Directory

1952 CE

The death of George VI occurs and Elizabeth II becomes queen of the United Kingdom; the Ivy Mike nuclear test succeeds at Enewetak Atoll; the 1952 Summer Olympics are held in Helsinki, Finland; the 1952 Egyptian Revolution establishes a republic; the Reparations Agreement between Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany is signed; the Great Smog of London causes widespread illness; the Catalina affair heightens Cold War tensions; the Bolivian National Revolution brings major reforms; and the 1952 Severo-Kurilsk earthquake kills thousands in Sakhalin.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • February 26 – Vincent Massey is sworn in, becoming the first Canadian-born Governor General of Canada.source
  • March 20 – The United States Senate ratifies a peace treaty with Japan.source
  • March 21 – Kwame Nkrumah is elected Prime Minister of the Gold Coast.source
  • March 27 – A legislative Assembly election is held in Coorg.source
  • April 18 – West Germany and Japan form diplomatic relations.source
  • April 28 – The Treaty of San Francisco goes into effect, formally ending the war between Japan and the Allies, and simultaneously ending the occupation of the four main Japanese islands by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers.source
  • May 13 – Pandit Nehru forms his first government in India.source
  • May 15 – Diplomatic relations are established between Israel and Japan at the level of legations.source
  • June 27 – Decree 900 in Guatemala orders the redistribution of uncultivated land.source
  • July 13 – East Germany announces the formation of its National People's Army.source
  • July 26 – King Farouk of Egypt abdicates, nominally in favour of his infant son Fuad II.source
  • August 5 – The Treaty of Taipei between Japan and the Republic of China goes into effect, officially ending the Second Sino-Japanese War.source
  • August 11 – The Jordanian Parliament forces King Talal of Jordan to abdicate due to mental illness; he is succeeded by his son King Hussein.source
  • August 14 – West Germany joins the IMF and the World Bank.source
  • August 27 – Reparation negotiations between West Germany and Israel end in Luxembourg: Germany will pay 3 billion Deutsche Marks.source
  • August 30 – The last Finnish war reparations are sent to the Soviet Union.source
  • September 10 – The European Parliamentary Assembly (from March 1962, the European Parliament) opens.source
  • October 23 – The West German Federal Constitutional Court bans the Socialist Reich Party as unconstitutional for being a Nazi Party successor organization.source
  • November 4 – 1952 United States presidential election: Republican General Dwight D. Eisenhower defeats Democratic Governor of Illinois Adlai Stevenson (correctly predicted by the UNIVAC computer).source
  • November 4 – Pace-Finletter MOU 1952: A Memorandum of understanding is signed between "...Air Force Secretary Finletter and Army Secretary Pace that established a fixed wing weight limit [for the Army] of five thousand pounds empty, but weight restrictions on helicopters were eliminated..."source
  • November 29 – Korean War: U.S. President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower fulfills a political campaign promise, by traveling to Korea to find out what can be done to end the conflict.source
  • December 1 – Adolfo Ruiz Cortines takes office as President of Mexico.source
  • December 10 – Albert Schweitzer is given the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize.source
  • December 26 – Joseph Ivor Linton, the first Israeli Minister Plenipotentiary in Japan, presents his credentials to the Emperor of Japan.source

Conflict & Security

  • February 21 – In Dhaka, East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) police open fire on a procession of students, killing 4 people and starting a country-wide protest, which leads to the recognition of Bengali as one of the national languages of Pakistan. The day is later declared "International Mother Language Day" by UNESCO.source
  • March 10 – General Fulgencio Batista re-takes power in Cuba in a coup.source
  • March 21 – The last two executions in the Netherlands take place.source
  • March 27 – Konrad Adenauer survives an assassination attempt organized by members of a small underground group connected to Irgun, an Israeli militant Zionist organization.source
  • April 4 – At a tribunal in The Hague, Israel demands reparations worth $3 billion from West Germany.source
  • April 11 – Battle of Nanri Island: The Republic of China seizes the island from the People's Republic of China.source
  • April 11 – Bolivian National Revolution: Rebels take over Palacio Quemado.source
  • May 1 – East Germany threatens to form its own army.source
  • June 13 – Polttoainehankinta, a secret Finnish Defence Forces operations order is approved.source
  • June 19 – The Special Forces (United States Army) are created.source
  • 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.source
  • September 15 – The United Nations cedes Eritrea to Ethiopia.source
  • October 17 – 17 October affair: Indonesian troops led by General Nasution surround the presidential palace, seeking the dismissal of the People's Representative Council; Sukarno avoids confrontation.source
  • October 20 – Martial law is declared in Kenya, in the face of the Mau Mau uprising.source
  • November 18 – Jomo Kenyatta is arrested in Kenya, for an alleged connection to the Mau Mau Uprising.source
  • December 25 – One West German soldier is killed in a shooting incident in West Berlin.source
  • During the Mau Mau Uprising, the poisonous latex of the African milk bush is used to kill cattle, in an incident of Biological warfare.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • May 18 – Ann Davison becomes the first woman to single-handedly sail the Atlantic Ocean.source
  • July 3 - The SS United States Has Her maiden voyage en route from New York To Southampton And wins the Blue Ribandsource
  • October 19 – Alain Bombard begins to sail from the Canary Islands to Barbados in 65 days without using provisions; he reaches them December 23.source
  • The Nordic Council agrees to the unrestricted transport of people, goods and services throughout the Nordic Countries.source

Religion & Belief

  • May 6 – Farouk of Egypt has himself announced as a descendant of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad.source

Economy & Finance

  • April 8 – Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer: The U.S. Supreme Court limits the power of the President to seize private business, after President Harry S. Truman nationalizes all steel mills in the United States, just before the 1952 steel strike begins.source
  • July 23 – The European Coal and Steel Community is established.source
  • August 13 – Japan joins the International Monetary Fund (IMF).source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • April 7 – The I Love Lucy episode "The Marriage License", aired this evening in the United States, is the first television show in history to be seen in around 10,000,000 homes, according to the American Research Bureau.source
  • June 1 – Navigation opens on the Volga–Don Canal, connecting the Caspian Sea basin with that of the Black Sea.source
  • September 6 – The CBC in Montreal, Quebec, goes on air launching television in Canada.source
  • November 1 – Nuclear testing and Operation Ivy: The United States successfully detonates the first hydrogen bomb, codenamed "Mike", at Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific Ocean, with a yield of 10.4 megatons.source

Science & Discovery

  • March 22 – Wernher von Braun publishes the first in his series of articles titled Man Will Conquer Space Soon!, including ideas for crewed flights to Mars and the Moon.source
  • May 3 – U.S. lieutenant colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict land a plane at the geographic North Pole.source
  • August 26 – A British passenger jet makes a return crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in the same day.source
  • November 20 – The first official passenger flight over the North Pole is made, from Los Angeles to Copenhagen.source
  • Supramar launches the first commercial high-speed craft, a hydrofoil.source

Health & Medicine

  • February 6 – In the United States, a mechanical heart is used for the first time in a human patient.source
  • February 7 – New York City announces its first crosswalk devices to be installed.source
  • June 14 – Myxomatosis is introduced to Europe, on the French estate of Paul-Félix Armand-Delille.source
  • September 2 – C. Walton Lillehei and F. John Lewis perform the first open-heart surgery, at the University of Minnesota.source
  • November 20 – One of the first successful gender-affirming surgeries is performed in Copenhagen on Christine Jorgensen.source
  • December 14 – The first successful surgical separation of conjoined twins is conducted in Mount Sinai Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio.source

Crime & Justice

  • April 9 – Santa Teresa Church tragedy: 50 people are trampled to death in the Basilica of St. Teresa, Caracas, Venezuela, after someone shouts "Fire!"; 40 people are arrested in connection with the crush.source
  • August 12 – Night of the Murdered Poets: 13 Soviet Jewish poets are executed.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • January 10 - A Douglas C-47 Dakota operated by Aer Lingus crashes in Wales while flying from Northolt Royal Air Force Station to Dublin. All twenty-three occupants are killed.source
  • January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses.source
  • April 4 – West Ice accidents: During a severe storm in the West Ice, east of Greenland, 78 seal hunters on 5 Norwegian seal hunting vessels vanish without a trace.source
  • April 11 – Pan Am Flight 526A, Douglas DC-4 Clipper Endeavor, suffers failure of two engines and ditches in rough seas 11.3 miles (18 km) northwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico in the Atlantic Ocean, sinking in minutes; 52 of the 69 people on board die. After this accident the implementation of pre-flight safety demonstrations is recommended. The aircraft's wreckage will be discovered in 2026.source
  • April 26 – United States Navy aircraft carrier Wasp collides with destroyer Hobson while on exercises in the Atlantic Ocean, killing 175 men.source
  • June 1 – The Roman Catholic Church bans the books of André Gide.source
  • June 13 – "Catalina affair": Soviet MiG-15 fighter planes shoot down a Swedish military Douglas C-47 Skytrain, carrying out signals intelligence gathering operations over the Baltic Sea, killing all 8 crew; three days later they shoot down a Catalina flying boat, searching for possible survivors.source
  • August 31 – An accident causing 13 deaths results in closure of the Grenzlandring as an auto race circuit in Wegberg, Germany.source
  • October 8 – Three trains collide in the Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash near London, England, killing 112 people and injuring 340 people, making it the worst rail disaster in the UK since the 1915 Quintinshill rail disaster.source
  • December 20 – The crash of a United States Air Force C-124 Globemaster at Moses Lake, WA kills 86 servicemen.source

