1952

1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January

January 8 - West Germany has 8 million refugees inside its borders.
January 24 - Sudden heavy snowfall in Algeria.
January 24 - Vincent Massey sworn in as first Canada-born Governor-General of Canada.

February

February 2 - A tropical storm forms just north of Cuba moving northeast. The storm makes landfall in southern Florida the next day. It is the earliest reported landfall from a tropical storm, and the earliest formation of a tropical storm on record in the Atlantic basin.
February 6 - Elizabeth II becomes Queen upon the death of her father George VI.
February 6 - In the United States, a mechanical heart is used for the first time in a human patient.
February 14 to February 25 - Winter Olympics in Oslo
February 15 - Funeral of King George VI takes place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
February 16 - Roman Catholic Diocese of Baker formed in Eastern Oregon.
February 20 - Emmett L. Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.
February 21 - Winston Churchill scraps UK compulsory national Identity Cards
February 26 - United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces that his nation has an atomic bomb.

March

March 4 - Ronald Reagan marries Kathryn Judy.
March 10 - General Fulgencio Batista takes power in Cuba - again
March 15 to March 16 - 73 inches (1,870mm) of rain falls in Cilaos, Réunion, the most rainfall ever in one day
March 20 - The United States Senate ratifies a peace treaty with Japan.
March 21 - The last two executions in the Netherlands take place.
March 21 - Dr Kwame Nkrumah elected the Prime Minister of the Gold Coast
March 27 - Failed assassination attempt against Konrad Adenauer

April

April 4 - In Hague tribunal, Israel demands reparations worth 3 billion dollars from Germany.
April 18 - Bolivia National Revolution: universal vote enables indigenous and women to vote, nationalisation of mines and agrarian reform.
April 18 - West Germany and Japan form diplomatic relations.
April 23 - Nuclear test in Nevada desert.
April 28 - The Treaty of San Francisco goes into effect, formally ending the occupation of Japan.
April 28 - Treaty of Taipei (Treaty of Peace between Japan and the Republic of China)

May

May 1 - Evan poop threatens to form his own army.
May 2 - First passenger jet flight route between London and Johannesburg
May 3 - U.S lieutenant colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict land a plane at the geographic North Pole.
May 6 - Farouk of Egypt had himself announced as a descendant of prophet Muhammad.
May 13 - Pandit Nehru forms his first government
May 15 - Diplomatic relations established between the governments of Israel and Japan at the level of Legations.

June

June 1 - Catholic church bans books of André Gide.
June 5 - Remains of a Viking ship found near Boston, Massachusetts.
June 14 - The keel is laid for the U.S nuclear submarine USS Nautilus.
June 15 - The Diary of Anne Frank published.
June 29 - Finnish Armi Kuusela wins the title of Miss Universe.
June 30 - Marshall Aid ends.

July

July 13 - East Germany announces formation of its people's army.
July 19 to August 3 - The Summer Olympic Games are held in Helsinki.
July 19 to July 26 - Washington D.C. "buzzed" by several UFOs tracked on multiple radars. Jets scrambled on several occasions and objects took evasive action only to return after the jets left the area.
July 21 - A magnitude 7.5 earthquake (richter scale) strikes Tehachapi, California, destroying unreinforced brick buildings.
July 23 - Establishment of the European Coal and Steel community.
July 23 - General Mohammed Naguib leads The Free Officers (formed by Gamal Abdel Nasser - the real power behind the coup) in the overthrow of King Farouk of Egypt.
July 25 - Puerto Rico becomes a self-governing commonwealth of the United States.
July 26 - Military coup in Egypt ousts King Farouk.

