1952

Events from the year **1952 in the United States**.

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: Gordon Persons (Democratic)
* Governor of Arizona: John Howard Pyle (Republican)
* Governor of Arkansas: Sid McMath (Democratic)
* Governor of California: Earl Warren (Republican)
* Governor of Colorado: Daniel I. J. Thornton (Republican)
* Governor of Connecticut: John Davis Lodge (Republican)
* Governor of Delaware: Elbert N. Carvel (Democratic)
* Governor of Florida: Fuller Warren (Democratic)
* Governor of Georgia: Herman Talmadge (Democratic)
* Governor of Idaho: Leonard B. Jordan (Republican)
* Governor of Illinois: Adlai E. Stevenson II (Democratic)
* Governor of Indiana: Henry F. Schricker (Democratic)
* Governor of Iowa: William S. Beardsley (Republican)
* Governor of Kansas: Edward F. Arn (Republican)
* Governor of Kentucky: Lawrence W. Wetherby (Democratic)
* Governor of Louisiana: Earl K. Long (Democratic) (until May 13), Robert F. Kennon (Democratic) (starting May 13)
* Governor of Maine: Frederick G. Payne (Republican) (until December 24), Burton M. Cross (Republican) (starting December 24)
* Governor of Maryland: Theodore R. McKeldin (Republican)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Paul A. Dever (Democratic)
* Governor of Michigan: G. Mennen Williams (Democratic)
* Governor of Minnesota: C. Elmer Anderson (Republican)
* Governor of Mississippi: Fielding L. Wright (Democratic) (until January 22), Hugh L. White (Democratic) (starting January 22)
* Governor of Missouri: Forrest Smith (Democratic)
* Governor of Montana: John W. Bonner (Democratic)
* Governor of Nebraska: Val Peterson (Republican)
* Governor of Nevada: Charles H. Russell (Republican)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Sherman Adams (Republican)
* Governor of New Jersey: Alfred E. Driscoll (Republican)
* Governor of New Mexico: Edwin L. Mechem (Republican)
* Governor of New York: Thomas E. Dewey (Republican)
* Governor of North Carolina: W. Kerr Scott (Democratic)
* Governor of North Dakota: Clarence Norman Brunsdale (Republican)
* Governor of Ohio: Frank J. Lausche (Democratic)
* Governor of Oklahoma: Johnston Murray (Democratic)
* Governor of Oregon: Douglas McKay (Republican) (until December 17), Paul L. Patterson (Republican) (starting December 17)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: John S. Fine (Republican)
* Governor of Rhode Island: Dennis J. Roberts (Democratic)
* Governor of South Carolina: James Francis Byrnes (Democratic)
* Governor of South Dakota: Sigurd Anderson (Republican)
* Governor of Tennessee: Gordon Browning (Democratic)
* Governor of Texas: Allan Shivers (Democratic)
* Governor of Utah: J. Bracken Lee (Republican)
* Governor of Vermont: Lee E. Emerson (Republican)
* Governor of Virginia: John S. Battle (Democratic)
* Governor of Washington: Arthur B. Langlie (Republican)
* Governor of West Virginia: Okey L. Patteson (Democratic)
* Governor of Wisconsin: Walter J. Kohler Jr. (Republican)
* Governor of Wyoming: Frank A. Barrett (Republican)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: James B. Allen (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas: Nathan Green Gordon (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of California: Goodwin Knight (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: Gordon L. Allott (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Edward N. Allen (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: Alexis I. du Pont Bayard (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Georgia: Marvin Griffin (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: Edson H. Deal (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Sherwood Dixon (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: John A. Watkins (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: William H. Nicholas (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Fred Hall (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Emerson Beauchamp (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: William J. Dodd (Democratic) (until May 13), C. E. "Cap" Barham (Democratic) (starting May 13)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Charles F. Sullivan (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: William C. Vandenberg (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: vacant
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: Sam Lumpkin (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Carroll Gartin (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: James T. Blair Jr. (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana: Paul Cannon (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: Charles J. Warner (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Clifford A. Jones (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico: Tibo J. Chavez (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Frank C. Moore (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Hoyt Patrick Taylor (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Ray Schnell (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: George D. Nye (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma: James E. Berry (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Lloyd H. Wood (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: John S. McKiernan (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: George Bell Timmerman Jr. (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: Rex A. Terry (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: Walter M. Haynes (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: Ben Ramsey (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Joseph B. Johnson (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia:
	+ until September 20: Lewis Preston Collins II (Democratic)
	+ September 20-December 2: vacant
	+ starting December 2: Allie Edward Stokes Stephens (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Washington: Victor A. Meyers (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: George M. Smith (Republican)

