1951 in the United States

Events from the year 1951 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal government">Federal government of the United States">Federal government

President: Harry S. Truman
[Vice President of the United States|President of the United States|Vice President]: Alben W. Barkley
Chief Justice: Fred M. Vinson
Speaker of the House of Representatives: Sam Rayburn
Senate Majority Leader:
Congress: 81st, 82nd

Events

January–March

January 1 - First week of Patti Page's hit song "Tennessee Waltz" as No. 1 single on Billboard and Cashbox charts.
January 10 - The new United Nations headquarters officially opens in New York City.
January 17 - Korean War: Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul.
January 27 - Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site begins with a 1-kiloton bomb dropped on Frenchman Flat, northwest of Las Vegas.
January 31 - The last daily narrow gauge passenger train, the San Juan Express, is retired by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad.
February 21 - The Jack in the Box fast-food restaurant chain is founded by Robert O. Peterson in San Diego, California.
February 27 - The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting presidents to two terms, is ratified.
March 2 – The first NBA All-Star Game of basketball is played in the Boston Garden.
March 3 or 5 – Jackie Brenston "and His Delta Cats" record "Rocket 88" at Sam Phillips' Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, a candidate for the first rock and roll record. It is covered on June 14 by Bill Haley and His Saddlemen.
March 12 - Hank Ketcham's best-selling comic strip Dennis the Menace appears in newspapers across the U.S. for the first time.
March 14 - Korean War: For the second time, United Nations troops recapture Seoul.
March 29
*Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. On April 5 they are sentenced to receive the death penalty.
*Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I opens on Broadway and runs for three years. It is the first Rodgers & Hammerstein musical specifically written for an actress. Lawrence is stricken with cancer during the run of the show and dies halfway through its run a year later. The show makes a star of Yul Brynner.
*The 23rd Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Fred Astaire, is held at RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Joseph L. Mankiewicz's All About Eve wins six awards, including Best Motion Picture and Mankiewicz's second consecutive Best Director win. The film is also nominated for 14 awards overall, breaking the record of 13 set by 1939's Gone with the Wind.
March 31 - Remington Rand delivers the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau.

April–June

April 7 - Operation Greenhouse: The first thermonuclear burn is carried out on Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands of the Pacific by the U.S. Three further tests in this series take place up to May 24.
April 11 - U.S. President Harry S. Truman relieves General Douglas MacArthur of his Far Eastern commands.
April 27 - RKO releases the Howard Hawks sci-fi film The Thing from Another World.
May 3 - The U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services and U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations begins its closed door hearings into the dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur by U.S. President Harry S. Truman.
May 21 - The Ninth Street Show, formally known as the 9th Street Art Exhibition, a gathering of a number of notable artists, marks the stepping-out of the post war New York avant-garde, collectively known as the New York School.
June 4 – The Foley Square trial concludes review in the U.S. Supreme Court as Dennis v. United States, with a ruling against the defendants.
June 14 - The UNIVAC I computer is dedicated by the U.S. Census Bureau.
June 15-July 1 - In New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, thousands of hectares of forests are destroyed in fires.
June 18 - Battle Ground, Washington is incorporated.

July–September

July 10 - Korean War: Armistice negotiations begin at Kaesong.
July 11-12 - Cicero race riot of 1951: A mob of 4,000 whites attack an apartment building housing a single black family in a neighborhood in Cicero, Illinois.
July 13
*The Great Flood of 1951 reaches its highest point in Northeast Kansas, culminating in the greatest flood damage to date in the Midwestern United States.
*MGM's Technicolor film version of Show Boat, starring Kathryn Grayson, Ava Gardner, and Howard Keel, premieres at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The musical brings overnight fame to African American bass-baritone William Warfield.
July 14 - In Joplin, Missouri, the George Washington Carver National Monument becomes the first United States National Monument to honor an African American.
July 16 - J. D. Salinger's coming-of-age story The Catcher in the Rye is published by Little, Brown and Company in New York City.
July 17 - Western New England College in Springfield, Massachusetts is chartered.
July 26 - Walt Disney's 13th animated feature film, Alice in Wonderland, premieres in London, United Kingdom. Though the film is not well received critically upon release, it later garners more acclaim from the psychedelic era onwards as a cult classic.
July 30 - David Lean's Oliver Twist is finally shown in the United States, after 10 minutes of supposedly anti-Semitic references and closeups of Alec Guinness as Fagin are cut. It will not be shown uncut in the U.S. until 1970.
September 1 - The United States, Australia and New Zealand all sign a mutual defense pact, called the ANZUS Treaty.
September 3 - The American soap opera Search for Tomorrow debuts on CBS. The show switches to NBC on March 26, 1982, and airs its final episode on December 26, 1986.
September 8
*Treaty of San Francisco: In San Francisco, 48 nations sign a peace treaty with Japan to formally end the Pacific War.
*Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, which allows United States Armed Forces being stationed in Japan after the occupation of Japan, is signed by Japan and the United States.
September 18
* 20th Century Fox's Robert Wise science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still is released.
* Elia Kazan's adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire premieres, becoming a critical and box-office smash.
September 20 - NATO accepts Greece and Turkey as members.
September 24 - MGM releases the musical Show Boat.

