1952

Years: 1949 1950 1951 - 1952 - 1953 1954 1955
Decades: 1920s 1930s 1940s - 1950s - 1960s 1970s 1980s
Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century 1952 in art 1952 in aviation 1952 in film 1952 in literature 1952 in music 1952 in radio 1952 in science 1952 in sports 1952 in television 1952 in Canada

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Events

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January-February

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 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 Britain, Prime Minister Winston Churchill discloses that Britain has developed an atomic bomb, to be tested off the coast of Australia.
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 - The Funeral of King George VI
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 26 - United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces that his nation has an atomic bomb

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March-May

March 10 - General Fulgencio Batista takes power in Cuba - again
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 4 - In Hague tribunal, Israel demands reparations worth 3 billion dollars from Germany
April 18 - West Germany and Japan form diplomatic relations
April 23 - Nuclear test in Nevada desert.
April 28 - the Treaty of San Francisco went into effect : the occupation of Japan ended formally.
April 28 - Treaty of Taipei (Treaty of Peace between Japan and the Republic of China).
April 29 - Japan regains official independence. This ends the period of Occupied Japan and marks the birth of Modern Japan.
April 29 - Two Soviet fighters fire on French passenger plane over Germany
April 29 - Australia, New Zealand, United States security treaty comes into force.
May 1 - East Germany threatens to form its own army.
May 2 - First passenger jet flight route between London and Johannesburg
May 6 - Farouk of Egypt had himself announced as a descendant of prophet Mohammed.
May 13 - Pandit Nehru forms his first government
May 15 - Flash flood in Lymouth, England - 35 dead
May 15 - diplomatic relations established between the governments of Israel and Japan at the level of Legations.

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June-July

June 1 - Catholic church bans books of André Gide
June 5 - Remains of a viking ship found near Boston
June 14 - The keel is laid for the nuclear submarine USS Nautilus.
June 15 - The Diary of Anne Frank published
June 21 - USA launches the first nuclear submarine USS Nautilus
June 29 - Finnish Armi Kuusela wins the title of Miss Universe
June 30 - Marshall Aid ends
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 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 Faruk

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August-October

August 2 - West Germany joins IMF.
August 6 - Lynmouth in North Devon is devastated by floods - 31 dead

August 10 - Establishment of the European Coal and Steel community
August 11 - Jordanian army forces king Talal to resign due to mental illness - his successor is his son Hussein of Jordan
August 14 - West Germany joins World Bank
August 16 - Lynmouth in North Devon is devastated by floods, death toll of 31
August 26 - British passenger jet flies twice over Atlantic 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 4 - September 9 - Thick smog in London causes 4,000 fatalities
September 18 - Soviet Union vetoes Japan's application for membership of United Nations
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 20 - Martial law in Kenya due to Mau Mau uprising.

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November

November 1 - Nuclear testing: Operation Ivy - The United States successfully detonates the first hydrogen bomb, codenamed "Mike" ["m" for megaton], at Eniwetok island in the Bikini atoll located in the Pacific Ocean.
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 UNIVAC computer).
November 18 - Jomo Kenyatta is arrested in Kenya for alleged connection to Mau Mau uprising
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: Newly-elected US President Dwight D. Eisenhower fulfills a campaign promise by traveling to Korea to find out what can be done to end the conflict.

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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 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.

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Undated

National Security Agency founded in secret
Sister Theresa becomes Mother Theresa and begins her charity work in Calcutta
Charles Chaplin expelled from USA
3300 die of polio in USA, 57.000 children are paralyzed
Traffic lights in New York City

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Unknown date

National Security Agency founded
Winston Churchill scraps UK compulsory national Identity Cards
Cold War over Germany's frontiers intensify
Sister Theresa becomes Mother Theresa and begins her charity work in Calcutta
Charles Chaplin expelled from USA
3,300 die of polio in USA, 57,000 children are paralyzed
Traffic lights in New York City
Wernher von Braun talks about a manned flight to Mars.

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Year in topic

1952 in film
- February 20 - The film The African Queen opens (Capitol Theatre in New York City).
- Cinerama-system
1952 in literature
1952 in music
- "Hound Dog" - Big Mama Thornton
1952 in sports
1952 in television
- January 14 - The Today show premieres on NBC.
- September - The first UHF television station, KLOR begins broadcasting in Portland, Oregon.
- The first political advertisements appear on U.S. television. Democrats buy a 30 minute slot for their candidate, Adlai Stevenson. Stevenson is bombarded with hate mail for interfering with a broadcast of I Love Lucy. Dwight Eisenhower buys 20 second commercial spots and wins the election.
- The Ernie Kovacs Show premieres. Kovacs pushes the limits of television technology with his use of camera tricks and special effects.
- The first telecast of an atomic bomb detonation (KTLA)
1952 in theater
- October 31 - Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada becomes a legal entity.