York City

Apr 21 Socialistic Einheitspartei Germany forms in East Germany
Apr 22 Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) is founded in East Germany via a merger of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD)
Apr 23 Brooklyn Dodger Ed Head no-hits Boston Braves, 5-0

Baseball Hall of Fame

Apr 24 11 players named to the Baseball Hall of Fame: Tinker, Evers, Chance, Burkett, McCarthy, Waddell, Plank, Walsh, Jack Chesbro, Griffith and McGinnity

Symphonic Variations

Apr 24 One-act ballet "Symphonic Variations" choreographed by Frederick Ashton with music by César Franck danced by Sandler's Wells Ballet debuts at Covent Garden, London

Apr 25 "Exposition Flyer" rammed at Napierville Illinois, killing 48
Apr 25 Christopher Fry's "Phoenix too Frequent" premieres in London
Apr 27 1st radar installed aboard a commercial ship
Apr 29 28 former Japanese leaders indicted in Tokyo as war criminals

Feller's 2nd MLB No-Hitter

Apr 30 Cleveland Indians pitcher Bob Feller's 2nd career MLB no-hitter; beats New York Yankees, 1-0

Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher Bob Feller

Montgomery Supreme Commander

May 1 Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery appointed British supreme commander

British WWII Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery

May 1 Mrs Emma Clarissa Clement named "American Mother of Year" by the American Mothers Committee of the Golden Rule Foundation in New York
May 1 Start of the three-year Pilbara strike by indigenous Aboriginals in Western Australia for better wages and conditions [1]
May 1 The Paris Peace Conference concludes that the islands of the Dodecanese should be returned to Greece by Italy

The Postman Always Rings Twice

May 2 "The Postman Always Rings Twice" film based on the novel by James M. Cain, directed by Tay Garnett, starring Lana Turner and John Garfield is released

May 2 The "Battle of Alcatraz" takes place, killing two guards and three inmates
May 3 International military tribunal in Tokyo begins
May 4 5 die in a 2 day riot at Alcatraz prison in San Francisco bay
May 4 Wash's Cecil Travis gets 6 straight hits before being stopped
May 6 Pulitzer Prize for History awarded to Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. for his novel "The Age of Jackson"
May 7 Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded with around 20 employees
May 7 William H. Hastie inaugurated as 1st black governor of Virgin Islands
May 8 Estonian school girls Aili Jõgi and Ageeda Paavel blow up the Soviet memorial that preceded the Bronze Soldier in Tallinn
May 8 MLB Boston Red Sox shortstop Johnny Pesky scores 6 runs in 14-10 win over visiting Chicago White Sox
May 9 1st hour long entertainment TV show, "NBC's Hour Glass" premieres

Victor Emmanuel III Abdicates

May 9 King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy abdicates and is succeeded by his son Umberto II who reigns for only 34 days before the monarchy is abolished

May 10 Red Sox win 15th straight beat Yanks 5-4, DiMaggio hits Grand Slam
May 11 1st night game at Boston Braves Field (Giants 5, Braves 1)
May 11 United Malays National Organisation is created.
May 13 Sarwate & Banerjee add 249 for 10th wkt for Indians v Surrey
May 13 US sentences 58 camp guards of Mauthausen concentration camp to death
May 13 Winston Churchill welcomed in Rotterdam

For Those We Love

May 14 Paul Hindemith's requiem "For Those We Love" premieres

Annie Get Your Gun

May 16 Irving Berlin, Dorothy and Herbert Fields' musical "Annie Get Your Gun" starring Ethel Merman and featuring "There's No Business Like Show Business" opens at Imperial Theater, NYC

May 17 KVP Labor/Communists win 1st post-WW2 Dutch parliamentary elections
May 17 US President Harry Truman seizes control of nation's railroads to delay a strike
May 19 Dutch Cooperation for Sexual Reform (NVSH) forms in Amsterdam
May 20 Cubs Claude Passeau makes his 1st error since September 21, 1941, ending pitcher's fielding record of 273 consecutive errorless chances
May 21 Physicist Louis Slotin is exposed to a lethal dose of radiation while preparing a plutonium core experiment at the Los Alamos lab, he dies 9 days later and the accident ends all hands-on nuclear assembly work at Los Alamos
May 22 First US rocket (WAC Corporal) to reach edge of space fired from White Sands Missile Range New Mexico
May 22 Yankees turn triple-play & defeat Tigers 5-3

Bill Dickey for the Yankees

May 24 Bill Dickey replaces Joe McCarthy as New York Yankees manager

May 25 Jordan gains independence from Britain (National Day); Abdullah ibn Hussein becomes King of Jordan
May 26 Communist Party Leader Klement Gottwald becomes Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia

Concerto for Piano and Orchestra

May 26 Darius Milhaud's 3rd Concerto for Piano and Orchestra premieres in Prague

May 26 NY Yankee Mel Ott retires from playing to be a manager only with 2-for-42 & hitting .048
May 28 1st night game at Yankee stadium (Senators 2, Yanks 1)

President Manuel Roxas

May 28 Manuel Roxas is inaugurated as the last President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines

