1950 CE

The Korean War begins as North Korea invades the South in the Battle of Inchon; the Annexation of Tibet by China brings Tibet under Chinese control; the 1950 FIFA World Cup ends with Uruguay’s Maracanazo upset over Brazil; McCarthyism drives anti-communist hysteria in the U.S.; the 1950 Assam–Tibet earthquake causes massive destruction; the Treaty of Zgorzelec confirms the Oder–Neisse border; the Jayuya Uprising challenges U.S. rule in Puerto Rico; Typhoon Jane devastates Japan; and King Bhumibol Adulyadej is crowned.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

January 6 – The United Kingdom recognizes the People's Republic of China; the Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with Britain in response.source
January 9 – The Israeli government recognizes the People's Republic of China.source
January 13 – Finland forms diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.source
January 23 – The Knesset passes a resolution that states Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.source
January 26 – India promulgates its constitution, forming a republic, and Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as its first president. The Kingdom of Mysore is merged into the new republic.source
February 1 – Chiang Kai-shek is re-elected as president of the Republic of China.source
February 6 – In India, the first Cabinet Secretary (N. R. Pillai) is appointed.source
February 15 – Juho Kusti Paasikivi is re-elected president of Finland.source
February 19 – Konrad Adenauer tries unsuccessfully to negotiate with East Germany, to begin reunification.source
February 23 – 1950 United Kingdom general election: The Labour Party, led by Clement Attlee, remains in office, but the Tories, led by Winston Churchill, increase their seats in the House of Commons.source
In an election speech at Edinburgh, Winston Churchill proposes "a parley at the summit" with Soviet leaders, the first use of the term "summit" for such a meeting.source
March 1 – Acting President of the Republic of China Li Zongren ends his term in office and Chiang Kai-shek resumes his duties as president, after moving the government of the Republic to Taipei, Taiwan.source
March 12 – Royal question: 1950 Belgian monarchy referendum – In Belgium, a referendum on the monarchy shows 57.7% support the return of King Leopold III from exile to resume exercise of his constitutional powers, 42.3% against. The King has said he would abdicate if he did not receive 55% support, and that the final decision would be for the federal parliament.source
April 27 – Apartheid: In South Africa, the Group Areas Act is passed, formally segregating the races.source
May 9 – Robert Schuman presents his proposal for the creation of a pan-European organisation, which he believes to be indispensable to the maintenance of permanently peaceful relations between the different nations of the continent. This proposal, known as the "Schuman Declaration", is considered to be the beginning of the creation of what becomes the European Union.source
May 22 – Celâl Bayar becomes the third president of Turkey and Adnan Menderes of the DP forms the new government of Turkey (19th government).source
July 17 – The Suppression of Communism Act (passed on June 26 by the Parliament of South Africa) comes into force in South Africa.source
August 1 – Royal question: King Leopold III of Belgium publicly announces that he will abdicate in favor of his son, Baudouin.source
August 8 – Winston Churchill supports the idea of a pan-European army, allied with Canada and the U.S.source
August 22 – France announces the introduction of a government-guaranteed minimum wage.source
October 3 – Getúlio Vargas is elected president of Brazil for a 5-year term.source
November 4 – The United Nations ends the diplomatic isolation of Spain.source
November 18 – The United Nations accepts the formation of the Libyan National Council.source
November 28 – Greece and Yugoslavia reform diplomatic relations.source