October–December

October 3 - "Shot Heard 'Round the World": One of the greatest moments in Major League Baseball history occurs when the New York Giants' Bobby Thomson hits a game winning home run in the bottom of the 9th inning off of Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca, to win the National League pennant after being down 14 games.
October 4
*MGM's Technicolor musical film, An American in Paris, starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron and directed by Vincente Minnelli, premieres in New York. It will go on to win six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
*Shoppers World opens in Framingham, Massachusetts.
October 10 - The New York Yankees defeat the New York Giants (baseball), 4 games to 2, to win the 14th World Series Title.
October 15 - Sitcom I Love Lucy, starring Lucille Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz, makes its television debut on CBS.
October 16 - Judy Garland begins her legendary concerts in New York's Palace Theatre (Broadway).
October 17 - CBS' Eye logo premieres on television.
October 20 - The "Johnny Bright incident", an assault on an African American player, occurs in a college football game at Stillwater, Oklahoma.
October 24 - U.S. President Harry Truman declares an official end to war with Germany.
November 1 - The first military exercises for nuclear warfare, with infantry troops included, are held in the Nevada desert.
November 5 - The New Jersey Turnpike is opened.
November 10 - Direct dial coast-to-coast telephone service begins.
November 11 - Monogram Pictures releases the sci-fi film Flight to Mars in the United States.
November 22 - Paramount Pictures releases George Pal science fiction film When Worlds Collide.
November 24 - The Broadway play Gigi opens, starring little known actress Audrey Hepburn as the lead character.
November 28 - The film Scrooge, starring Alastair Sim, premieres in the U.S. under the title of Charles Dickens's original novel, A Christmas Carol.
c. December - The Institute of War and Peace Studies is established by Dwight D. Eisenhower at Columbia University in New York with William T. R. Fox as first director.
December 13 - A water storage tank collapses in Tucumcari, New Mexico, resulting in 4 deaths and 200 buildings destroyed.
December 17 - "We Charge Genocide", a petition describing genocide by the U.S. government against African Americans, is delivered to the United Nations.
December 20 - Experimental Breeder Reactor I, the world's first nuclear power plant, opens in Idaho.
December 23 - John Huston's drama film, The African Queen, starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn, premieres in Hollywood.
December 24 - Gian Carlo Menotti's 45-minute opera Amahl and the Night Visitors premieres live on NBC, becoming the first opera written especially for television.
December 31 - The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than US$13.3 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Europe.

Ongoing

Unknown

"Vegas Vic" is added to the Pioneer Club, in Las Vegas.

