1949 in the United States

1949 in the United States
Events from the year 1949 in the United States.
Incumbents
Federal government
President: Harry S. Truman (D-Missouri)
Vice President: vacant (until January 20), Alben W. Barkley (D-Kentucky) (starting January 20)
Chief Justice: Fred M. Vinson (Kentucky)
Speaker of the House of Representatives: Joseph William Martin, Jr. (R-Massachusetts) (until January 3), Sam Rayburn (D-Texas) (starting January 3)
Senate Majority Leader: Wallace H. White, Jr. (R-Maine) (until January 3), Scott W. Lucas (D-Illinois) (starting January 3)
Congress: 80th (until January 3), 81st (starting January 3)
Events
January–March
January 2 – Luis Muñoz Marín becomes the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
January 4 – RMS Caronia (1947) of the Cunard Line departs Southampton for New York City on her maiden voyage.
January 4–February 22 – Series of winter storms in Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota, Utah, Colorado and Nevada – winds of up to 72 mph – tens of thousands of cattle and sheep perish.
January 5 – President Harry S. Truman unveils his Fair Deal program.
January 11 – Los Angeles, California, receives its first recorded snowfall.
January 17 – The first Volkswagen Beetle to arrive in the United States, a 1948 model, is brought to New York City by Dutch businessman Ben Pon. Unable to interest dealers or importers in the Volkswagen, Pon sells the sample car to pay his travel expenses. Only two 1949 models will be sold in America that year, convincing Volkswagen chairman Heinrich Nordhoff that the car has no future in the U.S. (The VW Beetle goes on to become the greatest automobile phenomenon in American history.)
January 19 – The Poe Toaster first appears at the grave of Edgar Allan Poe.
January 20 – President Harry S. Truman begins his full term. Alben W. Barkley is sworn in as Vice President of the United States.
January 25 – The first Emmy Awards are presented at the Hollywood Athletic Club.
February 10 – Arthur Miller's tragedy Death of a Salesman opens at the Morosco Theatre on Broadway in New York City with Lee J. Cobb in the title role of Willy Loman and runs for 742 performances.
February 19 – Ezra Pound is awarded the first Bollingen Prize in poetry by the Bollingen Foundation and Yale University.
February 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 2 – The B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II under Captain James Gallagher lands in Fort Worth, Texas, after completing the first non-stop around-the-world airplane flight (it was refueled in flight 4 times).
March 17 – The Shamrock Hotel in Houston, Texas, owned by oil tycoon Glenn McCarthy, has its grand opening.
March 20 – The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, Denver & Rio Grande Western and Western Pacific railroads inaugurate the California Zephyr passenger train between Chicago and Oakland, California, as the first long-distance train to feature Vista Dome cars as regular equipment.
March 24 – The 21st Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Robert Montgomery, is held at the Academy Theater in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Laurence Olivier's Hamlet wins the most awards with four, including Best Picture, while John Huston wins Best Director for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Jean Negulesco's Johnny Belinda receives the most nominations with 12.
March 26 – The first half of Giuseppe Verdi's opera Aida, conducted by conductor Arturo Toscanini, and performed in concert (i.e. no scenery or costumes), is telecast by NBC, live from Studio 8H at Rockefeller Center. The second half is telecast a week later. This is the only complete opera that Toscanini ever conducts on television.
March 28 – United States Secretary of Defense James Forrestal resigns suddenly.
April–June
April 4 – The North Atlantic Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., creating the NATO defense alliance.
April 7 – Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific, starring Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza, opens on Broadway and goes on to become R&H's second longest-running musical. It becomes an instant classic of the musical theatre. The score's biggest hit is the song Some Enchanted Evening.
April 13 – The 6.7 Olympia earthquake affected the Puget Sound region of western Washington with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), causing eight deaths and $25 million in damage.
April 23 – Development of the USS United States (CVA-58) "supercarrier" is cancelled; high-ranking Navy officials resign in protest in what has been called the Revolt of the Admirals.
May 1 Albert Einstein publishes Why Socialism? in the first edition of the Monthly Review.
May ? – A working group has been set up by United States Department of State, to codify the White Paper. This team consists of more than 80 staff members, led by Secretary of State Dean Acheson, former Columbia University Professor of Public International Law Philip C. Jessup.
June 8 – Red Scare: Celebrities including 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.
June 14 – Albert II, a rhesus monkey, becomes the first primate to enter space, on Hermes project V-2 rocket Blossom IVB, but is killed on impact at return.
June 19 – Glenn Dunaway wins the inaugural NASCAR race at Charlotte Speedway, a 3/4 mile oval in Charlotte, North Carolina, but is disqualified due to illegal springs. Jim Roper is declared the official winner.
