1949 in the United States

← 1948 1947 1946 1949 in the United States → 1950 1951 1952
Decades:	1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s
See also:	History of the United States (1945–1964) Timeline of United States history (1930–1949) List of years in the United States

Events from the year 1949 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal Government

• President: Harry S. Truman (D-Missouri)
• Vice President: vacant (until January 20), Alben W. Barkley (D-Kentucky) (starting January 20)
• Chief Justice: Fred M. Vinson (Kentucky)
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Joseph William Martin, Jr. (R-Massachusetts) (until January 3), Sam Rayburn (D-Texas) (starting January 3)
• Senate Majority Leader: Wallace H. White, Jr. (R-Maine) (until January 3), Scott W. Lucas (D-Illinois) (starting January 3)
• Congress: 80th (until January 3), 81st (starting January 3)

Governors and Lieutenant Governors

Governors Governor of Alabama: Jim Folsom (Democratic) Governor of Arizona: Dan Edward Garvey (Democratic) Governor of Arkansas: Benjamin Travis Laney (Democratic) (until January 11), Sid McMath (Democratic) (starting January 11) Governor of California: Earl Warren (Republican) Governor of Colorado: William Lee Knous (Democratic) Governor of Connecticut: James C. Shannon (Republican) (until January 5), Chester Bowles (Democratic) (starting January 5) Governor of Delaware: Walter W. Bacon (Republican) (until January 18), Elbert N. Carvel (Democratic) (starting January 18) Governor of Florida: Millard F. Caldwell (Democratic) (until January 4), Fuller Warren (Democratic) (starting January 4) Governor of Georgia: Herman Talmadge (Democratic) Governor of Idaho: C. A. Robins (Republican) Governor of Illinois: Dwight H. Green (Republican) (until January 10), Adlai E. Stevenson II (Democratic) (starting January 10) Governor of Indiana: Ralph F. Gates (Republican) (until January 10), Henry F. Schricker (Democratic) (starting January 10) Governor of Iowa: Robert D. Blue (Republican) (until January 13), William S. Beardsley (Republican) (starting January 13) Governor of Kansas: Frank Carlson (Republican) Governor of Kentucky: Earle C. Clements (Democratic) Governor of Louisiana: Earl K. Long (Democratic) Governor of Maine: Horace A. Hildreth (Republican) (until January 5), Frederick G. Payne (Republican) (starting January 5) Governor of Maryland: William Preston Lane, Jr. (Democratic) Governor of Massachusetts: Robert F. Bradford (Republican) (until January 6), Paul A. Dever (Democratic) (starting January 6) Governor of Michigan: Kim Sigler (Republican) (until January 1), G. Mennen Williams (Democratic) (starting January 1) Governor of Minnesota: Luther W. Youngdahl (Republican) Governor of Mississippi: Fielding L. Wright (Democratic) Governor of Missouri: Phil M. Donnelly (Democratic) (until January 10), Forrest Smith (Democratic) (starting January 10) Governor of Montana: Sam C. Ford (Republican) (until January 3), John W. Bonner (Democratic) (starting January 3) Governor of Nebraska: Val Peterson (Republican) Governor of Nevada: Vail M. Pittman (Democratic) Governor of New Hampshire: Charles M. Dale (Republican) (until January 6), Sherman Adams (Republican) (starting January 6) Governor of New Jersey: Alfred E. Driscoll (Republican) Governor of New Mexico: Thomas J. Mabry (Democratic) Governor of New York: Thomas Dewey (Republican) Governor of North Carolina: R. Gregg Cherry (Democratic) (until January 6), W. Kerr Scott (Democratic) (starting January 6) Governor of North Dakota: Fred G. Aandahl (Republican) Governor of Ohio: Thomas J. Herbert (Republican) (until January 10), Frank J. Lausche (Democratic) (starting January 10) Governor of Oklahoma: Roy J. Turner (Democratic) Governor of Oregon: John H. Hall (Republican) (until January 10), Douglas McKay (Republican) (starting January 10) Governor of Pennsylvania: James H. Duff (Republican) Governor of Rhode Island: John Orlando Pastore (Democratic) Governor of South Carolina: Strom Thurmond (Democratic) Governor of South Dakota: George T. Mickelson (Republican) Governor of Tennessee: Jim Nance McCord (Democratic) (until January 16), Gordon Browning (Democratic) (starting January 16) Governor of Texas: Beauford H. Jester (Democratic) (until July 11), Allan Shivers (Democratic) (starting July 11) Governor of Utah: Herbert B. Maw (Democratic) (until January 3), J. Bracken Lee (Republican) (starting January 3) Governor of Vermont: Ernest W. Gibson, Jr. (Republican) Governor of Virginia: William M. Tuck (Democratic) Governor of Washington: Monrad C. Wallgren (Democratic) (until January 12), Arthur B. Langlie (Republican) (starting January 12) Governor of West Virginia: Clarence W. Meadows (Democratic) (until January 17), Okey L. Patteson (Democratic) (starting January 17) Governor of Wisconsin: Oscar Rennebohm (Republican) Governor of Wyoming: Lester C. Hunt (Democratic) (until January 3), Arthur G. Crane (Republican) (starting January 3) Lieutenant Governors Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: James C. Inzer (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas: Nathan Green Gordon (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of California: Goodwin Knight (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: Homer L. Pearson (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Walter Walford Johnson (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Robert E. Parsons (Republican) (until January 5), William T. Carroll (Democratic) (starting January 5) Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: Elbert N. Carvel (Democratic) (until January 20), Alexis I. du Pont Bayard (Democratic) (starting January 20) Lieutenant Governor of Georgia: Marvin Griffin (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: Donald S. Whitehead (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Hugh W. Cross (Republican) (until January 10), Sherwood Dixon (Democratic) (starting January 10) Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Rue J. Alexander (Republican) (until January 2), John A. Watkins (Democratic) (starting January 2) Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: Kenneth A. Evans (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Frank L. Hagaman (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Lawrence Wetherby (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: William J. Dodd (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Arthur W. Coolidge (Republican) (until January 6), Charles F. Sullivan (Republican) (starting January 6) Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Eugene C. Keyes (Republican) (until month and day unknown), John W. Connolly (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: C. Elmer Anderson (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: Sam Lumpkin (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Walter Naylor Davis (Democratic) (until January 10), James T. Blair, Jr. (Democratic) (starting January 10) Lieutenant Governor of Montana: Ernest T. Eaton (political party unknown) (until month and day unknown), Paul Cannon (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: Robert B. Crosby (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Charles J. Warner (Republican) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Clifford A. Jones (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico: Joseph Montoya (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of New York: Joseph R. Hanley (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Lynton Y. Ballentine (Democratic) (until January 6), Hoyt Patrick Taylor (Democratic) (starting January 6) Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Clarence P. Dahl (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Paul M. Herbert (Republican) (until January 10), George D. Nye (Democratic) (starting January 10) Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma: James E. Berry (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Daniel B. Strickler (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: John S. McKiernan (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: George Bell Timmerman, Jr. (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: Sioux K. Grigsby (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Rex A. Terry (Republican) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: George Oliver Benton (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Walter M. Haynes (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Texas: Allan Shivers (Democratic) (until July 11), vacant (starting July 11) Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Lee E. Emerson (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Harold J. Arthur (Republican) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Lewis Preston Collins II (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Washington: Victor A. Meyers (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Oscar Rennebohm (Republican) (until January 3), George M. Smith (Republican) (starting January 3)

