1952

1952 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
• 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 10 – General Fulgencio Batista takes power in Cuba – again
• March 15 to 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).
• 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

• May 1 – East Germany threatens to form its 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.
• 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

• 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 Farouk.

August

• 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 13 – Japan joins IMF.
• August 14 – West Germany joins IMF.
• August 14 – West Germany joins World Bank.
• August 16 – Lynmouth in North Devon is devastated by floods, death toll of 34.
• 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

• September 2 – Dr. C Walton Lillehei and Dr. Lewis perform first open-heart surgery in Minnesota, USA.
• 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

• 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.

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.

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.

Undated events

• 3300 die of polio in USA, 57.000 children are paralyzed
• 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
• Traffic lights in New York City
• Wernher von Braun talks about a manned flight to Mars.

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 rail transport
  • The City of San Francisco passenger train is marooned for three days in heavy snow on Donner Pass in California.
• 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.

Births

January-March

• January 11 – Lee Ritenour, musician and composer
• January 11  – Ben Crenshaw, American golfer
• January 12 – Ricky Van Shelton, country musician
• January 20 – Paul Stanley, musician (KISS}
• January 22 – Teddy Gentry, musician (Alabama)
• January 29 – Tommy Ramone, Hungarian-American musician, drummer with The Ramones
• February 1 – Rick James, American musician
• March 1 – Steven Barnes, American science fiction author
• March 2 – Laraine Newman, American comedian
• March 11 – Douglas Adams, English science fiction author (d. 2001)
• March 13 – Wolfgang Rihm, German composer
• March 22 – Bob Costas, American sports announcer
• March 23 – Kim Stanley Robinson, American science fiction author
• March 25 – Antanas Mockus, Colombian mathematician and politician
• March 29 – Teofilo Stevenson, Cuban boxer

April-June

• April 4 – Rosemarie Ackermann, German athlete
• April 12 – Ralph Wiley, American sports journalist (d. 2004)
• April 22 – Marilyn Chambers, American actress
• April 25 – Ketil Bjørnstad, Norwegian pianist
• May 3 – Allan Wells, Scottish athlete
• May 3 – Leonid Khachiyan, Russian-born American mathematician
• May 11 – Renaud Séchan, French composer
• May 11  – Mike Lupica, American sports journalist
• May 14 – David Byrne, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
• May 14  – Robert Zemeckis, American director
• May 18 – George Strait, American country musician
• May 20 – Roger Milla, Cameroonian footballer
• May 21 – Mr. T, American actor
• May 21  – Zuzana Hložníková, Slovak painter
• June 7 – Liam Neeson, Irish actor
• June 16 – Georgios Papandreou, Greek politician
• June 28 – Pietro Mennea, Italian athlete

July-September

• July 9 – John Tesh, American composer, musician, and television host
• August 3 – Osvaldo Ardiles, Argentine footballer
• August 8 – Jostein Gaarder, Norwegian author
• August 9 – Vicki Morgan, model (d. 1983)
• August 13 – Herb Ritts, celebrity photographer
• August 14 – Carl Lumbly, actor
• August 19 – Jonathan Frakes, actor
• August 21 – Joe Strummer, British musician, guitarist/vocalist with The Clash (d. December 22, 2002)
• August 24 – Linton Kwesi Johnson, musician
• September 18 – Dee Dee Ramone, American musician, bassist with punk band The Ramones (d. June 5, 2002)
• September 22 – Bob Goodlatte, U.S. Congressman from Virginia
• September 29 – Max Sandlin, American politician

October-December

• October 7 – Vladimir Putin, Russian president
• October 9 – Sharon Osbourne, wife and manager of Ozzy Osbourne
• October 16 – Ron Taylor, American actor (died 2002)
• October 26 – Andrew Motion, English poet
• November 5 – Bill Walton, basketball player and commentator
• November 15 – Daniel Barenboim, Israeli pianist and conductor
• November 16 – Shigeru Miyamoto, game designer
• November 25 – Imran Khan, Pakistani cricketer
• December 9 – Michael Dorn, actor
• December 16 – Joel Garner, West Indian cricketer
• December 28 – Arun Jaitley, Indian politician

Deaths

• January 18 – Curly Howard, actor, comedian, member of the Three Stooges
• February 6 – King George VI of the United Kingdom
• February 19 – Knut Hamsun, author
• February 22 – Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg, first president of Finland
• March 7 – Paramahansa Yogananda, Indian guru
• March 22 – Uncle Dave Macon, country music performer
• March 31 – Wallace H. White, Jr., U.S. Senator from Maine (b. 1877)
• April 3  – Miina Sillanpää, Finnish left-wing trade union activist
• April 21 – Sir Stafford Cripps, British politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1947–1950
• May 6 – Maria Montessori Italian educator and founder of the Montessori method (cerebral haemorrage) (b. 1870)
• May 8  – Walter Fox, American movie producer
• May 21 – John Garfield, actor
• June 17 – Krystyna Skarbek, SOE agent
• July 26  – Eva Peron, Argentine wife of Juan Peron
• September 29 – George Santayana, writer
• September 30 – Viscount Waldorf Astor, British businessman and politician
• October 28 – Billy Hughes, seventh Prime Minister of Australia
• November 9 – Chaim Weizmann, chemist, first President of Israel (b. 1874)
• November 18 – Paul Eluard, French poet (b. 1895)
• November 23 – Aaro Hellaakoski, Finnish poet
• December 12 – Bedřich Hrozný, Czech orientalist and linguist
• December 28 – Fletcher Henderson, jazz musician (b. 1897)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics – Felix Bloch, Edward Mills Purcell
• Chemistry – Archer John Porter Martin, Richard Laurence Millington Synge
• Medicine – Selman Abraham Waksman
• Literature – François Mauriac
• Peace – Albert Schweitzer