December 1950

December 1, 1950 (Friday)

• A fire destroyed the Xi'anmen Gate, known as the "Gate of Western Peace", which protected the Forbidden City in Beijing during the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty of the Chinese Empire. The municipal government of the Chinese capital had been planning to dismantle the gate in order to improve traffic.
• Near Cairo, a villager who had been digging a ditch found the tomb of the High Priest of Heliopolis, Ra-Djaa. French Egyptologist Étienne Drioton announced the discovery of the sarcophagus the next day, and said that the hieroglyphic inscriptions on the wall of the tomb identified Ra-Djaa's name and office, as well as confirming that the priest had died around 660 B.C., during the beginning of Egypt's 26th Dynasty, when Psamtik I was the Pharaoh.
• The Federal Civil Defense Administration was created by Executive Order 10186 by U.S. President Harry S. Truman. In 1958, its functions would be assumed by the Office of Defense Mobilization.
• The United States Air Force removed the Tactical Air Command from the control of the Continental Air Command. The Tactical Air Command returned to the status of a major command for the first time since December 1948.
• Born:
• *Richard Keith, American child actor who portrayed "Little Ricky" on the classic comedy I Love Lucy; in Lafayette, Louisiana.
• *Themba Dlamini, Prime Minister of Swaziland from 2003 to 2008 and businessman

  December 2, 1950 (Saturday)

• Eritrea was made part of a federation with Ethiopia by a 46 to 10 vote of the United Nations General Assembly, to take effect in two years. The predominantly Muslim Eritrea did not adapt to becoming a semi-autonomous unit within Christian Ethiopia, and the Eritrean War of Independence would be fought from 1961 to 1991 until the United Nations would oversee the transition of Eritrea to becoming a sovereign nation.
• The Libyan National Assembly, set up under the auspices of the United Nations, voted unanimously to create a federal monarchy as the form of government when the former Italian colony was to become independent, with Tripolitania, Cyrenaica and Fezzan falling under the rule of the Emir Idris I of the Cyrenaica Emirate.
• The Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River ended with the Chinese People's Volunteer Army expelling United Nations forces from North Korea.
• The Eighth United States Army, under the command of General Walton Walker, began "the longest retreat in United States military history", destroying whatever equipment and supplies it could not take with it, as the American troops pulled back from Chinese troops advancing into North Korea.
• Navy, with a record of only 2 wins and 6 losses, defeated previously unbeaten Army, 14 to 2 in a stunning upset at the annual Army–Navy Game, in front of 101,000 spectators at Philadelphia Municipal Stadium. The Midshipmen snapped the Cadets' 28-game winning streak which had started more than three years earlier.
• Captain W. E. Banks was appointed the first Commander of the Royal Ceylon Navy.
• The science fiction short story collection I, Robot by Isaac Asimov was published.
• The novelty song "The Thing" by Phil Harris hit #1 on the Billboard Best Sellers in Stores chart.
• Born:
• *Paul Watson, Canadian environmental activist and founder of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society; in Toronto
• *Benjamin Stora, French historian and expert on the history of North Africa; in Constantine, French Algeria
• Died: Dinu Lipatti, 33, Romanian pianist and composer,

  December 3, 1950 (Sunday)

• The carrier aircraft of U.S. Navy Task Force 77 were tasked solely with support to United Nations ground forces in northern Korea retreating in the face of the Chinese offensive toward an evacuation at Hungnam, flying reconnaissance missions, attacking Chinese positions, and escorting military transport aircraft flying supplies into Hagaru-ri. Air controllers handled 359 U.N. aircraft on this day, most of them from Task Force 77.
• The first reports of stimulant drug use by members of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army were made by American soldiers who were recovering at an evacuation hospital following their retreat. Sixteen patients reported that the soldiers carried the drugs in small tins. One American reported that each soldier carried "a little larger than a pack of cigarettes... they chew it like chewing gum. It makes them act crazy." Others added that "They'd blow a bugle about dark and in about 30 minutes there they'd come, screaming like hell."
• The North Korean town of Huksu, located northwest of Hamhung, was "wiped off the map", according to Major Frank Smyth, a spokesman for the United States Marines. Major Smythe reported that Corsair and Mustang bombers were ordered to destroy the location after it had become a Chinese PVA stronghold and added that "a Korean town is missing".
• Four soldiers of the British Army were certain that they would be killed or captured after their weapons carrier stalled north of Pyongyang, and they had to drop out of their retreating convoy. Gunner Jimmy Moore of Coventry reported that, when the Chinese soldiers arrived, they helped the Britons push the truck until the engine could start, and that one of the enemy, who "spoke excellent English", told him, "We don't want to hurt you guys. We just want you to get off the peninsula."
• China made the third and final release of wounded American prisoners of war and allowed them to return to the retreating convoy, although they kept several officers of the same units, claiming that they would "buy them tickets from Shanghai to San Francisco". Two trucks brought the men to the American lines, and the men were told "Go back where you belong." A U.S. Army major commented, "It's pure propaganda, of course. But we got back 27 of our men."
• Sa`id al-Mufti resigned as Prime Minister of Jordan.
• Two referendums were held in Switzerland, one on revising article 72 of the constitution regarding the election of the National Council and the other a federal resolution on financial order between 1951 and 1954. Both measures were approved by voters. The second referendum was an extension of the income taxes that had originally been put in place while the rest of Europe had been fighting World War II, with the voters rejecting a tax cut in favor of avoiding a deficit.
• Conservative American radio broadcaster Paul Harvey began his six days a week radio commentary, Paul Harvey News and Comment. The program would continue for the next 58 years and would be on 1,200 radio stations at the height of its popularity.
• The Disenchanted by Budd Schulberg topped The New York Times Fiction Best Seller list.