5th President of the Philippines Manuel Roxas

May 28 US Patent filed for a hydrogen bomb
May 29 KVP wins Provincial National election in Netherlands
May 30 Bama Rowell hits a home run in a baseball match - the ball shatters Bulova Clock in Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York
May 30 United flight 521 crashes on takeoff at LaGuardia Airport (NY) 42 die
Jun 2 Italian plebiscite chooses republic over monarchy (National Day)
Jun 3 1st bikini bathing suit displayed in Paris
Jun 3 International Military Tribunal opens in Tokyo against 28 Japanese war criminals
Jun 3 US Supreme Court rules that segregating riders by race on interstate buses violates the Interstate Commerce Clause of the US Constitution (Morgan v. Virginia)
Jun 4 Largest solar prominence (300,000 mi/500,000 km) observed
Jun 5 Dutch comic strip "Eric de Noorman" by Hans G. Kresse is launched
Jun 5 Fire at LaSalle Hotel cocktail lounge kills 61 in Chicago, Illinois
Jun 6 Henry Morgan is 1st to take off shirt on TV
Jun 6 The Basketball Association of America is formed in New York City
Jun 7 MLB Pittsburgh Pirates players attempt to unionize and vote 20-16 to go on strike rather than play the New York Giants; vote fell short of required 2/3 majority and union fizzles, and Pirates win 10-5 at Forbes Field, Pittsburghn

Sukarno Calls for Defiance

Jun 8 Sukarno calls for anti colonial defiance in Indonesia

Jun 9 19 guests at Canfield Hotel die in fire (Dubuque, Iowa)
Jun 9 66,545 fans help Yanks break million attendance mark, the earliest

King Bhumibol Adulyadej

Jun 9 Bhumibol Adulyadej becomes King of Thailand after the death of his brother King Ananda Mahidol

Louis vs Conn

Jun 9 Joe Louis KOs Billy Conn in 8 for heavyweight boxing title

Boxer and World Heavyweight Champion Joe Louis

Jun 9 New York Giant Mel Ott becomes first manager in MLB history to be ejected from both games of a doubleheader; Giants lose both games to Pittsburgh Pirates
Jun 10 Italian Republic established
Jun 10 Rear Admiral Sidney W. Souers, USNR, ends term as 1st director of CIA. Lieutenant General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, USA, becomes 2nd director of CIA
Jun 13 1st transcontinental round-trip flight in 1-day, California-Maryland
Jun 13 King Umberto II of Italy abdicates after 24 days in the wake of the country declaring itself a republic
Jun 14 Canadian Library Association established

The Christmas Song

Jun 14 Nat King Cole records "The Christmas Song" (written by Mel Tormé and Bob Wells) for the first time

Singer-Songwriter and Jazz Pianist Nat King Cole

Jun 17 SW Bell inaugurates mobile telephone commercial service, St Louis
Jun 18 Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia, a Socialist calls for a Direct Action Day against the Portuguese in Goa. A road is named after this date in Panjim
Jun 19 1st TV sports and boxing spectacular when Joe Louis KOs Billy Conn in a broadcast across New York
Jun 20 NYC transit begins using PA system - Car # 744 on 8th Ave IND line
Jun 21 10 die in fire at Baker Hotel, Dallas, Texas

Veeck Buys Cleveland

Jun 21 Bill Veeck buys MLB baseball team Cleveland Indians for $2.2 million

Jun 21 Federal judge in Seattle rules that club doesn't have to play returning serviceman

Bedser Takes 7-49

Jun 22 English cricketer Alec Bedser takes 7-49 v India on 1st day of his 1st Test cricket at Lord's

Gandhi's Call Against Hooliganism

Jun 22 Speaking at a prayer meeting in New Delhi, Gandhi calls on the South African government to stop 'hooliganism' by Whites

Pacifist and Spiritual Leader Mahatma Gandhi

Jun 23 In South Africa, a group of white men attack and assault Indian Passive Resisters
Jun 24 11.72" (29.77 cm) of rainfall at Mellen, Wisconsin (state 24-hr record)
Jun 24 Georges Bidault elected premier of France
Jun 26 Dutch Nazi collaborator Arnold Meijer sentenced to 5 years

Fred Allen's Last Show

Jun 26 Fred Allen's last radio show, his guest is Jack Benny

Jun 28 Enrico de Nicola becomes 1st President of Italy
Jun 28 Permanent radio play-by-play of Cleveland Indians games begins
Jun 29 Black Sabbath as the British arrest 2,700 Jews in Palestine as alleged terrorists
Jun 29 British mandatory government of Palestine arrests 100 leaders of Yishnuv

The Cession of Sarawak

Jul 1 The last White Rajah, Charles Vyner Brooke cedes Sarawak to the British Crown

3rd and Last White Rajah of Sarawak Charles Vyner Brooke

Jul 1 US drops atom bomb on Bikini atoll (4th atomic explosion)
Jul 2 Dutch Beel government forms
Jul 2 Harbor workers end strike at Rotterdam and Amsterdam
Jul 3 1st Dutch government of Louis Beel forms
Jul 3 The Cape Passive Resistance Council is formed at a mass meeting in Cape Town, attended by 1,500 people
Jul 4 Anti Jewish riots in Kielce Poland, 42 die
Jul 4 Philippines gains independence from US
Jul 4 President Manuel Roxas inaugurated as the 5th President of the Philippines and the 1st President of an independent Philippines at the Independence Grandstand, Manila