1949 in the United States

Events from the year 1949 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal Government

* President: Harry S. Truman ( D-Missouri)
* Vice President: ''vacant'' (until January 20), Alben W. Barkley ( D-Kentucky) (starting January 20)
* Chief Justice: Fred M. Vinson (Kentucky)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Joseph William Martin, Jr. ( R-Massachusetts) (until January 3), Sam Rayburn ( D-Texas) (starting January 3)
* Senate Majority Leader: Wallace H. White, Jr. ( R-Maine) (until January 3), Scott W. Lucas ( D-Illinois) (starting January 3)
* Congress: 80th (until January 3), 81st (starting January 3)

Events

January–March

* January 2 – Luis Muñoz Marín becomes the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
* January 4 – ''RMS Caronia (1947)'' of the Cunard Line departs Southampton for New York City on her maiden voyage.
* January 4–February 22 – Series of winter storms in Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota, Utah, Colorado and Nevada – winds of up to 72 mph – tens of thousands of cattle and sheep perish.
* January 5 – President Harry S. Truman unveils his Fair Deal program.
* January 11 – Los Angeles, California, receives its first recorded snowfall.
* January 17 – The first Volkswagen Beetle to arrive in the United States, a 1948 model, is brought to New York City by Dutch businessman Ben Pon. Unable to interest dealers or importers in the Volkswagen, Pon sells the sample car to pay his travel expenses. Only two 1949 models will be sold in America that year, convincing Volkswagen chairman Heinrich Nordhoff that the car has no future in the U.S. (The VW Beetle goes on to become the greatest automobile phenomenon in American history.)
* January 19 – The Poe Toaster first appears at the grave of Edgar Allan Poe.
* January 20 – President Harry S. Truman begins his full term. Alben W. Barkley is sworn in as Vice President of the United States.
* January 25 – The first Emmy Awards are presented at the Hollywood Athletic Club.
* February 10 – Arthur Miller's tragedy ''Death of a Salesman'' opens at the Morosco Theatre on Broadway in New York City with Lee J. Cobb in the title rôle of Willy Loman and runs for 742 performances.
* February 19 – Ezra Pound is awarded the first Bollingen Prize in poetry by the Bollingen Foundation and Yale University.
* February 22 – Grady the Cow, a 1,200-pound cow, gets stuck inside a silo on a farm in Yukon, Oklahoma and garners national media attention.
* March 2 – The B-50 Superfortress ''Lucky Lady II'' under Captain James Gallagher lands in Fort Worth, Texas, after completing the first non-stop around-the-world airplane flight (it was refueled in flight 4 times).
* March 17 – The Shamrock Hotel in Houston, Texas, owned by oil tycoon Glenn McCarthy, has its grand opening.
* March 20 – The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, Denver & Rio Grande Western and Western Pacific railroads inaugurate the ''California Zephyr'' passenger train between Chicago and Oakland, California, as the first long-distance train to feature Vista Dome cars as regular equipment.
* March 24 – The 21st Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Robert Montgomery, is held at the Academy Theater in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Laurence Olivier's ''Hamlet'' wins the most awards with four, including Best Picture, while John Huston wins Best Director for '' The Treasure of the Sierra Madre''. Jean Negulesco's '' Johnny Belinda'' receives the most nominations with 12.
* March 26 – The first half of Giuseppe Verdi's opera ''Aida'', conducted by conductor Arturo Toscanini, and performed in concert (i.e. no scenery or costumes), is telecast by NBC, live from Studio 8H at Rockefeller Center. The second half is telecast a week later. This is the only complete opera that Toscanini ever conducts on television.
* March 28 – United States Secretary of Defense James Forrestal resigns suddenly.