Births

January–March

January 2 – Jim Essian, baseball player and coach
January 4
* Bob Black, author and activist
* Barbara Cochran, skier
January 6
* Don Gullett, baseball player and coach
* Kim Wilson, singer, harmonica player
January 8 – John McTiernan, director, producer and writer
January 9 – John Prados, historian and war gamer designer
January 10 – Tim Seelig, composer
January 11 – Carol Leigh, author and sex workers' rights activist
January 12
* Kirstie Alley, actress
* Chris Bell, guitarist and singer-songwriter
* Rush Limbaugh, conservative radio personality
January 18 – Elijah Cummings, African American politician
January 21 – Eric Holder, African American politician, 82nd United States Attorney General
January 22
* Alveda King, activist, minister, author and politician
* Leon Roberts, baseball player
January 23
* Margaret Bailes, sprinter
* Michael R. Matz, horse rider and trainer
* Sully Sullenberger, airline captain
January 25
* Steve Prefontaine, runner
* Bill Viola, video artist
January 27
* Seth Justman, rock keyboardist
* Ken Timbs, wrestler
January 30 – Charles S. Dutton, African American actor
January 31
* Dave Benton, Aruban-born American singer
* Harry Wayne Casey, musician, songwriter and producer
February 4 – Phil Ehart, drummer
February 5 – O'Neal Compton, actor and director
February 7 – Kim Milford, actor and singer
February 9
* Jay Inslee, politician
* David Pomeranz, singer
February 10 – Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company
February 12
* Cory Lerios, pianist and vocalist
* Susan Page, journalist and political commentator
February 13 – David Naughton, actor ***
February 15 – Melissa Manchester, pop singer
February 16
* Mike Flanagan, baseball pitcher
* William Katt, film, television actor
February 19 – Alan Merrill, musician
February 20 – Edward Albert, film and television actor
February 22 – Ellen Greene, actress
February 23 – Patricia Richardson, actress
February 24 – Debra Jo Rupp, actress
February 27 – Lee Atwater, political activist, campaign strategist and presidential advisor
March 1 – Deb Fischer, politician
March 4
* Mike Quarry, light-heavyweight boxer
* Gwen Welles, actress
March 8 – Dianne Walker, tap dancer
March 14 – Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's ice cream
March 17
* Bill Atkinson, computer scientist
* Kurt Russell, actor
March 18
* Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's ice cream
* B. E. Taylor, singer
March 19 – Fred Berry, actor
March 20 – Jimmie Vaughan, blues rock guitarist and singer
March 24 – Tommy Hilfiger, fashion designer
March 26 – Carl Wieman, physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

April–June

April 1
* Tim Bassett, basketball player
* Frederic Schwartz, American architect, co-designed Empty Sky
April 5 – Dean Kamen, inventor, entrepreneur
April 7 – Janis Ian, folk singer-songwriter
April 8 – Phil Schaap, radio host
April 10 – David Helvarg, journalist, activist
April 11 – Doris Angleton, socialite, murder victim
April 12
* Alex Briley, disco singer
* Tom Noonan, film actor
April 13
* Peabo Bryson, African American R&B singer-songwriter
* John Furey, screen actor
* Max Weinberg, rock drummer
April 16
* Mordechai Ben David, Hasidic Jewish singer
* Bill Walker, 13th Governor of Alaska
April 20 – Luther Vandross, African American R&B, soul singer-songwriter
April 21
* Tony Danza, actor, comedian
* Bob Varsha, sportscaster
April 23 – Allison Krause, Kent State University shooting victim
April 24 – Martha P. Haynes, astronomer and academic
April 27 – Ace Frehley, rock guitarist
April 29 – Dale Earnhardt, race car driver
May 1 – Sally Mann, photographer
May 3
*Christopher Cross, pop rock singer-songwriter
* Stewart F. Lane, Broadway producer, director, playwright and actor
May 4 – Jackie Jackson, African American pop singer
May 9 – Joy Harjo, Native American poet
May 12 – Joe Nolan, baseball player
May 13
* Sharon Sayles Belton, Mayor of Minneapolis
* Guy Morriss, American football coach and player
May 15
* Jonathan Richman, proto-punk singer-songwriter and guitarist
* Frank Wilczek, physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
May 19
* Joey Ramone, rock musician
* Dick Slater, professional wrestler
May 20 – Mike Crapo, U.S. Senator from Idaho from 1999
May 21
* Al Franken, comedian and U.S. Senator from Minnesota from 2009 to 2018
* Bob Gale, film screenwriter, producer and director
May 23 – Jill E. Barad, businessperson
May 26 – Sally Ride, First American woman astronaut
May 28 – JoAnne A. Epps, legal scholar and academic
May 30
* Garrett Hongo, poet
* Stephen Tobolowsky, screen actor
May 31 – Jimmy Nalls, jazz fusion guitarist
June 2
*Gilbert Baker, artist and activist, creator of the Rainbow flag in 1978
*Jeanine Pirro, attorney, politician and conservative political commentator
June 3 – Jill Biden, First Lady of the United States
June 5 – Suze Orman, financial advisor, writer and television personality
June 6 – Dwight Twilley, pop/rock singer and songwriter
June 8 – Tony Rice, bluegrass musician
June 9
* Bruce Duffy, author
* James Newton Howard, film composer
* Dave Parker, baseball player
June 12 – Brad Delp, rock vocalist
June 13 – Richard Thomas, television actor
June 15 – Jane Amsterdam, magazine editor
June 16 – Charlie Dominici, progressive metal singer
June 18 – Steve Miner, screen director and producer
June 20 – Tress MacNeille, voice actress
June 21 – Nils Lofgren, rock musician
June 24
* Leslie Cochran, homeless activist and Austin icon
* Ken Reitz, baseball player
June 27
*Julia Duffy, actress
*K. L. Brown, Alabamian politician
June 28 – Lloyd Maines, country musician, record producer
June 29
* Keno Don Rosa, comic book author
* Craig Sager, sports commentator
June 30 – Stanley Clarke, jazz fusion bass guitarist

