1952
2008/9 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Years
| Centuries: | 19th century - 20th century - 21st century |
| Decades: | 1920s 1930s 1940s - 1950s - 1960s 1970s 1980s |
| Years: | 1949 1950 1951 - 1952 - 1953 1954 1955 |
Year 1952 (MCMLII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.
Events of 1952
January
- January 8 - West Germany has 8 million refugees inside its borders.
- January 14 - The Today Show premieres on NBC.
- January 16 - Heir to the throne of Egypt & Sudan H.R.H. Prince Ahmed Fuad Farouk is born, later to become H.M. Fuad II the last King of Egypt & Sudan, Nubia, Kordofan and Darfur.
- January 24
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
- Elizabeth II becomes Queen upon the death of her father George VI. She is simultaneously proclaimed Queen of Canada at Rideau Hall, Ottawa, Ontario.
- In the United States, a mechanical heart is used for the first time in a human patient.
- February 7 - Elizabeth II is proclaimed Queen of the United Kingdom at St. James's Palace, London, England.
- February 14 to February 25 - Winter Olympics in Oslo.
- February 15 - Funeral of King George VI takes place at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
- 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.
- February 21 - Winston Churchill scraps UK compulsory national Identity Cards.
- February 21 - In Dhaka, East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) police open fire on a procession of students, killing four people and starting a country-wide protest which leads to the recognition of Bengali as one of the national languages of Pakistan. The day was later declared as " International Mother Language Day" by UNESCO.
- February 26 - United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces that his nation has an atomic bomb.
March
- March 10 - General Fulgencio Batista re-takes power in Cuba.
- March 15 to March 16 - 73 inches (1,870mm) of rain falls in Cilaos, Réunion, the most rainfall ever in one day.
- March 20 - The United States Senate ratifies a peace treaty with Japan.
- March 21 - The last two executions in the Netherlands take place.
- March 21 - Dr. Kwame Nkrumah is elected Prime Minister of the Gold Coast.
- March 21 - Tornadoes ravage the lower Mississippi River Valley, leaving 208 dead, through March 22.
- March 27 - Failed assassination attempt against Konrad Adenauer.
- March 29 - U.S. President Harry S. Truman announces that he will not seek reelection.
April
- April 4 - In Hague tribunal, Israel demands reparations worth 3 billion dollars from Germany.
- c. April 4 - During a severe storm in the West Ice, east of Greenland, five Norwegian seal hunting vessels with a crew of 78 seal hunters perish without a trace in what is known as the West Ice accidents.
- April 8 - Hours before the 1952 steel strike is to begin, President Harry S. Truman nationalizes all steel mills in the United States—creating a dispute which led to landmark legal ruling in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer.
- April 9 - Hugo Ballivián's government is overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution, starting a period of agrarian reform, universal suffrage and the nationalisation of tin mines.
- April 11 - Battle of Nanri island took place.
- April 15 - The B-52 Stratofortress flies for the first time.
- April 18
- April 23 - Nuclear test in Nevada desert.
- April 28
- April 29 - Lever House officially opens in New York City, heralding a new age of commercial architecture in the United States.
May
- May 1 - East Germany threatens to form its own army.
- May 2 - First passenger jet flight route between London and Johannesburg.
- May 3 - U.S. lieutenant colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict land a plane at the geographic North Pole.
- May 6 - Farouk of Egypt had himself announced as a descendant of prophet Muhammad.
- May 13 - Pandit Nehru forms his first government.
- May 15 - Diplomatic relations established between the governments of Israel and Japan at the level of Legations.
- May 18 - Ann Davison became the first woman to single-handedly sail the Atlantic Ocean.
June
- June 1 - Roman Catholic church bans books of André Gide.
- June 1 - Navigation opens on the Volga-Don Canal, connecting the Caspian Sea basin with that of the Black Sea.
- June 5 - Remains of a Viking ship found near Boston, Massachusetts.
- June 14 - The keel is laid for the U.S. nuclear submarine USS Nautilus.
- June 15 - The Diary of Anne Frank published.
- June 21 - Philippine School of Commerce, through a republic act, was converted to Philippine College of Commerce; later to be the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.
- June 29 - Finnish Armi Kuusela wins the title of Miss Universe.
- June 30 - Marshall Aid ends.
July
- July 13 - East Germany announced formation of its National People's Army.
- July 19 to August 3 - The Summer Olympic Games are held in Helsinki.
- July 21 - A magnitude 7.5 earthquake ( Richter scale) strikes Tehachapi, California, destroying unreinforced brick buildings.
