Events from the year 1946 in the United States.

Incumbents Federal government President: Harry S. Truman (D-Missouri) Vice President: vacant Chief Justice: Harlan F. Stone (New York) (until April 22) Fred M. Vinson (Kentucky) (starting June 24) Speaker of the House of Representatives: Sam Rayburn (D-Texas) Senate Majority Leader: Alben W. Barkley (D-Kentucky) Congress: 79th

State governments Governors and lieutenant governorsGovernors

Lieutenant governors

Events January–March

January 6 – A revised revival of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's Show Boat opens on Broadway at the Ziegfeld Theatre. January 17 – U.S. Senator Dennis Chávez (D-NM) calls for a vote on a Fair Employment Practice Committee bill which calls for an end to discrimination in the workplace. A filibuster prevents it from passing. January 25 – The United Mine Workers rejoins the American Federation of Labor. January 29 – The Central Intelligence Group is established (the CIA in 1947). February 12 – Isaac Woodard, an African American army veteran, is beaten and blinded by police chief Lynwood Shull in Batesburg, South Carolina, an event which is brought to national attention on Orson Welles's radio show. February 14 – ENIAC (for "Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer"), the first general-purpose electronic computer, is unveiled at the University of Pennsylvania. February 18 – President Truman signs the Rescission Act of 1946 annulling benefits payable to Filipino troops who fought for the U.S. during World War II. February 28 – In Philadelphia, General Electric strikers and police clash. March 5 – In his speech at Westminster College, in Fulton, Missouri, Winston Churchill popularizes the political metaphor of the Iron Curtain. March 6 – Vietnam War: Ho Chi Minh signs an agreement with France which recognizes Vietnam as an autonomous state in the Indochinese Federation and the French Union. March 7 – The 18th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by James Stewart and Bob Hope, is held at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, the first ceremony after World War II. Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend wins the most awards with four, including Best Motion Picture and Best Director for Wilder. Leo McCarey's The Bells of St. Mary's receives the most nominations with eight. March 21 – The Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League, newly relocated from Cleveland, sign Kenny Washington, making him the first African American player in the league since 1933. March 24 – BBC Home Service radio in the United Kingdom broadcasts Alistair Cooke's first American Letter. As Letter from America, this programme will continue until a few weeks before Cooke's death in 2004.

April–June April 1 – The 8.6 Aleutian Islands earthquake affects Alaska with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (Strong), causing a destructive basin wide tsunami, leaving 165–173 dead. April 18 – The United States recognizes Josip Broz Tito's government in Yugoslavia. April 20 – Walt Disney's eighth feature film, Make Mine Music, is released. It is Disney's third of six package films to be released through the 1940s. April 22 – Girouard v. United States, a citizenship case decided in the Supreme Court, overturns the decision in United States v. Schwimmer (1929). April 23 The Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League (later the Continental Basketball Association (CBA)) is founded. Howard Hughes's Western movie The Outlaw (1943), starring Jane Russell, goes on general release. May 2 – Six inmates unsuccessfully try to escape from Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in San Francisco Bay; a riot occurs, the "Battle of Alcatraz". May 10 – The first V-2 rocket to be successfully launched in the U.S. is fired from White Sands Missile Range. May 21 – Manhattan Project physicist Dr. Louis Slotin accidentally triggers a fission reaction at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and, although saving his coworkers, gives himself a lethal dose of hard radiation, making him the second victim of a criticality accident in history (the incident is initially treated as classified information). May 23 – Dwarf Grill, predecessor of Chick-fil-A, a fast food chicken restaurant, is founded in Georgia. June 6 – The Basketball Association of America is formed in New York City, later renamed the National Basketball Association. June 14 – U.S. representative Bernard Baruch presents a proposal to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission for the creation of an international Atomic Development Authority, with the goal of preventing unchecked nuclear proliferation. June 17 The 1946 Windsor-Tecumseh, Ontario tornado on the Detroit River kills 17. Laurence Olivier's Henry V opens in the United States nearly 2 years after its release in the UK. It is the first Shakespeare film in color, and critics hail it as the finest film of a Shakespeare play ever made.

July–September

July 4 – The Philippines is granted independence by the United States. July 7 Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini becomes the first American to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. Howard Hughes nearly dies when a test flight of the Hughes XF-11 crashes in a Beverly Hills neighborhood due to a propeller malfunction. July 14 – Benjamin Spock's influential The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care is published. July 25 Nuclear testing: In the first underwater test of the atomic bomb, the surplus is sunk near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, when the United States detonates the Baker device during Operation Crossroads. At Club 500 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis stage their first show as a comedy team. 1946 Georgia lynching: In the last mass lynching in the United States, a mob of white men shoot and kill two African-American couples near Moore's Ford Bridge in Georgia. August 1 President Truman signs the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, which establishes the United States Atomic Energy Commission. The Fulbright Program, a system of U.S. international educational exchange scholarships, is established. August 25 – American golfer Ben Hogan wins the PGA Championship. September 15 – DuMont Television Network begins broadcasting regularly. September 22 – Yogi Berra makes his Major League Baseball debut, entering a game for the New York Yankees against the Philadelphia A's and hitting a home run in his first time at bat. September 24 – White House counsel Clark Clifford presents President Truman with a top secret report authored by George Elsey on American Relations with the Soviet Union which forms the basis of the U.S. policy of containment.

