Discover what happened in this year with HISTORY’s summaries of major events, anniversaries, famous births and notable deaths.
Jan
09
Jan
19
On January 19, 1952, Professional Golfers Association president Horton Smith announces that a seven-man committee “almost unanimously” votes to allow Black golfers to compete in PGA co-sponsored events. With the announcement, Smith hopes that Black golfers participate in the next two events, the Phoenix Open and Tucson Open. “I shall feel our efforts here will have gone for little if the plan doesn’t work out the next two events,” he says.
Feb
06
On February 6, 1952, after a long illness, King George VI of Great Britain and Northern Ireland dies in his sleep at the royal estate at Sandringham. Princess Elizabeth, the older of the king’s two daughters and next in line to succeed him, was in Kenya at the time of her father’s death; she was officially crowned Queen Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953, at age 27.
(Original Caption) Coronation. London, England: Queen Elizabeth, just after the crowning.
Bettmann Archive
Feb
21
On February 21, 1952, men’s figure skater Dick Button wins his second Olympic gold medal. Button captured his first gold prize at the 1948 Olympics, becoming the first American to ever take home the men’s title. After dominating men’s figure skating at the 1948 and 1952 Olympics, Button retired from amateur competition and later became one of the sport’s leading television analysts.
Mar
03
In handing down a 6-3 decision in the case Adler v. Board of Education of City of New York, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds a New York state law that prohibits communists from teaching in public schools. Coming at the height of the Red Scare in the United States, the Supreme Court decision was additional evidence that many Americans were concerned about possible subversive communist activity in their country.
Mar
04
Mar
04
Ernest Hemingway completes his short novel The Old Man and the Sea. He wrote his publisher the same day, saying he had finished the book and that it was the best writing he had ever done. The critics agreed: The book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and became one of his bestselling works.
Mar
21
Mar
27
May
03
A ski-modified U.S. Air Force C-47 piloted by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph O. Fletcher of Oklahoma and Lieutenant Colonel William P. Benedict of California is among the first aircraft to land on the North Pole. A moment later, Fletcher climbed out of the plane and walked to the exact geographic North Pole, probably the first person in history to do so.
Jul
23
In Egypt, the Society of Free Officers seizes control of the government in a military coup d’etat staged by Colonel Gamal Abdal Nasser’s Free Officers. King Farouk, whose rule had been criticized for its corruption and failures in the first Arab-Israeli war, was forced to abdicate and relinquish power to General Muhammad Naguib, the figurehead leader of the coup.
Aug
11
Prince Hussein is proclaimed the king of Jordan after his father, King Talal, is declared unfit to rule by the Jordanian Parliament on grounds of mental illness. Hussein was formally crowned on November 14, 1953, his 18th birthday. Hussein was the third constitutional king of Jordan and a member of the Hashemite dynasty, said to be in direct line of descent from the Prophet Muhammad.
Aug
13
On August 13, 1952, four years before Elvis Presley would make “Hound Dog” his longest running no. 1 hit, the song is recorded for the very first time by the rhythm-and-blues singer Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton in Los Angeles, California. Since Presley's version ran 11 weeks at the top of the pop music charts, it's often been mistakenly assumed to be his original.
Aug
28
As the presidential election of 1952 begins to heat up, so do accusations and counteraccusations concerning communism in America. The “Red Scare”—the widespread belief that international communism was operating in the United States—came to dominate much of the debate between Democrats and Republicans in 1952.
Nov
01
Nov
25
“The Mousetrap,” a murder-mystery written by the novelist and playwright Agatha Christie, opens at the Ambassadors Theatre in London. The crowd-pleasing whodunit would go on to become the longest continuously running play in history.
Watch what happened throughout history on November 25 in this video of This Day in History. On November 25, 1963, John F. Kennedy’s funeral took place in Washington D.C. He was later buried in Arlington Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. On November 25, 1999, Elian Gonzalez, a Cuban immigrant, led to an international custody battle between his family in the United States and his father in Cuba. On November 25, 2002, President George W. Bush signed a bill creating the Department of Homeland Security. Lastly, on November 25, 1959, Mousetrap, the Agatha Christie murder mystery, opened up at the Ambassador Theater in London. This went on to become the longest continuously running play in history.
Nov
29
Dec
05
Dec
24
The McCarran-Walter Act takes effect and revises U.S. immigration laws. The law was hailed by supporters as a necessary step in preventing alleged communist subversion in the United States, while opponents decried the legislation as being xenophobic and discriminatory.
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