1951 Jan 4, During the Korean conflict, North Korean and Communist
Chinese forces captured the city of Seoul.
(AP, 1/4/98)
1951 Jan 5, Inchon, South Korea was abandoned by United Nations
force to the advancing Chinese Army.
(HN, 1/5/99)
1951 Jan 10, Sinclair Lewis, American author of 23 novels
and 3 plays, died.
(HNQ, 5/18/98)
1951 Jan 15, In South Korea American bombing and strafing killed
Korean refugees at Yong-in.
(SFC, 12/29/99, p.A13)
1951 Jan 20, In South Korea American bombing and strafing killed
about 300 Korean refugees at Youngchoon.
(SFC, 12/29/99, p.A13)
1951 Jan 21, Communist troops forced the UN army out of Inchon,
Korea after a 12-hour attack.
(HN, 1/21/99)
1951 Jan 23, President Truman created the Commission on Internal
Security and Individual Rights, to monitor the anti-Communist campaign.
(HN, 1/23/99)
1951 Jan 24, Indian leader Nehru assailed the U.S. and demanded
the UN to name Peking as an aggressor in Korea.
(HN, 1/24/99)
1951 Jan 25, The U.S. Eighth Army in Korea launched Operation
Thunderbolt, a counter attack to push the Chinese Army north of the Han
River.
(HN, 1/25/99)
1951 Jan 27, An era of atomic testing in the Nevada desert began
as an Air Force plane dropped a one-kiloton bomb on Frenchman Flats.
(AP, 1/27/98)
1951 Feb 1, The third A-bomb tests were completed in the desert
of Nevada.
(HN, 2/1/99)
1951 Feb 9, Actress Greta Garbo got U.S. citizenship.
(HN, 2/9/97)
1951 Feb 11, U.N. forces pushed north across the 38th parallel
once again. Forty-five years after shipping out to fight in Korea, Col.
Harry Summers, Jr., got new insight into what the war had been all about.
(HN, 2/11/97)
1951 Feb 13, At the Battle of Chipyong-ni, in Korea, U.N. troops
contained the Chinese forces' offensive in a two-day battle.
(HN, 2/13/99)
1951 Feb 16, Stalin contended that the U.N. was becoming the weapon
of aggressive war.
(HN, 2/16/98)
1951 Feb 17, The Packard convertible made its debut.
(HN, 2/17/98)
1951 Feb 21, The U. S. Eighth Army launched Operation Killer,
a counterattack to push Chinese forces north of the Han River in Korea.
(HN, 2/21/99)
1951 Feb 22, The Atomic Energy Commission disclosed information
about the first atom-powered airplane.
(HN, 2/22/98)
1951 Feb 26, In the US the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution,
limiting a president to two terms of office, was ratified. It was a reaction
to the 4 terms of Franklin Roosevelt.
(TMC, 1994, p.1951)(WSJ, 12/31/97, p.A11)(AP, 2/26/98)(HN, 2/26/98)(WSJ,
9/3/98, p.A1)
1951 Feb 28, The Senate committee headed by Estes Kefauver, D-Tenn.,
Issued a preliminary report saying at least two major crime syndicates
were operating in the United States.
(AP, 2/28/98)
1951 Mar 2, The U.S. Navy launched the K-1, the first modern submarine
designed to hunt enemy submarines.
(HN, 3/2/99)
1951 Mar 7, U.N. forces in Korea under General Matthew Ridgeway
launched Operation Ripper, an offensive to straighten out the U.N. front
lines against the Chinese.
(HN, 3/7/99)
1951 Mar 13, Israel demanded $1.5 billion in German reparations
for the cost of caring for war refugees.
(HN, 3/13/98)
1951 Mar 14, During the Korean War, United Nations forces recaptured
Seoul.
(AP, 3/14/97)
1951 Mar 15, General de Lattre demanded that Paris send him more
troops for the fight in Vietnam.
(HN, 3/15/98)
1951 Mar 21, Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall reports
that the U.S. military has doubled to 2.9 million since the start of the
Korean War.