October–December October 15 – The St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Boston Red Sox, 4 games to 3, to win their 6th World Series. October 16 – The United Nations' first meeting in Long Island is held. November 1 – The New York Knicks play against the Toronto Huskies at the Maple Leaf Gardens, in the first Basketball Association of America game. The Knicks win 68–66. November 6 – Senate and House elections in the United States both give majorities to the Republicans. November 12 – In Chicago, a branch of the Exchange National Bank (later part of the LaSalle Bank) opens the first 10 drive-up teller windows. November 25 – In St. Paul, Minnesota, over a thousand public school teachers go on strike for more than a month. November 27 – Cold War: Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru appeals to the United States and the Soviet Union to end nuclear testing and to start nuclear disarmament, stating that such an action would "save humanity from the ultimate disaster." December 2 – The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling is signed in Washington, D.C. to "provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry" through establishment of the International Whaling Commission. December 5 – President Truman establishes the President's Committee on Civil Rights to investigate the status of civil rights in the United States and propose measures to strengthen and protect the civil rights of American citizens. December 7 – A fire at the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia kills 119. December 14 Proposed United States purchase of Greenland from Denmark: An offer is made through diplomatic channels. Aspen Skiing Company opens Aspen Mountain (ski area) in Colorado with Ski Lift No. 1, at the world's longest chairlift at this time. December 20 – Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life, featuring James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Henry Travers and Thomas Mitchell, is released in New York. December 22 – The Havana Conference begins between U.S. organized crime bosses in Havana, Cuba. December 26 – The Flamingo Hotel opens on the Las Vegas Strip. December 31 – President Harry S. Truman delivers Proclamation 2714, which officially ends hostilities in World War II.

Undated Airport Homes race riots in Chicago. The 20 mm M61 Vulcan Gatling gun contract is released. The All-America Football Conference team San Francisco 49ers is formed. The first Tupperware is sold in department and hardware stores in the United States. Binghamton University is founded in New York (state).

Births

January

January 1 Rick Hurst, American actor (d. 2025) Shelby Steele, American journalist, author and director January 3 – Cissy King, American dancer, singer January 4 – Diana Ewing, American actress January 5 – Diane Keaton, American actress, film director (Annie Hall) (d. 2025) January 7 Michele Elliott, author, psychologist and founder of child protection charity Kidscape Michael Roizen, American anesthesiologist and author January 8 Robby Krieger, American rock musician (The Doors) Stanton Peele, American psychologist January 11 Naomi Judd, American country singer (d. 2022) John Piper, American theologian January 12 – George Duke, African-American musician (d. 2013) January 16 – Michael Coats, American astronaut January 19 – Dolly Parton, American singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman and philanthropist (d. 2026) January 20 – David Lynch, American film director (d. 2025) January 21 – Johnny Oates, American baseball player, manager (d. 2004) January 23 – Don Whittington, American race car driver January 25 – Doc Bundy, American race car driver and technician January 26 Deon Jackson, American singer-songwriter (d. 2014) Gene Siskel, American film critic (Sneak Previews) (d. 1999) January 27 – Nedra Talley, African-American singer (The Ronettes) January 29 – Bettye LaVette, African-American soul singer, songwriter January 31 – Terry Kath, American rock musician (Chicago) (d. 1978)

February

February 2 – Blake Clark, American actor, comedian February 6 – Jim Turner, American politician February 7 Tom Hicks, American investor and sports team owner (d. 2025) Sammy Johns, American singer-songwriter (d. 2013) February 9 – Jim Webb, American politician February 11 – Chris Rush, American stand-up comedian (d. 2018) February 13 Richard Blumenthal, American politician Joe Estevez, American actor February 14 – Gregory Hines, African-American dancer, actor (d. 2003) February 16 – Marvin Sease, American blues and soul singer-songwriter (d. 2011) February 19 – Karen Silkwood, American activist (d. 1974) February 20 Sandy Duncan, American singer, dancer, comedian and actress J. Geils, American guitarist (The J. Geils Band) (d. 2017) February 21 Tyne Daly, American actress (Cagney & Lacey) Monica Johnson, American screenwriter (d. 2010) Jim Ryan, American politician and lawyer (d. 2022) February 25 – Rick Hummel, American sportswriter (d. 2023) February 28 Don Ciccone, American singer, songwriter (The Critters) (d. 2016) Don Francisco, American Christian musician Syreeta Wright, African-American singer, songwriter ("With You I'm Born Again") (d. 2004)

March

March 1 – Lana Wood, American actress, producer March 7 John Heard, American actor (d. 2017)