1949

Events from the year **1949 in the United States**.

* Vice President: *vacant* (until January 20), Alben W. Barkley (D-KY) (starting January 20)
* Chief Justice: Fred M. Vinson (KY)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Joseph William Martin Jr. (R-MA) (until January 3), Sam Rayburn (D-TX) (starting January 3)
* Senate Majority Leader: Wallace H. White Jr. (R-ME) (until January 3), Scott W. Lucas (D-IL) (starting January 3)
* Congress: 80th (until January 3), 81st (starting January 3)

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: Jim Folsom (Democratic)
* Governor of Arizona: Dan Edward Garvey (Democratic)
* Governor of Arkansas: Benjamin Travis Laney (Democratic) (until January 11), Sid McMath (Democratic) (starting January 11)
* Governor of California: Earl Warren (Republican)
* Governor of Colorado: William Lee Knous (Democratic)
* Governor of Connecticut: James C. Shannon (Republican) (until January 5), Chester Bowles (Democratic) (starting January 5)
* Governor of Delaware: Walter W. Bacon (Republican) (until January 18), Elbert N. Carvel (Democratic) (starting January 18)
* Governor of Florida: Millard F. Caldwell (Democratic) (until January 4), Fuller Warren (Democratic) (starting January 4)
* Governor of Georgia: Herman Talmadge (Democratic)
* Governor of Idaho: C. A. Robins (Republican)
* Governor of Illinois: Dwight H. Green (Republican) (until January 10), Adlai E. Stevenson II (Democratic) (starting January 10)
* Governor of Indiana: Ralph F. Gates (Republican) (until January 10), Henry F. Schricker (Democratic) (starting January 10)
* Governor of Iowa: Robert D. Blue (Republican) (until January 13), William S. Beardsley (Republican) (starting January 13)
* Governor of Kansas: Frank Carlson (Republican)
* Governor of Kentucky: Earle C. Clements (Democratic)
* Governor of Louisiana: Earl K. Long (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine: Horace A. Hildreth (Republican) (until January 5), Frederick G. Payne (Republican) (starting January 5)
* Governor of Maryland: William Preston Lane Jr. (Democratic)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Robert F. Bradford (Republican) (until January 6), Paul A. Dever (Democratic) (starting January 6)
* Governor of Michigan: Kim Sigler (Republican) (until January 1), G. Mennen Williams (Democratic) (starting January 1)
* Governor of Minnesota: Luther W. Youngdahl (Republican)
* Governor of Mississippi: Fielding L. Wright (Democratic)
* Governor of Missouri: Phil M. Donnelly (Democratic) (until January 10), Forrest Smith (Democratic) (starting January 10)
* Governor of Montana: Sam C. Ford (Republican) (until January 3), John W. Bonner (Democratic) (starting January 3)
* Governor of Nebraska: Val Peterson (Republican)
* Governor of Nevada: Vail M. Pittman (Democratic)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Charles M. Dale (Republican) (until January 6), Sherman Adams (Republican) (starting January 6)
* Governor of New Jersey: Alfred E. Driscoll (Republican)
* Governor of New Mexico: Thomas J. Mabry (Democratic)
* Governor of New York: Thomas E. Dewey (Republican)
* Governor of North Carolina: R. Gregg Cherry (Democratic) (until January 6), W. Kerr Scott (Democratic) (starting January 6)
* Governor of North Dakota: Fred G. Aandahl (Republican)
* Governor of Ohio: Thomas J. Herbert (Republican) (until January 10), Frank J. Lausche (Democratic) (starting January 10)
* Governor of Oklahoma: Roy J. Turner (Democratic)
* Governor of Oregon: John H. Hall (Republican) (until January 10), Douglas McKay (Republican) (starting January 10)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: James H. Duff (Republican)
* Governor of Rhode Island: John Orlando Pastore (Democratic)
* Governor of South Carolina: Strom Thurmond (Democratic)
* Governor of South Dakota: George T. Mickelson (Republican)
* Governor of Tennessee: Jim Nance McCord (Democratic) (until January 16), Gordon Browning (Democratic) (starting January 16)
* Governor of Texas: Beauford H. Jester (Democratic) (until July 11), Allan Shivers (Democratic) (starting July 11)
* Governor of Utah: Herbert B. Maw (Democratic) (until January 3), J. Bracken Lee (Republican) (starting January 3)
* Governor of Vermont: Ernest W. Gibson Jr. (Republican)
* Governor of Virginia: William M. Tuck (Democratic)