July–September

July 1
* Daryl Anderson, television actor
* Anne Feeney, folk singer
* Terrence Mann, actor and dancer
July 2
* Anne Garrels, journalist
* Keith Marshall, baseball player
* Sylvia Rivera, transgender activist
* Stevie Woods, R&B singer
July 3 – Bob Rigby, soccer goalkeeper
July 4 – Vincent Marzello, screen actor
July 5
* Goose Gossage, baseball player
* Roger Wicker, politician
July 7 – Roz Ryan, actress and voice actress
July 8 – Anjelica Huston, screen actress
July 9 – Chris Cooper, screen actor
July 10 – Cheryl Wheeler, folk singer-songwriter
July 11
* Yechiel Eckstein, rabbi
* Ed Ott, baseball player
July 12
* Brian Grazer, film producer
* Cheryl Ladd, actress and singer
July 15 – Jesse Ventura, actor, pro wrestler, and politician
July 17 – Lucie Arnaz, actress and singer
July 19 – Debra Byrd, vocalist
July 21 – Robin Williams, actor and comedian
July 22
* Tisa Farrow, film actress
* Slick Watts, basketball player
July 23 – Michael McConnohie, voice actor
July 24 – Lynda Carter, actress and singer
July 25 – Angela Jackson, African American poet and playwright
July 28
* Doug Collins, basketball player, coach and analyst
* Garrett Hongo, poet
July 31 – Barry Van Dyke, actor, writer, director and presenter
August 2 – Andrew Gold, pop singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist
August 3 – Jay North, actor
August 4 – Lois V. Vierk, composer
August 6 – Catherine Hicks, television actress
August 8 – Randy Shilts, journalist and author
August 9 – Mike Downey, sports columnist
August 12 – Willie Horton, criminal
August 13 – Dan Fogelberg, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist
August 14
* Slim Dunlap, rock musician
* Carl Lumbly, African American screen and voice actor
August 15 – Bobby Caldwell, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist
August 17 – Richard Hunt, puppeteer
August 20 – Greg Bear, science fiction author
August 21
* Chesley V. Morton, politician and securities arbitrator
* Harry Smith, television journalist and editor
* John Stearns, baseball player
August 23
* Allan Bristow, basketball player and coach
* Mark Hudson, record producer
* Jimi Jamison, rock singer-songwriter
* Susan L. Solomon, executive and lawyer
August 24
* Orson Scott Card, science fiction author
* Bill C. Davis, playwright and actor
August 26 – Edward Witten, mathematician, Fields medalist
August 27
* Mack Brown, college football coach
* Robert Torricelli, U.S. Senator from New Jersey from 1997 to 2003
August 28
* Barbara Hambly, novelist and screenwriter
* Wayne Osmond, pop singer
August 30 – Timothy Bottoms, film actor
September 2
* Jim DeMint, U.S. Senator from South Carolina
* Mark Harmon, screen actor
September 4 – Judith Ivey, stage actress and director
September 5 – Michael Keaton, screen actor and director
September 7
* Chrissie Hynde, rock singer
* Bert Jones, football player
September 11 – Mr. Butch, homeless person and Boston icon
September 12 – Joe Pantoliano, screen character actor
September 13
* Suzanne Lummis, poet
* Jean Smart, actress
* Linda Wong, pornographic film actress
September 15
* Pete Carroll, football coach
* Jared Taylor, author and journalist
* Fred Seibert, screen producer, Frederator Studios founder
September 17 – Cassandra Peterson, screen actress
September 18
* Ben Carson, African American politician, author and neurosurgeon
* Dee Dee Ramone, rock bass guitarist
* Darryl Stingley, American football player
September 22 – Amanda Mackey, casting director
September 25
* Pedro Almodóvar, filmmaker
* Mark Hamill, film and voice actor
September 27
* Jim Shooter, and illustrator
* David Starobin, guitarist, producer, and director