(HN, 3/21/00)
1951 Mar 23, U.S. paratroopers descended from flying boxcars in
a surprise attack in Korea.
(HN, 3/23/98)
1951 Mar 24, MacArthur threatened the Chinese with an extension
of the Korean War if the proposed truce was not accepted.
(HN, 3/24/98)
1951 Mar 26, The United States Air Force flag design was approved.
(HN, 3/25/98)
1951 Mar 29, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy
to commit espionage. (They were executed in June 1953.) Morton Sobell was
convicted of conspiracy in the case and served 18 1/2 years in prison.
Ronald Radosh and Joyce Milton later wrote "The Rosenberg File."
(AP, 3/28/97)(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.D10)
1951 Mar 29, The Chinese rejected MacArthur's offer for a truce
in Korea.
(HN, 3/29/98)
1951 Apr 1, U.N. forces again crossed the 38th Parallel in Korea.
(HN, 4/1/98)
1951 Apr 5, Husband and wife Julius and Ethel Rosenberg of New
York City were sentenced to death by Judge Irving R. Kaufman on charges
of selling US atomic secrets to the Soviet Union, enabling the Soviets
to detonate their first nuclear weapon in 1949. Although the couple consistently
claimed to be innocent, a jury of 11 men and one woman found them guilty
on March 30 on the evidence provided by key government witness David Greenglass,
Ethel Rosenberg's brother. The Rosenbergs were electrocuted on June 19,
1953, leaving behind two young sons.
(CL, 4/5/96)(AP, 5/5/97)(HN, 5/5/97)(HNPD, 4/5/99)
1951 Apr 11, President Truman relieved Gen. Douglas MacArthur
of his commands in the Far East. President Truman fired General Douglas
MacArthur.
(AP, 4/11/97)(HN, 4/11/98)
1951 Apr 19, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, relieved of his command by
President Truman, bid farewell to Congress, quoting a line from a ballad:
"Old soldiers never die; they just fade away."
(AP, 4/19/97)
1951 Apr 20, Gen. MacArthur addressed a joint session of Congress
after being relieved by President Truman.
(HN, 4/20/98)
1951 Apr 25, After a three day fight against Chinese Communist
Forces, the Gloucestershire Regiment was annihilated on "Gloucester Hill,"
in Korea.
(HN, 4/25/99)
1951 Apr, In China Monsignor Eugene Fahy (1912-1996), missionary,
was named prefect apostolic for Yangzhou.
(SFC, 8/28/96, p.C2)
1951 May 9, The U.S. Far East Air Force launched a strike on Sinuiju,
North Korea, on the Yalu River.
(HN, 5/9/99)
1951 May 16, Chinese Communist Forces launched a second step,
fifth-phase offensive [in Korea] and gained up to 20 miles of territory.
(HN, 5/16/99)
1951 May 18, The United Nations moved out of its temporary headquarters
in Lake Success, N.Y., for its permanent home in Manhattan.
(AP, 5/18/97)(HN, 5/18/98)
1951 May 20, During the Korean War, U.S. Air Force Captain James
Jabara, flying an F-28 Saberjet, became the first jet air ace in history.
(HN, 5/20/99)
1951 May 24, Willie Mays at 20 began playing for the New York
Giants.
(TMC, 1994, p.1951)(HN, 5/24/98)
1951 May 24, Racial segregation in Washington D.C. restaurants
was ruled illegal.
(HN, 5/24/98)
1951 May 26, Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, was
born. She flew on the Space Shuttle Challenger.
(HN, 5/26/99)
1951 May 29, The first North Pole flight in single engine plane
was made by C. F. Blair.
(HN, 5/29/98)
1951 May, "Crazy People" premiered on the BBC Home Service. It
starred Peter Sellers, Spike Mulligan, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine
(1924-1996). In 1952 it became "The Goon Show."
(SFC, 11/28/96, p.B6)
1951 Jun 1, The first self-contained titanium plant opened
in Henderson Nevada.