April–June

* April 4 – The North Atlantic Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., creating the NATO defense alliance.
* April 7 – Rodgers and Hammerstein's '' South Pacific'', starring Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza, opens on Broadway and goes on to become R&H's second longest-running musical. It becomes an instant classic of the musical theatre. The score's biggest hit is the song ''Some Enchanted Evening''.
* April 13 – The 6.7 Olympia earthquake affected the Puget Sound region of western Washington with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (''Severe''), causing eight deaths and $25 million in damage.
* April 23 – Development of the USS ''United States'' (CVA-58) "supercarrier" is cancelled; high-ranking Navy officials resign in protest in what has been called the Revolt of the Admirals.
* May 1 Albert Einstein publishes ''Why Socialism?'' in the first edition of the Monthly Review.
* May ? – A working group has been set up by United States Department of State, to codify the White Paper. This team consists of more than 80 staff members, led by Secretary of State Dean Acheson, former Columbia University Professor of Public International Law Philip C. Jessup.
* June 8 – Red Scare: Celebrities including Helen Keller, Dorothy Parker, Danny Kaye, Fredric March, John Garfield, Paul Muni and Edward G. Robinson are named in an FBI report as Communist Party members.
* June 14 – Albert II, a rhesus monkey, becomes the first primate to enter space, on Hermes project V-2 rocket ''Blossom IVB'', but is killed on impact at return.
* June 19 – Glenn Dunaway wins the inaugural NASCAR race at Charlotte Speedway, a 3/4 mile oval in Charlotte, North Carolina, but is disqualified due to illegal springs. Jim Roper is declared the official winner.
* June 24 – The first television western, ''Hopalong Cassidy'', airs on NBC.
* June 29 – The last U.S. troops withdraw from South Korea.

July–September

* August 5 – United States Department of State published The China White Paper as Department of State Publication 3573, entitled "United States Relations With China, With Special Reference to the Period 1944–1949."
* August 10 – The National Military Establishment (formerly the Department of War) is renamed the Department of Defense.
* August 16 – Office of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff created.
* August 28 – The last 6 surviving veterans of the American Civil War meet in Indianapolis.
* September 5 – Howard Unruh, a World War II veteran, kills 13 neighbors in Camden, New Jersey with a souvenir Luger to become America's first single-episode mass murderer.
* September 15 – The Housing Act of 1949 is enacted.
* September 29 – Iva Toguri D'Aquino is found guilty of broadcasting for Japan as "Tokyo Rose" during World War II.

October–December

* October 5 – Walt Disney Productions' eleventh feature film, '' The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad'', is released. It is Disney's final package film to be released during the 1940s and the last the studio would produce until 1977's ''The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh''.
* October 9 - The New York Yankees defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4 games to 1, to win their 12th World Series Title.
* October 27 – An airliner flying from Paris to New York City crashes in the Azores island of São Miguel. Among the victims are violinist Ginette Neveu and boxer Marcel Cerdan.
* November – Englewood race riot in Chicago.
* November 24 – The ski resort in Squaw Valley, California officially opens.

Undated

* General Services Administration established per Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949
* Myron Corp is founded in New Jersey.
* The first 20 mm M61 Vulcan Gatling gun prototypes are completed.
* 1949 is the first year in which no African-American is lynched in the USA.
* Schepps Palm Field (1949–1959) baseball venue opens in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Ongoing

* Cold War (1947–1991)
* Second Red Scare (1947–1957)
* Marshall Plan (1948–1951)

Births

* January 2
** Christopher Durang, playwright
** Iris Marion Young, political scientist (died 2006)
* January 6 – Carolyn D. Wright, poet (died 2016)
* January 8 – John Podesta, lawyer and politician, 20th White House Chief of Staff
* January 10
** George Foreman, heavyweight boxer
** James Lapine, director and playwright
** Linda Lovelace, pornographic film actress (died 2002)
* January 11 – Chris Ford, basketball player and coach (died 2023)
* January 17 – Chavo Guerrero Sr., professional wrestler (died 2017)
* January 22 – Steve Perry, musician
* February 2 – Brent Spiner, actor, comedian and singer
* February 4 – Michael Beck, actor
* February 7 – Joe English, drummer and songwriter
* February 15 – Ken Anderson, American football player and coach
* February 17 – Dennis Green, American football player and coach (died 2016)
* February 19 – Danielle Bunten Berry, born Dan(iel Paul) Bunten, software developer (died 1998)
* February 25
** Ric Flair (Richard Fliehr), wrestler
** Sherman Packard, speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives
* February 27 – John Wockenfuss, baseball player (died 2022)
* February 28 – Ilene Graff, actress and singer
* March 2
** Gates McFadden, actress and choreographer
* March 3
** Gloria Hendry, African American actress
** Jesse Jefferson, baseball player (died 2011)
** Sandy Martin, actress
* March 10 – Larry Wall, computer programmer
* March 12 – Rob Cohen, film director
* March 13 – Julia Migenes, soprano
* March 16
** Erik Estrada, television actor and police officer
** Elliott Murphy, singer-songwriter
* March 17 – Patrick Duffy, television actor
* March 21 – Eddie Money (Edward Mahoney), rock guitarist and singer (died 2019)
* March 28 – Michael W. Young, geneticist and chronobiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2017
* March 29 – Michael Brecker, jazz saxophonist (died 2007)
* April 1 – Gil Scott-Heron, African American poet, jazz/soul musician and author (died 2011)
* April 5 – Judith Resnik, astronaut (died 1986)
* April 7 – Mitch Daniels, Academic Administrator, businessman, author, politician and the 49th governor of Indiana
* April 9 – Stephen Hickman, illustrator
* April 11 – Dorothy Allison, novelist and campaigner
* April 20 – Jessica Lange, actress
* May 1
** Gavin Christopher, singer (died 2016)
** Sarah Clayborne, pie chef, restaurateur, and community activist
* May 3 – Ron Wyden, U.S. Senator from Oregon from 1996
* May 4
** John Force, race car driver
** Gary Gaines, American football coach (died 2022)
* May 7 – Deborah Butterfield, sculptor
* May 9 – Billy Joel, singer-songwriter and pianist
* May 13 – Zoë Wanamaker, actress
* May 15 – George Adams, basketball player
* May 22 – Jesse Lee Peterson, conservative broadcaster
* May 26 – Ward Cunningham, computer programmer
* June 3 – John Rothman, actor
* June 7 – Larry Hama, comic book writer, artist, actor and musician
* June 14 – Harry Turtledove, novelist
* June 20 – Lionel Richie, African American singer-songwriter
* June 22
** Larry Junstrom, rock bassist (died 2019)
** Alan Osmond, pop singer
** Meryl Streep, actress
** Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts from 2013
* July 1 – Denis Johnson, writer
* July 15 – Richard Russo, novelist
* July 16 – Alan Fitzgerald, guitarist and keyboardist
* July 19 – Calvin O. Butts, academic administrator and pastor (died 2022)
* July 24 – Michael Richards, actor and comedian
* July 29 – Marilyn Quayle, wife of Dan Quayle, Second Lady of the United States
* July 31 – Mike Jackson, basketball player
* August 1 – Jim Carroll, author, poet and punk musician (died 2009)
* August 3 – Peter Gutmann, journalist
* August 4 – John Riggins, American football player
* August 6
