World Events
Population: 2.635 billion
Nobel Peace Prize: Albert Schweitzer (French Equatorial Africa)
George VI of England dies; his daughter becomes Elizabeth II (Feb. 6).
NATO conference approves European army (Feb.).
King Farouk of Egypt is ousted by a military coup (July 23). General Mohammed Naguib assumes power.
Britain announces its development of atomic weapons (Oct.). Background: nuclear weapons.
Greece and Turkey join NATO.
U.S. Events
President: Harry S Truman
Vice President: Alben W. Barkley
Population: 157,552,740
Life expectancy: 68.6 years
Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 5.2
Economics
US GDP (1998 dollars): $358.6 billion
Federal spending: $67.69 billion
Federal debt: $259.1 billion
Consumer Price Index: 26.5
Unemployment: 3.3%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.03
US explodes first thermonuclear bomb at Enewetak Island (Nov. 1).
President-elect Dwight Eisenhower follows through with his campaign promise to visit Korea (Dec. 2).
Richard Nixon delivers his Checkers speech, ahead of the election (Sep 23).
Sports
World Series
NY Yankees d. Brooklyn Dodgers (4-3)
NBA Championship
Minneapolis Lakers d. New York (4-3)
Stanley Cup
Detroit d. Montreal (4-0)
Wimbledon
Women: Maureen Connolly d. L. Brough (7-5 6-3)
Men: Frank Sedgman d. J. Drobny (4-6 6-2 6-3 6-2)
Kentucky Derby Champion
Hill Gail
NCAA Basketball Championship
Kansas d. St. John's (80-63)
NCAA Football Champions
Michigan St. (AP, UP) (9-0-0) & Georgia Tech (INS) (12-0-0)
Entertainment
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: The Caine Mutiny, Herman Wouk
Music: Symphony Concertante, Gail Kubik
Drama: The Shrike, Joseph Kramm
Oscars awarded in 1952
Academy Award, Best Picture: An American in Paris, Arthur Freed, producer (MGM)
Nobel Prize for Literature: François Mauriac (France)
Miss America: Coleen Kay Hutchins (UT)
Jose Quintero's revival of Tennessee Williams's Summer and Smoke premieres at Broadway's Circle in the Square Theatre and is the first major Off-Broadway success.
Television's first magazine-format program, the Today Show, debuts on NBC with Dave Garroway hosting.
The Jackie Gleason Show (The Honeymooners) debuts on CBS, beginning a two-decade run.
Merce Cunningham forms his own dance company.
Movies
Singin' in the Rain, High Noon, The Greatest Show on Earth, Moulin Rouge
Books
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
Bernard Malamud, The Natural
Flannery O'Connor, Wise Blood
Science
Nobel Prizes in Science
Chemistry: Archer John Porter Martin and Richard Laurence Millington Synge (both UK), for development of partition chromatography.
Physics: Edward Mills Purcell and Felix Bloch (US), for work in measurement of magnetic fields in atomic nuclei.
Physiology or Medicine: Selman A. Waksman (US), for co-discovery of streptomycin.
G.W.A. Dummer (England) proposes the theoretical basis for the integrated circuit. Background: Computers and Internet.
Jonas E. Salk (US) develops the first experimentally safe dead-virus polio vaccine. Background: Major U.S. Epidemics.
The first plastic artificial heart valve is developed at Georgetown Medical Center. Background: Health & Nutrition.
First jetliner service inaugurated by BOAC between London and Johannesburg, South Africa (May 2).
Capt. Vincent H. McGovern and 1st Lt. Harold W. Moore make first transatlantic helicopter flight (July 15–31). Background: Famous Firsts in Aviation.
Deaths
John Dewey
Hattie McDaniel
Maria Montessori