1951 in the United States

Incumbents

Federal Government">Federal government of the United States">Federal Government

• President: Harry S. Truman
• Vice President: Alben W. Barkley
• Chief Justice: Fred M. Vinson
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Sam Rayburn
• Senate Majority Leader: Scott W. Lucas , Ernest McFarland
• Congress: 81st, 82nd

  Governors

Lieutenant Governors

Events

January–March

• January 1 - First week of Patti Page's hit song "Tennessee Waltz" as No. 1 single on Billboard and Cashbox charts.
• January 10 - The new United Nations headquarters officially opens in New York City.
• January 17 - Korean War: Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul.
• January 27 - Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site begins with a 1-kiloton bomb dropped on Frenchman Flat, northwest of Las Vegas.
• January 31 - The last daily narrow gauge passenger train, the San Juan Express, is retired by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad.
• February 4–8 - Surgeons remove an ovarian cyst from Gertrude Levandowski in a 96-hour-long operation in Chicago. She loses almost half of her weight and emerges weighing 140 kg.
• February 6 - A Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train derails near Woodbridge Township, New Jersey, killing 85 people and injuring over 500 in one of the worst rail disasters in American history.
• February 21 - Jack in the Box fast-food restaurant chain founded by Robert O. Peterson in San Diego, California.
• February 27 - The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting presidents to two terms, is ratified.
• March 2 - The first NBA All-Star Game of basketball is played in the Boston Garden.
• March 3 or 5 - Jackie Brenston "and His Delta Cats" record "Rocket 88" at Sam Phillips' Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, a candidate for the first rock and roll record. It is covered on June 14 by Bill Haley and His Saddlemen.
• March 6 - Second Red Scare: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg stand trial facing charges of conspiracy to commit espionage.
• March 7 - Korean War: Operation Ripper - In Korea, United Nations troops led by General Matthew Ridgway begin an assault against Chinese "volunteers".
• March 12 - Hank Ketcham's best-selling comic strip Dennis the Menace appears in newspapers across the U.S. for the first time.
• March 14 - Korean War: For the second time, United Nations troops recapture Seoul.
• March 29
• *Second Red Scare: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. On April 5 they are sentenced to receive the death penalty.
• *Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I opens on Broadway and runs for three years. It is the first Rodgers & Hammerstein musical specifically written for an actress. Lawrence is stricken with cancer during the run of the show and dies halfway through its run a year later. The show makes a star of Yul Brynner.
• *The 23rd Academy Awards ceremony is held; All About Eve wins Best Picture and five others.
• March 31 - Remington Rand delivers the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau.

  April–June

• April 7 - Operation Greenhouse: The first thermonuclear burn is carried out on Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands of the Pacific by the U.S. Three further tests in this series take place up to May 24.
• April 11 - U.S. President Harry S. Truman relieves General Douglas MacArthur of his Far Eastern commands.
• May 3 - The U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services and U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations begins its closed door hearings into the dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur by U.S. President Harry S. Truman.
• May 21 - The Ninth Street Show, formally known as the 9th Street Art Exhibition, a gathering of a number of notable artists, marks the stepping-out of the post war New York avant-garde, collectively known as the New York School.
• June 14 - The UNIVAC I computer is dedicated by the U.S. Census Bureau.
• June 15-July 1 - In New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, thousands of hectares of forests are destroyed in fires.
• June 18 - Battle Ground, Washington is incorporated.