(DT, 6/1/97)
1951 Jun 9, After several unsuccessful attacks on French colonial
troops, North Vietnam's General Giap ordered Viet Minh to withdraw from
the Red River Delta.
(HN 6/9/98)
1951 Jun 13, U.N. troops seized Pyongyang, North Korea.
(HN, 6/13/98)
1951 Jun 14, UNIVAC, the first computer built for commercial purposes,
was demonstrated in Philadelphia by Dr. John W. Mauchly and J. Prosper
Eckert, Jr.
(HN, 6/14/98)
1951 Jun 19, President Harry S. Truman signed the Universal Military
Training and Service Act, which extended Selective Service until July 1,
1955 and lowered the draft age to 18.
(HN, 6/19/98)
1951 Jun 23, Soviet U.N. delegate Jacob Malik proposed cease-fire
discussions in the Korean War.
(HN, 6/23/98)
1951 Jun 25, The first commercial color telecast took place as
CBS transmitted a one-hour special from New York to four other cities.
(AP, 6/25/97)
1951 Jun 26, The Soviet Union proposed a cease-fire in the Korean
War.
(HN, 6/26/98)
1951 Jun 28, A TV version of the radio program "Amos 'N' Andy"
premiered on CBS. Although criticized for racial stereotyping, it was the
first network TV series to feature an all-black cast.
(AP, 6/28/97)
1951 Jun 29, The United States invited the Soviet Union to the
Korean peace talks on a ship in Wonson Harbor.
(HN, 6/29/98)
1951 Jun 30, On orders from Washington, General Matthew Ridgeway
broadcast that the United Nations was willing to discuss an armistice with
North Korea. In 1950, as U.S. Marines tried to fight their way out of a
Chinese trap, Korea suffered its worst winter of the century.
(HN, 6/30/98)
1951 Jul 4, The "Capital Times" in Madison, Wisconsin, reported
that one of its reporters was turned down by 99 out of 100 people he asked
to sign a petition made up of quotations from the Declaration of Independence
and the Bill of Rights. Many said the petition was subversive.
(IB, Internet, 12/7/98)
1951 Jul 9, President Truman asked Congress to formally end the
state of war between the United States and Germany.
(AP, 7/9/97)
1951 Jul 10, Armistice talks aimed at ending the Korean conflict
began at Kaesong.
(AP, 7/10/97)(HN, 7/10/98)
1951 Jul 11, Bonnie Pointer, singer, was born.
(PGA, 12/9/98)
1951 Jul 13, Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951), composer, died. He
wrote the book "Style and Idea" and composed such works as the 21 songs
of "Pierrot Lunaire" based on a poem by Albert Giraud translated into German
by Otto Erich Hartleben, "Moses und Aron" and "Erwartung."
(LGC-HCS, 1970, p. 562-575)(WSJ, 8/20/96, p.A8)
1951 Jul 14, The George Washington Carver National Monument in
Joplin, Missouri became the first national park honoring an African American.
(HN, 7/14/98)
1951 Jul 16, J.D. Salinger's novel, "The Catcher in the Rye,"
was first published.
(SFC, 1/17/97, p.D7)(AP, 7/16/98)
1951 Jul 20, Jordan's King Abdullah Ibn Hussein was assassinated
in Jerusalem by a Palestinian nationalist. Prince Hussein (15) witnessed
the murder.
(AP, 7/20/97)(SFC, 2/6/99, p.A13)
1951 Jul 31, Evonne Goolagong, Australian tennis player and first
aborigine in an international sport, was born.
(HN, 7/31/98)
1951 Jul, Monsignor Eugene Fahy (1912-1996), missionary, was seized
by the Chinese Communists and jailed.
(SFC, 8/28/96, p.C2)
1951 Aug 5, The United Nations Command suspended armistice talks
with the North Koreans when armed troops are spotted in neutral areas.
(HN, 8/5/98)
1951 Aug 14, Newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst died
in Beverly Hills, Calif. at age 88.
