The following events occurred in October 1950:
October 1, 1950 (Sunday) Led by Võ Nguyên Giáp, Communist troops in the northern section of the French Indochina colony of Vietnam began a campaign of attacks on French colonial fortresses along the border with China, Battle of Route Coloniale 4. The 10,000 French troops in the forts faced 14 infantry and three artillery battalions, and were separated from the main French armies by 300 miles of jungle, and all of them would fall by October 17.Bernard B. Fall, Street Without Joy: The French Debacle in Indochina (Stackpole Books, 1961) p32
In a conclusion of what would later be called the Leningrad Affair, six prominent leaders in the Soviet city of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg, Russia) were executed following their organization of an unauthorized trade fair in 1949. Convicted and shot were Mikhail Rodionov, the former Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian SFSR; Pyotr Popkov, the Leningrad regional secretary; Soviet Planning Committee Chairman Nikolai Voznesensky; Leningrad First Secretary Aleksey Kuznetsov; Lengingrad Deputy Secretary Ya. F. Kapustin; and Leningrad Mayor P.G. Lazutin.Yoram Gorlizki and Oleg Khlevniuk, Cold Peace : Stalin and the Soviet Ruling Circle, 1945–1953 (Oxford University Press, 2004) p114 The minesweeper became the first American ship to be sunk during the Korean War, after striking a mine. Twenty-one people, including the ship's commander, Lt. (j.g.) Warren R. Pierson, were killed.Korea Mine Sinks Ship", Milwaukee Sentinel, October 6, 1950, p2 On the final day of the 1950 National League baseball season, the second-place Brooklyn Dodgers hosted the league-leading Philadelphia Phillies, after having closed the gap from nine games behind to only one. A Brooklyn win would have both teams tied at 90-64 and would have forced a playoff for the pennant, and the Dodgers had the bases loaded and were tied 1–1 in the ninth inning; but a deep right center hit by Gil Hodges was caught, and the Phillies went on to the World Series with a 4–1 win."Phils Win First Pennant In 35 Years; Fans Go Wild", Milwaukee Sentinel, October 1, 1950, p1; Stuart Miller, The 100 Greatest Days in New York Sports (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006) p448 The Tallkrogen, Gullmarsplan, Medborgarplatsen, Skanstull and Skogskyrkogården metro stations on the Stockholm Metro were inaugurated in Sweden. Born: Boris Morukov, Russian cosmonaut who flew as an astronaut on the Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2006; in Moscow (died 2015) Randy Quaid, American actor; in Houston, Texas
October 2, 1950 (Monday) The comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz, was published for the first time, in seven U.S. newspapers, including the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the Seattle Times. In the very first strip, the main character was introduced in a statement by Shermy (a character later dropped from the comic) who said, "Well! Here comes Ol' Charlie Brown! Good Ol' Charlie Brown.... Yes, sir! Good Ol' Charlie Brown.... How I hate him!".Beverly Gherman, Sparky: The Life and Art of Charles Schulz (Chronicle Books, 2013) Schulz's final installment would appear on February 13, 2000, the day after his death. As United Nations forces continued to drive northward in North Korea, China's leader, Mao Zedong, convened a special session of the Communist Party Politburo and made the decision to enter the Korean War, sending a request for military assistance to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin the same day.Edward R. Kantowicz, Coming Apart, Coming Together (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2000) p136
Tom Corbett, Space Cadet began a three-season run on CBS television, as a competitor to the DuMont network science fiction program Captain Video and His Video Rangers. With a larger budget than Captain Video, the 15-minute segments appeared on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6:45 in the evening. The show was inspired by the Robert A. Heinlein science fiction novel, Space Cadet, and starred Frankie Thomas in the title role.Tim Brooks and Earle F. Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present (Random House Publishing Group, 2009) p823 Lux Video Theatre, a television adaptation of the popular US anthology, Lux Radio Theatre, began a seven-season run. Telecast live for its first three years, the show was premiered on CBS with a 30-minute adaptation of the Maxwell Anderson play Saturday's Children.
October 3, 1950 (Tuesday) Mao Zedong hosted India's ambassador to China, K. M. Panikkar, at his residence in Beijing and asked him to inform the United States that China would invade Korea if American troops crossed the 38th Parallel into North Korea, but not if the invasion was limited to South Korean troops alone. U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson received Pannikar's message later in the day, but the United States did not alter its progress toward the Chinese border. In elections in Brazil, former President Getúlio Vargas, of the Brazilian Labour Party, was elected as the 17th President of Brazil for a 5-year term, defeating challengers Eduardo Gomes and Cristiano Machado. Vargas had previously served from 1930 to 1945. The Social Democratic Party, retained a plurality in the Chamber of Deputies, with 112 of the 304 seats. Renmin University of China was opened in Beijing as "New China's first new-style regular university". Initially, the Chinese People's University (Zhongguo renmin daxue) was referred to as Renda.