  July–September

• July 10 - Korean War: Armistice negotiations begin at Kaesong.
• July 11-12 - Cicero race riot of 1951: A mob of 4,000 whites attack an apartment building housing a single black family in a neighborhood in Cicero, Illinois.
• July 13
• *The Great Flood of 1951 reaches its highest point in Northeast Kansas, culminating in the greatest flood damage to date in the Midwestern United States.
• *MGM's Technicolor film version of Show Boat, starring Kathryn Grayson, Ava Gardner, and Howard Keel, premieres at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The musical brings overnight fame to African American bass-baritone William Warfield.
• July 14 - In Joplin, Missouri, the George Washington Carver National Monument becomes the first United States National Monument to honor an African American.
• July 16 - J. D. Salinger's coming-of-age story The Catcher in the Rye is published by Little, Brown and Company in New York City.
• July 17 - Western New England College in Springfield, Massachusetts is chartered.
• July 26 - Walt Disney's 13th animated film, Alice in Wonderland, premieres in London, United Kingdom.
• July 30 - David Lean's Oliver Twist is finally shown in the United States, after 10 minutes of supposedly anti-Semitic references and closeups of Alec Guinness as Fagin are cut. It will not be shown uncut in the U.S. until 1970.
• September 1 - The United States, Australia and New Zealand all sign a mutual defense pact, called the ANZUS Treaty.
• September 3 - The American soap opera Search for Tomorrow debuts on CBS. The show switches to NBC on March 26, 1982 and airs its final episode on December 26, 1986.
• September 8
• *Treaty of San Francisco: In San Francisco, 48 nations sign a peace treaty with Japan to formally end the Pacific War.
• *Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, which allows United States Armed Forces being stationed in Japan after the occupation of Japan, is signed by Japan and the United States.
• September 18 - Tennessee Williams's film adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire premieres, becoming a critical and box-office smash.
• September 20 - NATO accepts Greece and Turkey as members.

  October–December

• October 3 - "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 9th inning off of Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca, to win the National League pennant after being down 14 games.
• October 4
• *MGM's Technicolor musical film, An American in Paris, starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron and directed by Vincente Minnelli, premieres in New York. It will go on to win six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
• *Shoppers World opens in Framingham, Massachusetts.
• October 10 - The New York Yankees defeat the New York Giants, 4 games to 2, to win the 14th World Series Title.
• October 15 - Sitcom I Love Lucy, starring Lucille Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz, makes its television debut on CBS.
• October 16 - Judy Garland begins her legendary concerts in New York's Palace Theatre.
• October 17 - CBS' Eye logo premieres on television.
• October 20 - The "Johnny Bright incident", an assault on an African American player, occurs in a college football game at Stillwater, Oklahoma.
• October 24 - U.S. President Harry Truman declares an official end to war with Germany.
• November 1 - The first military exercises for nuclear warfare, with infantry troops included, are held in the Nevada desert.
• November 10 - Direct dial coast-to-coast telephone service begins.
• November 22 - Paramount Pictures releases George Pal science fiction film When Worlds Collide.
• November 24 - The Broadway play Gigi opens, starring little known actress Audrey Hepburn as the lead character.
• November 28 - The film Scrooge, starring Alastair Sim, premieres in the U.S. under the title of Charles Dickens's original novel, A Christmas Carol.
• c. December - The Institute of War and Peace Studies is established by Dwight D. Eisenhower at Columbia University in New York with William T. R. Fox as first director.
• December 13 - A water storage tank collapses in Tucumcari, New Mexico, resulting in 4 deaths and 200 buildings destroyed.
• December 17 - "We Charge Genocide", a petition describing genocide by the U.S. government against African Americans, is delivered to the United Nations.
• December 20 - Experimental Breeder Reactor I, the world's first nuclear power plant, opens in Idaho.
• December 23 - John Huston's drama film, The African Queen, starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn, premieres in Hollywood.
• December 24 - Gian Carlo Menotti's 45-minute opera Amahl and the Night Visitors premieres live on NBC, becoming the first opera written especially for television.
• December 31 - The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than US$13.3 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Europe.

  Ongoing

• Cold War
• Second Red Scare
• Marshall Plan
• Korean War

  Unknown

• "Vegas Vic" is added to the Pioneer Club, in Las Vegas.