(SFEC, 8/11/96, p.A19)(AP, 8/14/98)(SFC, 8/7/99, p.A9)
1951 Aug 31, The former enemies of the world war reconvened in
San Francisco to finalize negotiations on the peace treaty to formally
end WW II. Japan agreed to pay the Int'l. Red Cross about $15 per POW while
the allies agreed not to bring charges against it.
(Park, Spring/95, p.2)(SFEC, 12/1/96, p.C4)
1951 Aug 31, The 1st Marine Division began its attack on Bloody
Ridge in Korea. The four-day battle resulted in 2,700 Marine casualties.
(HN, 8/31/98)
1951 Sep 1, At the Presidio in San Francisco, the US, Australia,
and New Zealand signed the Anzus Pact, a joint security alliance to govern
their relations.
(Park, Spring/95, p.2)(AP, 9/1/97)
1951 Sep 3, The television soap opera "Search for Tomorrow" made
its debut on CBS.
(AP, 9/3/98)
1951 Sep 4, The first transcontinental television broadcast in
America was carried by 94 stations. President Truman addressed the nation
from the Japanese peace treaty conference in San Francisco.
(AP, 9/4/97)(HN, 9/4/98)
1951 Sep 8, A formal Treaty of Peace was signed by 48 other nations
of the United Nations and Japan at the War Memorial Opera House in San
Francisco. On the same day the US and Japan signed a Joint Security Pact
at the Presidio.
(Park, Spring/95, p.2)(AP, 9/8/97)
1951 Sep 13, In Korea, U.S. Army troops began their assault in
Heartbreak Ridge. The month-long struggle would cost 3,700 casualties.
(HN, 9/13/98)
1951 Sep 13, Lt. Daniel J. Marini led 40 marines to capture Hill
712 in Korea near Imjin River. He received a Silver Star in 1997.
(SFC, 1/9/97, p.A18)
1951 Sep 18, Dr. Benjamin Solomon Carson, Sr., African-American
neurosurgeon, was born.
(HN, 9/18/98)
1951 Oct 3, Bobby Thompson won the pennant for the New York Giants
by hitting a home run off of Ralph Branca of the Brooklyn Dodgers at the
New York Polo Grounds before 20,000 empty seats.
(WSJ, 9/26/97, p.A20)(WSJ, 5/8/98, p.W10)
1951 Oct 15, The situation comedy "I Love Lucy" premiered on CBS.
It ran through to 1961. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz bought their television
studio, Desilu, from Howard Hughes.
(SFEC, 10/20/96, T8)(AP, 10/15/97)(SFEC, 5/24/98, DB p.37)(WSJ,
5/29/98, p.W9)
1951 Oct 19, President Truman signed an act formally ending the
state of war with Germany.
(AP, 10/19/97)
1951 Oct 25, Peace talks aimed at ending the Korean Conflict resumed
in Panmunjom after 63 days.
(AP, 10/25/97)
1951 Oct 25, In a general election, England's Labour Party lost
to Conservatives. Winston Churchill became prime minister, and Anthony
Eden became foreign secretary.
(HN, 10/25/98)
1951 Nov 1, The Algerian National Liberation Front began guerrilla
warfare against the French.
(HN, 11/1/98)
1951 Nov 10, Direct-dial, coast-to-coast telephone service began
as Mayor M. Leslie Denning of Englewood, N.J., called his counterpart in
Alameda, Calif.
(AP, 11/10/97)
1951 Nov 12, The U.S. Eighth Army in Korea was ordered to cease
offensive operations and begin an active defense.
(HN, 11/12/98)
1951 Nov 14, United States and Yugoslavia signed a military aid
pact.
(HN, 11/14/98)
1951 Nov 17, Britain reported the development of world's first
nuclear-powered heating system.
(HN, 11/17/98)
1951 Nov 25, Truce line mapped at talks in Panmunjom, Korea.
(HN, 11/25/98)
1951 Dec 11, Joe DiMaggio announced his retirement from baseball.
(HN, 12/11/98)
1951 Dec 13, After meeting with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover,
President Harry S. Truman vowed to purge all disloyal government workers.