  December 4, 1950 (Monday)

• At a meeting of the Cabinet of Robert Menzies, the Prime Minister of Australia, the ministers voted to designate the Union Jack on a blue ensign as the Australian National Flag, rather than the red ensign that had also been frequently used.
• The Fighter Squadron 32 F4U Corsair of the first African American naval aviator, U.S. Navy Ensign Jesse L. Brown, operating off of the aircraft carrier, suddenly lost power while supporting the 1st Marine Divisions breakout from the Chosin Reservoir, forcing Brown to make a hard crash-landing, in which he was injured. His wingman, Lieutenant, junior grade, Thomas J. Hudner, crash-landed his own Corsair near Brown's aircraft and attempted to help Brown, as did the pilot of a United States Marine Corps Sikorsky HO3S-1 helicopter that arrived later, but Brown died before they could extricate him from the wreckage. For his actions, Hudner became the first member of the U.S. Navy to receive the Medal of Honor during the Korean War.
• At a destroyed bridge over the Taedong River in Pyongyang, North Korea, Associated Press photographer Max Desfor took the photograph titled Flight of Refugees Across Wrecked Bridge in Korea, which would be named as "an outstanding example" of the photos for which Desfor would win the 1951 Pulitzer Prize for Photography.
• The eruption of a volcano, in the Caspian Sea of the Soviet Union, briefly created a new island, reported to be 300 feet wide, half a mile long, and 18 feet above the surface.
• Clement Attlee, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, made an emergency trip to the United States to meet with U.S. President Truman, after Truman had stated that use of the atomic bomb was under consideration in the Korean War. Attlee and Truman conferred at the White House for 75 minutes at 4:00 pm, after the Prime Minister's airplane had landed in Washington at 9:41 that morning.
• Republican Congressman Richard Nixon took office as U.S. Senator from California following a bitter election campaign, having been appointed to the short remainder of the term of office of outgoing Democrat Sheridan Downey, who had resigned on November 30.
• In the Toronto municipal elections, incumbent mayor Hiram E. McCallum narrowly defeated Allan Lamport to win his fourth one-year term.
• A Pan American World Airways Boeing 307 Strato-Clipper set a new record time for a commercial flight from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Los Angeles, California, making the trip in 7 hours 20 minutes.

  December 5, 1950 (Tuesday)

• The last United Nations troops left Pyongyang, as the British 29th Independent Infantry Brigade covered the retreat of the U.S. 25th Infantry Division and the South Korean 1st Infantry Division troops that had been between the Yalu River and the North Korean capital, then destroyed all but one of the bridges over the Taedong River.
• Born: Camarón de la Isla, Spanish flamenco singer credited with revival of the genre in the 1970s; in San Fernando
• Died:
• *Sri Aurobindo, 76, Indian nationalist, philosopher, yogi, guru, and poet
• *White House Press Secretary Charlie Ross died suddenly at the age of 65 after concluding a briefing to reporters about President Truman's meeting with Prime Minister Attlee. Ross was preparing to record some of his remarks for a television crew. When his secretary told him, "Don't mumble," he replied "You know I always speak very distinctly," then lit a cigarette. A moment later, he slumped back in his chair and died. Ross had been friends with Truman since the time that both of them had been in the third grade, in Independence, Missouri, and had gone on to become an editor with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch before becoming Truman's press spokesman.