June 24 – The first television western, Hopalong Cassidy, airs on NBC.
June 29 – The last U.S. troops withdraw from South Korea.
July–September
August 5 – United States Department of State published The China White Paper as Department of State Publication 3573, entitled "United States Relations With China, With Special Reference to the Period 1944–1949."
August 10 – The National Military Establishment (formerly the Department of War) is renamed the Department of Defense.
August 16 – Office of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff created.
August 28 – The last 6 surviving veterans of the American Civil War meet in Indianapolis.
September 5 – Howard Unruh, a World War II veteran, kills 13 neighbors in Camden, New Jersey with a souvenir Luger to become America's first single-episode mass murderer.
September 15 – The Housing Act of 1949 is enacted.
September 29 – Iva Toguri D'Aquino is found guilty of broadcasting for Japan as "Tokyo Rose" during World War II.
October–December
October 5 – Walt Disney Productions' eleventh feature film, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, is released. It is Disney's final package film to be released during the 1940s and the last the studio would produce until 1977's The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
October 9 – The New York Yankees defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4 games to 1, to win their 12th World Series Title.
October 27 – An airliner flying from Paris to New York City crashes in the Azores island of São Miguel. Among the victims are violinist Ginette Neveu and boxer Marcel Cerdan.
November – Englewood race riot in Chicago.
November 24 – The ski resort in Squaw Valley, California officially opens.
Undated
General Services Administration established per Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949
Myron Corp is founded in New Jersey.
The first 20 mm M61 Vulcan Gatling gun prototypes are completed.
1949 is the first year in which no African-American is lynched in the USA.
Schepps Palm Field (1949–1959) baseball venue opens in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Ongoing
Cold War (1947–1991)
Second Red Scare (1947–1957)
Marshall Plan (1948–1951)
Births
January 2
Christopher Durang, playwright
Iris Marion Young, political scientist (died 2006)
January 6 – Carolyn D. Wright, poet (died 2016)
January 7 – Chavo Guerrero Sr., professional wrestler (died 2017)
January 8
John Podesta, lawyer and politician, 20th White House Chief of Staff
Anne Schedeen, actress
January 10
George Foreman, heavyweight boxer
James Lapine, director and playwright
Linda Lovelace, pornographic film actress (died 2002)
January 11 – Chris Ford, basketball player and coach (died 2023)
January 13 – Brandon Tartikoff, American television executive (died 1997)
January 17 – Chavo Guerrero Sr., professional wrestler (died 2017)
January 22 – Steve Perry, musician
January 28 – Gregg Popovich, basketball coach
January 30 – Ken Wilber, philosopher
February 2 – Brent Spiner, actor, comedian and singer
February 3 – Arthur Kane, bass guitarist (died 2004)
February 4 – Michael Beck, actor
February 7 – Joe English, drummer and songwriter
February 8 – Brooke Adams, actress
February 11 – George Winston, pianist (died 2023)
February 15 – Ken Anderson, American football player and coach
February 17 – Dennis Green, American football player and coach (died 2016)
February 18
Pat Fraley, voice actor, voice-over teacher
Gary Ridgway, serial killer
February 19 – Danielle Bunten Berry, born Dan(iel Paul) Bunten, software developer (died 1998)
February 21 – Jerry Harrison, songwriter
February 25
Ric Flair (Richard Fliehr), wrestler
Sherman Packard, speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives
February 27 – John Wockenfuss, baseball player (died 2022)
February 28 – Ilene Graff, actress and singer
March 2
Gates McFadden, actress and choreographer
March 3
Gloria Hendry, African American actress
Jesse Jefferson, baseball player (died 2011)
Sandy Martin, actress
March 4 – Helen Frost, writer
March 10
Barbara Corcoran, businesswoman, investor, and television personality
Larry Wall, computer programmer
March 12 – Rob Cohen, film director
March 13 – Julia Migenes, soprano
March 16
Erik Estrada, television actor and police officer
Elliott Murphy, singer-songwriter
March 17 – Patrick Duffy, television actor
March 20 – Marcia Ball, blues musician
March 21 – Eddie Money (Edward Mahoney), rock guitarist and singer (died 2019)