## Events

### January

* January 14 – *The Today Show* premieres on NBC, becoming one of the longest-running television series in America.

### February

* February 2 – A tropical storm forms just north of Cuba moving northeast. The storm makes landfall in southern Florida the next day. It is the earliest reported landfall from a tropical storm, and the earliest formation of a tropical storm on record in the Atlantic basin.
* February 6 – In the United States, a mechanical heart is used for the first time in a human patient.
* February 20 – Emmett Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball, by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.

### March

* March 20
	+ The United States Senate ratifies a peace treaty with Japan.
	+ The 24th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Danny Kaye, is held at RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Vincente Minnelli's *An American in Paris* and George Stevens' *A Place in the Sun* both win a respective six awards each, the former winning Best Motion Picture and the latter winning Best Director for Stevens. Elia Kazan's *A Streetcar Named Desire* receives the most nominations with 12.
* March 21 – Tornadoes ravage the lower Mississippi River Valley, leaving 208 dead, through March 22.
* March 22 – Wernher von Braun publishes the first in his series of articles entitled *Man Will Conquer Space Soon!*, including ideas for manned flights to Mars and the Moon.
* March 29 – U.S. President Harry S. Truman announces that he will not seek reelection.

### April

* April 8 – *Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer*: The U.S. Supreme Court limits the power of the President to seize private business, after President Harry S. Truman nationalizes all steel mills in the United States, just before the 1952 steel strike begins.
* April 15 – The United States B-52 Stratofortress flies for the first time.
* April 23 – A nuclear test is held in the Nevada desert.
* April 28 – The Treaty of San Francisco goes into effect, formally ending the occupation of Japan.
* April 29 – Lever House officially opens in New York City, heralding a new age of commercial architecture in the United States.

### May

* May 3 – U.S. lieutenant colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict land a plane at the geographic North Pole.

### June

* June 14 – The keel is laid for the U.S. nuclear submarine USS *Nautilus*.
* June 19 – The *United States Army Special Forces* is created.

### July

* July 3 – The ocean liner SS *United States* makes her maiden crossing of the Atlantic.
* July 19 – Washington D.C. UFO incident. Several alleged UFOs tracked on multiple radars. Jets scramble on several occasions and the objects take evasive action, only to return after the jets leave the area.
* July 21 – The 7.3 Mw Kern County earthquake strikes Southern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (*Extreme*), killing 12 and injuring hundreds.
* July 25 – Puerto Rico becomes a self-governing commonwealth of the United States.

### August

* August 22 – A 5.8 Mw aftershock affects Bakersfield with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (*Severe*), killing two and causing an additional $10 million in damage.
* August 29 – John Cage's 4' 33" premieres in Woodstock, New York.

### September

* September 2 – Dr. C. Walton Lillehei and Dr. F. John Lewis perform the first open-heart surgery at the University of Minnesota.
* September 23 – Republican vice presidential candidate Richard Nixon gives his Checkers speech.