Events

January–March

January 20: Harry S. Truman, the President of the United States, begins his full term

Alben W. Barkley becomes the 35th U.S. Vice President

• January 2 – Luis Muñoz Marín becomes the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
• January 4 – RMS Caronia (1947) of the Cunard Line departs Southampton for New York City on her maiden voyage.
• January 4–February 22 – Series of winter storms in Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota, Utah, Colorado and Nevada – winds of up to 72 mph – tens of thousands of cattle and sheep perish.
• January 5 – President Harry S. Truman unveils his Fair Deal program.
• January 11 – Los Angeles, California receives its first recorded snowfall.
• January 17 – The first Volkswagen Beetle to arrive in the United States, a 1948 model, is brought to New York City by Dutch businessman Ben Pon. Unable to interest dealers or importers in the Volkswagen, Pon sells the sample car to pay his travel expenses. Only two 1949 models will be sold in America that year, convincing Volkswagen chairman Heinrich Nordhoff that the car has no future in the U.S. (The VW Beetle goes on to become the greatest automobile phenomenon in American history.)
• January 19 – The Poe Toaster first appears at the grave of Edgar Allan Poe.
• January 20 – President Harry S. Truman begins his full term. Alben W. Barkley sworn in as Vice President of the United States.
• January 25 – The first Emmy Awards are presented at the Hollywood Athletic Club.
• February 10 – Arthur Miller's tragedy Death of a Salesman opens at the Morosco Theatre on Broadway in New York City with Lee J. Cobb in the title rôle of Willy Loman and runs for 742 performances.
• February 19 – Ezra Pound is awarded the first Bollingen Prize in poetry by the Bollingen Foundation and Yale University.
• February 22 – Grady the Cow, a 1,200-pound cow, gets stuck inside a silo on a farm in Yukon, Oklahoma and garners national media attention.
• March 2 – The B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II under Captain James Gallagher lands in Fort Worth, Texas, after completing the first non-stop around-the-world airplane flight (it was refueled in flight 4 times).
• March 17 – The Shamrock Hotel in Houston, Texas, owned by oil tycoon Glenn McCarthy, has its grand opening.
• March 20 – The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, Denver & Rio Grande Western and Western Pacific railroads inaugurate the California Zephyr passenger train between Chicago and Oakland, California, as the first long distance train to feature Vista Dome cars as regular equipment.
• March 26 – The first half of Giuseppe Verdi's opera Aida, conducted by legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini, and performed in concert (i.e. no scenery or costumes), is telecast by NBC, live from Studio 8H at Rockefeller Center. The second half is telecast a week later. This is the only complete opera that Toscanini ever conducts on television.
• March 28 – United States Secretary of Defense James Forrestal resigns suddenly.
• March 29 – The 21st Academy Awards ceremony is held.

