What Happened in 1946?

MAJOR EVENTS:

• Winston Churchill warns of an “iron curtain” falling over Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe
• UN General Assembly meets for the first time; John D. Rockefeller donates money for a UN headquarters in New York
• Nuremburg war crimes trial returns death sentences for 12 Nazis, including Ribbentrop and Goering; 2 life sentences; and 2 acquittals. Goering commits suicide before his scheduled execution.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY:

• U.S. industry idled by widespread labor strikes; federal government takes control of railroads
• Most wartime price controls eliminated

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY:

• Atomic Energy Commission created
• Xerographic photocopying process invented
• U.S. Navy tests atomic bomb at Bikini in the South Pacific
• American banker John C. Biggins of the Flatbush National Bank of Brooklyn invented the first bank-issued credit card
• Tupperware was invented by American chemist Earl Silas Tupper

SPORTS:

• World Series:St. Louis over Boston, 4-3
• Joe Louis defends heavyweight title for 23rd time
• “Assault” wins Belmont, Preakness and Kentucky Derby

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT:

• Movies: The Best Years of Our Lives, Notorious, Great Expectations
• Songs: Tenderly, Come Rain or Come Shine, Zip-a-dee-doo-dah
• TV Shows: Gillette Cavalcade of Sports, Esso Newsreel (programming limited to approximately 12 hours per week on two networks)
• Books: Hiroshima, John Hersey; Baby and Child Care, Dr. Benjamin Spock; All the King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren

EVERYDAY LIFE:

• Dr. Benjamin Spock’s Baby and Child Care influences millions of new and expectant parents throughout the U.S.
• Strapless bras become popular, ushering in a trend toward bare-shouldered women’s fashions
• “Tide”, the first detergent designed for automatic clothes washing machines, introduced
• First electric clothes dryers
• Suntan lotions, developed for troops during World War II, marketed to consumers for the first time

FUN FACTS:

• Shortest recorded boxing match ever; Couture defeats Walton in 10.5 seconds with one punch
• Americans eat a record 714 million gallons of ice cream