  Births

January–March

• January 1 – Martha P. Haynes, astronomer and academic
• January 2 – Jim Essian, baseball player and coach
• January 4
• * Bob Black, author and activist
• * Barbara Cochran, skier
• January 6 – Kim Wilson, singer, harmonica player
• January 8 – John McTiernan, director, producer and writer
• January 12
• * Kirstie Alley, actress
• * Chris Bell, guitarist, singer and songwriter
• * Rush Limbaugh, conservative radio personality
• January 18 – Elijah Cummings, African American politician
• January 21 – Eric Holder, African American politician, 82nd United States Attorney General
• January 22
• * Alveda King, activist, minister, author and politician
• * Leon Roberts, baseball player
• January 23
• * Michael R. Matz, horse rider and trainer
• * Chesley Sullenberger, airline captain
• January 25 – Steve Prefontaine, runner
• January 27
• * Seth Justman, rock keyboardist
• * Ken Timbs, wrestler
• January 30 – Charles S. Dutton, African American actor
• January 31
• * Dave Benton, Aruban-born American singer
• * Harry Wayne Casey, musician, songwriter and producer
• February 4 – Phil Ehart, drummer
• February 5 – O'Neal Compton, actor and director
• February 7 – Kim Milford, actor and singer
• February 9 – Jay Inslee, politician
• February 13 – David Naughton, actor
• February 15 – Melissa Manchester, pop singer
• February 16
• * Mike Flanagan, baseball pitcher
• * William Katt, film, television actor
• February 20 – Edward Albert, film and television actor
• February 22 – Ellen Greene, actress
• February 23 – Patricia Richardson, actress
• February 24 – Debra Jo Rupp, actress
• February 27 – Lee Atwater, political activist, campaign strategist and presidential advisor
• March 1 – Deb Fischer, politician
• March 4
• * Mike Quarry, light-heavyweight boxer
• * Gwen Welles, actress
• March 8 – Dianne Walker, tap dancer
• March 14 – Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's ice cream
• March 17 – Kurt Russell, actor
• March 18
• * Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's ice cream
• * B. E. Taylor, singer
• March 19 – Fred Berry, actor
• March 24 – Tommy Hilfiger, fashion designer
• March 26 – Carl Wieman, physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

  April–June

• April 1 – Tim Bassett, basketball player
• April 5
• * Phillip Garrido, criminal
• * Dean Kamen, inventor, entrepreneur
• April 6
• April 7 – Janis Ian, folk singer-songwriter
• April 10 – David Helvarg, journalist, activist
• April 11 – Doris Angleton, socialite, murder victim
• April 12 – Tom Noonan, film actor
• April 13
• * Peabo Bryson, African American R&B singer-songwriter
• * John Furey, screen actor
• * Max Weinberg, rock drummer
• April 16
• * Mordechai Ben David, Hasidic Jewish singer
• * Bill Walker, 13th Governor of Alaska
• April 20 – Luther Vandross, African American R&B, soul singer-songwriter
• April 21
• * Tony Danza, actor, comedian
• * Bob Varsha, sportscaster
• April 23 – Allison Krause, Kent State University shooting victim
• April 27 – Ace Frehley, rock guitarist
• April 29 – Dale Earnhardt, race car driver
• May 3
• *Christopher Cross, pop rock singer-songwriter
• * Stewart F. Lane, Broadway producer, director, playwright and actor
• May 4 – Jackie Jackson, African American pop singer
• May 9
• * Jorie Graham, poet
• * Joy Harjo, Native American poet
• May 12 – Joe Nolan, baseball player
• May 13 – Sharon Sayles Belton, Mayor of Minneapolis
• May 15
• * Jonathan Richman, proto-punk singer-songwriter and guitarist
• * Frank Wilczek, physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• May 19
• * Joey Ramone, rock musician
• * Dick Slater, professional wrestler
• May 20 – Mike Crapo, U.S. Senator from Idaho from 1999
• May 21
• * Al Franken, comedian and U.S. Senator from Minnesota from 2009 to 2018
• * Bob Gale, film screenwriter, producer and director
• May 23 – Jill E. Barad, businessperson
• May 26 – Sally Ride, First American woman astronaut
• May 30
• * Garrett Hongo, poet
• * Stephen Tobolowsky, screen actor
• May 31 – Jimmy Nalls, jazz fusion guitarist
• June 2
• *Gilbert Baker, artist and activist, creator of the Rainbow flag in 1978
• *Jeanine Pirro, attorney, politician and conservative political commentator
• June 3 – Jill Biden, Second Lady of the United States
• June 5 – Suze Orman, financial advisor, writer and television personality
• June 9 – James Newton Howard, film composer
• June 12 – Brad Delp, rock vocalist
• June 13 – Richard Thomas, television actor
• June 15 – Jane Amsterdam, magazine editor
• June 16 – Charlie Dominici, progressive metal singer
• June 18 – Steve Miner, screen director and producer
• June 20 – Tress MacNeille, voice actress
• June 21 – Nils Lofgren, rock musician
• June 24 – Leslie Cochran, homeless activist and Austin icon
• June 27 – Julia Duffy, actress
• June 28 – Lloyd Maines, country musician, record producer
• June 29
• * Keno Don Rosa, comic book author
• * Craig Sager, sports commentator
• June 30 – Stanley Clarke, jazz fusion bass guitarist

