- January 16
- Belgium, Luxembourg and Netherlands recognize Israel. [1]
- January 17
- Eleven men rob Brinks Armored Car depot office in Boston of US$1.2 million cash and US$1.5 million securities. The robbers are caught in January 1956. [1] [129]
- January 19
- Maiden flight by Canada's Avro Canada CF-100 military plane. [1]
- January 20
- Suriname becomes independent part in Realm of Netherlands. [1]
- January 23
- Israeli Knesset resolves that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. [1]
- Rebel army of captain Raymond Westerner occupies Bandung. [1]
- January 26
- India becomes a republic, ceasing to be a British dominion. [1] [700.47A]
- January 31
- US President Harry Truman reveals that he ordered the Atomic Energy Commission to develop the hydrogen bomb. [1]
- February 1
- USSR demands condemnation of Emperor Hirohito for war crimes. [1]
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- Urko Kekkonen elected president of Finland. [1]
- February 3
- American Nuclear physicist Klaus Fuchs arrested on spy charges. [1]
- February 7
- Georges Bidault forms French government. [1]
- US and Great Britain recognize Bao Dai Vietnamese regime. [1]
- February 12
- Albert Einstein warns against hydrogen bomb. [1]
- February 14
- USSR and China sign peace treaty. [1]
- February 15
- RKO Radio Pictures releases Disney's animated feature film Cinderella to theaters in the USA. [6]
- February 17
- 31 die in a train crash in Rockville Center, New York. [1]
- Banker James Warburg tells US Senate: "We shall have world government whether or not we like it. The only question is whether world government will be achieved by conquest or consent." [916.223]
- February 24
- Labour wins British parliamentary election. [1]
- February 27
- General Chiang Kai-shek elected President of Nationalist China. [1]
- March 1
- Chiang Kai-shek resumes the Presidency of National China on Formosa. [1]
- Klaus Fuchs is sentenced to 14 years for atomic espionage (London). [1]
- The USSR releases gold ruble coins to circulation. [784.74]
- March 8
- Marshall Voroshilov of USSR announces they developed atomic bomb. [1]
- March 12
- Belgium votes (58 percent) for return of King Leopold III. [1]
- Pope Pius XII issues encyclical On combating atheistic propaganda. [1]
- March 13
- General Motors reports 1949 net earnings of US$656,434,232 (record). [1]
- March 14
- American FBI's "10 Most Wanted Fugitives" program begins. [1]
- March 17
- Belgian government of Eyskens resigns. [1]
- Element 98 (Californium) announced. [1]
- March 23
- Sophocles Venizelos forms liberal Greek government. [1]
- United Nations World Meteorological Organization established. [1]
- March 27
- Netherlands recognizes People's Republic of China. [1]
- March 30
- Phototransistor invention announced, in Murray Hill, New Jersey, USA. [1]
- April 5
- Prague, Czechoslovakia, espionage trial against bishops and priests begins. [1]
- April 11
- Prince Rainier III becomes ruler of Monaco. [1]
- US B-29 bomber shot down above Latvia. [1]
- April 14
- First edition of British strip Eagle. [1]
- April 18
- Canadian Avro Jetliner makes first international jet transport flight in North America, from Toronto to New York. [1] [1178.400]
- Polish Catholic church and government sign accord over relations. [1]
- April 23
- Nationalist China evacuates Hainan Island. [1]
- April 24
- Independent republic of South Molukkas declared. [1]
- US President Harry Truman denies there are communists in US government. [1]
- April 25
- Ambon proclaims RMS (Republik Maluku Selatan). [1]
- April 27
- South Africa passes Group Areas Act segregating races. [1]
- May 1
- New marriage laws enforced in People's Republic China. [1]
- Pulitzer prize awarded to Rodgers and Hammerstein (South Pacific). [1]
- May 2
- Dutch first Chamber accepts laws on immigration. [1]
- Dutch Prime Minister Malan recognizes South Africa but not People's Republic of China. [1]
- May 5
- Phumiphon Abundet crowned as King Rama IX of Thailand. [1] (Bhumibol Adulyadej [1419.5])
- May 8
- China's Chiang Kai-shek asks US for weapons. [1]
- May 9
- French Foreign minister Robert Schuman announces the Schuman Plan for European integration. [1]
- May 10
- First Netherlands-US telex is sent. [1]
- May 11
- Belgium mine disaster at Borinage, 39 die. [1]
- May 21
- Vietnamese troops of Ho Chi-Minh attack Cambodia. [1]
- May 22
- Celal Bayar elected president of Turkey. [1]
- May 23
- In Madhipura, India, a building is struck by a falling meteorite. [521]
- May 27
- Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to Wallace Stevens. [1]
- June 17
- First kidney transplant (Chicago, Illinois, USA). [1]
- Julius Rosenberg is arrested in the US on suspicion of espionage, accused of heading a spy ring that passed top-secret information concerning the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. [129]
- June 19
- In Orange County, California, USA, C.J. Hart opens the world's first commercial automotive dragstrip. [1783.23]
- June 25
- Israeli airline El Al begins service. [1]
- North Korean forces attack the Republic of Korea south of the 38th parallel. United Nations Secretary General adopts a resolution calling for withdrawal of North Korean forces to the 38th parallel, and calls on member nations to assist the Republic of Korea. [1] [5] [1181.437]
- June 27
- United Nations Security Council calls on members for troops to aid South Korea. [1]
- US President Harry Truman orders Air Force and Navy into Korean conflict. [1]
- US sends 35 military advisers to South Vietnam. [1]
- June 29
- First American combat troops arrive in the Republic of Korea. [1181.437]
- June 30
- US President Harry Truman orders US troops into Korea. [1]
- July 3
- First time US and North Korean forces clash in the Korean War. [1]
- July 4
- Radio Free Europe first broadcasts. [5]
- US President Harry Truman signs public law 600 (Puerto Ricans can write own consitution). [1]
- July 5
- Law of Return passes, guarantees all Jews right to live in Israel. [1]
- American and Korth Korean troops battle near Osar. Private Kenneth Shadrick of West Virginia becomes first US fatality in Korean War. [1] [1181.437]
- July 8
- US General Douglas MacArthur named commander-in-chief, United Nations forces in Korea. [1]
- July 22
- King Leopold, after six years in exile, returns to Belgium. [1]
- July 24
- Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida begins operations with the launch of a Bumper rocket. [1] [5]
- August 1
- King Leopold of Belgium abdicates, Baudouin becomes king. [1]
- US territory of Guam created. [1]
- August 15
- 8.6 earthquake kills over 1,000 in Assam, India. [1]
- The Republic of Indonesia is proclaimed. [1367.1286]
- August 17
- Indonesia gains independence from the Netherlands. [1]
- August 18
- South Korean government moves from Taegu to Pusan. [250.4]
- August 23
- Federal Republic of Germany and Japan re-admitted to International Amateur Athletic Federation. [1]
- August 29
- First British troops arrive in Republic of Korea from Hong Kong. [1181.437]
- September 1
- West Berlin is granted a constitution. [1]
- September 11
- First typesetting machine to dispense with metal type exhibited. [1]
- 33 die in a train crash in Coshocton, Ohio, USA. [1]
- September 12
- British and North Korean troops battle west of Taegu. [1181.437]
- September 15
- During Korean conflict, United Nations forces land at Inchon in the south. [1]
- September 20
- In Murray, Kentucky, USA, several buildings are struck by falling meteorites. [521]
- September 24
- Operation Magic Carpet - 45,000 Jews from Yemen move to Israel. [1]
- September 26
- Because of forest fire in British Columbia, blue moon appears in England. [1]
- September 30
- First congress of International Astronautical Federation opens in Paris, France. [1]
- October 2
- The comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz first appears, in nine American newspapers. [1] [5]
- October 7
- US forces invade Korea by crossing the 38th parallel. [1]
- October 14
- Reverend Sun Young Moon liberated from Hung Nam prison. [1]
- October 19
- United Nations forces enter Pyongyang, North Korea. [1]
- October 21
- Chinese forces occupy Tibet. [1]
- October 30
- Swedish Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf ascends to the throne as King Gustaf VI Adolf. Carl Gustaf becomes Crown Prince. [7]
- November 1
- Puerto Rican nationalists (Collazo and Torresola) try to kill US President Harry Truman at the Blair House in Washington, DC. [1]
- November 3
- Air India flight 245 Lockheed Constellation Malabar Princess crashes near the summit of the Alps on its approach to Geneva airport, killing all 48 passengers and crew. [673.71]
- November 7
- Louis E. Eliasberg purchases an 1873-CC Seated Liberty No Arrows dime for US$4000, completing the first complete set of all known regular-issue United States coins, by date and mint mark. [420.62] [421.122] [847.24]
- November 8
- First jet-plane battle of Korean War. [1]
- November 10
- Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán is elected President of Guatemala. [1]
- November 22
- 79 die in a train crash in Richmond Hills, New York, USA. [1]
- November 26
- China enters Korean conflict, sending troops across Yalu River. [1]
- November 28
- British East Caribbean Territories introduces dollar-denominated currency. [763.104] [1071.48]
- December 5
- American forces abandon Pyongyang. [1181.438]
- Sikkim becomes a protectorate of India. [1]
- December 6
- Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Mirabile illud. [1]
- December 10
- In Saint Louis, Missouri, USA a falling meteorite strikes a car. [521]
- December 14
- United Nations General Assembly establishes High Commissioner for Refugees (Nobel Prize 1954). [1]
- December 16
- US President Harry Truman proclaims state of emergency against "Communist imperialism". [1] [861.337]
- December 19
- US General Dwight Eisenhower is named NATO commander. [1]
- Tibet's Dalai Lama flees Chinese invasion. [1]
- December 22
- Two self-propelled trains of Long Island, New York, railroad collide, killing 77. [1]
- December 25
- The Coronation Stone, taken from Scone in Scotland by Edward I in 1296, is stolen from Westminster Abbey and smuggled back to Scotland. [1]
- December 28
- Chinese troops cross 38th Parallel into South Korea. [1]
- December 30
- Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia become Independent states in French Union. [1]
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