Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades: 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s - 1940s - 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 - 1947 - 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952
Events:
- January 3 - Proceedings of the United States Congress are televised for the first time.
- February 3 - Percival Prattisbecame becomes the first African American news correspondent allowed in the United States House and Senate press gallery.
- February 10 - Italy cedes most of Venezia Giulia[?] to Yugoslavia
- February 17 - Propaganda: The Voice of America begins to transmit radio broadcasts into the Soviet Union.
- February 21 - In New York City Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.
- March 1 - The International Monetary Fund begins to operate.
- March 6 - The Newport News[?], the first air-conditioned naval ship, is launched from Newport News, Virginia.
- March 12 - The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism.
- March 25 - A coalmine[?] explosion in Centralia, Illinois kills 111.
- April 15 - In the United States, Jackie Robinson, an African-American, takes the field at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers major-league baseball team, breaking that sport's color line.
- April 27 - Babe Ruth Day is celebrated at Yankee Stadium
- May 22 - Cold War: In an effort to fight the spread of Communism, President Harry S. Truman signs an act into law that will later be called the Truman Doctrine. The act granted $400 million in military and economic aid to Turkey and Greece.
- August 15 - India obtains independence from the British rule. Pakistan splits from India.
- October 14, American test pilot, Captain Chuck Yeager flies a Bell X-1 faster than the speed of sound, the first man to do so in level flight.
- December 30 - King Michael of Romania abdicates
- Prussia is legally abolished by the Allied Control Council following World War II and the establishment of the Oder-Neisse line as Germany's eastern border.
Art, Culture & Fashion
Births:
- January 8 - David Bowie - Pop star
- January 11 - Bryan Robson[?], football player
- January 18 - Takeshi Kitano - Director and actor
- January 16 - Dr. Laura Schlessinger[?], physiologist, radio talk show host
- January 30 - Steve Marriott[?], musician ("The Small Faces") (+ 1991)
- January 31 - Nolan Ryan, baseball player
- February 3 - Paul Auster, novelist.
- February 4 - Dan Quayle, Vice President of the United States
- February 5 - Darrell Waltrip[?], automobile racer
- February 10 - Louise Arbour, jurist
- February 18 - Princess Christina of the Netherlands
- January 24 - Warren Zevon, musician
- February 1 - Jessica Savitch[?], journalist (+ 1983)
- February 2 - Farrah Fawcet[?], actress
- February 2 - Melanie[?], singer
- February 10 - Louise Arbour, Jurist
- February 18 - Princess Christina of the Netherlands
- February 18 - Dennis DeYoung[?], musician ("Styx")
- February 20 - Peter Osgood, English football player
- February 20 - Peter Strauss[?], actor
- February 24 - Edward James Olmos, actor
- March 6 - Rob Reiner, actor, comedian, movie producer
- March 6 - Dick Fosbury[?], athlete
- March 6 - Kiki Dee[?], singer
- March 7 - Walter Röhrl[?], car racer
- March 8 - Carole Bayer Sager[?], composer
- March 10 - Kim Campbell, first female Prime Minister of Canada (1993)
- March 14 - Billy Crystal, actor, comedian
- March 15 - Ry Cooder, guitarist
- March 19 - Glenn Close, actress
- March 25 - Elton John - Pop star
- April 2 - Camille Paglia, feminist writer
- April 2 - Emmylou Harris, singer
- April 12 - David Letterman - US entertainer
- April 12 - Tom Clancy, author
- April 16 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, American basketball player
- April 26 - Donna DeVarona[?], Olympic gold medalist in swimming, sports journalist, sports activist
- May 8 - Marc Bolan, musician ("T Rex") (+ 1977)
- June 19 - Salman Rushdie, author
- July 2 - Larry David, co-creator of Seinfeld
- July 30 - Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian bodybuilder and actor
- September 21 - Stephen King, author
- December 9 - U.S. Senator Tom Daschle
- October 19 - Giorgio Cavazzano, comics artist and illustrator
- November 14 - P. J. O'Rourke, journalist and satirist
- December 27 - Steven Spielberg, American film director
Deaths:
- Tristan Bernard - French playwright, novelist, journalist and lawyer
- Aleister Crowley - British occultist
- January 25 - Al Capone, gangster
- March 18 - William Durant[?], automobile pioneer, founder of General Motors
- March 30 - Arthur Machen, author
- April 1 - King George II of Greece
- April 7 - Henry Ford, automobile manufacturer and industrialist
- May 17 - George William Forbes, Prime Minister of New Zealand
- November 25 - Léon-Paul Fargue, poet
- December 17 - J. N. Bronsted, physical chemist.
Nobel Prizes: