1949 - What happened in 1949 ?

January 1949

Sunday 02:

Luis Muñoz Marín became the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.

Tuesday 11:

First recorded case of snowfall in Los Angeles, California.

Monday 17:

The Goldbergs, the first sitcom on American television, airs.

Wednesday 19:

Cuba recognises Israel.

Tuesday 25:

The first Israeli election -- David Ben-Gurion becomes Prime Minister.

February 1949

Tuesday 08:

Cardinal Mindszenty of Hungary sentenced for treason.

Thursday 10:

Death of a Salesman opens (Morocco Theatre in New York City).

Monday 14:

The Asbestos Strike begins in Canada. The strike marks the beginning of the Quiet Revolution in Quebec.

Saturday 19:

Ezra Pound is awarded the first Bollingen Prize in poetry by the Bollingen Foundation and Yale University.

Tuesday 22:

Grady the Cow, a 1,200-pound cow gets stuck inside a silo on a farm in Yukon, Oklahoma and garners national media attention.

March 1949

Tuesday 01:

Indonesia seizes Yogyakarta from the Dutch.

Wednesday 02:

Captain James Gallagher lands his B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II in Fort Worth, Texas after completing the first non-stop around-the-world airplane flight in 94 hours and one minute.

Thursday 03:

The Tucker Automobile Corporation folds.

Friday 25:

The extensive deportation campaign was conducted in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The Soviet authorities deported more than 92,000 people from Baltics to remote areas of the Soviet Union.

Thursday 31:

Newfoundland and Labrador joins Confederation and becomes the 10th Province of Canada.

April 1949

Friday 01:

The twenty-six counties of the Irish Free State become the Republic of Ireland.

Monday 04:

Twelve nations sign The North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

Tuesday 05:

A fire in a hospital in Effingham, Illinois, United States, kills 77 people.

Saturday 16:

Dave Garroway moves from radio to television to host the musical-variety show Garroway at Large.

Monday 18:

The Republic of Ireland Act comes into force.

May 1949

Wednesday 04:

The entire Torino football (soccer) team (except for one player who did not take the trip due to an injury) is killed in a plane crash at the Superga hill at the edge of Turin, Italy.

Monday 09:

Rainier III of Monaco becomes Prince of Monaco.

Wednesday 11:

Israel joins the United Nations.

Friday 20:

In the United States of America, the AFSA (the predecessor of the NSA) is established.

Tuesday 24:

The Soviet Union ends the 11-month Berlin Blockade.

June 1949

Wednesday 08:

Red Scare: Such celebrities as Helen Keller, Dorothy Parker, Danny Kaye, Fredric March, John Garfield, Paul Muni and Edward G. Robinson are named in an FBI report as Communist Party members.

Sunday 19:

NASCAR sanctions the first "strictly stock" race, which will evolve into the modern Nextel Cup. Jim Roper wins the event.

July 1949

Wednesday 20:

Israel and Syria sign a truce to end their nineteen month war.

Wednesday 27:

Initial flight of the de Havilland Comet, the first jet-powered airliner.

August 1949

Friday 05:

In Ecuador an earthquake destroys 50 towns and kills more than 6000.

Monday 08:

Bhutan becomes independent

Wednesday 10:

US President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Bill, streamlining the defense agencies of the United States government, and replacing the National Military Establishment with the United States Department of Defense.

Wednesday 24:

The treaty creating NATO goes into effect.

Monday 29:

Soviet atomic bomb project: The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb, known as First Lightning or Joe 1, at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan.

September 1949

Sunday 04:

Maiden flight of the Bristol Brabazon.

Monday 05:

A former sharpshooter in World War II, Howard Unruh kills 13 neighbors in Camden, New Jersey, with a souvenir Luger to become the first U.S. single-episode mass murderer.

Thursday 15:

The television series The Lone Ranger premieres on the ABC.

Saturday 17:

The Canadian steamship SS Noronic burns in Toronto Harbor with the loss of over 118 lives.

Friday 30:

The Berlin Airlift ends.

October 1949

Wednesday 05:

WSAZ, the United States' first television station, located in Huntington, West Virginia, begins broadcasting.

Friday 14:

Eleven leaders of the U.S. Communist Party are convicted, after a nine-month trial, of conspiring to advocate the violent overthrow of the U.S. government. Ten defendants are sentenced to 5 years in prison each, and the eleventh to 3 years. The Supreme Court upheld the convictions on June 4, 1951.

Sunday 16:

Nikos Zakhiariadis, leader of the Communist Party of Greece, announces a "temporary cease-fire", effectively ending the Greek Civil War.

Thursday 27:

An airliner flying from Paris to New York crashes near the Azores. Among the victims are violinist Ginette Neveu and boxer Marcel Cerdan.

Friday 28:

Georges Bidault becomes Prime Minister of France

November 1949

Saturday 26:

The Indian Constituent Assembly adopts India's constitution.

December 1949

Wednesday 07:

Chinese Civil War: The government of the Republic of China moves from Nanking to Taipei.

Thursday 08:

Chinese Civil War: The capital of the Republic of China is moved from Nanjing to Taipei, Taiwan.

Saturday 10:

Chinese Civil War: The Red Army begins its siege of Chengdu, the last KMT-held city on mainland China. Chiang Kai-shek leaves for Taiwan.

Tuesday 13:

The Knesset votes to move the capital of Israel to Jerusalem

Thursday 29:

KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut becomes the first Ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to operate a daily schedule.