| 1951-05-03
The Kentucky Derby is televised for the first time.
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| 1951-03-29
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage.
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| 1951-01-04
Korean War: Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul.
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| 1951-05-03
The United States Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees begin their closed door hearings into the dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur by U.S. President Harry Truman.
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| 1951-09-08
Treaty of San Francisco: In San Francisco, California, 48 nations sign a peace treaty with Japan in formal recognition of the end of the Pacific War.
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| 1951-05-03
London's Royal Festival Hall opens with the Festival of Britain
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| 1951-04-11
The Stone of Scone, the stone upon which Scottish monarchs were traditionally crowned, is found on the site of the altar of Arbroath Abbey. It had been taken by Scottish nationalist students from its place in Westminster Abbey.
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| 1951-04-19
General Douglas MacArthur retires from the military.
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| 1951-05-23
Tibetans sign the Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet with the People's Republic of China.
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| 1951-07-20
King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem.
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| 1951-01-27
Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site begins with a one-kiloton bomb dropped on Frenchman Flat.
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| 1951-05-15
The Polish cultural attache in Paris, Czesław Miłosz, asks the French government for political asylum.
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| 1951-04-05
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are sentenced to death for performing espionage for the Soviet Union.
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| 1951-05-21
The opening of the Ninth Street Show, otherwise known as the 9th Street Art Exhibition – a gathering of a number of notable artists, and the stepping-out of the post war New York avant-garde, collectively know as the New York School.
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| 1951-01-15
Ilse Koch, "The Bitch of Buchenwald", wife of the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp, is sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in West Germany.
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| 1951-12-22
The Selangor Labour Party is founded in Selangor, Malaya.
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| 1951-11-10
Direct-dial coast-to-coast telephone service begins in the United States.
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| 1951-03-31
Remington Rand delivers the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau.
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| 1951-03-20
Fujiyoshida, a city located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, in the center of the Japanese main island of Honshū is founded.
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| 1951-12-24
Libya becomes independent from Italy. Idris I is proclaimed King of Libya.
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| 1951-03-06
The trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg begins.
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| 1951-07-16
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is published for the first time by Little, Brown and Company.
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| 1951-04-29
A Tibetan delegation to the Chinese government is presented with a draft treaty regarding the Chinese occupation of Tibet.
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| 1951-06-14
UNIVAC I is dedicated by the U.S. Census Bureau.
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| 1951-07-31
Japan Airlines is established.
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| 1951-10-03
The "Shot Heard 'Round the World", one of the greatest moments in Major League Baseball history, occurs when the New York Giants' Bobby Thomson hits a game winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning off of the Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca, to win the National League pennant after being down 14 games.
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| 1951-03-14
Korean War: For the second time, United Nations troops recapture Seoul.
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| 1951-04-11
Korean War: President Harry Truman relieves General Douglas MacArthur of overall command in Korea.
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| 1951-07-16
King Léopold III of Belgium abdicates in favor of his son, Baudouin I of Belgium.
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| 1951-09-03
The first long-running American television soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, airs its first episode on the CBS network.
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| 1951-02-25
The first Pan American Games are held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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| 1951-10-16
The first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan, is assassinated in Rawalpindi.
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| 1951-03-07
Korean War: Operation Ripper – United Nations troops led by General Matthew Ridgeway begin an assault against Chinese forces.
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| 1951-02-06
The Broker, a Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train derails near Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. The accident kills 85 people and injures over 500 more. The wreck is one of the worst rail disasters in American history.
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| 1951-09-01
The United States, Australia and New Zealand sign a mutual defense pact, called the ANZUS Treaty.
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| 1951-02-27
The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified.
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| 1951-12-31
The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than $13.3 billion USD in foreign aid to rebuild Europe.
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| 1951-09-04
The first live transcontinental television broadcast takes place in San Francisco, California, from the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference.
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| 1951-07-05
William Shockley invents the junction transistor.
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| 1951-11-15
Greek resistance leader Nikos Beloyannis, along with 11 resistance members, is sentenced to death by the court-martial.
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| 1951-07-22
Dezik (Дезик) and Tsygan (Цыган, "Gypsy") are the first dogs to make a sub-orbital flight.
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| 1951-10-20
The "Johnny Bright Incident" occurs in Stillwater, Oklahoma
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| 1951-01-09
The United Nations headquarters officially opens in New York City.
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| 1951-11-01
Operation Buster-Jangle: 6,500 American soldiers are exposed to 'Desert Rock' atomic explosions for training purposes in Nevada. Participation is not voluntary.
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| 1951-09-22
The first live sporting event seen coast-to-coast in the United States, a college football game between Duke and the University of Pittsburgh, is televised on NBC.
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| 1951-05-16
The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights begin between Idlewild Airport (now John F Kennedy International Airport) in New York City and Heathrow Airport in London, operated by El Al Israel Airlines.
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| 1951-12-20
The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity. The electricity powered four light bulbs.
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| 1951-09-10
The United Kingdom begins an economic boycott of Iran.
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| 1951-10-15
Mexican chemist Luis E. Miramontes conducted the very last step of the first synthesis of norethisterone, the progestin that would later be used in one of the first two oral contraceptives.
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| 1951-07-10
Korean War: Armistice negotiations begin at Kaesong.
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