- July 23
- Establishment of the European Coal and Steel community.
- General Mohammed Naguib leads The Free Officers (formed by Gamal Abdel Nasser - the real power behind the coup) in the overthrow of King Farouk of Egypt.
- July 25 - Puerto Rico becomes a self-governing commonwealth of the United States.
- July 26 - Military coup in Egypt ousts King Farouk.
August
- August 11 - Jordanian army forces king Talal to resign due to mental illness - his successor is his son Hussein of Jordan.
- August 13 - Japan joins IMF.
- August 14
- West Germany joins the IMF and the World Bank.
- August 16 - Lynmouth in North Devon England is devastated by floods, death toll of 34.
- August 26 - British passenger jet flies twice over Atlantic Ocean in the same day.
- August 27 - Reparation negotiations between West Germany and Israel end in Luxembourg - Germany will pay 3 billion Deutsche Marks.
- August 29 - Premiere of John Cage's 4' 33" in Woodstock, New York.
- August 30 - Last Finnish war reparations to Soviet Union.
- August 31 - Closure of the Grenzlandring racetrack in Wegberg, Germany.
September
- September 2 - Dr. C. Walton Lillehei and Dr. F. John Lewis perform first open- heart surgery at the University of Minnesota.
- September 6 - TV debuts in Canada as the CBC in Montreal, Quebec airs.
- September 8 - CBC Toronto debuts.
- September 18 - Soviet Union vetoes Japan's application for membership in the United Nations.
October
- October 8
- October 12 - Gamma Sigma Sigma National Service Sorority was founded in New York City at Beekman Towers.
- October 14 - United Nations begins work in the new United Nations building in New York City.
- October 17 - Indonesian troops led by Nasution surround the presidential palace, seeking the dismissal of the People's Representative Council; Sukarno avoids confrontation.
- October 19
- Alain Bombard begins to sail from Canary Islands to Barbados in 65 days; he reaches them December 23.
- John Bamford, aged 15, rescues victims of a house fire and becomes the youngest person to have been awarded the George Cross.
- October 20 - Martial law in Kenya due to Mau Mau uprising.
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
- 8.25 Richter scale earthquake in Kamchatka.
- United States presidential election, 1952: Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower defeats Democrat Adlai Stevenson (correctly predicted by the UNIVAC computer).
- The US National Security Agency is founded.
- November 18 - Jomo Kenyatta is arrested in Kenya for alleged connection to Mau Mau uprising
- November 20
- Slánský trials - series of Stalinist and largely anti-Semitic show trials in Czechoslovakia.
- Fireball crashes in a backyard in Havelock North, New Zealand.
- First official passenger flight over the North Pole from Los Angeles to Copenhagen.
- November 21 - Show trial in Czechoslovakia sentences 11 ex-communist officials to death - all of them Jews.
- November 25 - Agatha Christie's murder-mystery play The Mousetrap opens at the Ambassadors Theatre in London; as of 2007 , it continues, next door at the St. Martin's Theatre, and remains the longest continuously running production of a play in history.
- 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.
December
- December 4 - Great Smog of 1952: A "killer fog" descends on London (In the process coining the word "Smog", for "smoke" and "fog").
- December 14 - First successful surgical separation of Siamese twins in Mount Sinai Hospital, Ohio.
- December 20 - Crash of U.S. Air Force C-124 Globemaster at Moses Lake, WA kills 86 servicemen.
- December 25 - Shooting incident in West Berlin - one West German soldier is killed.
- December 26 - Joseph Ivor Linton, first Israeli Minister Plenipotentiary in Japan, presents his credentials to the Japanese Emperor.
Undated
- Nearly 58,000 cases of polio are reported in the U.S.– 3,145 died and 21,269 were left with mild to disabling paralysis.
- Charles Chaplin is expelled from the U.S..
- Wernher von Braun publishes his ideas for a manned flight to Mars in The Mars Project.
- Nordic Council agrees free transport of people, goods and services throughout the Nordic Countries.
- National Prohibition Foundation incorporated in Indiana.
- American Embassy School of New Delhi founded.
- Fallskärmsjägarna - Swedish paratrooper training school (FJS) created.
- World Wrestling Entertainment - Professional Wrestling Promotion was founded by Vince McMahon Sr.
Ongoing
Fictional
The following are references to year 1952 in fiction: (unknown).