### October

* October 7 – The New York Yankees defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4 games to 3, to win their 15th World Series Title.
* October 12 – The Gamma Sigma Sigma National Service Sorority is founded in New York City at Panhellenic Tower.
* October 14 – The United Nations begins work in the new headquarters of the United Nations in New York City.
* October 16 – *Limelight* opens in London; writer/actor/director/producer Charlie Chaplin arrives by ocean liner; in transit his re-entry permit to the USA is revoked by J. Edgar Hoover.
* October 31 – With an average coast-to-coast precipitation of 0.54 inches or 13.7 millimeters, this is easily the driest month over the contiguous United States since reliable records began in 1895 (The second-driest, November 1917, averaged as much as 0.95 inches or 24.1 millimeters.)

### November

* November 1 – Nuclear testing: Operation Ivy: The United States successfully detonates the first hydrogen bomb, codenamed "Mike", at Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific Ocean, with a yield of 10.4 megatons.
* November 4
	+ 1952 United States presidential election: Republican candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower defeats Democratic Governor of Illinois Adlai Stevenson (correctly predicted by the UNIVAC computer). The Constitution Party nominates candidates.
	+ The U.S. National Security Agency is founded.
* November 20 – The first official passenger flight over the North Pole is made from Los Angeles to Copenhagen.
* November 29 – Korean War: U.S. President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower fulfills a political campaign promise, by traveling to Korea to find out what can be done to end the conflict.
* November 30 – Publication of *Web of Evil* comic book begins.

### December

* December 1 – The *New York Daily News* carries a front-page story announcing that Christine Jorgensen, a transsexual woman in Denmark, has become the recipient of the first successful sexual reassignment operation.
* December 14 – The first successful surgical separation of Siamese twins is conducted in Mount Sinai Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio.
* December 20 – The crash of a U.S. Air Force C-124 Globemaster at Moses Lake, Washington kills 86 servicemen.