(HN, 12/13/98)
1951 Dec 17, Raul and Carlos Salinas, aged 5 and 3, played with
their friend Gustavo Zapata at their home in Mexico City. While playing
they snatched a rifle from a closet and shot a servant just below the eye,
killed her and continued playing. Newspaper reports of the time indicated
that Carlos pulled the trigger.
(WSJ, 2/8/96, p.A-6)
1951 Dec 18, North Koreans gave the Allies a list of 3,100 POWs.
(HN, 12/18/98)
1951 Dec 24, Gian Carlo Menotti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors,"
the first opera written specifically for television, was first broadcast
by NBC.
(AP, 12/24/97)
1951 Dec 28, The U.S. paid $120,000 to free four fliers convicted
of espionage in Hungary.
(HN, 12/28/98)
1951 Dec 30, The half-hour Roy Rogers Show premiered on NBC. Production
ended in 1957 after some 100 episodes. Roy and Dale Evans ended every show
with the song "Happy Trails To You."
(SFC, 7/7/98, p.D5)
1951 Ellsworth Kelly painted "Cite," long strokes on paper cut
into 20 squares and arranged randomly.
(SFC, 10/29/96, p.F3)
1951 Franz Kline painted "Painting No. 11," an elegantly understated
work in which a burst of white light pours from a smudgy black lattice.
(WSJ, 12/16/94, A-12)
1951 Salvador Dali, Surrealist painter, completed his "Christ
of St. John of the Cross." It is at the Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum
in Scotland. He also did "Portrait of Mrs. Jack Warner." The Dali Museum
in St. Petersburg, Fla., houses the largest collection of Dali's artwork.
(T&L, 10/80, p. 59)(WSJ, 11/8/96, p.C1)(Hem., 3/97, p.59)
1951 John Langley Howard (d.1999), SF artist, painted the triptych
"The Rape of the Earth."
(SFC, 11/26/99, p.B9)
1951 Barnett Newman (d.1970), abstract expressionist, painted
the 18x8 work "Cathedra." It was later placed in the Stedelijk Museum in
Amsterdam and in 1997 was slashed across with a carpet knife. In 1986 his
painting "Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue III" was slashed at the
same museum.
(SFC,11/22/97, p.D5)
1951 Mark Rothko painted his work "Untitled." It sold for $3.3
million in 1998.
(WSJ, 5/15/98, p.W12)
1951 Ben Shahn painted his "Composition for Clarinets and Tin
Horn."
(WSJ, 12/1/98, p.A20)
1951 J.D. Bold wrote "Phrase Book, Grammar and Dictionary of Fanagalo,"
a pidgin language used by miners in South Africa.
(WSJ, 4/15/98, p.A9)
1951 Albert Camus wrote "The Rebel." The book asserted a revolt
against absurd nonsense and against commitments indifferent to the suffering
that revolutionary steamrollers caused.
(WSJ, 12/12/97, p.A16)
1951 Nirad C. Chaudhuri (d.1999 at 101) published "The Autobiography
of an Unknown Indian."
(SFC, 8/3/99, p.A20)
1951 Louis Falstein published "Face of a Hero." In England it
was titled "The Sky Is a Lonely Place." The book had many similarities
to Joseph Heller's 1953 book "Catch-22."
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A2)
1951 Leon Howard wrote a biography on Herman Melville.
(WSJ, 11/22/96, p.A14)
1951 Darcy Ribeiro, anthropologist (1923-1997), wrote "Art of
the Kadiweu Indians."
(SFC, 2/20/96, p.A20)
1951 "Amphibians of Western North America" by Robert Stebbins
was published.
(Pac. Disc., summer, '96, p.23)
1951 "God and Man at Yale" by William F. Buckley was published
by Henry Regnery (1912-1996). Regnery has been considered the godfather
of modern conservatism.