Births
January-February
| Gregorian calendar | 1952 MCMLII |
| Ab urbe condita | 2705 |
| Armenian calendar | 1401 ԹՎ ՌՆԱ |
| Bahá'í calendar | 108 – 109 |
| Berber calendar | 2902 |
| Buddhist calendar | 2496 |
| Burmese calendar | 1314 |
| Chinese calendar | 4588/4648-12-5 ( 辛卯年十二月初五日) — to — 4589/4649-11-15( 壬辰年十一月十五日) |
| Coptic calendar | 1668 – 1669 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 1944 – 1945 |
| Hebrew calendar | 5712 – 5713 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | 2007 – 2008 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 1874 – 1875 |
| - Kali Yuga | 5053 – 5054 |
| Holocene calendar | 11952 |
| Iranian calendar | 1330 – 1331 |
| Islamic calendar | 1371 – 1372 |
| Japanese calendar | Shōwa 27 (昭和27年) |
| Korean calendar | 4285 |
| Thai solar calendar | 2495 |
- January 12 - Walter Mosley, American author
- January 14 - Maureen Dowd, American writer
- January 15 - Boris Blank (musician), Swiss musician
- January 17 - Ryuichi Sakamoto, Japanese musician, composer, producer, and actor ( Yellow Magic Orchestra)
- January 21
- Marco Camenisch, Swiss environmental activist
- Louis Menand, American writer and critic
- January 22 - Ace Vergel, Filipino actor, cardiac arrest. (d. 2007)
- Teddy Gentry, vocals and bass guitar for Alabama
- January 25
- Edward Fialkowski, political activist
- Sara Mandiano, French singer and songwriter
- February 1 - Stan Kasten, baseball executive, currently President of the Washington Nationals
- February 3 - Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian (d. 1998)
- February 14 - Nancy Keenan, current president of NARAL
- February 22 - William Frist, heart surgeon and U.S. Senator
- February 25
- Jerry Chamberlain, American musician
- Joey Dunlop, Northern Irish motorcycle racer (d. 2000)
- February 29 - Gary The Retard, member of The Wack Pack from radio's The Howard Stern Show
March-April
- March 1
- Steven Barnes, American author
- Martin O'Neill, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
- March 2 - Laraine Newman, American comedian
- March 4 - Scott Hicks, Australian movie director
- March 4
- Ronn Moss, American actor
- Umberto Tozzi, Italian singer
- March 7 - Viv Richards, West Indian cricket captain
- March 11 - Douglas Adams, English author (d. 2001)
- March 12 - Eliézer Niyitegeka, Rwandan journalist, politician, and genocidaire
- March 13 - Wolfgang Rihm, German composer
- March 13 - Agnes Rapai, Hungarian writer
- March 22 - Bob Costas, American sports announcer
- March 23 - Kim Stanley Robinson, American author
- March 25 - Jung Chang, Chinese-born author and historian
- March 25 - Antanas Mockus, Colombian mathematician and politician
- March 29 - Teofilo Stevenson, Cuban boxer
- March 30 - Peter Knights, Australian footballer and coach
- March 31 - Vanessa del Rio, American actress
- April 1 - Bernard Stiegler, French philosopher
- April 4 - Rosemarie Ackermann, German athlete
- April 6 - Marilu Henner, American actress, author
- April 7 - Nichita Danilov, Romanian writer
- April 11 - Peter Windsor, British sports reporter
- April 12 - Ralph Wiley, American sports journalist (d. 2004)
- April 14 - Mickey O'Sullivan, Irish sportsman
- April 16
- Billy West, American voice actor
- Bill Belichick, American football coach
- April 17 - Željko Ražnatović, Serbian mobster and paramilitary leader (d. 2000)
- April 22 - Marilyn Chambers, American actress
- April 25 - Ketil Bjørnstad, Norwegian pianist
- April 28 - Mary McDonnell, American actress
May-June
- May 2
- Campbell McComas, Australian impersonator and broadcaster
- Isla St Clair, Scottish singer
- May 3
- Allan Wells, Scottish athlete
- Leonid Khachiyan, Russian-born mathematician
- May 4 - Michael Barrymore, British comedian and TV presenter
- May 6 - Michael O'Hare, American actor
- May 10 - Thomas Paty Stamps, American bankruptcy attorney and historian
- May 11
- Renaud Séchan, French composer
- Shohreh Aghdashloo, Iranian actress
- Mike Lupica, American sports journalist
- May 14
- David Byrne, Scottish-born singer, songwriter, and guitarist ( Talking Heads)
- Robert Zemeckis, American director
- May 16 - James Herndon, American media psychologist
- May 18
- George Strait, American musician
- Diane Duane, American writer
- May 19 - Bert van Marwijk, Dutch football manager
- May 20 - Roger Milla, Cameroonian footballer
- May 21 - Mr. T, American actor
- May 26 - David Meece, American musician
- May 28 - Victoria Cunningham, American actress and Playmate
- June 7
- Hubert Auriol, French racing driver
- Orhan Pamuk, Turkish writer, Nobel prize.