Climate & Environment

  • February 25 – The Parícutin active volcano in Michoacán, west central Mexico, ceases its discontinuous eruption after spewing forth a gigaton of lava, and burying San Juan Parangaricutiro.source
  • March 15–16 – 73 inches (1,870 mm) of rain falls in Cilaos, Réunion, the most rainfall in one day up to that time.source
  • March 21 – Tornadoes ravage the lower Mississippi River Valley, leaving 208 dead, through March 22.source
  • June 10 – 1952 San Juan earthquake. A magnitude 6.8 earthquake kills five people on Argentina's San Juan Province.source
  • July 21 – The 7.3 Kern County earthquake strikes California's southern Central Valley with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing 12 and injuring hundreds.source
  • August 16 – Lynmouth, North Devon, England is devastated by floods; 34 die.source
  • August 18 – A 7.5 earthquake shakes the Tibet region leaving a balance of 54 fatalities.source
  • August 22 – The most damaging aftershock of the 1952 Kern County earthquake sequence strikes with a moment magnitude of 5.8, and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). This event damages several hundred buildings in Bakersfield, California, with total additional losses of $10 million, with two associated deaths and some injuries.source
  • September 18 – The Soviet Union vetoes Japan's application for membership in the United Nations.source
  • November 5 – The 9.0 Severo-Kurilsk earthquake hits the Kamchatka Peninsula of the Soviet Union with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). A tsunami took the lives of more than 2,300 people.source

Culture & Society

  • February 14–25 – The Winter Olympics are held in Oslo, Norway.source
  • February 15 – The State Funeral of King George VI of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the British Dominions and the last Emperor of India, takes place. George VI's coffin is brought in procession through London to Paddington Station where a royal train brings the King to Windsor, where his funeral and burial take place at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.source
  • April 1 – Al Arabi sports and association football club is founded in Qatar.source
  • April 9 – Hugo Ballivián's government is overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution, which starts a period of agrarian reform, universal suffrage and the nationalization of tin mines.source
  • April 18 – Bolivia National Revolution: A universal vote enables indigenous peoples and women to vote, nationalizes mines and enacts agrarian reform.source
  • June 15 – Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl is published in English-language translation.source
  • June 26 – The Pan-Malayan Labour Party is founded in Malaya, as a union of statewide labour parties.source
  • June 28 – The First Miss Universe pageant is held. Armi Kuusela from Finland wins the title of Miss Universe 1952.source
  • July 19–August 3 – The 1952 Summer Olympics are held in Helsinki, Finland.source
  • August 29 – Composer John Cage's 4′33″, during which the performer does not play, premieres in Woodstock, New York.source
  • September 30 – The Revised Standard Version of the Bible is published in the United States.source
  • October 14 – The United Nations begins work in the new United Nations building in New York City, designed by Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer.source

Births

  • January 25 – Peter Tatchell, Australian-born British human rights activistsource
  • February 7 – John Hickenlooper, American politician, 42nd Governor of Coloradosource
  • March 11 – Douglas Adams, English author (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) (d. 2001)source
  • March 18 – Salome Zourabichvili, Georgian politician, 5th President of Georgiasource
  • March 23 – Rex Tillerson, United States Secretary of Statesource
  • May 13 – John Kasich, Governor of Ohiosource
  • July 4 – Álvaro Uribe, President of Colombiasource
  • August 19 – Jonathan Frakes, American actor (Star Trek: The Next Generation)source
  • September 25 – Christopher Reeve, American actor, activist (Superman) (d. 2004)source
  • October 5 – Imran Khan, former Prime Minister of Pakistan and cricketersource
  • November 5 – Bill Walton, American basketball player, commentator (d. 2024)source
  • November 28 – S. Epatha Merkerson, African-American actress (Law and Order)source
  • December 1 – Rick Scott, American politician, 45th Governor of Florida, U.S. Senator (Florida)source
  • December 9 – Michael Dorn, African-American actor (Star Trek: The Next Generation)source

Deaths

  • January 11 – Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, French general, posthumous Marshal of France (b. 1889)source
  • January 28 – Nicolae Constantin Batzaria, Ottoman statesman, Romanian writer (b. 1874)source
  • February 6 – Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the British Dominions: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan and Ceylon. The princess, who is on a visit to Kenya when she hears of the death of her father, King George VI, aged 56, takes the regnal name Elizabeth II.source
  • February 19 – Knut Hamsun, Norwegian author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)source
  • March 5 – Sir Charles Sherrington, British physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1857)source
  • April 21 – Sir Stafford Cripps, British Labour politician, former Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1889)source
  • June 12 – Michael von Faulhaber, German Cardinal Archbishop of Munich (b. 1869)source
  • July 21 – Pedro Lascuráin, Mexican diplomat, 34th President of Mexico (b. 1856)source
  • July 26 – Eva Perón, Argentine political leader, and First Lady to and partner in power of President Juan Perón (b. 1919)source
  • July 26 – Maria Eva Duarte De Peron, known as "Evita", Argentina's first lady, dies aged 33 of cancer in Buenos Aires. The Argentine government's declaration of national mourning causes all business, entertainment, leisure and work to a standstill.source
  • October 19 – Ernst Streeruwitz, Austrian businessman and politician, 6th Chancellor of Austria (b. 1874)source
  • November 26 – Sven Hedin, Swedish explorer, geographer and geopolitician (b. 1865)source
  • November 28 – Elena of Montenegro, Queen of Italy, consort of Victor Emmanuel III (b. 1869)source
  • December 8 – Charles Lightoller, British merchant marine officer, second officer of RMS Titanic (b. 1874)source