Beulah, the first television series to star an African-American, premiered on the ABC television network, with actress and comedienne Ethel Waters as the title character, the Negro maid for a white family, the Hendersons. Beulah is now considered an example of the stereotypes of African Americans that were popular prior to the 1960s, although Beulah herself was portrayed as smarter than her employers. The show had been adapted from a radio comedy series of the same name and would run for three seasons. Bellarmine University held its first classes, after having been established by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky. Born: Phyllis Nelson, U.S. singer-songwriter; in Jacksonville, Florida (died 1998)
October 4, 1950 (Wednesday) General Peng Dehuai was in Xi'an when an airplane arrived and he was told to get on board to report for a meeting in Beijing with China's Communist Party Central Committee. Within four hours, he was present at the Zhongnanhai palace, and informed that Mao Zedong had selected him to command China's invasion of Korea. He led the invasion two weeks later.Roy E. Appleman, Disaster in Korea: The Chinese Confront MacArthur (Texas A&M University Press, 2008) Marshal Lin Biao who, like most of the Politburo, was opposed to the invasion, had been Mao's first choice but had declined."What China Learned from Its 'Forgotten War' in Korea", by Yu Bin, Chinese Warfighting: The PLA Experience Since 1949 (M.E. Sharpe, 2003), p124 Snoopy, the most famous dog in comic strip history, made his first appearance in the comic strip Peanuts. He would not be identified by name until May 22, 1951. His thoughts would become a regular part of the story starting on May 27, 1952, and he would begin walking upright starting on January 9, 1956.United Feature Syndicate, Celebrating Peanuts: 60 Years (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2009) p4 Died: Marek Kubliński, 19, Polish student, was executed for anti-Communist activity
October 5, 1950 (Thursday) For the first time since the surrender of Germany at the end of World War II, the four Allied Powers allowed German citizens to charter and to fly civilian aircraft, subject to approval of each flight by the Allied Civil Aviation Board at Wiesbaden. For more than five years, West Germany and East Germany had been a "no fly zone" for domestic aircraft."Allies to Let Germans Fly in Civil Aircraft", Chicago Tribune, October 6, 1950, p4 Gas explosions at four sewers in the neighborhoods of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, set off rumors that an atomic war had started and set off a panic of thousands of New York City residents. The blasts sent manhole covers as high as five stories above the street and sent blue flames into the air, and emergency calls brought police, emergency and fire department squads to the seven-block area. Nobody was injured."Sewer Blasts Set Off 'Atom Bomb' Terror", Chicago Tribune, October 6, 1950, p12
October 6, 1950 (Friday) The United States reassured the United Kingdom that General Douglas MacArthur had been clearly instructed not to attack Manchuria or any other part of China, and that the orders would not change without consultation between the U.S. and its allies.Thomas Risse-Kappen, Cooperation Among Democracies: The European Influence on U.S. Foreign Policy (Princeton University Press, 1995), p46 Havana Senator Félix Lancís Sánchez became Prime Minister of Cuba, succeeding Manuel Antonio de Varona.Harris M. Lentz, Heads of States and Governments Since 1945 (Routledge, 2014) UNCURK, the United Nations Commission for the Unification and Rehabilitation of Korea, was established by vote of the General Assembly of the United Nations.United Nations Forces: A Legal Study, pp58-59
October 7, 1950 (Saturday)
The 52nd Division and the 53rd Division of China's People's Liberation Army, with 40,000 troops, invaded Eastern Tibet (Kham), and swiftly overran the "7,000 or 8,000 badly-trained and ill-equipped Tibetan troops", killing 5,700 of them at Chamdo.Dawa Norbu, China's Tibet Policy (Routledge, 2012) p180 By a vote of 47 to 5, the United Nations General Assembly approved Resolution 376(V), calling for unification of Korea, and authorizing the United Nations forces to cross the 38th Parallel.Chi Young Pak, Korea and the United Nations (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2000) p79 Mother Teresa's Roman Catholic order in India, the Missionaries of Charity, received approval from Pope Pius XII. She would say later that the fact that the document was received (the same day) on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary "seemed to be a sign from heaven".Renzo Allegri, Conversations with Mother Teresa: A Personal Portrait of the Saint, Her Mission, and Her Great Love for God (The Word Among Us Press, 2011) Baseball's New York Yankees beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5–2, to win the 1950 World Series in a four-game sweep. The Phils had narrowly lost each of the first three games, 1–0, 2–1, and 3–2."Yanks Sweep World Series; Win 4th Game, 5 to 2", Chicago Tribune, October 8, 1950, p2-1 The United States Seventh Fleet was given Operation Order 7-50, directing that its units were not to participate in the defense of any coastal islands held by the Republic of China on Taiwan.Bruce A. Elleman, High Seas Buffer: The Taiwan Patrol Force, 1950–1979 (Government Printing Office, 2012) p60 Walter Bedell Smith became the new Director of Central Intelligence.S. J. Hamrick, Deceiving the Deceivers: Kim Philby, Donald Maclean, and Guy Burgess (Yale University Press, 2008) p191 Born: Jakaya Kikwete, President of Tanzania 2005–2015; in Msoga, Tanganyika.
October 8, 1950 (Sunday)
Two United States Air Force F-80 fighter-bombers flew more than 60 miles into the Soviet Union and, at 4:17 pm local time, strafed parked airplanes of the 821st Interceptor Aviation Regiment at the Sukhaya Rechka airbase. Fortunately, there were no injuries, and the regiment commander did not pursue the invaders.Igor Seidov and Stuart Britton, Red Devils over the Yalu: A Chronicle of Soviet Aerial Operations in the Korean War 1950–53 (Helion and Company, 2014) p38"RUSS ACCUSE U.S. OF RAID", Chicago Tribune, October 10, 1950, p1 The United States formally apologized to the Soviet Union on October 18, and offered to pay for the damage, but no response was made to the offer."United States Bombing of a Soviet Airfield", in The Korean War: A Historical Dictionary (Paul Edwards, ed.), Scarecrow Press, 2003