The following events occurred in October 1946:
October 1, 1946 (Tuesday) The day after the verdicts were rendered in the Nuremberg Trials, sentences were pronounced. Twelve of Nazi Germany's most murderous leaders were given two weeks more to live, with hangings scheduled for October 15."12 TOP NAZIS GET DEATH", Miami Daily News, October 1, 1946, p1 Mensa, the high IQ society, was founded in Oxford, the United Kingdom, by Roland Berrill and Lancelot Ware. According to the website for the American organization, "the date is now the recognized founding date for the organization", based on Berrill when the first piece of Mensa literature was printed. Kim Il Sung University was founded near Pyongyang.Yŏnhap Tʻongsin, North Korea Handbook, (M.E. Sharpe, 2003) p54 Communist China's first motion picture company, the Northeast Film Studio (renamed in 1955 as the Changchun Film Studio and in 2000 as the Changchun Film Group Corporation) was established at Xingshan.Ying Zhu and Stanley Rosen, Art, Politics, and Commerce in Chinese Cinema (Hong Kong University Press, 2010) p23 The Alaskan Air Command, formerly the Eleventh U.S. Air Force was permanently headquartered at Elmendorf Air Force Base.Air Force Association, Air Force Fifty (Turner Publishing Company, 1998) p43
October 2, 1946 (Wednesday) Faraway Hill, the first soap opera ever shown on a TV network, debuted at 9:00 pm on the DuMont Television Network (limited to New York and Washington), and ran for 12 weeks.Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present (Random House, Inc., 2007) Born: Ron Griffiths, Welsh singer for Badfinger; in Swansea Ping Chong, Canadian-born American playwright; in Toronto
October 3, 1946 (Thursday) In the worst civilian airplane crash up to that time, all 39 people on board a Douglas DC-4 airliner were killed when the plane crashed into a hillside in Canada. The American Overseas Airlines flight from New York City to Berlin, with stops in between, took off from Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador at 3:23 p.m., and crashed ten minutes later."39 KILLED IN AIRLINER CRASH", Miami Daily News, October 3, 1946, p1 The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 8–4 to win the second game of a best-of-3 series in the first National League playoffs ever played, and advanced to the 1946 World Series to face the Boston Red Sox. Both teams had finished with 96-58 records at the end of the regular season."Cards Win Pennant, Beat Dodgers, 8-4", New York Times, October 4, 1946
October 4, 1946 (Friday) On the eve of the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday, and a month before midterm elections, U.S. President Harry S. Truman announced that he had cabled British Prime Minister Clement Attlee to say that he endorsed immediate immigration of over 100,000 Jewish refugees into Palestine. Truman's rationale was that the British-mediated conference between Arabs and Jews had been adjourned until December, and that "In view of the fact that winter will come before the conference can be resumed, I believe and urge that substantial immigration into Palestine cannot await a solution.""Truman Pledges U.S. To Help Speed Entry Of Jews in Palestine", Pittsburgh Press, October 4, 1946, p1 Attlee was furious at Truman's sudden public statement, and forecast that it would only increase violence in the region, while leaders of Arab nations felt that they had been betrayed, and Truman's opponents criticized the decision as a clumsy bid for Jewish voters."Truman Arouses Britain with Yom Kippur Demand to Lower Palestine Bars", Montreal Gazette, October 5, 1946, p1; "Yom Kippur Blunder" (editorial), Hartford Courant, October 5, 1946, p6; "Truman Vote Bid Seen By Arabs", Toledo Blade, October 7, 1946, p2 "It may well have been Truman's desperate political straits that led him to such a blatantly political gambit," observed one later historian.Michael J. Cohen, Truman and Israel (University of California Press, 1990) p143 The Nag Hammadi library was saved for posterity, as the Coptic Museum in Cairo accepted the ancient scrolls into its permanent collection. Twelve complete manuscripts and eight pages of a 13th had been buried in a sealed jar in the 4th century AD and not unearthed again until December 1945. The text "begins at the approximate time that the Dead Sea Scrolls leave off", notes one author.Gregg Braden, The Isaiah Effect: Decoding the Lost Science of Prayer and Prophecy (Random House, Inc., 2001) p46 Born: Susan Sarandon, American film actress; as Susan Tomalin in New York City Chuck Hagel, U.S. Senator for Nebraska 1997-2009, U.S. Secretary of Defense 2013 to 2015; in North Platte, Nebraska Died: Barney Oldfield, 68, American race car driver Gifford Pinchot, 81, American conservationist and the first Chief of the U.S. Forest Service
October 5, 1946 (Saturday)
Sweden's Prime Minister since 1932, Per Albin Hansson, died from a cerebral hemorrhage as he was walking home after a meeting of his cabinet in Stockholm, where Sweden's trade agreement with the Soviet Union was approved."Sweden's Premier Dies- Stricken on Street After Cabinet Meeting", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 7, 1946, p5 Republican Senator Robert A. Taft called the Nuremberg Trials "an outrage against justice", controversially arguing that they were carried out under ex post facto laws and that the making of war "should not be made a personal crime."
