Explore 5191 historical events from 1950–1959.
William Robert Orthwein was an American sportsman, attorney, business executive and political activist. He was an Olympic bronze medalist in both water polo and the 4x50 freestyle …
William R. Orthwein, American swimmer and water polo player (born 1881)
Alexandros Papagos was a Greek military officer who led the Hellenic Army in World War II and in the later stages of the subsequent Greek Civil War. Afterwards, he served as Prime …
Alexander Papagos, Greek general and politician, 152nd Prime Minister of Greece (born 1883)
Ira "Iry" LeJeune was one of the best selling and most popular Cajun musicians in the mid to late 1940s into the early 1950s.
Iry LeJeune, American accordion player (born 1928)
Theodor Innitzer was Archbishop of Vienna and a cardinal of the Catholic Church.
Theodor Innitzer, Austrian cardinal (born 1875)
Fumio Hayasaka was a Japanese composer of classical music and film scores.
Fumio Hayasaka, Japanese composer (born 1914)
Manuel Ávila Camacho was a Mexican politician and military leader who served as the president of Mexico from 1940 to 1946. Having participated in the Mexican Revolution and achievi…
Manuel Ávila Camacho, Mexican general and politician, 45th President of Mexico (born 1897)
Dimitrios E. Maximos was a Greek banker and politician. He briefly served as Prime Minister of Greece after World War II.
Dimitrios Maximos, Greek banker and politician (born 1873)
Sadako Sasaki was a Japanese girl who became a victim of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima by the United States. She was two years of age when the bombs were dropped and was severel…
Sadako Sasaki, Japanese girl (born 1943)
Joseph Brown was an English mountaineer who was regarded as an outstanding pioneer of rock climbing during the 1950s and early 1960s. Together with his early climbing partner, Don …
Joe Brown and George Band, members of the British Kangchenjunga expedition, made the first ascent of the world's third-
The Belgrade declaration is a document signed by President of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev on 2 June 1955 that brought about a short reconciliatio…
The USSR and Yugoslavia sign the Belgrade declaration, legitimising different interpretations of Marxism in non-Soviet c
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist best known for developing the known theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum theory. His …
Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell (pictured) and nine other preeminent intellectuals and scientists issued the…
The State of Vietnam was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1949 until 1955, initially as an associated state in the French Union and later as a fully independent state. T…
The State of Vietnam voted in a referendum to become a republic.
El Al Flight 402 was an international passenger flight from London to Tel Aviv via Vienna and Istanbul. On 27 July 1955, the flight, operated by a Lockheed Constellation registered…
After straying into Bulgarian airspace, El Al Flight 402 was shot down by two MiG-15 fighter jets, resulting in the…
The Austrian State Treaty or Austrian Independence Treaty established Austria as a sovereign state. It was signed on 15 May 1955 in Vienna, at the Schloss Belvedere among the Allie…
The Austrian State Treaty came into effect, ending the Allied occupation of Austria, although the country was not free…
Hurricane Diane was the first Atlantic hurricane to cause more than an estimated $1 billion in damage, including direct costs and the loss of business and personal revenue. It form…
Hurricane Diane, the first Atlantic hurricane to cause more than $1 billion in damages, formed between the Lesser…
Pather Panchali is a 1955 Indian drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray in his directorial debut. It is an adaptation of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's 1929 Bengali novel …
Pather Panchali, the first film in The Apu Trilogy by Satyajit Ray, was released and went on to win many Indian and…
Guinness World Records, known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as The Guinness Book of Records and in previous United States editions as The Guinness Book of World Records, is…
The first edition of the Guinness Book of Records was published.
Emmett Louis Till was an African-American boy who, at 14 years old, was abducted and lynched in Mississippi in 1955. The brutality of his murder and the acquittal of his killers dr…
African-American teenager Emmett Till was lynched near Money, Mississippi, for allegedly flirting with a white woman,…
The Yumiko-chan incident was the rape and murder of five-year-old Japanese girl Yumiko Nagayama, sometimes reported as Yumiko Arakaki, by U.S. soldier Sergeant Isaac J. Hurt in Ka…
A white U.S. soldier raped and murdered a five-year-old local girl in Kadena, Okinawa.
Legislative elections were held in Indonesia on 29 September 1955 to elect all 257 members of the House of Representatives. They were the first national elections to be held in the…
The first Indonesian legislative election resulted in an unexpectedly poor result for the Masyumi Party of incumbent…
James Byron Dean was an American actor. He became one of the most influential figures in Hollywood in the 1950s, and his impact on cinema and popular culture was profound, although…
American film actor James Dean suffered fatal injuries in a head-on car accident near Cholame, California.
The European Broadcasting Union is an alliance of public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are members of the Council of E…
At a meeting of its general assembly, the European Broadcasting Union approved the staging of the first Eurovision…
Ngô Đình Diệm was a South Vietnamese politician. He was the final prime minister of the State of Vietnam (1954–1955), and later the first president of South Vietnam from 1955 until…
Ngô Đình Diệm proclaimed himself president of the newly created Republic of Vietnam after defeating former emperor Bảo…
A naval mine or sea mine is a self-contained explosive weapon placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Similar to anti-personnel and other land mines, and …
An explosion, likely caused by a World War II–era naval mine, capsized the Soviet ship Novorossiysk in the harbor of…