1950

Events

January

• January 1 – The International Police Association – the largest police organization in the world – is formed.
• January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: Aeroflot Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 aboard are killed, including almost the entire national ice hockey team of the Soviet Air Force – 11 players, as well as a team doctor and a masseur.
• January 6 – The United Kingdom recognizes the People's Republic of China; the Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with Britain in response.
• January 7 – A fire in the St Elizabeth's Ward of Mercy Hospital in Davenport, Iowa, United States, kills 41 patients.
• January 9 – The Israeli government recognizes the People's Republic of China.
• January 12 – British submarine collides with Swedish oil tanker Divina in the Thames Estuary and sinks; 64 die.
• January 13 – Finland forms diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.

• January 21 – In the United States, suspected spy Alger Hiss is convicted on two counts of perjury.
• January 23 – The Knesset passes a resolution that states Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
• January 24 – Cold War: Klaus Fuchs, German émigré physicist, confesses to a British MI5 interrogator that he is a Soviet spy: for seven years, he passed top secret data on U.S. and British nuclear weapons research to the Soviet Union. Fuchs is formally charged on February 2.
• January 26 – India promulgates its constitution, forming a republic, and Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as its first president. The Kingdom of Mysore is merged into the new republic.
• January 31
• * United States President Harry S. Truman orders the development of the hydrogen bomb, in response to the detonation of the Soviet Union's first atomic bomb in 1949.
• * The last Kuomintang troops surrender in mainland China.

  February

• February 1 – Chiang Kai-shek is re-elected as president of the Republic of China.
• February 6
• * In West Virginia, 372,000 coal miners strike.
• * In India, the first Cabinet Secretary is appointed.
• February 8
• * The Stasi is founded in East Germany, and acts as a secret police until 1990.
• * A payment is first made by Diners Club card, in New York, United States.
• February 9 – In Wheeling, West Virginia, Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin makes a speech that claims to have 205 communists in the U.S. State Department.
• February 11
• * Two Viet Minh battalions attack a French base in French Indochina.
• * Finland recognizes Indonesia.
• February 12
• * The European Broadcasting Union is founded.
• * Albert Einstein warns that nuclear war could lead to mutual destruction.
• February 13 – British Columbia B-36 crash: The U.S. Air Force loses a Convair B-36 bomber that carried a Mark 4 nuclear bomb off the west coast of Canada, and produces the world's first Broken Arrow.
• February 14 – Cold War:
• * The Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China sign a mutual defense treaty.
• * In an election speech at Edinburgh, Winston Churchill proposes "a parley at the summit" with Soviet leaders, the first use of the term "summit" for such a meeting.
• February 15 – Juho Kusti Paasikivi is re-elected president of Finland.
• February 19 – Konrad Adenauer tries unsuccessfully to negotiate with East Germany, to begin reunification.
• February 21 – Cunard liner Aquitania arrives at the scrapyard in Faslane at the end of a 36-year career, the longest of any in the 20th Century.
• February 23 – 1950 United Kingdom general election: The Labour Party, led by Clement Attlee, remains in office, but the Tories, led by Winston Churchill, increase their seats in the House of Commons.
• February – The Ad Hoc Committee on Slavery of the United Nations is formally inaugurated with its first meeting at Lake Success in February 1950.

  March

• March 1
• * Klaus Fuchs is convicted in London of spying against both Britain and the United States for the Soviet Union, by giving to the latter top secret atomic bomb data.
• * Acting President of the Republic of China Li Zongren ends his term in office and Chiang Kai-shek resumes his duties as president, after moving the government of the Republic to Taipei, Taiwan.
• March 3 – Poland indicates its intention to exile all Germans.
• March 8 – The first Volkswagen Type 2 rolls off the assembly line in Wolfsburg, Germany.
• March 12
• * A plane carrying returning rugby fans from Ireland to Wales crashes near Llandow, with the loss of 80 lives.
• * Royal question: 1950 Belgian monarchy referendum – In Belgium, a referendum on the monarchy shows 57.7% support the return of King Leopold III from exile to resume exercise of his constitutional powers, 42.3% against. The King has said he would abdicate if he did not receive 55% support, and that the final decision would be for the federal parliament.
• March 18 – The Belgian government collapses, after the March 12 referendum.
• March 20 – The Polish government enacts a law to take possession of properties owned by Roman Catholic churches.
• March 22 – Egypt demands that Britain remove all its troops from the Suez Canal zone.
• March 23 – The 22nd Academy Awards ceremony is held in Hollywood. All the King's Men is Best Picture.