## Memoriam

* January 8 – Antonia Maury, astronomer (aged 85; Dobbs Ferry, NY, USA)
* January 18 – Curly Howard, vaudevillian comedian and actor (*The Three Stooges*) (aged 48; San Gabriel, CA, USA)
* January 24 – Duke York, film actor (aged 43; Hollywood, CA, USA)
* January 25 – Polly Moran, actress (aged 68; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* January 26 – André Cheron, film actor (aged 71; San Francisco, CA, USA)
* January 27 – Fannie Ward, actress (aged 79; New York City, NY, USA)
* January 28 – Thomas Hicks, marathon runner (aged 76; Winnipeg, MB, Canada)
* February 7
	+ Philip G. Epstein, screenwriter (aged 42; Hollywood, CA, USA)
	+ Pete Henry, American football player and coach (aged 54; Washington, PA, USA)
* February 14
	+ Molly Malone, silent film actress (aged 63; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
	+ John Sheehan, actor (aged 66; Calabasas, CA, USA)
* February 17 – William Augustus Ayres, U.S. House of Representatives from Kansas (aged 84; Washington, DC, USA)
* February 21 – Francis Xavier Ford, Roman Catholic bishop, missionary, servant of God and reverend (aged 60; Guangzhou, China)
* March 1 – Gregory La Cava, film director (aged 59; Malibu, CA, USA)
* March 2 – Ole E. Benson, politician (aged 86; Ottawa, IL, USA)
* March 12 – Hugh Herbert, actor and comedian (aged 66; North Hollywood, CA, USA)
* March 22 – Uncle Dave Macon, vaudeville banjoist (aged 81; Murfreesboro, TN, USA)
* March 31
	+ Bo McMillin, American football player and coach (aged 57; Bloomington, IN, USA)
	+ Roland West, film director (aged 67; Santa Monica, CA, USA)
	+ Wallace H. White, U.S. Senator from Maine (aged 74; Auburn, ME, USA)
* May 9 – Canada Lee, African American actor (aged 45; New York City, NY, USA)
* May 10 – Clark L. Hull, psychologist (aged 67; New Haven, CT, USA)
* May 21 – John Garfield, screen actor (aged 39; New York City, NY, USA)
* June 1
	+ John Dewey, philosopher (aged 92; New York City, NY, USA)
	+ Malcolm St. Clair, filmmaker (aged 55; Altadena, CA, USA)
* June 6 – Thomas Walsh, Roman Catholic archbishop and reverend (aged 78; Newark, NJ, USA)
* June 10 – Frances Theodora Parsons, naturalist (aged 90; Katonah, NY, USA)
* June 13 – Emma Eames, soprano (aged 86; Manhattan, NY, USA)
* June 17 – Jack Parsons, rocket engineer and occultist (aged 37; Pasadena, CA, USA)
* June 21 – James Wolcott Wadsworth Jr., politician (aged 74; Washington, DC, USA)
* June 27 – Elmo Lincoln, film actor (aged 63; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* July 1 – A. S. W. Rosenbach, book collector (aged 75; Philadelphia, PA, USA)
* July 4 – Walter Long, film character actor (aged 73; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* July 20 – Isabelle LaMal, film actress (aged 66; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* July 22 – Harry Carter, silent film actor (aged 72; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* July 26 – Edward Ellis, actor (aged 81; Beverly Hill, CA, USA)
* August 1 – Andrew Higgins, boatbuilder and industrialist (aged 65; New Orleans, LA, USA)
* August 2
	+ Charles K. French, film actor, director and screenwriter (aged 92; Hollywood, CA, USA)
	+ J. Farrell MacDonald, film character actor and director (aged 77; Hollywood, CA, USA)
* August 11 – Riccardo Martin, tenor (aged 77; New York City, NY, USA)
* August 16 – Lydia Field Emmet, painter (aged 86; New York City, NY, USA)
* August 30 – Arky Vaughan, baseball player (Pittsburgh Pirates) (aged 40; Eagleville, CA, USA)
* September 5 – Fernando Luis García, Puerto Rican marine, killed in action (aged 22; Panmunjom, South Korea)
* September 9 – Jonas H. Ingram, admiral (aged 65; San Diego, CA, USA)
* September 23 – Ray Mala, Nastive American film actor (aged 45; Hollywood, CA, USA)
* September 26 – George Santayana, philosopher (aged 88; Rome, Italy)
* September 30 – Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor, businessman and politician (aged 73; Taplow, England, UK)
* October 11 – Jack Conway, film producer and director (aged 65; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* October 17 – Julia Dean, actress (aged 74; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* October 19 – Edward S. Curtis, photographer, ethnologist and film director (aged 84; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* October 23 – Susan Peters, actress (aged 31; Visalia, CA, USA)
* October 24 – Frederick Jacobi, composer (aged 61; New York City, NY, USA)
* October 26
	+ Myrtle McAteer, tennis player (aged 74; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
	+ Hattie McDaniel, African American actress (aged 59; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* November 1 – Dixie Lee, singer (aged 42; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* November 6 – George H. Reed, African-American screen actor (aged 85; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* November 8 – Hugh Prosser, film actor (aged 45; Gallup, NM, USA)
* November 10 – John Roche, actor (aged 59; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* November 21 – William David Upshaw, temperance leader (aged 86; Glendale, CA, USA)
* December 4 – Karen Horney, psychoanalyst (aged 67; New York City, NY, USA)
* December 12 – Billy Cook, spree killer, executed (aged 23; San Quentin, CA, USA)
* December 15 – Emmanuel Boleslaus Ledvina, Roman Catholic prelate, bishop and reverend (aged 84; Corpus Christi, TX, USA)
* December 19 – Pehr G. Holmes, politician (aged 71; Venice, FL, USA)
* December 29 – Fletcher Henderson, African American jazz bandleader and pianist (aged 55; New York City, NY, USA)
* December 30 – Luke McNamee, admiral and Governor of Guam (aged 81; Newport, RI, USA)