1946

Events

January

• January 6 – The first general election ever in Vietnam is held.
• January 7 – The Allies of World War II recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into four occupation zones.
• January 10
• * The first meeting of the United Nations is held, at Methodist Central Hall Westminster in London.
• * Project Diana bounces radar waves off the Moon, measuring the exact distance between the Earth and the Moon, and proves that communication is possible between Earth and outer space, effectively opening the Space Age.
• January 11 – Enver Hoxha declares the People's Republic of Albania, with himself as prime minister.
• January 16 – Charles de Gaulle resigns as head of the French provisional government.
• January 17 – The United Nations Security Council holds its first session, at Church House, Westminster in London.
• January 19
• * The Bell XS-1 is test flown for the first time, with Bell's chief test pilot Jack Woolams at the controls.
• * General Douglas MacArthur establishes the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo, to try Japanese war criminals.
• January 20 – Charles de Gaulle resigns as president of France.
• January 22
• * Iran crisis of 1946: Qazi Muhammad declares the independent people's Republic of Mahabad, at the Chahar Cheragh Square in the Kurdish city of Mahabad. He is the new president, Haji Baba Sheikh is the prime minister.
• * The National Intelligence Authority, and its operational arm, the Central Intelligence Group, are established in the United States; these become part of the Central Intelligence Agency in 1947.

• January 28 – The Canadian schooner Bluenose founders on a Haitian reef.
• January 31
• * The last session of the Permanent Court of International Justice occurs.
• * Yugoslavia's new constitution, modeling the Soviet Union, establishes 6 constituent republics.

  February

• February 1
• * Trygve Lie of Norway is selected as the first United Nations Secretary-General.
• * The Kingdom of Hungary becomes a republic, heavily influenced by the Soviet Union.
• February 14 – ENIAC, an early general-purpose electronic computer, is unveiled at the University of Pennsylvania; it weighs 60,000 pounds, and occupies a big room.
• February 15 – The Gouzenko Affair: Canada announces the shocking discovery of a ring of Canadian communist spies based at the Soviet embassy in Ottawa, passing atomic bomb secrets to Russia.
• February 20 – An explosion kills more than 400 coal miners in Bergkamen, West Germany.
• February 24 – Juan Perón is elected president of Argentina.

  March

• March 2
• * British troops withdraw from Iran according to treaty; the Soviets do not.
• * Ho Chi Minh is elected President of North Vietnam.
• March 4 – C. G. E. Mannerheim resigns as president of Finland.
• March 5 – In his speech at Westminster College, in Fulton, Missouri, Winston Churchill talks about the Iron Curtain.
• March 6 – First Indochina War: Ho Chi Minh signs an agreement with France, which recognizes Vietnam as an autonomous state in the Indochinese Federation and the French Union.
• March 7 – The 18th Academy Awards Ceremony is held. Best Picture goes to The Lost Weekend.
• March 8 – The Bell 47 becomes the first helicopter certified for civilian use in the United States
• March 9 – Juho Kusti Paasikivi becomes the 7th President of Finland.
• March 19
• * The Soviet Union and Switzerland resume diplomatic relations.
• * French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion become overseas départements of France.
• March 22 – The United Kingdom grants the British protectorate of the Emirate of Transjordan its independence by the Treaty of London.
• March 29 – The Gold Coast has an African majority in its parliament.

  April

• April 1
• * The 8.6 Aleutian Islands earthquake shakes the Aleutian Islands, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI. A destructive tsunami reaches the Hawaiian Islands, resulting in many deaths, mostly in Hilo. Between 165 and 173 are killed.
• * The Malayan Union is formed on dissolution of the British Military Administration and Singapore becomes a Crown colony.
• * The Battle of Määritsa takes place between Estonian partisans and Soviet forces in southeastern Estonia.
• April 3 – Japanese Lt. General Masaharu Homma is executed outside Manila in the Philippines, for leading the Bataan Death March.
• April 5 – A British Fleet Air Arm Vickers Wellington crashes into a residential area in Rabat, Malta during a training exercise, killing all 4 crew members and 16 civilians on the ground.
• April 10 – In Japan, women vote for the first time, during elections for the House of Representatives of the 90th Imperial Diet.
• April 14 – Sh'erit ha-Pletah members of Nakam, the "Jewish Avengers", use arsenic to poison bread baked for SS prisoners of war held at Stalag XIII-D by the Americans.
• April 17 – Syria's independence from France is officially recognized.
• April 18
• * The inaugural session of the International Court of Justice takes place at The Hague.
• * The League of Nations, in its last meeting, transfers its mission to the United Nations and disbands itself.
• * The United States recognizes Josip Broz Tito's government in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
• April 25 – Naperville train disaster: The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy's Exposition Flyer crashes into the Advance Flyer at Loomis Street in Naperville, Illinois.
• April 28 – Kinderdorf Pestalozzi is established at Trogen, Switzerland to accommodate and educate orphans of World War II, according to Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi's principles.
• April 29 – Trials against war criminals begin in Tokyo; the accused include Hideki Tojo, Shigenori Tōgō and Hiroshi Ōshima.