Conflict & Security

January 24 – Cold War: Klaus Fuchs, German émigré physicist, confesses to a British MI5 interrogator that he is a Soviet spy: for seven years, he passed top secret data on U.S. and British nuclear weapons research to the Soviet Union. Fuchs is formally charged on February 2.source
April 21 – Nainital wedding massacre: A mass stabbing occurs at Nainital in India, killing 22 members of the Harijan caste.source
May 6 – Cazin rebellion in Bosnia against Communist agrarian reforms.source
May 17 – Israeli Air Force Spitfires intercept a British Royal Air Force Short Sunderland when it inadvertently crosses into Israeli airspace, forcing it to land at Lod Airport. The Sunderland's crew have been issued maps that do not depict Israel, as Britain had not recognized the Jewish state at the time they were issued.source
June 8 – Sir Thomas Blamey becomes the only Field Marshal in Australian history.source
June 25 – The Korean War begins: Troops and T-34 tanks of the North Korean People's Army cross the 38th parallel into South Korea.source
Bodo League massacre begins: South Korean armed forces and police summarily execute at least 100,000 suspected North Korean sympathizers.source
July 14–21 – Korean War: Battle of Taejon – North Korean forces capture the city held by the U.S. 24th Infantry Division, but the delay allows establishment of the Pusan Perimeter.source
July 20 – Air Battle of South Korea: After a month-long campaign, the majority of North Korea's People's Air Force is destroyed by anti-communist forces.source
July 22 – Royal question in Belgium: King Leopold III returns from exile, provoking a general strike, particularly in Wallonia.source
July 30 – 4 workers striking over the "Royal question" in Belgium are shot dead by the Gendarmerie, at Grâce-Berleur near Liège.source
August 5 – 2 Squadron SAAF departs from South Africa to take part in the Korean War.source
August 12 – Korean War: Bloody Gulch massacre – 75 U.S. soldiers are executed after being captured in battle by North Korea.source
August 17 – Korean War: Hill 303 massacre – 39 U.S. soldiers are executed after being captured in battle by North Korea.source
August 23 – Legendary African American singer-actor Paul Robeson, whose passport has recently been revoked because of his alleged Communist affiliations, meets with U.S. officials in an effort to get it reinstated. He is unsuccessful, and it is not reinstated until 1958.source
September 15 – Korean War: Battle of Inchon – Allied troops commanded by Douglas MacArthur land in Inchon, occupied by North Korea, to begin a U.N. counteroffensive.source
September 19 – Korean War: An attack by North Korean forces is repelled at the Battle of Nam River.source
October 7 – Battle of Chamdo: The Annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China, begins with the Chinese People's Liberation Army invading across the Jinsha River. By October 19 they will have taken the border town of Chamdo, and the Tibetan army will have surrendered.source
October 30 – The Jayuya Uprising is started by Puerto Rican Nationalists against the United States-supported government.source
November 1 – Puerto Rican nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempt to assassinate U.S. President Harry S. Truman, who is staying at the Blair-Lee House in Washington, D.C. during White House repairs.source
November 8 – Korean War: While in an F-80, United States Air Force Lt. Russell J. Brown intercepts 2 North Korean MiG-15s near the Yalu River and shoots them down, in the first jet-to-jet dogfight in history.source
November 26 – Korean War: Troops from the People's Republic of China launch a massive counterattack against South Korean and United Nations forces at the Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River and the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, dashing any hopes for a quick end to the conflict.source
December 2 – Korean War: The Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River ends with the Chinese People's Volunteer Army expelling United Nations forces from North Korea.source
President Harry Truman sends United States military advisers to Vietnam, to aid French forces.source

Exploration & Expansion

May 29 – St. Roch, the first ship to circumnavigate North America, arrives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.source
June 3 – Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal, of the French Annapurna expedition, become the first climbers to reach the summit of an 8,000-metre peak.source
November 28 – The Colombo Plan for Co-operative Economic Development in South and South-East Asia comes into effect.source

Religion & Belief

June 6 – In Turkey, the Adhan (call to prayer) in Arabic is permitted by law after a ban of 18 years.source
August 12 – In his encyclical Humani generis, Pope Pius XII requires Catholic theologians to defer to the teachings of the Church as a whole but declares evolution to be a serious hypothesis that does not contradict essential Catholic views.source
August 22 – The Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary is founded in Tagbilaran City, Philippines.source
November 1 – Pope Pius XII witnesses the "Miracle of the Sun" at the Vatican and defines a new dogma of Roman Catholicism, the Munificentissimus Deus, which says that God took Mary's body into Heaven after her death (the "Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary").source
November 17 – Tenzin Gyatso, 15, is formally enthroned as the 14th Dalai Lama, becoming temporal ruler of Tibet.source
November 29 – The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA is founded.source

Economy & Finance

February 13 – British Columbia B-36 crash: The U.S. Air Force loses a Convair B-36 bomber that carried a Mark 4 nuclear bomb off the west coast of Canada, and produces the world's first Broken Arrow.source
May 24 – The United States Maritime Administration is formed (under the Department of Commerce).source

