March 1949

[March 1], 1949 (Tuesday)

• World heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis announced his retirement to become director of the newly formed International Boxing Club promotion.
• Indonesian Republic forces launched the General Offensive of 1 March 1949 against the Dutch in Yogyakarta. Indonesian troops held the city for six hours before retreating, but won a moral and diplomatic victory.
• A law went into effect in Bulgaria putting organized religion under control of the state.
• The British/American drama film Edward, My Son starring Spencer Tracy and Deborah Kerr premiered in the United Kingdom.
• Ripley's Believe It or Not!, the first of several television series based on the newspaper feature of the same name, premiered on NBC.

  [March 2], 1949 (Wednesday)

• The B-50 SuperFortress Lucky Lady II landed at Fort Worth, Texas 94 hours and 1 minute after takeoff to complete the first nonstop round-the-world flight in history. Strategic Air Command chief Curtis LeMay, welcoming the plane at its landing, stated that the flight proved that a B-50 based in the United States could drop an atomic bomb "any place in the world."
• Born: Gates McFadden, actress and choreographer, in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; J. P. R. Williams, rugby player, in Bridgend, Wales
• Died: Sarojini Naidu, 70, Indian freedom fighter and poet

  [March 3], 1949 (Thursday)

• Norway rejected the Soviet Union's offer of a non-aggression pact and accepted an invitation to join the North Atlantic treaty negotiations.
• US President Harry S. Truman accepted the resignation of James Forrestal as Secretary of Defense and appointed Louis A. Johnson to replace him.
• Production of the Tucker 48 automobile ended when the Tucker Corporation headed by Preston Tucker ceased operations amidst a heavily publicized stock fraud scandal.
• Born: Gloria Hendry, actress and model, in Winter Haven, Florida

  [March 4], 1949 (Friday)

• Israel's application of membership to the United Nations was approved by the Security Council by a vote of 9–1, with Egypt casting the only dissenting vote and Britain abstaining.
• Andrey Vyshinsky succeeded Vyacheslav Molotov as Soviet Foreign Minister.
• Died: James Rowland Angell, 79, American psychologist and educator

  [March 5], 1949 (Saturday)

• North Korean leader Kim Il Sung met with Joseph Stalin at the Kremlin and secured an agreement for the USSR to provide North Korea with extensive financial credit. Kim informally broached the subject of reuniting Korea by force, but was rebuffed.
• The Israel Defense Forces launched Operation Uvda with the goal of capturing the southern Negev desert.
• A Budapest court handed down prison sentences for thirteen people accused of complicity in the alleged black market dealings of Cardinal József Mindszenty.
• US Department of Justice employee Judith Coplon was arrested on suspicion of espionage.
• Austria recognized Israel
• Born: Franz Josef Jung, politician, in Erbach, Germany

  [March 6], 1949 (Sunday)

• The British government announced the production of plutonium at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell.
• Parliamentary elections were held in Chile. The Liberal Party won a plurality of seats in the Senate while the Radical Party remained the largest party in the Chamber of Deputies.
• Born: Shaukat Aziz, economist and 15th Prime Minister of Pakistan, in Karachi, Pakistan; Martin Buchan, footballer, in Aberdeen, Scotland

  [March 7], 1949 (Monday)

• Ted Williams signed a contract with the Boston Red Sox believed to be worth almost $100,000 a year, which would make him the highest-paid player in baseball.
• Born: Ghulam Nabi Azad, politician, in Soti, Jammu and Kashmir, India
• Died: Sol Bloom, 78, American entertainment impresario and politician; Bradbury Robinson, 65, American football player best known for throwing the first legal forward pass in history

  [March 8], 1949 (Tuesday)

• Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion presented the Knesset with a four-year development plan for the country. The program called for a doubling of immigration, development of Jerusalem, encouragement of private investment and the eradication of illiteracy.
• Sun Fo resigned as Premier of the Republic of China.
• Born: Natalia Kuchinskaya, Olympic gymnast, in Leningrad, USSR
• The Élysée Accords were signed, granting Vietnam partial autonomy within the French Union to support a non-communist government.