  July–September

• July 1
• * Daryl Anderson, television actor
• * Anne Feeney, folk singer
• * Terrence Mann, actor and dancer
• July 2
• * Keith Marshall, baseball player
• * Sylvia Rivera, transgender activist
• * Stevie Woods, R&B singer
• July 3 – Bob Rigby, soccer goalkeeper
• July 4 – Vincent Marzello, screen actor
• July 5 – Goose Gossage, baseball player
• July 7 – Roz Ryan, actress and voice actress
• July 8 – Anjelica Huston, screen actress
• July 9 – Chris Cooper, screen actor
• July 10
• * Phyllis Smith, screen and voice actress
• * Cheryl Wheeler, folk singer-songwriter
• July 11 – Yechiel Eckstein, rabbi
• July 12 – Cheryl Ladd, actress and singer
• July 17 – Lucie Arnaz, actress and singer
• July 21 – Robin Williams, actor and comedian
• July 22 – Tisa Farrow, film actress
• July 23
• * Edie McClurg, comedian, screen and voice actress
• * Michael McConnohie, voice actor
• July 24 – Lynda Carter, actress and singer
• July 25 – Angela Jackson, African American poet and playwright
• July 28
• * Doug Collins, basketball player, coach and analyst
• * Garrett Hongo, poet
• August 2 – Andrew Gold, pop singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist
• August 3 – Jay North, child and adult television and voice actor
• August 6 – Catherine Hicks, television actress
• August 8 – Randy Shilts, journalist and author
• August 12 – Willie Horton, criminal
• August 13 – Dan Fogelberg, rock singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist
• August 14 – Carl Lumbly, African American screen and voice actor
• August 17 – Richard Hunt, puppeteer
• August 20 – Greg Bear, science fiction author
• August 21
• * Chesley V. Morton, politician and securities arbitrator
• * Harry Smith, television journalist and editor
• August 23
• * Mark Hudson, record producer
• * Jimi Jamison, rock singer-songwriter
• August 24 – Orson Scott Card, science fiction author
• August 26 – Edward Witten, mathematician, Fields medalist
• August 27
• * Mack Brown, college football coach
• * Robert Torricelli, U.S. Senator from New Jersey from 1997 to 2003
• August 28
• * Barbara Hambly, novelist and screenwriter
• * Wayne Osmond, pop singer
• August 30 – Timothy Bottoms, film actor
• September 2
• * Jim DeMint, U.S. Senator from South Carolina
• * Mark Harmon, screen actor
• September 4 – Judith Ivey, stage actress and director
• September 5 – Michael Keaton, screen actor and director
• September 7
• * Chrissie Hynde, rock singer
• * Bert Jones, football player
• September 11 – Mr. Butch, homeless person and Boston icon
• September 12 – Joe Pantoliano, screen character actor
• September 13
• * Suzanne Lummis, poet
• * Jean Smart, actress
• * Linda Wong, pornographic film actress
• September 15
• * Pete Carroll, football coach
• * Jared Taylor, author and journalist
• * Fred Seibert, screen producer, Frederator Studios founder
• September 17 – Cassandra Peterson, screen actress
• September 18
• * Ben Carson, African American politician, author and neurosurgeon
• * Dee Dee Ramone, rock bass guitarist
• * Darryl Stingley, American football player
• September 25
• * Pedro Almodóvar, filmmaker
• * Mark Hamill, film and voice actor