Technology & Infrastructure

February 8 – A payment is first made by Diners Club card, in New York, United States (the first use of a charge card).source
February 12 – The European Broadcasting Union is founded.source
February 21 – Cunard liner Aquitania arrives at the scrapyard in Faslane at the end of a 36-year career, the longest of any in the 20th Century.source
March 8 – The first Volkswagen Type 2 (also known as the Microbus) rolls off the assembly line in Wolfsburg, Germany.source
March 22 – Egypt demands that Britain remove all its troops from the Suez Canal zone.source
May 1 – UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, begins operations.source
May 25 – The Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel is formally opened to traffic in New York City.source
Hangang Bridge bombing: The South Korean army, in an attempt to defend Seoul, blows up the Hangang Bridge while it is crowded with refugees.source
August 8 – American Florence Chadwick swims the English Channel in 13 hours, 22 minutes, beating the women's record for the crossing.source
September 18 – Rede Tupi, the first television broadcast network in South America, is founded in Brazil.source
October 7 – The Agate Pass Bridge opens for traffic in Washington State.source
October 11 – The Federal Communications Commission in the United States issues the first license to broadcast television in color, to CBS (RCA will successfully dispute and block the license from taking effect, however).source
IBM Israel begins operating in Tel Aviv.source

Science & Discovery

April 14 – Influential British adventure comic Eagle is launched.source
May 14 – The Huntsville Times runs the headline "Dr. von Braun Says Rocket Flights Possible to Moon."source
October 2 – The comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz is first published in seven U.S. newspapers.source
October – Turing test published.source
November 10 – A U.S. Air Force B-50 Superfortress bomber, experiencing an in-flight emergency, jettisons and detonates a Mark 4 nuclear bomb over Quebec, Canada (the device lacks its plutonium core).source
Canadians Harry Wasylyk, Larry Hansen and Frank Plomp introduce the plastic bin bag, for garbage collection.source

Health & Medicine

January 7 – A fire in the St Elizabeth's Ward of Mercy Hospital in Davenport, Iowa, United States, kills 41 patients.source
January 31 – United States President Harry S. Truman orders the development of the hydrogen bomb, in response to the detonation of the Soviet Union's first atomic bomb in 1949.source
February 9 – In Wheeling, West Virginia, Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin makes a speech that claims to have 205 communists in the U.S. State Department.source
February 12 – Albert Einstein warns that nuclear war could lead to mutual destruction.source
September 19 – West Germany decides to purge communist officials.source
Myxomatosis is introduced into Australia, in an attempt to control the escalating rabbit population.source

Crime & Justice

January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed.source
January 21 – In the United States, suspected spy Alger Hiss is convicted on two counts of perjury.source
February 8 – The Stasi is founded in East Germany, and acts as a secret police until 1990.source
March 1 – Klaus Fuchs is convicted in London of spying against both Britain and the United States for the Soviet Union, by giving to the latter top secret atomic bomb data.source
May 8 – Tollund Man is unearthed in Denmark.source
May 11 – The Kefauver Committee hearings into U.S. organized crime begin.source
November 13 – The President of Venezuela, Colonel Carlos Delgado Chalbaud, is kidnapped and murdered in Caracas.source
Raid Pyrénéen, a French timed bicycle challenge, is first staged.source

Disasters & Accidents

January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: Aeroflot Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 aboard are killed, including almost the entire national ice hockey team (VVS Moscow) of the Soviet Air Force – 11 players, as well as a team doctor and a masseur.source
January 12 – British submarine collides with Swedish oil tanker Divina in the Thames Estuary and sinks; 64 die.source
February 6 – In West Virginia, 372,000 coal miners strike (they remain out until March 3).source
March 12 – A plane carrying returning rugby fans from Ireland to Wales crashes near Llandow, with the loss of 80 lives.source
August 5 – 1950 Fairfield-Suisun Boeing B-29 crash: A bomb-laden Boeing B-29 Superfortress crashes into a residential area in California, United States, killing 17 people and injuring 68.source
September 7 – The Knockshinnoch Disaster in Scotland kills 13 coal miners; 116 are rescued.source
November 13 – A Curtiss Reid Flying Services plane crashes while en route to Paris from Rome, killing all 52 on board.source
November 24 – A phenomenal winter storm ravages the northeastern United States, brings 30–50 inches of snow and temperatures below zero, and kills 323 people.source

Climate & Environment

February – The Ad Hoc Committee on Slavery of the United Nations is formally inaugurated with its first meeting at Lake Success in February 1950.source
June 1–23 – Mauna Loa in Hawaii starts erupting.source
August 15 – The 8.6 Assam–Tibet earthquake shakes the region, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing about 4,800 people.source