August

August 11 - Jordanian army forces king Talal to resign due to mental illness - his successor is his son Hussein of Jordan.
August 13 - Japan joins IMF.
August 14 - West Germany joins IMF.
August 14 - West Germany joins World Bank.
August 16 - Lynmouth in North Devon England is devastated by floods, death toll of 34.
August 26 - British passenger jet flies twice over Atlantic Ocean in the same day.
August 27 - Reparation negotiations between West Germany and Israel end in Luxembourg - Germany will pay 3 billion Deutsche Marks.
August 29 - Premiere of John Cage's 4' 33" in Woodstock, New York.
August 30 - Last Finnish war reparations to Soviet Union.

September

September 2 - Dr. C. Walton Lillehei and Dr. F. John Lewis perform first open-heart surgery at the University of Minnesota.
September 4 - September 9 - Thick smog in London, England causes 4,000 fatalities.
September 6 - TV debuts in Canada as the CBC in Montreal, Quebec airs.
September 8 - CBC Toronto debuts.
September 18 - Soviet Union vetoes Japan's application for membership in the United Nations.

October

October 8 - Negotiations of ceasefire in Korea are postponed.
October 8 - Three-train crash in Harrow railway station in England - 110 dead.
October 14 - United Nations begins work in the new United Nations building in New York City
October 19 - Alain Bombard begins to sail from Canary Islands to Barbados in 65 days; he reaches them December 23
October 20 - Martial law in Kenya due to Mau Mau uprising.

November

November 1 - Nuclear testing: Operation Ivy - The United States successfully detonates the first hydrogen bomb, codenamed "Mike", at Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific Ocean, with a yield of 10.4 megatons.
November 4 - 8.25 Richter scale earthquake in Kamchatka
November 4 - U.S. presidential election, 1952: Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower defeats Democrat Adlai Stevenson (correctly predicted by the UNIVAC computer).
November 18 - Jomo Kenyatta is arrested in Kenya for alleged connection to Mau Mau uprising
November 20 - Slánský trials - series of Stalinist and largely anti-Semitic show trials in Czechoslovakia.
November 20 - Fireball crashes in a backyard in Havelock North, New Zealand
November 20 - First official passenger flight over the North Pole from Los Angeles to Copenhagen
November 21 - Show trial in Czechoslovakia sentences 11 ex-communist officials to death - all of them Jews.
November 25 - Agatha Christie's murder-mystery play The Mousetrap opens at the Ambassadors Theatre in London; as of 2004, it continues, next door at the St. Martin's Theatre, and remains the longest continuously running production of a play in history.
November 29 - Korean War: U.S. President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower fulfills a political campaign promise by traveling to Korea to find out what can be done to end the conflict.

December

December 1 - The New York Daily News carries a front page story announcing that Christine Jorgensen, a transsexual woman in Denmark became the recipient of the first successful sexual reassignment operation.
December 4 - Great Smog of 1952: A "killer fog" descends on London ("Smog" for "smoke" and "fog" becomes a word).
December 14 - First successful surgical separation of Siamese twins in Mount Sinai Hospital, Ohio.
December 20 - Crash of U.S. Air Force C-124 Globemaster at Moses Lake, WA kills 86 servicemen
December 25 - Shooting incident in West Berlin - one West German soldier is killed
December 26 - Joseph Ivor Linton, first Israeli Minister Plenipotentiary in Japan, presents his credentials to the Japanese Emperor.

Undated events

3300 die of polio in U.S; 57,000 children are paralyzed
National Security Agency founded
Cold War over Germany's frontiers intensify
Charles Chaplin expelled from U.S
Cheez Whiz introduced
Traffic lights in New York City
Wernher von Braun talks about a manned flight to Mars.
Nordic Council agrees free transport of people, goods and services throughout the Nordic Countries.
National Prohibition Foundation incorporated.
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Founded .
American Embassy School of New Delhi Founded
Fallskärmsjägarna - Swedish paratrooper training school (FJS) created

Births

January

January 17 - Ryuichi Sakamoto, Japanese musician, composer, producer, and actor (Yellow Magic Orchestra)

February

February 1 - Stan Kasten, baseball executive, currently President of the Washington Nationals
February 3 - Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian (d. 1998)
February 22 - William Frist, heart surgeon and U.S. Senator
February 25 - Joey Dunlop, Northern Irish motorcycle racer (d. 2000)
February 29 - Gary The Retard, member of The Wack Pack from radio's The Howard Stern Show

March

March 1 - Steven Barnes, American author
March 1 - Martin O'Neill, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
March 2 - Laraine Newman, American comedian
March 4 - Umberto Tozzi, Italian singer
March 4 - Ronn Moss, American actor
March 4 - Scott Hicks, Australian movie director
March 7 - Viv Richards, West Indian cricket captain
March 11 - Douglas Adams, English author (d. 2001)
March 13 - Wolfgang Rihm, German composer
March 22 - Bob Costas, American sports announcer
March 23 - Kim Stanley Robinson, American author
March 25 - Jung Chang, Chinese-born author and historian
March 25 - Antanas Mockus, Colombian mathematician and politician
March 29 - Teofilo Stevenson, Cuban boxer
March 30 - Peter Knights, Australian footballer and coach

April

April 1 - Bernard Stiegler, French philosopher
April 4 - Rosemarie Ackermann, German athlete
April 11 - Peter Windsor, British sports reporter
April 12 - Ralph Wiley, American sports journalist (d. 2004)
April 16 - Billy West, American voice actor
April 17 - Željko Ražnatović, Serbian mobster and paramilitary leader (d. 2000)
April 22 - Marilyn Chambers, American actress
April 25 - Ketil Bjørnstad, Norwegian pianist
April 28 - Mary McDonnell, American actress

May

May 2 - Campbell McComas, Australian impersonator and broadcaster
May 2 - Isla St Clair, Scottish singer
May 3 - Allan Wells, Scottish athlete
May 3 - Leonid Khachiyan, Russian-born mathematician
May 4 - Michael Barrymore, British comedian and TV presenter
May 6 - Michael O'Hare, American actor
May 10 - Thomas Paty Stamps, American bankruptcy attorney and historian
May 11 - Renaud Séchan, French composer
May 11 - Mike Lupica, American sports journalist
May 14 - David Byrne, Scottish-born singer, songwriter, and guitarist (Talking Heads)
May 14 - Robert Zemeckis, American director
May 16 - James Herndon, American media psychologist
May 18 - George Strait, American musician
May 18 - Diane Duane, American writer
May 19 - Bert van Marwijk, Dutch football manager
May 20 - Roger Milla, Cameroonian footballer
May 21 - Mr. T, American actor
May 28 - Victoria Cunningham, American actress and Playmate

June

June 7 - Orhan Pamuk, Turkish writer, Nobel prize.
June 7 - Liam Neeson, Northern Irish actor
June 9 - Yukihiro Takahashi, Japanese musician and singer (Yellow Magic Orchestra)
June 16 - Georgios Papandreou, Greek politician
June 18 - Isabella Rossellini, Italian actress
June 20 - John Goodman, American actor
June 20 - Vikram Seth, Indian novelist
June 21 - Jeremy Coney, New Zealand cricket captains
June 21 - Kôichi Mashimo, Japanese anime director
June 22 - Graham Greene (actor), American actor
June 24 - Stephen Pusey, British-born artist
June 25 - Tim Finn, New Zealand singer-songwriter
June 28 - Pietro Mennea, Italian athlete
June 28 - David Miner, Musician & Record producer
June 29 - Joe Johnson, English snooker player

July

July 1 - Dan Aykroyd, Canadian actor
July 9 - John Tesh, American composer, musician, and television host
July 12 - Voja Antonić, Serbian inventor and writer
July 31 - João Barreiros, Portuguese author

