1949

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Table of contents

1 Events

1.1 January-March
1.2 April-July
1.3 August-December

2 Year in topic
3 Births

3.4 January-February
3.5 March-June
3.6 July-December
3.7 unknown date

4 Deaths
5 Nobel Prizes

Events

January 5 - U.S. President Harry S. Truman unveils his Fair Deal program.
January 11 - Los Angeles, California receives its first recorded snowfall .
January 25 - The first Emmy Awards are presented at the Hollywood Athletic Club.
January 25 - In the first Israeli election, David Ben-Gurion becomes Prime Minister.
January 26 - Australian Citizenship comes into being.
February 8 - Cardinal Mindszenty of Hungary is sentenced to life imprisonment for treason against the Hungarian Communist government.
February 12 - The Vatican announces the excommunication of all persons involved in the trial and conviction of Cardinal Mindszenty.
February 14 - The Knesset (Israeli parliament) first convenes.
February 19 - Ezra Pound is awarded the first Bollingen Prize in poetry by the Bollingen Foundation and Yale University.
March 2 - The B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II lands in Fort Worth, Texas after completing the first non-stop around-the-world airplane flight.
March 3 - The Tucker automobile Corporation folds.
March 28 - United States Secretary of Defense James Forrestal resigns suddenly.

April 1 - Newfoundland joins Canada.
April 1 - Southern Ireland leaves the Commonwealth and becomes the Republic of Ireland
April 4 - NATO is formed.
April 18 - Eire formally became the Republic of Ireland.
June - EDSAC, the first stored-program computer, begins operation at Cambridge University.
May 9 - Rainier III of Monaco becomes Prince of Monaco.
May 11 - Israel is admitted to the U.N as its 59th member.
May 11 - Siam changes its name to Thailand.
May 12 - Cold War: The Soviet Union lifts its Blockade of Berlin.
May 20 - The AFSA (predecessor of the NSA) is established.
May 22 - After two months in Bethesda Naval Hospital, James Forrestal commits suicide, under circumstances that seem suspicious to many.
May 23 - The Federal Republic of Germany is established.

August 5 - In Ecuador an earthquake destroys 50 towns and kills more than 6000.
August 8 - Bhutan becomes independent
August 29 - Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb.
September 6 - Allied military authorities relinquish control of former Nazi Germany assets back to German control.
September 29 - First Plenary Session of the National People's Congress approves design for the Flag of the People's Republic of China.
September 29 - Mrs. Iva Toguri D'Aquino is found guilty of broadcasting for Japan as "Tokyo Rose" during World War II.
October 1 - Birth of the People's Republic of China.
November 26 - The Indian Constituent Assembly adopts India's constitution. [1]
December 27 - Queen Juliana of the Netherlands grants Indonesia sovereignty.
The Fourth Geneva Convention is signed.

1949 in film
- February 10 - Death of a Salesman opens (Morosco Theatre in New York City).
- All the King's Men
- Twelve O'Clock High
- Sands of Iwo Jima starring John Wayne
1949 in literature
1949 in music
1949 in sports
- March 1 - World heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis announces his retirement from boxing.
- A form of drag racing, using a hand-held stop watch for timing, begins on the Bonneville Salt Flats.
- Red Byron won the inaugural NASCAR Championship.
1949 in television
- January 3 - Colgate Theatre premieres on NBC.
- January 11 - A 2 hour special on all networks celebrates the linking of the eastern and midwestern networks via coaxial cable
- January 17 - The Goldbergs, the first sitcom on American television, airs.
- January 31 - The first Emmy Awards are presented and broadcasted on television from Los Angeles
- May - The first telethon, benefitting the Damon Runyon Cancer Fund, is hosted by Milton Berle and lasts for 24 hours
- August 25 - RCA announces the development of a compatible color TV system.
- December 29 - KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut becomes the first Ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to operate a daily schedule.