Major Events
- Jan 10 UN General Assembly meets for the first time in London
- Jan 17 United Nations Security Council holds its 1st meeting, at Westminster Central Hall in Westminster, England
- Feb 24 General Juan Perón first elected President of Argentina
- Mar 2 Ho Chi Minh is elected President of North Vietnam
- Mar 5 Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech in Fulton, Missouri, popularizes the term and draws attention to the division of Europe
- Mar 28 Cold War: The United States State Department releases the Acheson-Lilienthal Report, outlining a plan for the international control of nuclear power.
- May 22 First US rocket (WAC Corporal) to reach edge of space fired from White Sands Missile Range New Mexico
- Aug 16 Direct Action Day: Widespread riots erupt in Calcutta between Muslims and Hindus over whether Pakistan should be a separate state, killing over 4,000 and leaving 100,000 homeless
- Sep 30 Twenty-two Nazi leaders, including Joachim von Ribbentrop and Hermann Goering, are found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to death or prison at the Nuremberg war trials
- Dec 11 United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is established by resolution 57(I) of the UN General Assembly
- Dec 12 The United Nations accepts six Manhattan blocks as a gift from John D. Rockefeller Jr.
- More 1946 Events
1946 in Film & TV
- May 16 Irving Berlin, Dorothy and Herbert Fields' musical "Annie Get Your Gun" starring Ethel Merman and featuring "There's No Business Like Show Business" opens at Imperial Theater, NYC
- Jul 25 Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis stage their first show as a comedy team at 500 Club in Atlantic City, New Jersey
- Aug 23 "The Big Sleep" directed by Howard Hawks and starring Humphrey Bogart (Philip Marlowe) and Lauren Bacall, premieres
- Dec 20 Christmas classic "It's a Wonderful Life" film, directed by Frank Capra, starring James Stewart, Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore premieres in New York
1946 in Music
- Oct 18 Aaron Copland's 3rd Symphony first performance, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra led by Serge Koussevitzky
- Dec 11 Hank Williams begins to record on Sterling label
1946 in Sport
- Feb 19 New York Giants outfielder Danny Gardella is 1st major leaguer to announce he is jumping to the "outlaw" Mexican Baseball League for a fee of $10,000
- Nov 11 New York Knicks play their first Basketball Association of American (BAA) home game at Madison Square Garden; lose, 78-68 to Chicago Stags in overtime
Did You Know?
World War II: The Royal Navy's Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 116 of 156 captured German U-boats
Peter Sutcliffe
George W. Bush
Bill Clinton
Ted Bundy
Gianni Versace
Diane von Furstenberg
Dolly Parton
André the Giant
Cher
Donald Trump
Sylvester Stallone
Steven Spielberg
Liza Minnelli
Linda Ronstadt
Barry Gibb
Freddie Mercury
Bobby Bonds
Reggie Jackson
Ilie Năstase
Tony Greig
Emerson Fittipaldi
Stan SmithMore People Born in 1946
Gerhart Hauptmann
Amon Göth
Hermann Goering
Alfred Jodl
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Wilhelm Keitel
Jack Johnson
Blanche Bingley
Tony Lazzeri
Walter JohnsonMore 1946 Deaths
Articles About 1946
Bikini Atoll is Evacuated
Residents of Bikini Atoll are evacuated to make way for nuclear testingMarch 7
Swimwear Reduced to Bare Essentials
Now a common sight on beaches across the world, the bikini created a sensation when a French mechanic launched it on this day in history.July 5
Nuremberg Trials
Hermann Goering on trial at the Nuremberg Trials. He would later be sentenced to death, but committed suicide the night before his sentence was to be carried out.September 30
Famous Weddings in 1946
- Jan 17 American actor John Wayne (38) weds actress Esperanza Baur (25) in Long Beach, California; divorce in 1954
- Feb 10 1st black pro-baseball player Jackie Robinson marries Rachel Isum
- Feb 18 MLB baseball player Hank Greenberg (35) weds heiress Caral Gimbel in Sea Island, Georgia
Famous Divorces in 1946
- Aug 8 Esta Krakower divorces mobster Bugsy Siegel (40) after 17 years of marriage
More 1946 Weddings
Fredric March
James F. Byrnes
Olivia de Havilland
Clement Attlee
Harry Truman
Joseph Stalin