August

August 1 - Zoran Djindjic, Prime Minister of Serbia (d. 2003)
August 3 - Osvaldo Ardiles, Argentine footballer
August 4 - James Arbuthnot, British politician
August 5 - Louis Walsh, Music producer and reality TV show judge
August 8 - Jostein Gaarder, Norwegian author
August 8 - Robin Quivers, American radio personality
August 9 - Vicki Morgan, American model (d. 1983)
August 10 - Daniel Hugh Kelly, American actor
August 13 - Herb Ritts, American photographer
August 14 - Carl Lumbly, American actor
August 16 - Reginald VelJohnson, American actor
August 19 - Jonathan Frakes, American actor
August 21 - Joe Strummer, British musician (The Clash) (d. 2002)
August 24 - Linton Kwesi Johnson, Jamaican-born musician
August 28 - Wendelin Wiedeking, German businessman
August 29 - Karen Hesse, American children's writer

September

September 4 - Joseph Patrick Kennedy II, son of Robert F Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy and nephew of U.S president John F Kennedy and Edward M Kennedy
September 18 - Dee Dee Ramone, American bassist (The Ramones) (d. 2002)
September 22 - Bob Goodlatte, U.S. Congressman from Virginia
September 24 - Mark Sandman, American musician and artist (Morphine) (d. 1999)
September 25 - Christopher Reeve, American actor and activist (d. 2004)
September 29 - Max Sandlin, American politician

October

October 5 - Duncan Regehr, Canadian actor
October 5 - Clive Barker, British author
October 7 - Vladimir Putin, Russian president
October 9 - Sharon Osbourne, wife and manager of Ozzy Osbourne
October 14 - Nikolai Andrianov, Soviet gymnast
October 16 - Ron Taylor, American actor (died 2002)
October 26 - Andrew Motion, English poet
October 28 - Annie Potts, American actress

November

November 5 - Bill Walton, American basketball player and commentator
November 6 - Michael Cunningham, American writer
November 8 - Jan Raas, Dutch professional cyclist
November 15 - Daniel Barenboim, Israeli pianist and conductor
November 16 - Shigeru Miyamoto, Japanese game designer
November 17 - Ties Kruize, Dutch field hockey player
November 25 - Imran Khan, Pakistani cricketer
November 28 - S. Epatha Merkerson, American actress
November 30 - Keith Giffen, American comic book writer and artist

December

December 6 - Rick Charlesworth, Australian cricketer, politician, hockey player and coach
December 9 - Michael Dorn, American actor
December 14 - Vicki Michelle, English actress
December 15 - Hwang Woo-Suk, South Korean biomedical scientist
December 16 - Joel Garner, West Indian cricketer
December 28 - Arun Jaitley, Indian politician
December 30 - June Anderson, American soprano

Deaths

January

January 18 - Curly Howard, American actor and comedian (b. 1903)

February

February 6 - King George VI of the United Kingdom (b. 1895)
February 19 - Knut Hamsun, Norwegian author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)
February 22 - Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg, first President of Finland (b. 1863)

March

March 5 - Charles Scott Sherrington, English physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1857)
March 7 - Paramahansa Yogananda, Indian guru (b. 1893)
March 22 - Uncle Dave Macon, American musician (b. 1870)
March 31 - Wallace H. White, Jr, U.S. Senator from Maine (b. 1877)
March 31 - Walter Schellenberg (b. 1910)

April

April 3 - Miina Sillanpää, Finnish politician (b. 1866)
April 21 - Sir Stafford Cripps, British Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1889)
April 23 - Julius Freed, American inventor and banker (b. 1887)

May

May 6 - Maria Montessori, Italian educator (cerebral hemorrhage) (b. 1870)
May 21 - John Garfield, American actor (b. 1913)

June

June 17 - Krystyna Skarbek, Polish-born British agent in World War II (b. 1915)

July

July 26 - Eva Peron, Argentine wife of Juan Peron (b. 1919)

September

September 29 - George Santayana, Spanish-born writer (b. 1863)
September 30 - Viscount Waldorf Astor, American-born businessman and politician (b. 1879)

1952

Events

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Undated events

Births

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Deaths

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

September

October

November

December

Unknown date

Nobel prizes

Ship events