October 6, 1946 (Sunday) The "11 points in the Negev" program saw the simultaneous construction of 11 Jewish settlements in separate parts of British Palestine, going up overnight in the Negev Desert.Leslie Stein, The Hope Fulfilled: The Rise of Modern Israel (ABC-CLIO, 2003) p253; "Jewish Army Seizes Site of Arsenal-- Lightning Operation Hamstrings Scheme For Protection", Windsor Daily Star, October 7, 1946, p1 Died: István Bethlen, 71, Prime Minister of Hungary from 1921 to 1931, died in a Soviet prison
October 7, 1946 (Monday) A Fairey Firefly airplane struck a school in Apeldoorn, in the Netherlands, killing 23 people, most of whome were teenage schoolboys. The 21-year-old pilot, on his first solo flight, was flying low over his parents' house in a misguided stunt, and the left wing clipped the roof of the school gymnasium, dropping burning fuel inside. The dead included the pilot and his mother, who suffered a fatal heart attack."Stunting Pilot Killed As He Causes 13 to Die— 12 Boys Burn to Death When Plane Hits School; Own Mother Drops Dead", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 8, 1946, p1; "Plane Strikes School; 21 Die" Pittsburgh Press, October 8, 1946, p1; "Accident Toll Now Totals 23", Sarasota Herald, October 9, 1946, p8 By a vote of 342 to 5, the Constitution of Japan, as revised by the House of Councillors, was approved by the House of Representatives of Japan. The instrument, which provided equal rights and renounced war, went into effect on May 3, 1947, six months after it was promulgated."Jap Legislators Accept Anti-War Constitution", Pittsburgh Press, October 7, 1946, p1; Ray A. Moore and Donald L. Robinson, Partners for Democracy: Crafting the New Japanese State Under MacArthur (Oxford University Press US, 2004) p184 Born: Catharine MacKinnon, American feminist activist; in Minneapolis
October 8, 1946 (Tuesday) Voters in the U.S. territory of Alaska participated in the first referendum on the question of statehood."Alaska Will Take Statehood Vote", October 8, 1946, p10 At the time, the total population was less than 85,000 people, and it took two months to tally all of the ballots. The final result of the advisory resolution was 9,630 to 6,822 in favor of Alaska someday becoming the 49th state of the United States, a goal which would finally be attained on January 3, 1959.Gerald E. Bowkett, Reaching for a Star: The Final Campaign for Alaska Statehood (Epicenter Press, 2009) p14 Born: Dennis Kucinich, American politician who became the "Boy Mayor of Cleveland" at age 31 (1977-1979), later U.S. Representative for Ohio 1997 to 2013; in Cleveland Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian activist; in Nablus, Mandatory Palestine
October 9, 1946 (Wednesday)
Tage Erlander began a 23-year service as Prime Minister of Sweden, which would last until 1969. The Education Minister was elected as the new leader of Sweden's ruling Social Democratic party, succeeding the late Prime Minister Per Albin Hansson.Olof Ruin, Tage Erlander: Serving the Welfare State, 1946-1969 (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1990) p36 One of the most spectacular meteor showers visible from Earth was seen after the planet passed through the debris left by Comet Giacobini-Zinner. A greater number of meteors (referred to as Giacobinids or Draconids) burned up in the atmosphere than usual because of a closer approach. The comet and the Earth came within 131,000 miles of each other.David H. Levy, David Levy's Guide to the Night Sky p48; "Record Shower of Meteors Wednesday May Occur as Comet Tail Hits Globe", Montreal Gazette, October 8, 1946, p14; "Meteors In Sky Over Chicago Are 'Brighter Than Any Stars'", Baltimore Sun, October 10, 1946, p3 Eugene O'Neill's last play, The Iceman Cometh, premiered on Broadway."O'Neill, Eugene", The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama, Volume 2 p1004 George Adamski saw a UFO for the first time, hovering near Mount Palomar toward San Diego, and began a career in ufology. He claimed trips in UFOs beginning in 1952.Brenda Denzler, The Lure of the Edge: Scientific Passions, Religious Beliefs, and the Pursuit of UFOs (University of California Press, 2003) p41 The brochure Communist Infiltration of the United States was released by U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Eventually, 400,000 copies were distributed.Richard Gid Powers, Not Without Hhonor: The History of American Anticommunism (Yale University Press, 1998) p197 A mass stranding of false killer whales occurs in Mar del Plata, Argentina with about 850 dolphins stranding themselves. Born: Naoto Kan, Prime Minister of Japan from 2010 to 2011; in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture Chris Tarrant, English game show host for the British show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?; in Reading, Berkshire
October 10, 1946 (Thursday) A V-2 rocket launched by the United States from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico reached an altitude of 100 miles and sent back unprecedented information about the Sun, providing the first photograph of the solar ultraviolet spectrum.William E. Burrows, This New Ocean: The Story of the First Space Age (Random House, Inc., 1999) p133 "Armed Forces Send V-2 Rocket 102 Miles High In New Mexico, Attain Rate of 3,600 M.P.H.", New York Times, October 11, 1946; "Camera in Rocket Pictures Earth From 65 Mile Altitude", Milwaukee Journal, November 20, 1946, p24 Tsinghua University reopened in China with an enrollment of 3,000 students, more than nine years after the Army of Japan had looted the campus.Stacey Bieler, "Patriots" or "Traitors"?: A History of American-educated Chinese Students (M.E. Sharpe, 2004) p293 The Missouri city of Centerville, located in Phelps County, was renamed Doolittle in honor of aviation pioneer and Medal of Honor winner Jimmy Doolittle.Michael Karl Witzel, et al., Greetings from Route 66: The Ultimate Road Trip Back Through Time Along America's Main Street (Voyageur Press, 2010) p50 The musical biography film The Jolson Story starring Larry Parks as Al Jolson was released. Born: Ben Vereen, African-American actor; as Benjamin Middleton in Miami Gene Tenace, American MLB catcher; in Russellton, Pennsylvania
October 11, 1946 (Friday)