* Governor of Washington: Monrad C. Wallgren (Democratic) (until January 12), Arthur B. Langlie (Republican) (starting January 12)
* Governor of West Virginia: Clarence W. Meadows (Democratic) (until January 17), Okey L. Patteson (Democratic) (starting January 17)
* Governor of Wisconsin: Oscar Rennebohm (Republican)
* Governor of Wyoming: Lester C. Hunt (Democratic) (until January 3), Arthur G. Crane (Republican) (starting January 3)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: James C. Inzer (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas: Nathan Green Gordon (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of California: Goodwin Knight (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: Homer L. Pearson (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Walter Walford Johnson (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Robert E. Parsons (Republican) (until January 5), William T. Carroll (Democratic) (starting January 5)
* Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: Elbert N. Carvel (Democratic) (until January 20), Alexis I. du Pont Bayard (Democratic) (starting January 20)
* Lieutenant Governor of Georgia: Marvin Griffin (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: Donald S. Whitehead (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Hugh W. Cross (Republican) (until January 10), Sherwood Dixon (Democratic) (starting January 10)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Rue J. Alexander (Republican) (until January 2), John A. Watkins (Democratic) (starting January 2)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: Kenneth A. Evans (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Frank L. Hagaman (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Lawrence Wetherby (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: William J. Dodd (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Arthur W. Coolidge (Republican) (until January 6), Charles F. Sullivan (Republican) (starting January 6)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Eugene C. Keyes (Republican) (until month and day unknown), John W. Connolly (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: C. Elmer Anderson (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: Sam Lumpkin (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Walter Naylor Davis (Democratic) (until January 10), James T. Blair Jr. (Democratic) (starting January 10)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana: Ernest T. Eaton (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Paul Cannon (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: Robert B. Crosby (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Charles J. Warner (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Clifford A. Jones (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico: Joseph Montoya (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Joseph R. Hanley (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Lynton Y. Ballentine (Democratic) (until January 6), Hoyt Patrick Taylor (Democratic) (starting January 6)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Clarence P. Dahl (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Paul M. Herbert (Republican) (until January 10), George D. Nye (Democratic) (starting January 10)
* Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma: James E. Berry (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Daniel B. Strickler (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: Sioux K. Grigsby (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Rex A. Terry (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: George Oliver Benton (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Walter M. Haynes (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: Allan Shivers (Democratic) (until July 11), vacant (starting July 11)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Lee E. Emerson (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Harold J. Arthur (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Lewis Preston Collins II (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Washington: Victor A. Meyers (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Oscar Rennebohm (Republican) (until January 3), George M. Smith (Republican) (starting January 3)