  [March 9], 1949 (Wednesday)

• Provincial council elections in South Africa resulted in a victory for the white supremacist National Party.
• Referendums on gambling and hours for liquor sales in hotel bars were held in New Zealand. The public voted in favor of allowing off-course betting on horse races but against extending liquor sales in hotel bars from 6pm to 10pm.
• Born: Kalevi Aho, composer, in Forssa, Finland; Rex Hunt, television and radio personality and Australian rules football player, in Melbourne, Australia; Tapani Kansa, singer, in Hamina, Finland
• Died: Prince Philip of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, 63; Walter Short, 68, Lieutenant General in the United States Army

  [March 10], 1949 (Thursday)

• The Israeli Defence Forces reached the shores of the Red Sea at Umm Rashrash and raised an improvised flag that would come to be known as the Ink Flag, marking the end of the Arab–Israeli War.
• Soviet Finance Minister Arseny Zverev presented a budget estimating revenues at 445.208 billion rubles and expenditures at 415.35 billion rubles. The budget allotted 79 billion rubles to the military, a 20% increase over the previous year.
• A federal jury in Washington, D.C. found Mildred Gillars guilty of treason for broadcasting Nazi propaganda during World War II.
• The romantic drama film Little Women starring June Allyson, Peter Lawford, Margaret O'Brien, Elizabeth Taylor and Janet Leigh premiered at the Radio City Music Hall in New York.
• Born: Barbara Corcoran, businesswoman, writer and television personality, in Edgewater, New Jersey

  [March 11], 1949 (Friday)

• Israel and Transjordan signed a ceasefire agreement similar to the one already signed between Israel and Egypt.
• Born: Georg Schramm, psychologist and Kabarett artist, in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Germany
• Died: Anastasios Charalambis, 86, Greek Lieutenant General and interim Prime Minister of Greece in 1922; Henri Giraud, 70, French general; Joan Lamote de Grignon, 76, Spanish pianist and composer

  [March 12], 1949 (Saturday)

• US Defense Secretary James Forrestal broke a three-year taboo against official public discussion of biological warfare when he described much of what had been written about germ weapons as "extravagant, inaccurate and unduly spectacular" in a statement released to correct misconceptions about them.
• "Cruising Down the River" by Blue Barron and His Orchestra topped the Billboard singles chart.
• Born: Rob Cohen, film and television director, in Cornwall, New York

  [March 13], 1949 (Sunday)

• South Korean Army forces launched a spring offensive against the Jeju uprising as South Korean President Syngman Rhee issued orders to eradicate the insurgents.

  [March 14], 1949 (Monday)

• Clothes rationing ended in Britain after seven years and 287 days.
• 425,000 United Mine Workers east of the Mississippi River began a 2-week work stoppage on the order of John L. Lewis. Officially the stoppage was a memorial to the 1,015 miners killed and over 50,000 injured in 1948, but it was also a protest against the appointment of James Boyd as director of the federal Bureau of Mines, whom Lewis called an "incompetent, unqualified person."
• Born: Julia Migenes, soprano, in New York City
• Died: Joseph Seamon Cotter Sr., 88, African-American playwright

  [March 15], 1949 (Tuesday)

• Britain announced the lifting of restrictions on German engineering industries' output, effective immediately.
• Born: Svetlana Dambinova, neuroscientist, in Irkutsk, Siberia, USSR
• Died: G. Edward Buxton Jr., 68, American army colonel and First Assistant Director of the OSS

  [March 16], 1949 (Wednesday)

• Argentine President Juan Perón swore allegiance to the new Argentine Constitution which, having been drawn up in accordance with Perón's own specifications, allowed him to hold the Presidency for another six years after his present term expired in 1952.
• The cruiser USS Milwaukee, loaned to the Soviets in 1944, was returned to the US Navy in a state of disrepair.
• Born: Erik Estrada, actor, in New York City; Victor Garber, actor and singer, in London, Ontario, Canada; Elliott Murphy, singer-songwriter and author, in Rockville Centre, New York
• Died: Leyland Hodgson, 56, British-born American actor

  [March 17], 1949 (Thursday)

• The Shamrock Hotel opened in Houston, Texas.
• Born: Patrick Duffy, actor, in Townsend, Montana; Pat Rice, footballer and coach, in Belfast, Northern Ireland
• Died: Felix Bressart, 57, German-born American actor; Aleksandra Ekster, 67, Russian painter and designer

  [March 18], 1949 (Friday)

• A draft of the proposed North Atlantic treaty was released to the public.
• Born: Alex Higgins, snooker player, in Belfast, Northern Ireland

  [March 19], 1949 (Saturday)

• In a move to impede the establishment of a West German state, the East German People's Council in Berlin adopted a constitution providing for the creation of a central government in a unified Germany after the Allied occupation.
• Born: Valery Leontiev, pop singer, in Ust-Usa, Komi ASSR, Soviet Union
• Died: James Somerville, 66, Royal Navy officer