News and Events of 1950

Year by Year: 1900-2012 View a 1950 calendar

World Events

World Statistics

Population: 2.556 billion
population by decade

Nobel Peace Prize:
Ralph J. Bunche (US)

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Korean War begins when North Korean Communist forces invade South Korea.
Sino-Soviet friendship treaty signed.
Communist Chinese forces invade Tibet.
British atomic physicist Klaus Fuchs is convicted of spying for the Soviet Union. Background: The Cold War

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U.S. Events

U.S. Statistics

President: Harry S Truman
Vice President: Alben W. Barkley
Population: 152,271,417
Life expectancy: 68.2 years
Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 5.3

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Truman orders development of hydrogen bomb (Jan. 31).
Assassination attempt on President Truman by Puerto Rican nationalists (Nov. 1).
Era of McCarthyism begins.

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Economics

US GDP (1998 dollars):   $294.6 billion
Federal spending:   $42.56 billion
Federal debt:   $256.9 billion
Consumer Price Index:   24.1
Unemployment:   5.9%
Cost of a first-class stamp:   $0.03

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Sports

Sports Links

Pro Football Summary

Pro Basketball Summary

Pro Baseball Summary

World Series

NY Yankees d. Philadelphia Phillies (4-0)

NBA Championship

Minneapolis Lakers d. Syracuse (4-2)

Stanley Cup

Detroit d. NY Rangers (4-3)

Wimbledon

Women: Louise Brough d. M. duPont (6-1 3-6 6-1)
Men: Budge Patty d. F. Sedgman (6-1 8-10 6-2 6-3)

Kentucky Derby Champion

Middleground

NCAA Basketball Championship

CCNY d. Bradley (71-68)

NCAA Football Champions

Oklahoma (10-1-0)

World Cup

Uruguay d. Brazil (2-1)

Entertainment

Entertainment Awards

Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: The Way West, A. B. Guthrie, Jr.
Music: The Consul, Gian Carlo Menotti
Drama: South Pacific, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, and Joshua Logan

Oscars awarded in 1950
Academy Award, Best Picture: All the King's Men (Robert Rossen Productions; Columbia)

Nobel Prize for Literature: Bertrand Russell (UK)

1950 Emmy Awards

1950 Tony Awards

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Events

Saturday morning children's programming begins.
Phonevision, the first pay-per-view service, becomes available.
Broadway classic Guys and Dolls debuts at the 46th Street Theatre and becomes an instant hit. The show ran for three years and became one of the Great White Way's longest-running shows, with 1,200 performances.
Charles Schulz introduces the Peanuts comic strip.

Movies

Sunset Boulevard, All About Eve, Born Yesterday, The Third Man

Books

Paul Bowles, The Delicate Prey
Ray Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles
Ernest Hemingway, Across the River and Into the Trees
Mary McCarthy, Cast a Cold Eye
Isaac Bashevis Singer, The Family Moskat
Wallace Stevens, The Auroras of Autumn
Lionel Trilling, The Liberal Imagination

Science

Nobel Prizes in Science

Chemistry: Otto Diels and Kurt Alder (both Germany), for discovery of diene synthesis enabling scientists to study structure of organic matter

Physics: Cecil Frank Powell (UK), for method of photographic study of atom nucleus, and for discoveries about mesons

Physiology or Medicine: Philip S. Hench, Edward C. Kendall (both US), and Tadeus Reichstein (Switzerland), for discoveries about hormones of adrenal cortex

Col. David C. Schilling (USAF) makes the first nonstop transatlantic jet flight in 10 hours and 1 minute (Sept. 22). Background: Famous Firsts in Aviation
The first Xerox machine is produced.
The first self-service elevator is installed by Otis Elevator in Dallas.
Richard Lawler (US) performs the first successful kidney transplant at Loyola University. Background: Health & Nutrition