April–June

April 4: NATO

• April 4 – The North Atlantic Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., creating the NATO defense alliance.
• April 7 – Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific, starring Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza, opens on Broadway and goes on to become R&H's second longest-running musical. It becomes an instant classic of the musical theatre. The score's biggest hit is the song Some Enchanted Evening.
• April 13 – The 6.7 M_w  Olympia earthquake affected the Puget Sound region of western Washington with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), causing eight deaths and $25 million in damage.
• April 23 – Development of the USS United States (CVA-58) "supercarrier" is cancelled; high-ranking Navy officials resign in protest in what has been called the Revolt of the Admirals.
• May 1 Albert Einstein publishes Why Socialism? in the first edition of the Monthly Review.
• May ? – A working group has been set up by United States Department of State, to codify the White Paper. This team consists of more than 80 staff members, led by Secretary of State Dean Acheson, former Columbia University Professor of Public International Law Philip C. Jessup.
• June 8 – Red Scare: Celebrities including Helen Keller, Dorothy Parker, Danny Kaye, Fredric March, John Garfield, Paul Muni and Edward G. Robinson are named in an FBI report as Communist Party members.
• June 14 – Albert II, a rhesus monkey, becomes the first primate to enter space, on Hermes project V-2 rocket Blossom IVB, but is killed on impact at return.
• June 19 – Glenn Dunaway wins the inaugural NASCAR race at Charlotte Speedway, a 3/4 mile oval in Charlotte, North Carolina, but is disqualified due to illegal springs. Jim Roper is declared the official winner.
• June 24 – The first television western, Hopalong Cassidy, airs on NBC.
• June 29 – The last U.S. troops withdraw from South Korea.

July–September

August 10: Department of Defense

• August 5 – United States Department of State Published 《The China White Paper, originally United States Relations with China: With Special Reference to the Period 1944-1949》。
• August 10 – The National Military Establishment (formerly the Department of War) is renamed the Department of Defense.
• August 16 – Office of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff created.
• August 28 – The last 6 surviving veterans of the American Civil War meet in Indianapolis.
• September 5 – Howard Unruh, a World War II veteran, kills 13 neighbors in Camden, New Jersey with a souvenir Luger to become America's first single-episode mass murderer.
• September 15 – The Housing Act of 1949 is enacted.
• September 29 – Iva Toguri D'Aquino is found guilty of broadcasting for Japan as "Tokyo Rose" during World War II.

October–December

Adm. Gerald F. Bogan meets Shah of Iran, December 3, 1949

• October 5 – Walt Disney Productions' eleventh feature film, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, is released. It is Disney's final package film to be released during the 1940s and the last the studio would produce until 1977's The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
• October 9 - The New York Yankees defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4 games to 1, to win their 12th World Series Title.
• October 27 – An airliner flying from Paris to New York City crashes in the Azores island of São Miguel. Among the victims are violinist Ginette Neveu and boxer Marcel Cerdan.
• November – Englewood race riot in Chicago.
• November 24 – The ski resort in Squaw Valley, California officially opens.

Undated

• General Services Administration established per Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949
• The first 20 mm M61 Vulcan Gatling gun prototypes are completed.
• 1949 is the first year in which no African-American is lynched in the USA.