** Richard Prince, painter and photographer
** Clarence Richard Silva, bishop
* August 11 – Tim Hutchinson, U.S. Senator from Arkansas from 1997 to 2003
* August 13 – Pete Visclosky, politician
* August 14 – Bob Backlund, pro wrestler
* August 15
** Beverly Burns, pilot
** Mark B. Rosenberg, political scientist and academic
* August 17 – Norm Coleman, U.S. Senator from Minnesota from 2003 to 2009
* August 22
**Doug Bair, baseball player and coach
** Diana Nyad, swimmer and author
* August 24
** Stephen Paulus, composer and educator (died 2014)
** Charles Rocket, actor (died 2005)
* August 31
** Richard Gere, film actor
** H. David Politzer, physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2004
* September 1 – Leslie Feinberg, transgender activist
* September 7 - Lee McGeorge Durrell, zoologist
* September 10 – Bill O'Reilly, conservative political commentator
* September 13 – John W. Henry, foreign exchange advisor and Boston Red Sox owner
* September 15 – Joe Barton, politician
* September 16 – Ed Begley, Jr. actor and environmentalist
* September 23 – Bruce Springsteen, singer-songwriter
* September 26 – Jane Smiley, novelist
* September 27 – Mike Schmidt, baseball player and coach
* September 29 – Burton Richardson, game show announcer
* October 3 – Haunani-Kay Trask, activist, educator and poet (died 2021 in the United States, 2021)
* October 5
** Bill James, historian and author
** B. W. Stevenson, singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1988 in the United States, 1988)
* October 8
** Jerry Bittle, cartoonist (died 2003 in the United States, 2003)
** Ashawna Hailey, computer scientist and philanthropist (d. 2011)
** Mark Hopkinson, mass murderer and proxy murder, proxy killer (d. 1992)
** Sigourney Weaver (Susan Weaver), film actress
* October 15 – Tanya Roberts, actress (d. 2021 in the United States, 2021)
* October 24
** Chester Marcol, American football player
** John Markoff, journalist and author
** Stan White (linebacker), Stan White, American football player and sportscaster
* October 25 – Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., film producer, record producer, singer and voice artist (son of Alvin and the Chipmunks creator Ross Bagdasarian, Sr.)
* October 30 – Dave Lebling, interactive game designer
* November 1 – Jeannie Berlin, film actress
* November 2 – Lois McMaster Bujold, author of speculative fiction
* November 8 – Bonnie Raitt, blues singer and guitarist
* November 9 – Julie Beckett, teacher and disability rights activist (died 2022)
* November 10
** Brad Ashford, politician (died 2022)
** Ann Reinking, actress, dancer and choreographer (died 2020 in the United States, 2020)
* November 12 – Jack Reed (politician), Jack Reed, U.S. Senator from Rhode Island from 1997
* November 14 – James Young (American musician), James Young, hard rock singer-songwriter and guitarist (Styx (band), Styx)
* November 29
** Jerry Lawler, wrestler
** Garry Shandling, comedian (died 2016)
* December 4 – Jeff Bridges, film actor
* December 9 – Tom Kite, golfer
* December 13
** Randy Owen, country lead vocalist, rhythm guitar player
** Tom Verlaine, rock singer, guitarist (died 2023)
* December 14 – Bill Buckner, baseball player (died 2019)
* December 15 – Don Johnson, television actor
* December 16 – Billy Gibbons, rock guitarist (ZZ Top)
* December 20
** Cecil Cooper, baseball player and manager
** Oscar Gamble, baseball player (died 2018 in the United States, 2018)
* December 22 – Ray Guy, American football player (died 2022)Ray Guy, widely known as greatest punter of all time, dies at age of 72
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* December 25
** Sissy Spacek, film actress
** Joe Louis Walker, African American electric blues musician
* December 28 – Barbara De Fina, film producer