March 25 – Sue Klebold, author and activist
March 26 – Ernest Lee Thomas, actor
March 28 – Michael W. Young, geneticist and chronobiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2017
March 29 – Michael Brecker, jazz saxophonist (died 2007)
April 1 – Gil Scott-Heron, African American poet, jazz/soul musician and author (died 2011)
April 5 – Judith Resnik, astronaut (died 1986)
April 7 – Mitch Daniels, Academic Administrator, businessman, author, politician and the 49th governor of Indiana
April 8 – William O'Neal, FBI informant (died 1990)
April 9 – Stephen Hickman, illustrator
April 11 – Dorothy Allison, novelist and campaigner
April 18 – Geoff Bodine, race car driver
April 20 – Jessica Lange, actress
April 22 – Spencer Haywood, basketball player
April 23 – Joyce DeWitt, actress
April 26 – Jerry Blackwell, professional wrestler (died 1995)
May 1
Gavin Christopher, singer (died 2016)
Sarah Clayborne, pie chef, restaurateur, and community activist
May 3 – Ron Wyden, U.S. Senator from Oregon from 1996
May 4
John Force, race car driver
Gary Gaines, American football coach (died 2022)
May 6 – Larry Rivers, basketball player and coach (died 2023)
May 7 – Deborah Butterfield, sculptor
May 9 – Billy Joel, singer-songwriter and pianist
May 13 – Zoë Wanamaker, actress
May 15 – George Adams, basketball player
May 16 – Rick Reuschel, baseball player
May 17 – Earl Hebner, pro wrestling referee
May 18 – Joseph R. Cistone, Catholic prelate (died 2018)
May 19
Dusty Hill, bassist (ZZ Top) (died 2021)
Archie Manning, former American football player, father of Peyton and Eli Manning
May 22 –
Chris Butler, musician, songwriter (The Waitresses)
Jesse Lee Peterson, radio show host and religious minister
May 26
Ward Cunningham, computer programmer
Pam Grier, African-American actress
Arlene Klasky, animator
Philip Michael Thomas, African-American actor
Hank Williams, Jr., country singer
May 28 – Shelley Hamlin, professional golfer (died 2018)
May 29 – Robert Axelrod, voice actor (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) (died 2019)
June 2 – Alan Brinkley, historian (died 2019)
June 3 – John Rothman, actor
June 4 – Mark B. Cohen, Pennsylvania legislative leader
June 7 – Larry Hama, comic book writer, artist, actor and musician
June 10
Kevin Corcoran, child actor, television director, film producer (died 2015)
Frankie Faison, actor
June 14 – Harry Turtledove, novelist
June 20 – Lionel Richie, African American singer-songwriter
June 22
Larry Junstrom, rock bassist (died 2019)
Alan Osmond, pop singer
Meryl Streep, actress
Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts from 2013
June 23
Dave Goltz, baseball player
Gail Harris, United States Navy officer
Dan Barker, atheist activist
Phyllis George, businesswoman, actress and sportscaster (died 2020)
Kene Holliday, actor
Brenda Sykes, actress
June 27
Brent Berk, competition swimmer, Olympic athlete
Stephen Rucker, composer
Vera Wang, fashion designer
June 28
Don Baylor, Major League Baseball (MLB) player, coach and manager (died 2017)
Clarence Davis, American football running back
Tom Owens, basketball player
June 29
Dan Dierdorf, American football offensive lineman, later sportscaster
Joe Moore, American football running back
July 1 – Denis Johnson, writer (died 2017)
July 3
Jan Smithers, actress
Johnnie Wilder, Jr., vocalist (died 2006)
July 5
Ed O'Ross, actor
Susan P. Graber, attorney
July 6 – Phyllis Hyman, singer and actress (died 1995)
July 7
Shelley Duvall, actress
Monte Cater, American football coach
July 9 – Jesse Duplantis, televangelist
July 12 – Donda West, educator and civil rights activist (died 2007)
July 15 – Richard Russo, novelist
July 16 – Alan Fitzgerald, guitarist and keyboardist
July 17 – Charley Steiner, sportscaster
July 19 – Calvin O. Butts, academic administrator and pastor (died 2022)
July 24 – Michael Richards, actor and comedian
July 28 – Vida Blue, baseball player (died 2023)
July 29 – Marilyn Quayle, wife of Dan Quayle, Second Lady of the United States
July 31
Mike Jackson, basketball player
Susan Bennett, voice-over artist
August 1 – Jim Carroll, author, poet and punk musician (died 2009)
August 3 – Peter Gutmann, journalist
August 4 – John Riggins, American football player
August 6
Richard Prince, painter and photographer
Clarence Richard Silva, bishop
August 8
Terry Burnham, actress
Keith Carradine, actor
August 9 – Ted Simmons, baseball player
August 11
Tim Hutchinson, U.S. Senator from Arkansas from 1997 to 2003