(SFC, 6/24/96, p.A15)(WSJ, 3/6/97, p.B1)
1951 Eric Hoffer (d.1983), San Francisco longshoreman-philosopher,
wrote "The True Believer," a critical view of mass movements. It
was later considered a classic of social philosophy.
(SFC, 1/22/00, p.A15)
1951 "From Here to Eternity" by James Jones was published. It
was made into a film in 1953. The 1998 film "A Soldier's Daughter Never
Cries" was based on an autobiography by his daughter.
(TMC, 1994, p.1951)(SFC, 3/15/97, p.A19)(SFEC, 9/20/98, DB p.49)
1951 James Michener (d.1997 at 90) wrote his novel "Return to
Paradise."
(SFC,10/17/97, p.A17)
1951 Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" was first produced in Paris.
(V.D.-H.K.p.369)
1951 Eugene Ionesco, a Paris dwelling Romanian, wrote his dark
comedy "The Lesson."
(SFC, 5/4/96, p.E-1)
1951 "A World Apart" by Polish author Gustaw Herling-Grudzinski
was first published in English. It told of his years in a soviet gulag.
He later founded the literary magazine Kultura that was banned in Poland
until 1989 and in 1990 wrote Journal Written at Night.
(WSJ, 6/17/96, p.A12)
1951 C. Van Woodward authored "Origins of the New South."
(SFEC, 12/19/99, p.C14)
1951 Edwin Way Teale traveled with spring which rolls north 15
miles per day in his book: "North with the Spring."
(Civil., Jul-Aug., '95, p.77)
1951 Louise de Vilmorin authored "Madame de," a tale of love and
betrayal in the haute monde (high society).
(WSJ, 10/7/98, p.A20)
1951 "The Rose Tattoo" by Tennessee Williams premiered.
(SFC, 11/1/96, p.C1)
1951 The Broadway show "Top Banana" played with burlesque star
Joey Faye (d.1997).
(SFC, 4/28/97, p.A18)
1951 The ballet "The Cage" by Jerome Robbins was a tale of women
on the verge of the ultimate revenge.
(SFC, 2/7/98, p.E1)
1951 L. Ron Hubbard published his first book on Scientology.
(WSJ, 5/12/97, p.A15)
1948 A.E. van Vogt (1912-2000) authored the sci-fi story "The
Weapon Shops of Isher."
(SFC, 2/5/00, p.A19)
1951 The TV show "Ernie in Kovacsland" began under NBC.
(SFEC, 5/24/98, DB p.37)
1951 "The Honeymooners" first appeared as a TV sketch featuring
Jackie Gleason on the DuMont Network's Cavalcade of Stars. It was written
by Harry Crane (d.1999 at 85).
(SFC, 9/15/99, p.C4)
1951 The TV show "See It Now" was co-produced by Edward R. Murrow
and Fred W. Friendly (d.1998 at 82). Murrow was on camera and Friendly
was behind-the-scenes. The show was cancelled in 1958.
(SFC, 3/5/98, p.A24)
1951 Frank Sinatra married Ava Gardner.
(SFC, 5/16/98, p.E7)
1951 American writer Dashiell Hammett, creator of the hardboiled
school of detective fiction, was jailed for six months in 1951 for refusing
to reveal the names of contributors to the bail bond fund of the Civil
Rights Congress. Hammett, who was born in Maryland in 1894, was a Pinkerton
detective for eight years and served in the Ambulance Corps in World War
I before he began his writing career. Author of The Maltese Falcon (1930)
and The Thin Man (1932), Hammett became heavily involved in left-wing political
activity in 1934. He was later a trustee of the Civil Rights Congress.
Hammett died in 1961.
(HNPD, 9/24/98)
1951 Edward Dmytryk (d.1999 at 90), film director, identified
26 people as Communists to the HUAC committee. He had joined the CP in
1945 for a few months and initially refused to answer HUAC questions.
(SFC, 7/3/99, p.A21)
1951 The 1892 contagious Disease hospitals on Ellis Island, designed
by the Boring & Tilton firm of New York in the French Renaissance Style,
closed.