Deaths

* January 6 – Victor Fleming, film director (born 1889 in the United States, 1889)
* January 11 – Nelson Doubleday, publisher (born 1889)
* January 14 – Harry Stack Sullivan, psychiatrist (born 1892 in the United States, 1892)
* February 1 – Herbert Stothart, composer (born 1885 in the United States, 1885)
* March 7
** Sol Bloom, politician and impresario (born 1870 in the United States, 1870)
** Bradbury Robinson, footballer who threw the first forward pass in History of American football, American football history in 1906 (born 1884 in the United States, 1884)
* March 17 – Felix Bressart, German American actor (born 1892)
* March 20 – Irving Fazola, jazz clarinetist (born 1912 in the United States, 1912; heart attack)
* March 25 – Jack Kapp, president of the U.S. branch of Decca Records (born 1901 in the United States, 1901)
* April 6 – Joseph J. Sullivan, gambler (born 1870 in the United States, 1870)
* April 15 – Wallace Beery, film actor (born 1885)
* April 22 – Charles Middleton (actor), Charles Middleton, actor (born 1874)
* May 22 – James Forrestal, U.S. Secretary of Navy and Defense (born 1892 in the United States, 1892)
* May 27 – Robert Ripley, creator of ''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' (born 1890 in the United States, 1890)
* June 14 – Russell Doubleday, author and publisher (born 1872 in the United States, 1872)
* June 25 – Buck Freeman, baseball player (born 1871 in the United States, 1871)
* July 7 – Bunk Johnson, African American jazz trumpeter (born 1879 in the United States, 1879)
* July 18 – Alice Corbin Henderson, poet (born 1881 in the United States, 1881)
* July 24 – Virginia M. Alexander, African American physician and community activist (born 1899 in the United States, 1899)
* July 26 – Linda Arvidson, silent film actress (born 1884)
* July 27 – Ellery Harding Clark, field athlete (born 1874 in the United States, 1874)
* August 9
** Gustavus M. Blech, German American physician and surgeon (born 1870)
** Harry Davenport (actor), Harry Davenport, actor (born 1866 in the United States, 1866)
* August 16 – Margaret Mitchell, novelist (born 1900 in the United States, 1900; killed in road accident)
* August 18 – Paul Mares, dixieland jazz cornet player (born 1900; lung cancer)
* September 10 – Wiley Rutledge, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (born 1894 in the United States, 1894)
* September 12 – Harry Burleigh, African American baritone and classical composer (born 1866)
* September 18 – Frank Morgan, character actor (born 1890 in the United States, 1890)
* September 19 – Will Cuppy, humorist (born 1884 in the United States, 1884)
* September 20 – Richard Dix, film actor (born 1893 in the United States, 1893)
* September 22 – Sam Wood, film director (born 1883 in the United States, 1883)
* September 27 – David Adler (architect), David Adler, architect (born 1882 in the United States, 1882)
* October 1 – Buddy Clark, singer (born 1911 in the United States, 1911; killed in aviation accident)
* October 14 – Fritz Leiber (Sr.), actor (born 1882 in the United States, 1882)
* October 15 – Elmer Clifton, film actor and director (born 1890)
* October 23 – Almanzo Wilder, writer, husband of Laura Ingalls Wilder (born 1857 in the United States, 1857)
* October 26 – Emil Liston, sports coach and administrator (born 1890 in the United States, 1890)
* October 31 – Edward Stettinius, Jr., U.S. Secretary of State (born 1900; coronary thrombosis)
* November 2 – Jerome F. Donovan, politician (born 1872 in the United States, 1872)
* November 3 – Solomon R. Guggenheim, philanthropist (born 1861 in the United States, 1861)
* November 25 – Bill Robinson ("Bojangles"), African American dancer (born 1878 in the United States, 1878)
* December 6
** Lead Belly (Huddie William Ledbetter), African American blues musician (born 1888 in the United States, 1888)
** Mary Margaret O'Reilly, Assistant Director of the United States Mint (born 1865 in the United States, 1865)
* December 7 – Rex Beach, adventure novelist and Olympic water polo player (born 1877 in the United States, 1877)
* December 25 – Leon Schlesinger, film producer (born 1884 in the United States, 1884)
* December 28
** Hervey Allen, novelist (born 1889 in the United States, 1889)
** Ivie Anderson, African American jazz singer (born 1905 in the United States, 1905; asthma)

See also

* List of American films of 1949
* Timeline of United States history (1930–1949)

References

External links

*

{{Year in North America, 1949

1949 in the United States,
1940s in the United States
1949 by country, United States
1949 in North America, United States
Years of the 20th century in the United States