Sandra Lee Scheuer, Kent State University shooting victim (died 1970)
August 12 – Mark Essex, mass murderer (died 1973)
August 13 – Pete Visclosky, politician
August 14 – Bob Backlund, pro wrestler
August 15
Beverly Burns, pilot
Mark B. Rosenberg, political scientist and academic
Phyllis Smith, actress
August 16 – Barbara Goodson, voice actress
August 17 – Norm Coleman, U.S. Senator from Minnesota from 2003 to 2009
August 22
Doug Bair, baseball player and coach
Diana Nyad, swimmer and author
August 23 – Leslie Van Houten, Manson Family member
August 24
Stephen Paulus, composer and educator (died 2014)
Charles Rocket, actor (died 2005)
August 29 – Stan Hansen, professional wrestler
August 31
Richard Gere, film actor
H. David Politzer, physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2004
September 1 – Leslie Feinberg, transgender activist
September 7 – Lee McGeorge Durrell, zoologist
September 8
Daniel Pipes, historian, writer, and commentator
Joe Theismann, American football player
September 10 – Bill O'Reilly, conservative political commentator
September 13 – John W. Henry, foreign exchange advisor and Boston Red Sox owner
September 14
Ed King, musician (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (died 2018)
Steve Gaines, guitarist (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (died 1977)
September 15 – Joe Barton, politician
September 16 – Ed Begley, Jr. actor and environmentalist
September 19
Ernie Sabella, actor
Barry Scheck, attorney and author
September 21 – Artis Gilmore, basketball player
September 23 – Bruce Springsteen, singer-songwriter
September 26 – Jane Smiley, novelist
September 27 – Mike Schmidt, baseball player and coach
September 29 – Burton Richardson, game show announcer
October 1 – Isaac Bonewits, author, occultist (died 2010)
October 2
Richard Hell, musician
Annie Leibovitz, photographer
October 3 – Haunani-Kay Trask, activist, educator and poet (died 2021)
October 5
Bill James, historian and author
B. W. Stevenson, singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1988)
October 8
Jerry Bittle, cartoonist (died 2003)
Ashawna Hailey, computer scientist and philanthropist (d. 2011)
Mark Hopkinson, mass murderer and proxy killer (d. 1992)
Sigourney Weaver (Susan Weaver), film actress
October 13 – Rick Vito, musician
October 14 – Katha Pollitt, writer
October 15 – Tanya Roberts, actress (d. 2021)
October 17 – Bill Hudson, musician and actor
October 21 – LaTanya Richardson, African-American actress
October 22 – Stiv Bators, singer (The Dead Boys) (died 1990)
October 24
Chester Marcol, American football player
John Markoff, journalist and author
Stan White, American football player and sportscaster
October 25 – Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., film producer, record producer, singer and voice artist (son of Alvin and the Chipmunks creator Ross Bagdasarian, Sr.)
October 27 – Cheryl Keeton, murder victim (died 1986)
October 29 – Paul Orndorff, professional wrestler (died 2021)
October 30
Terri Dial, banker (died 2012)
Dave Lebling, interactive game designer
November 1
Jeannie Berlin, film actress
Belita Moreno, film actress
November 2
Lois McMaster Bujold, author of speculative fiction
Marc Elrich, politician
November 3
Mike Evans, African-American actor (died 2006)
November 5 – Jimmie Spheeris, singer, songwriter (died 1984)
November 6 – Joseph C. Wilson, United States diplomat (died 2019)
November 7 – Judi Bari, environmental activist (died 1997)
November 8 – Bonnie Raitt, blues singer and guitarist
November 9 – Julie Beckett, teacher and disability rights activist (died 2022)
November 10
Brad Ashford, politician (died 2022)
Ann Reinking, actress, dancer and choreographer (died 2020)
November 12 – Jack Reed, U.S. Senator from Rhode Island from 1997
November 14 – James Young, hard rock singer-songwriter and guitarist (Styx)
November 19 – Ahmad Rashad, sportscaster, television personality
November 20 – Jeff Dowd, film producer and political activist
November 22 – David Pietrusza, author, historian
November 23 – Tom Joyner, radio host
November 24 – Linda Tripp, key figure in the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal (died 2020)
November 25 – Mike Joy, NASCAR commentator
November 26 – Juanin Clay, actress (died 1995)
November 29
Jerry Lawler, wrestler
Garry Shandling, comedian (died 2016)
December 1 – Kurt Schmoke, African-American lawyer and politician (Dean, Howard Law School, Mayor of Baltimore)
December 4 – Jeff Bridges, film actor