(WSJ, 12/9/99, p.A24)
1951 The 8-inch Ginny dolls were introduced by Vogue Dolls Inc.
of Bedford, Mass.
(SFC,11/12/97, Z1 p.7)
1951 John "Brinck" Jackson (1910-1996) founded the magazine "Landscape."
He established the vernacular landscape, the geography of everyday places
and plain-folks architecture. He also wrote "American Space" (1972), "Landscapes"
(1970), "The Necessity for Ruins" (1980), and "Discovering the Vernacular
Landscape" (1984).
(SFC, 8/31/96, p.A23)
1951 The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) was
founded. It was the only US registered Jewish lobby and was dedicated to
nurturing and preserving the American-Israeli relationship regardless of
the government in Washington or Israel.
(SFEC, 4/26/98, p.A23)
1951 Martin Seaver (d.1997 at 80) was awarded the Silver Beaver,
Scouting's highest honor, for his work in Japan. He had assisted Viscount
Michiharu Mishima, head of the Japanese boy scouts, to reorganize from
a militaristic youth group back to a peaceful civilian organization.
(SFC, 4/22/97, p.A15)
1951 Maggie Higgins was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize
for international reporting for her work in Korean war zones.
(HN, 9/4/98)
1951 Glenn T. Seaborg shared the Nobel Prize with Edwin McMillan
for discovering (plutonium) the first elements ever known to be heavier
than uranium. In 1974 Seaborg co-discovered element 106, named seaborgium.
(SFC, 10/6/98, p.A22)(SFC, 2/27/99, p.A17)
1951 Melvin Calvin of the Univ. of California won the Nobel Prize
for his work on how light and carbon dioxide are converted to energy.
(SFC, 12/27/99, p.A8)
1951 Jersey Joe Walcott won the heavyweight boxing title.
(SFC, 7/6/96, p.E4)
1951 The world's first skydiving championships were held in Yugoslavia.
(SFC, 7/6/96, p.E4)
1951 The US Senate Kefauver Committee held hearings on organized
crime.
(WSJ, 7/21/97, p.A20)
1951 Back-yard shelters against the A-bomb began to proliferate.
(TMC, 1994, p.1951)
1951 The US Uniform Code of Military Justice was enacted by Congress.
It included a provision against sodomy.
(SFEC, 8/11/96, p.A2)(SFC, 11/26/98, p.A3)
1951 Switzerland and the US signed an accord on income tax that
dealt with issues of bank secrecy and exchange of sensitive information.
The accord was renegotiated in 1996.
(WSJ, 2/28/96, p.A-1)
1951 The Bracero Program was formalized. It allowed about 350,000
Mexican workers to enter the US each year until 1964. It also allowed harvest
workers to enter on a temporary basis.
(SFEC, 9/20/98, Z1 p.6)
1951 In Delaware Louis Redding worked on a suit filed on behalf
of black schoolchildren in Delaware who had not been allowed to enroll
in white public schools. A court ruled in favor of the suit in 1952 but
the state appealed and the suit became part of Brown vs. Board of Education
Supreme Court suit of 1954.
(SFC, 10/3/98, p.A21)
1951 Alfred Bader founded the Aldrich Chemical Co. It was later
succeeded by the Sigma Aldrich Corp. He later became a collector of art
and spent millions for works by artists such as Rembrandt and Rubens.
(SFC, 2/3/98, p.E3)
1951 Benny Binion, a former bootlegger and numbers runner from
Dallas, went to Las Vegas and bought the El Dorado casino and hotel. He
renamed it The Horseshoe and promised to take any bet, no matter how high.
In 1953 he was put into prison for income tax evasion and served 3 years
and 3 months.
(WSJ, 8/24/98, p.A5)
1951 Chrysler introduced power steering. Thompson Products helped
to pioneer the innovation.
(F, 10/7/96, p.69)
1951 United Artists film productions was going under and offered
a 5-partner team 50% of the company if profitability were restored in 3
years. Max Youngstein (d.1997 at 84), one of the team, was head of production
and marketing.