## Events

### January - March

* January 2 – Luis Muñoz Marín becomes the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
* January 4
	+ *RMS Caronia* of the Cunard Line departs Southampton for New York City on her maiden voyage.
	+ 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 rôle 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 Mw 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 2 – 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 1 – Englewood race riot in Chicago.
* November 24 – The ski resort in Squaw Valley, California officially opens.

## Memoriam

* January 6 – Victor Fleming, film director (aged 59; Cottonwood, AZ, USA)
* January 11 – Nelson Doubleday, publisher (aged 59; Oyster Bay, NY, USA)
* January 14 – Harry Stack Sullivan, psychiatrist (aged 56; Paris, France)
* January 26 – Irvine Lenroot, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin from 1918 to 1927 (aged 79; Washington, DC, USA)
* February 1 – Herbert Stothart, composer (aged 63; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* March 7
	+ Sol Bloom, politician and impresario (aged 78; Washington, DC, USA)
	+ Bradbury Robinson, footballer who threw the first forward pass in American football history in 1906 (aged 65; Pinellas County, FL, USA)
* March 17 – Felix Bressart, German American actor (aged 57; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* March 20 – Irving Fazola, jazz clarinetist (aged 36; New Orleans, LA, USA)
* March 25 – Jack Kapp, president of the U.S. branch of Decca Records (aged 47; New York City, NY, USA)
* April 6 – Joseph J. Sullivan, gambler (aged 78; Sharon, MA, USA)
* April 15 – Wallace Beery, film actor (aged 64; Beverly Hills, CA, USA)
* April 22 – Charles Middleton, actor (aged 74; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* May 22 – James Forrestal, U.S. Secretary of Navy and Defense (aged 57; Bethesda, MD, USA)
* May 27 – Robert Ripley, creator of *Ripley's Believe It or Not!* (aged 59; New York City, NY, USA)
* May 29 – William Alexander Julian, 28th Treasurer of the United States (aged 78; Bethesda, MD, USA)
* June 14 – Russell Doubleday, author and publisher (aged 77; Glen Cove, NY, USA)
* June 25 – Buck Freeman, baseball player (aged 77; Wilkes-Barre, PA, USA)
* July 3 – Carl D. Thompson, preacher and politician (aged 79; Lincoln, NE, USA)
* July 7 – Bunk Johnson, African American jazz trumpeter (aged 69; New Iberia, LA, USA)
* July 18 – Alice Corbin Henderson, poet (aged 68; Tesuque, NM, USA)
* July 24 – Virginia M. Alexander, African American physician and community activist (aged 50; Philadelphia, PA, USA)
* July 26 – Linda Arvidson, silent film actress (aged 65; New York City, NY, USA)
* July 27 – Ellery Harding Clark, field athlete (aged 75; Hingham, MA, USA)
* August 9
	+ Gustavus M. Blech, German American physician and surgeon (aged 78; Chicago, IL, USA)
	+ Harry Davenport, actor (aged 83; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* August 16 – Margaret Mitchell, novelist (aged 48; Atlanta, GA, USA)
* August 18 – Paul Mares, dixieland jazz cornet player (aged 49; Chicago, IL, USA)
* September 10 – Wiley Rutledge, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (aged 55; York, ME, USA)
* September 12 – Harry Burleigh, African American baritone and classical composer (aged 82; Stamford, CT, USA)
* September 18 – Frank Morgan, character actor (aged 59; Beverly Hills, CA, USA)
* September 19 – Will Cuppy, humorist (aged 65; New York City, NY, USA)
* September 20 – Richard Dix, film actor (aged 56; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* September 22 – Sam Wood, film director (aged 66; Hollywood, CA, USA)
* September 27 – David Adler, architect (aged 67; Libertyville, IL, USA)
* October 1 – Buddy Clark, singer (aged 37; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* October 14 – Fritz Leiber, actor (aged 67; Hollywood, CA, USA)
* October 15 – Elmer Clifton, film actor and director (aged 59; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* October 23 – Almanzo Wilder, writer, husband of Laura Ingalls Wilder (aged 92; Mansfield, MO, USA)
* October 26 – Emil Liston, sports coach and administrator (aged 59; Baldwin, KS, USA)
* October 31 – Edward Stettinius Jr., U.S. Secretary of State (aged 49; Greenwich, CT, USA)
* November 2 – Jerome F. Donovan, politician (aged 77; Stony Creek, CT, USA)
* November 3 – Solomon R. Guggenheim, philanthropist (aged 88; Long Island, NY, USA)
* November 25 – Bill Robinson ("Bojangles"), African American dancer (aged 71; New York City, NY, USA)
* December 6
	+ Lead Belly (Huddie William Ledbetter), African American blues musician (aged 61; New York City, NY, USA)
	+ Mary Margaret O'Reilly, Assistant Director of the United States Mint (aged 84; Washington, DC, USA)
* December 7 – Rex Beach, adventure novelist and Olympic water polo player (aged 72; Sebring, FL, USA)
* December 25 – Leon Schlesinger, film producer (aged 65; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* December 28
	+ Hervey Allen, novelist (aged 60; Coconut Grove, FL, USA)
	+ Ivie Anderson, African American jazz singer (aged 45; Los Angeles, CA, USA)