  May

• May 1 – At least 800 Indigenous Australian pastoral workers walk off the job in Northwest Western Australia, starting one of the longest industrial strikes in Australia.
• May 7 – Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering is founded, with about 20 employees.
• May 9 – King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy abdicates, and is succeeded by his son Umberto II.
• May 10
• * Jawaharlal Nehru is elected leader of the Congress Party in India.
• * The first V-2 rocket to be successfully launched in the United States is fired from White Sands Missile Range.
• May 21 – Manhattan Project physicist Louis Slotin accidentally triggers a fission reaction at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States and, although saving his coworkers, gives himself a lethal dose of ionizing radiation, making him the second victim of a criticality accident in history.
• May 23–24 – A two-day violent tornado outbreak occurs across the Central United States, with at least 15 significant tornadoes killing four people and injuring 42 others.
• May 25 – The Emirate of Jordan becomes the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan when its parliament makes the ruling amir Abdullah their king on the day it ratifies the Treaty of London.
• May 26 – 1946 Czechoslovak parliamentary election: Communists win with, in the last election before communists take power.
• May 31 – The 1946 Greek referendum supports the return of the monarchy.

  June

• June 1
• * Ion Antonescu, prime minister and "Conducator" of Romania during World War II, is executed; he was found guilty of betraying the Romanian people for benefits of Germany and sentenced to death by the Bucharest People's Tribunal.
• * D'Argenlieu, French High Commissioner for Indo-China, recognizes an autonomous "Republic of Cochin-China" in violation of the March 6 Ho–Sainteny agreement, opening the way for conflict between the Viet Minh and France.
• June 2 – 1946 Italian institutional referendum: Italians vote to turn Italy from a monarchy into a republic. In the simultaneous 1946 Italian general election, the first since the end of World War II and also the first in which women are allowed to vote, the Christian Democracy party, led by Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi, wins most seats in the Constituent Assembly of Italy and forms a coalition government. Christian Democracy leads the Italian government continuously until 1981.
• June 3 – Interpol is re-founded; the telegraphic address "Interpol" is adopted.
• June 8 – In Indonesia, Sukarno incites his supporters to fight Dutch colonial occupation.
• June 9 – In Thailand, King Bhumibol Adulyadej accedes to the throne after the death of his elder brother, King Ananda Mahidol. He will reign until his death on October 13, 2016.
• June 10 – Italy is declared a republic.
• June 13 – Umberto II of Italy leaves the country and goes into exile in Portugal; Alcide De Gasperi becomes head of state.
• June 14 – The Baruch Plan is proposed to the United Nations.
• June 17 – Formal ratification of the Treaty of London grants independence to the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan.
• June 23
• * The 7.5 Vancouver Island earthquake affects the island, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII. Two people are killed.
• * 1946 French India municipal election: The National Democratic Front wins a landslide victory.
• June 25 – The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development begins operations.
• June 30 – The War Relocation Authority, which has administered the internment of Japanese Americans, is abolished.

  July

• July 1 – Nuclear testing: Operation Crossroads, a series of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in Micronesia, is initiated by the detonation of Able at an altitude of 520 feet.
  
• July 4
• * After more than 48 years of American dominance, the Philippines attains full independence as the 3rd Republic; Manuel A. Roxas is 5th President of the Philippines. It marks the end of nearly 400 years of colonial era when the Viceroyalty of New Spain took control since April 27, 1565.
• * The Kielce Pogrom takes place in Poland.
• July 5 – The bikini is first modeled in Paris.
• July 16 – The Bureau of Land Management within the Department of the Interior is formed by the merger of the Grazing Service and United States General Land Office.
• July 21 – An Irgun bomb explodes in Jerusalem, due to secretive talks between Jews and Britain to consolidate the state of Israel.
• July 22 – King David Hotel bombing: The Irgun bombs the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing 90.
• July 25
• * Nuclear testing: In the first underwater test of the atomic bomb, the surplus is sunk near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, when the United States detonates the Baker device during Operation Crossroads.
• * At Club 500 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis stage their first show as a comedy team.
• * In the last mass lynching in the United States, a mob of white men shoot and kill two African-American couples, near Moore's Ford Bridge in Georgia.