  October–December

• October 3
• * Bernard Cooper, fiction writer
• * Keb' Mo', African American blues musician
• * Kathryn D. Sullivan, astronaut
• * Dave Winfield, baseball player
• October 7 – John Mellencamp, heartland rock singer-songwriter and instrumentalist
• October 11 – Jon Miller, sports announcer
• October 18
• * Mike Antonovich, ice hockey player and executive
• * Pam Dawber, screen actress
• * Terry McMillan, novelist
• October 22 – William David Sanders, victim of the Columbine High School massacre
• October 25 – Richard Lloyd, rock guitarist
• October 26 – Bootsy Collins, African American funk singer-songwriter and bass guitarist
• October 28 – Ronnie and Donnie Galyon, conjoined twins
• October 30 – Harry Hamlin, screen actor
• November 2 – Thomas Mallon, novelist and critic
• November 3 – Ed Murawinski, cartoonist
• November 9 – Lou Ferrigno, film actor and bodybuilder
• November 11 – Marc Summers, television host
• November 15 – Beverly D'Angelo, actress and singer
• November 16
• * Miguel Sandoval, screen actor
• * Paula Vogel, playwright
• November 17
• * Butch Davis, American football head coach
• * Dean Paul Martin, pop singer and screen actor
• * Stephen Root, screen and voice actor
• November 18 – Justin Raimondo, political activist
• November 20 – Rodger Bumpass, voice actor
• November 24 – Chet Edwards, politician
• November 27 – Teri DeSario, disco singer-songwriter
• November 29
• * Kathryn Bigelow, film director
• * Roger Troutman, funk singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist
• December 1
• * Sherry Aldridge, singer
• * Obba Babatundé, actor
• * Jaco Pastorius, jazz fusion bass guitarist
• * Treat Williams, actor, writer and aviator
• December 2 – Adrian Devine, baseball pitcher
• December 4 – Patricia Wettig, screen actress
• December 8 – Bill Bryson, non-fiction author
• December 11 – Peter T. Daniels, writing systems scholar
• December 19 – Karl F. Lopker, business executive
• December 31 – Tom Hamilton, hard rock bass guitarist and songwriter

  Deaths

January–March

• January 2 – Richard Hart, actor
• January 10 – Sinclair Lewis, novelist, recipient of Nobel Prize in Literature
• January 13 – Florence Kahn, Lady Beerbohm, actress, died in Italy
• January 18 – Jack Holt, film actor
• January 22 – Karl Nessler, inventor
• January 28 – Dominic Salvatore Gentile, military pilot, killed in aviation accident
• February 9 – Eddy Duchin, jazz pianist and bandleader
• February 13 – Lloyd C. Douglas, novelist
• February 16 – Tommy Gagliano, mobster
• February 18 – Lyman Gilmore, aviation pioneer
• February 22 – Alfred Lindley, Olympic rower
• February 28 – Henry W. Armstrong, boxer and songwriter
• March 2 – Al Taylor, film character actor
• March 8 – Charles Coleman, film character actor
• March 14 – Val Lewton, film producer and screenwriter
• March 25
• * Eddie Collins, baseball player
• * Oscar Micheaux, African American filmmaker
• March 31 – Ralph Forbes, actor

  April–June

• April 4 – George Albert Smith, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• April 11 – Joe King, film actor
• April 19 – Frank Hopkins, horseman and soldier
• April 23 – Charles G. Dawes, 30th Vice President of the United States, recipient of Nobel Peace Prize
• May 5 – Eddie Dunn, comedy film actor
• May 7 – Warner Baxter, film actor
• May 8 – Pat Hartigan, film actor and director
• May 20 – Marguerite Merington, author
• May 24 – Thomas N. Heffron, silent film director
• May 29 – Fanny Brice, entertainer
• June 4 – Serge Koussevitzky, orchestral conductor
• June 9 – Mayo Methot, actress
• June 21 – Charles Dillon Perrine, astronomer, discoverer of two moons of Jupiter
• June 27 – David Warfield, stage actor

  July–September

• July 9 – Harry Heilmann, baseball player
• July 23 – Robert J. Flaherty, filmmaker
• August 3 – Bee Ho Gray, Wild West star, silent film actor and vaudeville performer
• August 6 – Anthony Brancato, criminal
• August 14
• * Bertha Gifford, serial killer
• * William Randolph Hearst, newspaper magnate
• August 28 – Robert Walker, film actor
• September 7 – John Sloan, painter and etcher
• September 17 – Jimmy Yancey, pianist and composer
• September 18 – Gelett Burgess, art critic and humorist
• September 29 – Thomas Cahill, soccer coach

  October–December

• October 4 – Henrietta Lacks, African American originator of the HeLa cell line
• October 6 – Otto Fritz Meyerhof, physician and biochemist, recipient of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• October 24
• * Al Baker, magician
• * Clarence Stewart Williams, admiral
• October 26 – William S. Finucane, businessman and politician
• November 3 – Richard Wallace, film director
• November 15 – Robert Elliott, screen character actor
• November 25 – Harry B. Liversedge, general
• December 5 – Shoeless Joe Jackson, baseball player
• December 6 – Harold Ross, editor, founder of The New Yorker
• December 12 – Bill Patton, film actor
• December 19 – Barton Yarborough, radio actor