Culture & Society

March 23 – The 22nd Academy Awards ceremony is held in Hollywood. All the King's Men (1949 film) is Best Picture.source
May 5 – Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), king of Thailand since 1946, is crowned, at The Grand Palace in Bangkok.source
May 13 – The first race in the inaugural FIA Formula One World Championship in automobile racing is held, at Silverstone, England.source
May 22 – Recorded premiere of Four Last Songs (1948) by German composer Richard Strauss (d. 1949) given by the composer's choice of soloist, Norwegian-born soprano Kirsten Flagstad, with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler at the Royal Albert Hall in London, sponsored by Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar, Sultan of Mysore.source
May 29 – The pilot series of the world's longest-running radio soap opera, The Archers, is first broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in the U.K. It will still be running more than 75 years later.source
June 16 – Maracanã Stadium, which becomes a well-known sports venue of Brazil, opens in Rio de Janeiro, in advance of the opening of the 1950 FIFA World Cup in the country on June 24.source
July 16 – Uruguay beats Brazil 2–1, to win the 1950 World Cup, the match dubbed the Maracanazo.source
September 3 – Italian racing driver Giuseppe Farina becomes the first winner of the FIA Formula One World Championship, being the only driver to win the championship in his home country.source
October 28 – Torcida Split is founded, in support of the Association football club HNK Hajduk Split, in SFR Yugoslavia.source
December 31 – The inaugural 12 Hours of Sebring automobile endurance race is held in Florida.source
Summer – The first newspaper for the Romanian minority in modern Hungary, Foaia Românească ("The Romanian Sheet"), is founded.source
Knox's Translation of the Vulgate Old Testament (commissioned by the Catholic Church) is published.source

Births

January 14 – Jagadguru Rāmabhadrācārya, Hindu religious leadersource
February 13 – Peter Gabriel, British rock musician, original lead singer of Genesissource
February 25 – Néstor Kirchner, 49th President of Argentina (d. 2010)source
February 26 – Helen Clark, Prime Minister of New Zealandsource
March 4 – Rick Perry, American politician, 14th U.S. Secretary of Energy, 47th Governor of Texassource
April 1 – Samuel Alito, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Statessource
April 20 − N. Chandrababu Naidu, Indian politician, 13th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradeshsource
April 29 – Debbie Stabenow, former United States Senator from Michigan (2001-2025)source
May 14 – Jill Stein, American politician, activist, and 2016 Green Party presidential candidatesource
May 18 – Mark Mothersbaugh, American composer, artist, and singer (Devo)source
June 29 – Simone Gbagbo, ICC criminal, former Ivorian politician and First Ladysource
August 11 – Steve Wozniak, American inventor, engineer, programmer, philanthropist, and entrepreneursource
August 15 – Anne, Princess Royal, British royal, daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburghsource
August 21 – Arthur Bremer, American attempted assassin of George Wallacesource

Deaths

January 8 – Joseph Schumpeter, Czech economist, political scientist (b. 1883)source
January 15 – Henry H. Arnold, American general and aviation pioneer (b. 1886)source
January 21 – George Orwell, British author (b. 1903)source
March 2 – Rosli Dhobi, Malay Sarawakian nationalist (b. 1932)source
March 30 – Joe Yule, British entertainer, father of Mickey Rooney (b. 1894)source
April 10 – Fevzi Çakmak, Turkish military officer, statesman and Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1876)source
May 24 – Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, British field marshal (b. 1883)source
June 4 – George Cecil Ives, German-born British poet, writer, penal reformer and early gay rights campaigner (b. 1867)source
October 20 – Henry L. Stimson, United States Secretary of State (b. 1867)source
October 23 – Al Jolson, American musician, actor (The Jazz Singer) (b. 1886)source
November 2 – George Bernard Shaw, Irish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1856)source
November 4 – Grover Cleveland Alexander, American baseball player (Philadelphia Phillies), MLB Hall of Fame member (b. 1887)source
November 27 – T. Sathasiva Iyer, Ceylon Tamil scholar, Tamil language writer (b. 1882)source
December 12 – Peter Fraser, New Zealand political figure, 24th Prime Minister of New Zealand, leader of World War II (b. 1884)source