- Liam Neeson, Northern Irish actor
- June 9 - Yukihiro Takahashi, Japanese musician and singer ( Yellow Magic Orchestra)
- June 16 - Georgios Papandreou, Greek politician
- June 17 - Mike Milbury, American ice hockey player, coach and executive
- June 18 - Isabella Rossellini, Italian actress
- June 20
- John Goodman, American actor
- Vikram Seth, Indian novelist
- June 21
- Jeremy Coney, New Zealand cricket captains
- Kôichi Mashimo, Japanese anime director
- June 22
- Alastair Stewart, British newsreader
- Graham Greene (actor), Canadian (First Nations) actor
- June 24 - Stephen Pusey, British-born artist
- June 25 - Tim Finn, New Zealand singer-songwriter
- June 27 - Douglas Unger, American novelist
- Madan Kumar Bhandari, Nepalese politician (d. 1993)
- June 28 - Pietro Mennea, Italian athlete
- June 29 - Joe Johnson, English snooker player
July-August
- July 1 - Dan Aykroyd, Canadian actor
- July 9 - John Tesh, American composer, musician, and television host
- July 12 - Philip Taylor Kramer, Bass Guitar Player (d. 1995)
- July 12 - Voja Antonić, Serbian inventor and writer
- July 14 - Franklin Graham, American evangelist
- July 19 - Allen Collins, American musician and band member of Lynyrd Skynyrd
- July 20 - Keiko Matsuzaka, Japanese actress
- July 24 - Gus Van Sant, American Film Director
- July 27 - Hannu-Pekka Hänninen, Finnish sports commentator
- July 31
- Chris Ahrens, American ice hockey player
- João Barreiros, Portuguese author
- August 1 - Zoran Djindjic, Prime Minister of Serbia (d. 2003)
- August 3 - Osvaldo Ardiles, Argentine footballer
- August 4
- James Arbuthnot, British politician
- Moya Brennan, Irish singer
- August 5 - Louis Walsh, music producer and reality TV show judge
- August 7 - Alexei Sayle, English actor
- August 8 - Jostein Gaarder, Norwegian author
- August 8 - Robin Quivers, American radio personality
- August 9 - Vicki Morgan, American model (d. 1983)
- August 10 - Daniel Hugh Kelly, American actor
- August 13 - Herb Ritts, American photographer
- August 14 - Carl Lumbly, American actor
- August 16 - Reginald VelJohnson, American actor
- August 19 - Jonathan Frakes, American actor
- August 21 - Joe Strummer, British musician ( The Clash) (d. 2002)
- August 24 - Linton Kwesi Johnson, Jamaican-born musician
- August 26 - Bryon Baltimore, Canadian ice hockey player
- August 27 - Paul Reubens, American actor, writer and comedian
- August 28 - Wendelin Wiedeking, German businessman
- August 29 - Karen Hesse, American children's writer
- August 29 - Jimmy Connors, tennis player
September-October
- September 12
- Sergei Karaganov, Russian political scientist
- Neil Peart, drummer for the band Rush
- September 16 - Fatos Nano, Albanian Prime Minister
- September 18 - Dee Dee Ramone, American bassist ( The Ramones) (d. 2002)
- September 22 - Bob Goodlatte, U.S. Congressman from Virginia
- September 24
- Mark Sandman, American musician and artist ( Morphine) (d. 1999)
- Joseph Patrick Kennedy II, son of Robert F Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy and nephew of U.S president John F Kennedy and Edward M Kennedy
- September 25 - Christopher Reeve, American actor and activist (d. 2004)
- September 26 - Predrag Miletić, Serbian actor from Nis
- September 27 - Didier Dubois, French mathematician
- September 29 - Max Sandlin, American politician
- September 30 - Jack Wild, English actor (d. 2006)
- October 5
- Duncan Regehr, Canadian actor
- Clive Barker, British author
- October 7 - Vladimir Putin, Russian president
- October 9 - Sharon Osbourne, wife and manager of Ozzy Osbourne
- October 13 - John Lone, Hong Kong actor
- October 14 - Nikolai Andrianov, Soviet gymnast
- October 16 - Ron Taylor, American actor (died 2002)
- October 19 - Floyd Mayweather Sr., former professional boxer and trainer
- October 22 - Jeff Goldblum, American actor
- October 26 - Andrew Motion, English poet
- October 28 - Annie Potts, American actress
November-December
- November 3 - Roseanne Barr, American actress and comedian
- November 3 - David Ho, Taiwanese-American AIDS researcher