December 5
Bruce E. Melnick, astronaut
Lanny Wadkins, golfer
December 6 – Doug Marlette, editorial cartoonist (died 2007)
December 9
Tom Kite, golfer
Eileen Myles, poet and writer
December 10 – Dick Cohen, politician, Minnesota Senate
December 13
Randy Owen, country lead vocalist, rhythm guitar player
Tom Verlaine, rock singer, guitarist (died 2023)
December 14 – Bill Buckner, baseball player (died 2019)
December 15 – Don Johnson, television actor
December 16 – Billy Gibbons, rock guitarist (ZZ Top)
December 20
Cecil Cooper, baseball player and manager
Oscar Gamble, baseball player (died 2018)
Pauline Robinson Bush, daughter of the 41st president, George H. W. Bush (died 1953)
Claudia Jennings, model (died 1979)
December 22 – Ray Guy, American football player (died 2022)
December 23 – Brian J. O'Neill, politician
December 24 – Randy Neugebauer, politician
December 25
Sissy Spacek, film actress
Joe Louis Walker, African American electric blues musician
December 28 – Sam Katz, politician, Philadelphia
December 30 – Jerry Coyne, biologist
Deaths
January 6 – Victor Fleming, film director (born 1889)
January 11 – Nelson Doubleday, publisher (born 1889)
January 14 – Harry Stack Sullivan, psychiatrist (born 1892)
February 1 – Herbert Stothart, composer (born 1885)
March 7
Sol Bloom, politician and impresario (born 1870)
Bradbury Robinson, footballer who threw the first forward pass in American football history in 1906 (born 1884)
March 17 – Felix Bressart, German American actor (born 1892)
March 20 – Irving Fazola, jazz clarinetist (born 1912; heart attack)
March 25 – Jack Kapp, president of the U.S. branch of Decca Records (born 1901)
April 6 – Joseph J. Sullivan, gambler (born 1870)
April 15 – Wallace Beery, film actor (born 1885)
April 22 – Charles Middleton, actor (born 1874)
May 10 – Emilio de Gogorza, baritone (born 1872)
May 13 – Sawnie R. Aldredge, attorney and judge (born 1890)
May 22 – James Forrestal, U.S. Secretary of Navy and Defense (born 1892)
May 27 – Robert Ripley, creator of Ripley's Believe It or Not! (born 1890)
June 14 – Russell Doubleday, author and publisher (born 1872)
June 25 – Buck Freeman, baseball player (born 1871)
July 7 – Bunk Johnson, African American jazz trumpeter (born 1879)
July 18 – Alice Corbin Henderson, poet (born 1881)
July 24 – Virginia M. Alexander, African American physician and community activist (born 1899)
July 26 – Linda Arvidson, silent film actress (born 1884)
July 27 – Ellery Harding Clark, field athlete (born 1874)
August 9
Gustavus M. Blech, German American physician and surgeon (born 1870)
Harry Davenport, actor (born 1866)
August 16 – Margaret Mitchell, novelist (born 1900; killed in road accident)
August 18 – Paul Mares, dixieland jazz cornet player (born 1900; lung cancer)
September 10 – Wiley Rutledge, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (born 1894)
September 12 – Harry Burleigh, African American baritone and classical composer (born 1866)
September 18 – Frank Morgan, character actor (born 1890)
September 19 – Will Cuppy, humorist (born 1884)
September 20 – Richard Dix, film actor (born 1893)
September 22 – Sam Wood, film director (born 1883)
September 27 – David Adler, architect (born 1882)
October 1 – Buddy Clark, singer (born 1911; killed in aviation accident)
October 14 – Fritz Leiber (Sr.), actor (born 1882)
October 15 – Elmer Clifton, film actor and director (born 1890)
October 23 – Almanzo Wilder, writer, husband of Laura Ingalls Wilder (born 1857)
October 26 – Emil Liston, sports coach and administrator (born 1890)
October 31 – Edward Stettinius, Jr., U.S. Secretary of State (born 1900; coronary thrombosis)
November 2 – Jerome F. Donovan, politician (born 1872)
November 3 – Solomon R. Guggenheim, philanthropist (born 1861)
November 25 – Bill Robinson ("Bojangles"), African American dancer (born 1878)
December 6
Lead Belly (Huddie William Ledbetter), African American blues musician (born 1888)
Mary Margaret O'Reilly, assistant director of the United States Mint (born 1865)
December 7 – Rex Beach, adventure novelist and Olympic water polo player (born 1877)
December 25 – Leon Schlesinger, film producer (born 1884)
December 28
Hervey Allen, novelist (born 1889)
Ivie Anderson, African American jazz singer (born 1905; asthma)
See also
List of American films of 1949
Timeline of United States history (1930–1949)
References
External links
1940s in the United States
United States
United States
Years of the 20th century in the United States