October–December

October 3
* Bernard Cooper, fiction writer
* Harold McGee, writer on food science and history
* Keb' Mo', African American blues musician
* Kathryn D. Sullivan, astronaut
* Dave Winfield, baseball player
October 5 – John Rubey, president of AEG-TV and CEO of Fathom Events and Rubey Entertainment
October 7 – John Mellencamp, heartland rock singer-songwriter and instrumentalist
October 11 – Jon Miller, sports announcer
October 18
* Mike Antonovich, ice hockey player and executive
* Pam Dawber, screen actress
* Terry McMillan, novelist
October 25 – Richard Lloyd, rock guitarist
October 26 – Bootsy Collins, African American funk singer-songwriter and bass guitarist
October 28 – Ronnie and Donnie Galyon, conjoined twins
October 30 – Harry Hamlin, screen actor
November 1 – Ronald Bell, musician
November 2 – Thomas Mallon, novelist and critic
November 3 – Ed Murawinski, cartoonist
November 7 – Chris Mortensen, sports journalist
November 8 – Tom Henry, businessman and politician
November 9 – Lou Ferrigno, film actor and bodybuilder
November 11 – Marc Summers, television host
November 14
* Frankie Banali, rock drummer
* Stephen Bishop, singer-songwriter, guitarist and actor
November 15 – Beverly D'Angelo, actress and singer
November 16
* Miguel Sandoval, screen actor
* Paula Vogel, playwright
November 17
* Butch Davis, American football coach
* Dean Paul Martin, pop singer and screen actor
* Stephen Root, screen and voice actor
November 18 – Justin Raimondo, political activist
November 20 – Rodger Bumpass, voice actor
November 21 – John Kennedy, Junior senator from Louisiana
November 24
* Chet Edwards, politician
* Robin Herman, writer and journalist
November 27
* Teri DeSario, disco singer-songwriter
* Kathryn Bigelow, film director
November 29 – Roger Troutman, funk singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist
December 1
* Sherry Aldridge, singer
* Obba Babatundé, actor
* Jaco Pastorius, jazz fusion bass guitarist
* Treat Williams, actor, writer and aviator
December 2 – Adrian Devine, baseball pitcher
December 4
* Gary Rossington, guitarist and songwriter
* Patricia Wettig, screen actress
December 8 – Bill Bryson, non-fiction author
December 10 – Johnny Rodriguez, country singer
December 11 – Peter T. Daniels, writing systems scholar
December 12 – Greg Lee, basketball player
December 18
* Bobby Jones, basketball player
* Alvin E. Roth, academic
December 19 – Karl F. Lopker, business executive
December 31 – Tom Hamilton, hard rock bass guitarist and songwriter

Deaths

January–March

January 2 – Richard Hart, actor
January 10 – Sinclair Lewis, novelist, recipient of Nobel Prize in Literature
January 11 – Charles Goddard, playwright and screenwriter
January 13 – Florence Kahn, Lady Beerbohm, actress, died in Italy
January 18 – Jack Holt, film actor
January 22 – Karl Nessler, inventor
January 28 – Dominic Salvatore Gentile, military pilot, killed in aviation accident
February 9 – Eddy Duchin, jazz pianist and bandleader
February 13 – Lloyd C. Douglas, novelist
February 16 – Tommy Gagliano, mobster
February 18 – Lyman Gilmore, aviation pioneer
February 22 – Alfred Lindley, Olympic rower
February 28 – Henry W. Armstrong, boxer and songwriter
March 2 – Al Taylor, film character actor
March 8 – Charles Coleman, film character actor
March 14 – Val Lewton, film producer and screenwriter
March 25
* Eddie Collins, baseball player
* Oscar Micheaux, African American filmmaker
March 31 – Ralph Forbes, actor