Ongoing

• Cold War (1947–1991)

Births

• January 2
  • Christopher Durang, playwright
  • Iris Marion Young, political scientist (died 2006)
• January 6 – Carolyn D. Wright, poet
• January 8 – John Podesta, lawyer and politician, 20th White House Chief of Staff
• January 10
  • George Foreman, heavyweight boxer
  • James Lapine, director and playwright
  • Linda Lovelace, pornographic film actress (died 2002)
• January 22 – Steve Perry, musician
• February 15 – Ken Anderson, American football player and coach
• February 17 – Dennis Green, American football player and coach (died 2016)
• February 19 – Danielle Bunten Berry, born Dan(iel Paul) Bunten, software developer (died 1998)
• February 25 – Ric Flair (Richard Fliehr), wrestler
• February 28 – Ilene Graff, actress and singer
• March 2
  • Gates McFadden, actress and choreographer
  • Eddie Money (Edward Mahoney), rock guitarist and singer (died 2019)
• March 3
  • Gloria Hendry, African American actress
  • Jesse Jefferson, baseball player (died 2011)
• March 10 – Larry Wall, computer programmer
• March 12 – Rob Cohen, film director
• March 13 – Julia Migenes, soprano
• March 16
  • Erik Estrada, television actor and police officer
  • Elliott Murphy, singer-songwriter
• March 17 – Patrick Duffy, television actor
• March 28 – Michael W. Young, geneticist and chronobiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2017
• March 29 – Michael Brecker, jazz saxophonist (died 2007)
• April 1 – Gil Scott-Heron, African American poet, jazz/soul musician and author (died 2011)
• April 5 – Judith Resnik, astronaut (died 1986)
• April 7 – Mitch Daniels, Academic Administrator, businessman, author, politician and the 49th governor of Indiana
• April 9 – Stephen Hickman, illustrator
• April 11 – Dorothy Allison, novelist and campaigner
• April 20 – Jessica Lange, actress
• May 3 – Ron Wyden, U.S. Senator from Oregon from 1996
• May 4 – John Force, race car driver
• May 7 – Deborah Butterfield, sculptor
• May 9 – Billy Joel, singer-songwriter and pianist
• May 13 – Zoë Wanamaker, actress
• May 15 – George Adams, basketball player
• May 26 – Ward Cunningham, computer programmer
• June 3 – John Rothman, actor
• June 7 – Larry Hama, comic book writer, artist, actor and musician
• June 14 – Harry Turtledove, novelist
• June 20 – Lionel Richie, African American singer-songwriter
• June 22
  • Larry Junstrom, rock bassist (died 2019)
  • Alan Osmond, pop singer
  • Meryl Streep, actress
  • Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts from 2013
• July 24 – Michael Richards, actor and comedian
• July 1 – Denis Johnson, writer
• July 15 – Richard Russo, novelist
• July 29 – Marilyn Quayle, wife of Dan Quayle, Second Lady of the United States
• July 31 – Mike Jackson, basketball player
• August 1 – Jim Carroll, author, poet and punk musician (died 2009)
• August 3 – Peter Gutmann, journalist
• August 4 – John Riggins, American football player
• August 11 – Tim Hutchinson, U.S. Senator from Arkansas from 1997 to 2003
• August 13 – Pete Visclosky, U.S. Representative from Indiana since 1985
• August 15
  • Beverly Burns, pilot
  • Mark B. Rosenberg, political scientist and academic
• August 17 – Norm Coleman, U.S. Senator from Minnesota from 2003 to 2009
• August 31
  • Richard Gere, film actor
  • H. David Politzer, physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2004
• September 1 – Leslie Feinberg, transgender activist
• September 7
  • Gloria Gaynor, African American singer
  • Lee McGeorge Durrell, zoologist
• September 10 – Bill O'Reilly, conservative political commentator
• September 13 – John W. Henry, foreign exchange advisor and Boston Red Sox owner
• September 15 – Joe Barton, politician
• September 16 – Ed Begley, Jr. actor and environmentalist
• September 23 – Bruce Springsteen, singer-songwriter
• September 26 – Jane Smiley, novelist
• October 8
  • Jerry Bittle, cartoonist (died 2003)
  • Ashawna Hailey, computer scientist and philanthropist (d. 2011)
  • Mark Hopkinson, mass murderer and proxy killer (d. 1992)
  • Sigourney Weaver (Susan Weaver), film actress
• October 24
  • Chester Marcol, American football player
  • John Markoff, journalist and author
  • Stan White, American football player and sportscaster
• October 25 – Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., film producer, record producer, singer and voice artist (son of Alvin and the Chipmunks creator Ross Bagdasarian, Sr.)
• November 2 – Lois McMaster Bujold, author of speculative fiction
• November 10 – Ann Reinking, actress, dancer and choreographer (d. 2020)
• November 12 – Jack Reed, U.S. Senator from Rhode Island from 1997
• November 14 – James Young, hard rock singer-songwriter and guitarist (Styx)
• November 29
  • Jerry Lawler, wrestler
  • Garry Shandling, comedian (died 2016)
• December 4 – Jeff Bridges, film actor
• December 9 – Tom Kite, golfer
• December 13
  • Randy Owen, country lead vocalist, rhythm guitar player
  • Tom Verlaine, rock singer/guitarist
• December 14 – Bill Buckner, baseball player (died 2019)
• December 15 – Don Johnson, television actor
• December 16 – Billy Gibbons, rock guitarist (ZZ Top)
• December 20 – Cecil Cooper, baseball player and manager
• December 22 – Oscar Gamble, baseball player (died 2018)
• December 25
  • Sissy Spacek, film actress
  • Joe Louis Walker, African American electric blues musician
• December 28 – Barbara De Fina, film producer