(SFC, 7/11/97, p.E2)
1951 Physicist Richard Feynman at 33 published his final paper
on quantum electrodynamics (QED).
(SFEC, 8/3/97, BR p.3)
1951 Dr. Djerassi, Prof. of chemistry at Stanford Univ., developed
the birth control pill in Mexico City while working for Palo Allto based
Syntex Corp.
(SJSVB, 4/8/96, p.8)
1951 Munchausen's syndrome was first recognized. Named for Baron
Karl Frieherr von Munchausen, an 18th century German cavalry officer famed
for fabricating colorful tales about his exploits. The medical syndrome
describes people who travel from doctor to doctor claiming symptoms of
a feigned ailment to get attention for themselves.
(WSJ, 4/22/96, p.B-1)
1951 Michigan State College (later Univ.) began to offer a professorship
in driver-training.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)
1951 William Burroughs (1914-1997), writer, shot and killed his
common-law wife Joan Vollmer. He claimed to be trying to shoot a glass
out of her hand after a day of drinking and drugs but shot her in the head.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.B6)
1951 Dr. Albert C. Barnes, eccentric collector of impressionist
art, was killed in an automobile crash. [see 1925 Barnes]
(WSJ, 11/28/95, p.A-12)
1951 In Britain J. Lyons & Co. used the world's first business
computer to calculate payrolls and optimum mixes for tea blending.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)
1951 Mayor Chen Yi of Shanghai, China, began the Shanghai Museum.
(WSJ, 5/9/96, p.A-16)
1951 In China Peng Zhen began his 15-year mayorship of Beijing.
(SFEC, 4/27/97, p.B8)
1951 China and the Vatican broke formal relations after missionaries
were kicked out and Catholics were forced to sever ties with Rome.
(SFC, 1/7/00, p.A14)
1951 In Croatia Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac was released under
house arrest.
(SFEC, 10/4/98, p.A22)
1951 In Iran there was a struggle to nationalize Iranian oil.
The story told by Manucher and Roxanne (daughter) Farmanfarmaian in their
1997 book "Blood and Oil."
(SFEC, 4/13/97, BR p.3,4)
1951 In Israel the Work and Rest Hours Act was passed. The law
prohibited companies from employing workers on their religious days of
rest.
(WSJ, 6/24/97, p.A1)
1951 In Russia the nuclear weapons research facility near Nizhzny
Novgorod was established by Yuli Khariton (1904-1996).
(SFC, 12/20/96, p.B6)
1951 Chinese forces "liberated" Tibet. [see 1950]
(SFC,10/24/97, p.D2)
1951-1952 Godfrey's Talent Scouts was the top ranking network show on
television with a ranking of 53.8%.
(WSJ, 4/24/95, p.R-5)
1951-1954 Jacobo Guzman Arbenz (1913-1971) served as president of Guatemala.
Arbenz became president with the support of army and leftists, including
the Communist Party. Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, aroused rightist opposition
by allowing Communists in positions of power among peasants, labor unions,
even the government itself. His radical policies-especially regarding expropriation
of portions of the United Fruit Company holdings-led to a U.S. backed coup
in 1954 and his fleeing to Mexico.
(NG, 6/1988, p.783)(NG, 10/1988, member's forum)(HNQ, 1/30/99)(WSJ,
3/3/99, p.A18)
1951-1955 In Britain Winston Churchill served as Prime Minister a 2nd
time.
(WSJ, 9/3/98, p.A6)
1951-1967 Harlan H. Hatcher served as the 8th president of the Univ.
of Mich. Under his tenure enrollment grew from 17,000 to 37,000 students.
He had previously served as the vice-president of Ohio State Univ.
(MT, Sum. '98, p.6)
1951-1970 William McChesney Martin (d.1998 at 91) served as the chairman
of the US Federal Reserve.
(WSJ, 7/29/98, p.A1)
1951-1992 US nuclear tests on Western Shoshone land, guaranteed by the
1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley, numbered 934 over this period.
(SFC, 7/12/97, p.E4)