  April

• April 14 – Influential British adventure comic Eagle is launched.
• April 21 – Nainital wedding massacre: A mass stabbing occurs at Nainital in India, killing 22 members of the Harijan caste.
• April 24 – Jordan formally annexes the West Bank.
• April 27
• * Apartheid: In South Africa, the Group Areas Act is passed, formally segregating the races.
• * Britain formally recognises Israel.

  May

• May 1 – UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, begins operations.
• May 5 – Bhumibol Adulyadej, king of Thailand since 1946, is crowned, at The Grand Palace in Bangkok.
• May 6 – Cazin rebellion in Bosnia against Communist agrarian reforms.
• May 8 – Tollund Man is unearthed in Denmark.
• May 9 – Robert Schuman presents his proposal for the creation of a pan-European organisation, which he believes to be indispensable to the maintenance of permanently peaceful relations between the different nations of the continent. This proposal, known as the "Schuman Declaration", is considered to be the beginning of the creation of what becomes the European Union.
• May 11 – The Kefauver Committee hearings into U.S. organized crime begin.
• May 13 – The first race in the inaugural FIA Formula One World Championship in automobile racing is held, at Silverstone, England.
• May 14 – The Huntsville Times runs the headline "Dr. von Braun Says Rocket Flights Possible to Moon."
• May 17 – Israeli Air Force Spitfires intercept a British Royal Air Force Short Sunderland when it inadvertently crosses into Israeli airspace, forcing it to land at Lod Airport. The Sunderland's crew have been issued maps that do not depict Israel, as Britain had not recognized the Jewish state at the time they were issued.
• May 22
• * Celâl Bayar becomes the third president of Turkey and Adnan Menderes of the DP forms the new government of Turkey.
• * Recorded premiere of Four Last Songs by German composer Richard Strauss given by the composer's choice of soloist, Norwegian-born soprano Kirsten Flagstad, with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler at the Royal Albert Hall in London, sponsored by Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar, Sultan of Mysore.
• May 24 – The United States Maritime Administration is formed.
• May 25 – The Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel is formally opened to traffic in New York City.
• May 29
• * St. Roch, the first ship to circumnavigate North America, arrives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
• * The pilot series of the world's longest-running radio soap opera, The Archers, is first broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in the U.K. It will still be running more than 75 years later.

  June

• June 1–23 – Mauna Loa in Hawaii starts erupting.
• June 3 – Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal, of the French Annapurna expedition, become the first climbers to reach the summit of an 8,000-metre peak.
• June 6 – In Turkey, the Adhan in Arabic is permitted by law after a ban of 18 years.
• June 8 – Sir Thomas Blamey becomes the only Field Marshal in Australian history.
• June 16 – Maracanã Stadium, which becomes a well-known sports venue of Brazil, opens in Rio de Janeiro, in advance of the opening of the 1950 FIFA World Cup in the country on June 24.
• June 25 – The Korean War begins: Troops and T-34 tanks of the North Korean People's Army cross the 38th parallel into South Korea.
• June 27 – Korean War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman orders American military forces to aid in the defense of South Korea.
• June 28 – Korean War:
• * North Korean forces capture Seoul, but do not win the war.
• * Hangang Bridge bombing: The South Korean army, in an attempt to defend Seoul, blows up the Hangang Bridge while it is crowded with refugees.
• * Seoul National University Hospital massacre: North Korean troops kill around 800 medical staff and patients.
• * Bodo League massacre begins: South Korean armed forces and police summarily execute at least 100,000 suspected North Korean sympathizers.

  July

• July 14–21 – Korean War: Battle of Taejon – North Korean forces capture the city held by the U.S. 24th Infantry Division, but the delay allows establishment of the Pusan Perimeter.
• July 16 – Uruguay beats Brazil 2–1, to win the 1950 World Cup, the match dubbed the Maracanazo.
• July 17 – The Suppression of Communism Act comes into force in South Africa.
• July 20 – Air Battle of South Korea: After a month-long campaign, the majority of North Korea's People's Air Force is destroyed by anti-communist forces.
• July 22 – Royal question in Belgium: King Leopold III returns from exile, provoking a general strike, particularly in Wallonia.
• July 30 – 4 workers striking over the "Royal question" in Belgium are shot dead by the Gendarmerie, at Grâce-Berleur near Liège.