Deaths

• January 6 – Victor Fleming, film director (born 1889)
• January 11 – Nelson Doubleday, publisher (born 1889)
• January 14 – Harry Stack Sullivan, psychiatrist (born 1892)
• February 1 – Herbert Stothart, composer (born 1885)
• February 17 – Ellery Harding Clark, field athlete (born 1874)
• March 7
  • Sol Bloom, politician and impresario (born 1870)
  • Bradbury Robinson, footballer who threw the first forward pass in American football history in 1906 (born 1884)
• March 17 – Felix Bressart, German American actor (born 1892)
• March 20 – Irving Fazola, jazz clarinetist (born 1912; heart attack)
• March 25 – Jack Kapp, president of the U.S. branch of Decca Records (born 1901)
• April 15 – Wallace Beery, film actor (born 1885)
• April 22 – Charles Middleton, actor (born 1874)
• May 22 – James Forrestal, U.S. Secretary of Navy and Defense (born 1892)
• May 27 – Robert Ripley, creator of Ripley's Believe It or Not! (born 1890)
• June 14 – Russell Doubleday, author and publisher (born 1872)
• June 25 – Buck Freeman, baseball player (born 1871)
• July 7 – Bunk Johnson, African American jazz trumpeter (born 1879?)
• July 18 – Alice Corbin Henderson, poet (born 1881)
• July 24 – Virginia M. Alexander, African American physician and community activist (born 1899)
• July 26 – Linda Arvidson, silent film actress (born 1884)
• August 9
  • Gustavus M. Blech, German American physician and surgeon (born 1870)
  • Harry Davenport, actor (born 1866)
• August 16 – Margaret Mitchell, novelist (born 1900; killed in road accident)
• August 18 – Paul Mares, dixieland jazz cornet player (born 1900; lung cancer)
• September 10 – Wiley Rutledge, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (born 1894)
• September 12 – Harry Burleigh, African American baritone and classical composer (born 1866)
• September 18 – Frank Morgan, character actor (born 1890)
• September 19 – Will Cuppy, humorist (born 1884)
• September 20 – Richard Dix, film actor (born 1893)
• September 22 – Sam Wood, film director (born 1883)
• September 27 – David Adler, architect (born 1882)
• October 1 – Buddy Clark, singer (born 1911; killed in aviation accident)
• October 14 – Fritz Leiber (Sr.), actor (born 1882)
• October 15 – Elmer Clifton, film actor and director (born 1890)
• October 23 – Almanzo Wilder, writer, husband of Laura Ingalls Wilder (born 1857)
• October 26 – Emil Liston, sports coach and administrator (born 1890)
• October 31 – Edward Stettinius, Jr., U.S. Secretary of State (born 1900; coronary thrombosis)
• November 3 – Solomon R. Guggenheim, philanthropist (born 1861)
• November 25 – Bill Robinson ("Bojangles"), African American dancer (born 1878)
• December 6
  • Lead Belly (Huddie William Ledbetter), African American blues musician (born 1888)
  • Mary Margaret O'Reilly, Assistant Director of the United States Mint (born 1865)
• December 7 – Rex Beach, adventure novelist and Olympic water polo player (born 1877)
• December 25 – Leon Schlesinger, film producer (born 1884)
• December 28
  • Hervey Allen, novelist (born 1889)
  • Ivie Anderson, African American jazz singer (born 1905; asthma)

See also

• List of American films of 1949
• Timeline of United States history (1930–1949)

External links

• Media related to 1949 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons