Top News Stories from 1951

World Events

• Seoul falls first to Communist forces (Jan. 4), then to US-led UN troops (Mar. 14). Despite peace talks in July and October, the Korean War continues.
• Six nations agree to Schuman Plan to pool European coal and steel (March 19; in effect Feb. 10, 1953).
• Japanese peace treaty signed in San Francisco by 49 nations (Sept. 8).
• Libya gains independence from Italy (Dec. 24).

U.S. Events

• 22nd Amendment to the US Constitution, limiting the number of terms a president may serve, is ratified (Feb. 27).
• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg sentenced to death for treason (April 5; executed June 19, 1953).

Economics

Sports

World Series

NBA Championship

Stanley Cup

Wimbledon

Kentucky Derby Champion

NCAA Basketball Championship

NCAA Football Champions

Entertainment

Events

• Yul Brynner makes his first appearance as the king of Siam in Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I. Gertrude Lawrence costars (March 29).
• Color television introduced in the U.S.
• In an effort to introduce rhythm and blues to a broader white audience, which was hesitant to embrace "black music," disc jockey Alan Freed uses the term rock 'n' roll to describe R&B.
• In the first broadcast of Edward R. Murrow's See It Now series, Murrow shows the split-screen image of the Golden Gate and Brooklyn bridges and tells viewers it is the first time to see the Atlantic and Pacific oceans simultaneously.

Movies

• The African Queen, A Streetcar Named Desire, An American in Paris, A Place in the Sun

Music

• Elliott Carter, String Quartet No. 1

Books

• Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
• Hortense Calisher, In the Absence of Angels
• Truman Capote, The Grass Harp
• Carson McCullers, The Ballad of the Sad Café
• Marianne Moore, Collected Poems
• Adrienne Rich, A Change of World
• J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
• Herman Wouk, The Caine Mutiny

Science

• Charles F. Blair, Jr. makes the first solo flight across North Pole (May 29). Background: Famous Firsts in Aviation
• UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer), the first business computer to handle both numeric and alphabetic data, is introduced. Background: Computers and Internet
• Gregory Pincus, Min Chuch Chang, John Rock, and Carl Djerassi (US) develop the first oral contraceptive. Background: Contraceptive Use, World; Contraceptive Use, U.S.
• The first nuclear power plant is built by the US Atomic Energy Commission. Background: Nuclear Energy

Death

• John Alden Carpenter
• Dorothy Dix
• André Gide

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