The following events occurred in May 1950:
May 1, 1950 (Monday) At a May Day rally in South Africa to protest apartheid, police fired into a crowd of black demonstrators at Johannesburg, killing 19 people and injuring 38.Philip S. Foner, May Day: A Short History of the International Workers' Holiday, 1886–1986 (International Publishers Company, 1986) p142 The town of Mosinee, Wisconsin, was the site of a mock Communist takeover, staged by the local American Legion outpost to illustrate what life under Soviet conquest might be like. Benjamin Gitlow, who had twice been the vice-presidential candidate for the Communist Party USA (in 1924 and 1928), before renouncing Communism, played the role of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the "United Soviet States of America", while another former Communist, Joseph Zack Kornfeder, assisted as the new Commissar of the town, renamed "Moskva" in the exercise. A Soviet flag flew in front of the American Legion outpost."Mosinee in Hands of 'Reds' After a Make Believe Coup", Milwaukee Journal, May 1, 1950 Mayor Ralph E. Kronenwetter, who had participated in the mock coup by allowing himself to be "arrested", suffered a cerebral hemorrhage that evening, and died six days later at the age of 49, while another participant, Reverend William L. Bennett, died the day after Kronenwetter."Mayor, Pastor Die at Mosinee", Milwaukee Journal, May 8, 1950, p3; "D-Day in Mosinee" , by Carl Weinberg, OAH Magazine of History (October 2010) Operations began for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).Edmund Jan Osmanczyk and Anthony Mango, Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Agreements, Volume 4 (Taylor & Francis, 2003) Springbok Radio was launched as the first commercial radio station in South Africa, broadcasting programming in both English and Afrikaans.Pieter J. Fourie, Media Studies Volume 1: Institutions, Theories and Issues (Juta and Company Ltd, 2001) pp9-10 The Charlemagne Prize was first awarded for work done in the service of European unification. The first recipient was Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi, the founder of the Pan-European Movement. Died: Lothrop Stoddard, 66, American eugenicist
May 2, 1950 (Tuesday) The Central University for Nationalities was established in Beijing to offer programs for China's minorities.Edward L. Davis, Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture (Taylor & Francis, 2012) p100
May 3, 1950 (Wednesday) Alpha Beta Alpha, the first fraternity for undergraduate students of library science (open to men and women alike) was established.Allen Kent, Harold Lancour, Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science, Volume 5 (CRC Press, 1971) p208 Died: Theodor Duesterberg, 74, German politician who ran for president in 1932
May 4, 1950 (Thursday) The Soviet Union announced that it had completed repatriation of all German prisoners of war who had been captured during World War II, and that the last group of 17,538 Germans concluded the return of 1,939,063 German POWs. West German chancellor Konrad Adenauer, pointing out that the TASS news agency had reported in 1945 that there were 3.5 million German POWs held in the USSR, demanded to know what had happened to more than 1.5 million still missing."1,500,000 PWs Held Missing In Red Camps", Miami Daily News, May 5, 1950, p1 and the U.S. State Department described the Soviet claim as "fantastic and absurd", and that an estimated 200,000 German POWs were still prisoners in Soviet labor camps."Reds' PW Claim Called Absurd By State Dept.", Miami Daily News, May 6, 1950, p1 In Centerville, Texas, seven schoolchildren, all African-American, were killed when their school bus collided with a truck."7 Die In Bus Crash", Miami Daily News, May 4, 1950, p1 The science fiction short story fixup The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury was published.
May 5, 1950 (Friday) The coronation of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej took place in Bangkok, continuing the reign of the Chakri Dynasty that had started in 1782. Bhumibol had been King since the death of his brother, Ananda Mahidol, on June 9, 1946"9-Tiered Crown Makes Phumiphon King of Siam", Miami Daily News, May 5, 1950, p2 The Uniform Code of Military Justice was signed into law by U.S. President Truman, to become effective on May 31, 1951.Kenneth W. Estes, Handbook for Marine NCOs, 4th Ed. (Naval Institute Press, 1996) p158 Born: Googoosh, Iranian singer and actress, as Faegheh Atashin in Tehran
May 6, 1950 (Saturday) The well-preserved body of the Tollund Man, who had died in the 4th Century BC was discovered by Viggo Højgaard, his wife Grethe, and his brother Emil, in a bog near the city of Silkeborg in Denmark."Tolund Man: A Body Appears" , www.TolundMan.dk; P.V. Glob, The Bog People: Iron Age Man Preserved (New York Review of Books, 2004) Radiocarbon dating concluded that the average calculated date of the man's death was 2,260 to 2,220 years before present (310 BC to 270 BC) with a calibrated range of 375 BC to 210 BC)."Dating bog bodies by means of 14 C-AMS" , Journal of Archaeological Science 31 (2004) pp482-483 Elizabeth Taylor, 18-year-old movie starlet, went through the first of eight weddings, with a ceremony at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills, California. The groom was 23-year-old Conrad Hilton Jr., heir to the $125,000,000 hotel empire."'Liz' Taylor Wedding Tops In Glamor", Miami Sunday News, May 7, 1950, p1 Collier's magazine published Ray Bradbury's classic science fiction story, "There Will Come Soft Rains", describing the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust with the setting of a computer-controlled house that continued to operate after the death of its occupants. In the story, the setting was the fictional city of Allendale, California, on the then-future date of April 28, 1985. When the story was reprinted as a chapter in Bradbury's book The Martian Chronicles, the future date would be revised to August 4, 2026.Alexander C.T. Geppert, Imagining Outer Space: European Astroculture in the Twentieth Century (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) pp100-101 Serbian Muslim peasants in the Yugoslavian town of Cazin, led by Milan Bozic and Mile Devrnja, revolted against the Communist government in frustration over the collective farm system, required delivery of harvests to the government, and excessive taxes. The rebellion was suppressed with the arrest of 714 people, of whom 17 were sentenced to death, including Bozic and Devrnja.Ivo Banac, With Stalin Against Tito: Cominformist Splits in Yugoslav Communism (Cornell University Press, 1988) pp236-237 Middleground won the Kentucky Derby. Warrington defeated Widnes 19–0 in rugby's Challenge Cup Final in front of 94,249 at Wembley Stadium. Died: Agnes Smedley, 58, American journalist
