Information Please: 1949
| 1949 | World | US | Economics | Sports | Entertainment | Deaths | Year in Science |  |
| World Events |
- NATO establshed when North Atlantic Treaty is signed by 12 nations (April 4).
- German Federal Republic (West Germany) established (Sept. 21).
- Truman discloses Soviet Union has set off atomic explosion (Sept. 23).
Background: The Cold War - Communist People's Republic of China formally proclaimed by Chairman Mao Zedong (Oct. 1).
- South Africa institutionalizes apartheid.
| World Statistics Population: 2.554 billion (!not right!) population by decade more world statistics... |
| US Events |
- President Truman proposes Point Four Program to help world's less developed areas (Jan. 20).
- President Truman proposes Point Four Program to help world's less developed areas (Jan. 20).
- President Truman proposes Point Four Program to help world's less developed areas (Jan. 20).
| US Statistics Population: 149,188,130 Life expectancy: 68.0 years Homicide Rate (per 1,000): 5.4 President: Harry S Truman Vice President: Alben W. Barkley |
| Economics |
US GDP (1998 dollars): $267.8 billion
Federal spending: $38.84 billion
Federal debt: $252.6 billion
Dow Jones High/Low: 200/161
Consumer Price Index: 23.8
Unemployment: 3.8%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.03
| Sports |
| Sports Links Pro Football Pro Basketball Pro Baseball College Football top 10 College basketball top 10 |
Super Bowl
Green Bay d. Cincinnatti (35-1)
World Series
NY Yankees d. Brooklyn Dodgers (4-1)
NBA Championship
Minneapolis Lakers d. Washington Capitols (4-2)
NHL Championship
Toronto d. Detroit (4-0)
Wimbledon
Women: Louise Brough d. M. duPont(10-8 16 10-8)
Men: Ted Schroeder d. J. Drobny (36 60 63 46 64)
Kentucky Derby Champion
Ponder
NCAA Basketball Championship
Kentucky d. Oklahoma A&M (46-36)
The year in college basketball
NCAA Football Champions:
Notre Dame (10-0-0)
The year in college football
| Entertainment |
| Entertainment Awards Puliter Prizes Academy Award, Best Picture: All the King's Men Nobel Prizes Miss America: Jacque Mercer (AZ) |
Books
George Orwell, 1984; Eudora Welty, Golden Apples; Paul Bowles, The Sheltering Sky; Shirley Jackson, The Lottery; Eleanor Roosevelt, This I Remember; Reinhold Niebuhr, Faith and History; Norman Vincent Peale, A Guide to Confident Living
Movies
All the King's Men, Twelve O'Clock High, Sands of Iwo Jima, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Third Man
Music
"Some Enchanted Evening"; "Ghost Riders in the Sky"; "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer"; "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend"; Kiss Me Kate soundtrack; Samuel Barber, Piano Sonata; Ernest Bloch, Scherzo Fantasque; Vaughn Monroe, Vaughn Monroe Sings
Theater
Death of a Salesman, South Pacific, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Events
- Cable television brings better reception to rural areas where the conventional television signal is weak. These Are My Children, a live, 15-minute show, premieres on NBC. It is the first continuing daytime drama.
| Year in Science |
- First round-the-world nonstop flight. Capt. James Gallagher and USAF crew of 13 flew a Boeing B-50A Superfortress around the world nonstop from Ft. Worth, returning to same point: 23,452 mi. in 94 hr., 1 min., with four aerial refuelings enroute (Feb. 27–March 2).
- First round-the-world nonstop flight. Capt. James Gallagher and USAF crew of 13 flew a Boeing B-50A Superfortress around the world nonstop from Ft. Worth, returning to same point: 23,452 mi. in 94 hr., 1 min., with four aerial refuelings enroute (Feb. 27–March 2).
| Nobel Prizes Chemistry: William Francis Giauque (US), for research in thermodynamics, especially effects of low temperature Physics: Hideki Yukawa (Japan), for mathematical prediction, in 1935, of the meson Physiology & medicine: Walter Rudolf Hess (Switzerland), for research on brain control of body; and Antonio Caetano de Abreu Freire Egas Moniz (Portugal), for development of brain operation |
| Deaths |