- November 5 - Bill Walton, American basketball player and commentator
- November 6 - Michael Cunningham, American writer
- November 8 - Jan Raas, Dutch professional cyclist
- November 13 - Art Malik, Pakistani-born British actor
- November 16 - Shigeru Miyamoto, Japanese game designer
- November 17 - Ties Kruize, Dutch field hockey player
- November 25 - Imran Khan, Pakistani cricketer
- November 28 - S. Epatha Merkerson, American actress
- November 30 - Keith Giffen, American comic book writer and artist
- December 6 - Rick Charlesworth, Australian cricketer, politician, hockey player and coach
- December 9 - Michael Dorn, American actor
- December 12 - Harbance Singh (Herb) Dhaliwal, Canadian politician
- December 15 - Hwang Woo-Suk, South Korean biomedical scientist
- December 16 - Joel Garner, West Indian cricketer
- December 27 - Jay Hill, Canadian politician
- December 28 - Arun Jaitley, Indian politician
- December 30 - June Anderson, American soprano
Deaths
January - June
- January 11 - Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, French general, posthumous Marshal of France (b. 1889)
- January 18 - Curly Howard, American actor and comedian (b. 1903)
- February 6 - King George VI of the United Kingdom (b. 1895)
- February 19 - Knut Hamsun, Norwegian author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)
- February 22 - Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg, first President of Finland (b. 1863)
- March 5 - Charles Scott Sherrington, English physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1857)
- March 7 - Paramahansa Yogananda, Indian guru (b. 1893)
- March 9 - Alexandra Kollontai, Russian revolutionary (b.1872)
- March 22 - Uncle Dave Macon, American musician (b. 1870)
- March 31
- April 3 - Miina Sillanpää, Finnish politician (b. 1866)
- April 5 - Fala, Scottish Terrior to President Roosevelt (b. 1940)
- April 5 - Charles Collett, Great Western Railway chief mechanical engineer (b. 1871)
- April 21 - Sir Stafford Cripps, British Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1889)
- April 23 - Julius Freed, American inventor and banker (b. 1887)
- May 6 - Maria Montessori, Italian educator (cerebral hemorrhage) (b. 1870)
- May 21 - John Garfield, American actor (b. 1913)
- June 1 - John Dewey, American philosopher (b. 1859)
- June 17 - Krystyna Skarbek, Polish-born British agent in World War II (b. 1915)
- June 19 - Heinrich Schlusnus, German baritone (b. 1888)
July - December
- July 26 - Eva Perón, Spiritual Leader of the Argentine Nation, prominent political leader, and First Lady to and partner in power of President Juan Perón (b. 1919)
- September 29 - George Santayana, Spanish-born writer (b. 1863)
- September 30 - Viscount Waldorf Astor, American-born businessman and politician (b. 1879)
- October 22 - Ernst Rüdin, Swiss psychiatrist, geneticist, and eugenicist (b. 1874)
- October 28 - Billy Hughes, seventh Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1862)
- November 3 - Louis Verneuil, French playwright, screenwriter (b. 1893)
- November 8 - Harold Innis, Canadian communications scholar (b. 1894)
- November 9 - Chaim Weizmann, first President of Israel (b. 1874)
- November 18 - Paul Eluard, French poet (b. 1895)
- November 20 - Benedetto Croce, Italian critic, philosopher, and politician (b. 1866)
- November 21 - William D. Upshaw, American temperance movement leader (b. 1866)
- November 26 - Sven Hedin, Swedish explorer, geographer and geopolitician (b. 1865)
- December 12 - Bedrich Hrozný, Czech orientalist and linguist (b. 1879)
- December 19 - Pehr G. Holmes, American Politician
- December 28 - Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Queen consort of Christian X of Denmark (b. 1879)
- December 28 - Fletcher Henderson, American musician (b. 1897)
Nobel prizes
- Physics - Felix Bloch, Edward Mills Purcell
- Chemistry - Archer John Porter Martin, Richard Laurence Millington Synge
- Medicine - Selman Abraham Waksman
- Literature - François Mauriac
- Peace - Albert Schweitzer
Ship events
- List of ship commissionings in 1952
- List of ship decommissionings in 1952