May 7, 1950 (Sunday) Saint Anthony Claret (1807–1870), founder of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (known as the Claretians) was canonized by Pope Pius XII. Born: Tim Russert, American journalist and moderator of Meet the Press, in Buffalo, New York (d. 2008) Alexander Zemlianichenko, Russian journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner, in Saratov
May 8, 1950 (Monday) U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson announced an agreement with France and the State of Vietnam to provide ten million dollars of military assistance,James E. Westheider, The Vietnam War (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007) p5 the first of what would become three billion dollars of American money spent to fight Communism in Indochina over the next 25 years.L. Fletcher Prouty, JFK: The CIA, Vietnam, and the Plot to Assassinate John F. Kennedy (Carol Publishing Group, 1996, reprinted by Skyhorse Publishing, 2009) p49
May 9, 1950 (Tuesday) France's Foreign Minister Robert Schuman presented his proposal for France and West Germany to work together on the production of coal and steel, "under a common High Authority in an organization open to the other countries of Europe". Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg would join France and West Germany in creating the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) on April 18, 1951. The "Schuman Declaration", is considered to be the beginning of the creation of what is now the European Union and May 9 is celebrated annually as "Europe Day".John Gillingham, Coal, Steel, and the Rebirth of Europe, 1945–1955: The Germans and French from Ruhr Conflict to Economic Community (Cambridge University Press, 2004) p228
L. Ron Hubbard first published Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health."The Creation of 'Religious' Scientology", by Stephen A. Kent, Religious Studies and Theology (December 1999) pp97-126 In Bentonville, Arkansas, businessman Sam Walton signed a 99-year lease on a run-down department store, after having been forced to close his successful Ben Franklin franchise in Newport when the building owner would not renew a lease there. Walton would build his business into a chain of stores that became Wal-Mart.Sally Lee, Sam Walton: Business Genius of Wal-Mart (Enslow Publishers, 2007) p31 Died: Esteban Terradas i Illa, 66, Spanish mathematician
May 10, 1950 (Wednesday)
The National Science Foundation was founded as a U.S. government agency with a stated mission "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; and to secure the national defense."
The Pilot ACE, a digital computer designed by Alan Turing, successfully ran its first program, a routine called "successive digits" or "suck digs" that would turn on console lights one by one."ACE/Pilot ACE", in Milestones in Computer Science and Information Technology, Edwin D. Reilly, ed. (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003) p5 Dumarsais Estimé was overthrown as President of Haiti in a military coup organized by Paul Magloire. Franck Lavaud served for seven months as Chairman of the Military Executive Committee until December 6, when Magloire became president."Lavaud, Frank", in Michael R. Hall, Historical Dictionary of Haiti (Scarecrow Press, 2012) p156 Ir. J. Poetoehena was sworn in as the last Prime Minister of the State of East Indonesia, serving until August, when the state was incorporated into the Republic of Indonesia with Suharto being the first President .Ide Anak Agung Gde Agung, From the Formation of the State of East Indonesia Towards the Establishment of the United States of Indonesia (Yayasan Obor Indonesia, 1996) p774 Died: John Gould Fletcher, 64, American poet, 1939 Pulitzer Prize winner
May 11, 1950 (Thursday) The McMinnville UFO photographs, among the most famous photos purported of an unidentified flying object were taken by Paul Trent, a farmer near McMinnville, Oregon, after his wife spotted a flying disc. Trent developed the pictures, showed them to a local banker who placed them on display, and a reporter for the McMinnville Telephone Register ran the story after inquiring, and the photos would appear later in LIFE Magazine."Farmer Trent's Flying Saucer", LIFE Magazine, June 26, 1950, p40 "Skeptics found nothing to disparage the Trents' integrity," it would be written 48 years later, "and no financial motive for having faked UFO pictures.""Six Unexplainable Encounters", by Jim Wilson, Popular Science (July 1998) p64 Dongshan Island was captured by 10,000 Communist Chinese troops from the Nationalist Chinese.Bruce A. Elleman, High Seas Buffer: The Taiwan Patrol Force, 1950–1979 (Government Printing Office, 2012) p61 A coal mine gas explosion in a deep mine, near Mons in Belgium, killed at least 41 miners, all of whom had been working 1,650 feet underground."41 Belgians Killed in Mine Blast", Miami Daily News, May 11, 1950, p1
May 12, 1950 (Friday)
Eugene Dennis (real name Francis Xavier Waldron), the General Secretary of the Communist Party USA, began a one-year jail sentence for contempt of Congress."Dennis on His Way to Jail", Miami Daily News, May 12, 1950, p1