March 5, 1946: Former British Prime Minister Churchill delivers the "Iron Curtain speech"March 6, 1946: Jackie Robinson (#30), Negro player signed into Brooklyn Dodgers farm systemMarch 10, 1946: The Aga Khan is given his weight in diamonds
The following events occurred in March 1946:
March 1, 1946 (Friday)
North Korea's Communist Party leader and future President, Kim Il Sung, was saved from assassination by an alert Soviet officer. Y.T. Novichenko caught a hand grenade that had been thrown at Kim during a rally.[1]
Operation Coronet, the greatest amphibious invasion ever planned, had been tentatively scheduled for "Y-Day", March 1, 1946. The invasion by 25 divisions of Allied forces of Honshū, the main island of Japan, would have been resisted by the Japanese in Operation Ketsu-Go, and would have followed the November 1, 1945, invasion of Kyūshū. Following the surrender of Japan in 1945, Olympic, Coronet and Ketsu-Go became unnecessary.[2]
Born:Jan Kodeš, Czech tennis player who won the French Open in 1970 and 1971 and Wimbledon in 1973); in Prague
March 2, 1946 (Saturday)
The United Nations would not be welcome to locate permanently in Greenwich, Connecticut, the UNO's first choice for a site. In a special referendum, the vote was 4,540 to 2,019 against letting the UNO build in Greenwich and its surrounding area.[3] The U.N. headquarters was built instead in New York City.
March 3, 1946 (Sunday)
An American Airlines DC-3 crashed into a mountain at 7:53 amPST as it approached San Diego on a flight from Tucson, killing all 27 persons on board.[4] Flight 6-103 had originated in New York, with multiple stops on the way to San Diego.[5]
March 4, 1946 (Monday)
Iran crisis: fifteen Soviet armored brigades invaded Iran's Azerbaijan region, while additional brigades deployed along the borders of Turkey, Iraq and Bulgaria. The U.S. Consul at Tabriz would later opine that "Though not a shot was fired, the Battle of Azerbaijan was as significant in its outcome as Bunker Hill, Bull Run, or the First Battle of the Marne."[6]
The U.S., Britain and France joined in asking the Spanish people to depose dictator Francisco Franco, based on the Generalissimo's August 15, 1940, letter to Benito Mussolini. Franco had offered support of the Axis Powers, and signed a secret protocol with Germany on February 10, 1943. Franco remained until his death in 1975.[8]
The comic strip Rip Kirby, by Alex Raymond, began a 53-year run in the newspapers as a King Features Syndicate feature. The fictional detective's last strip ran on June 26, 1999.[9]
Winston Churchill delivered his famous "Iron Curtain" speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. The former British Prime Minister was accompanied by U.S. President Harry S. Truman, and the speech – which was entitled "The Sinews of Peace" was part of a program that began at 3:30 pmCST, after an invocation and introductory remarks by Westminster's President McCluer and by President Truman.[10] Churchill surprised the world with his attack on the spread of Soviet Communism, as he said "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent."[11] Using the metaphor of an iron curtain (used at theaters for fire protection), to refer to the sealing off of a conquered area, was not invented by Churchill,[12] nor did he first use it at Westminster College.[13]
Died: Gertrude Pinsky, David Guzik and eight other persons on a mission for the Jewish relief organization JDC (Joint Distribution Committee) were killed in a plane crash near Prague. One of the few women assigned overseas by JDC, Ms. Pinsky had overseen the aid to thousands of Jewish displaced persons during the Second World War.
March 6, 1946 (Wednesday)
North Vietnam agreed to allow troops from France to return to its cities in return for recognition as "a free country within the framework of the French Union". General Võ Nguyên Giáp later wrote that the intent was for the peaceful withdrawal of Nationalist Chinese occupation, but that a new war began when French forces continued their occupation.[14]
Jackie Robinson became the first African-American in the 20th Century to play in the Major League Baseball system, appearing in a Florida spring training game at Daytona Beach against the Brooklyn Dodgers as a shortstop for the Dodgers' farm club, the Montreal Royals.[15]
The 167 residents of the Bikini Atoll, in the Marshall Islands, were evacuated from their South Pacific island in order for atomic testing to begin. A report to the U.S. Congress calculated loss-of-use damages fifty years later at $278,000,000.[16]
Five days after the March 2 deadline had passed for Soviet troops to leave Iran, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow served a diplomatic note on the Soviet Foreign Ministry, calling on the Soviets to honor their agreement.[17]
Thirty-three British soccer fans were killed, and hundreds injured, when retaining fences at the Burnden Park stadium in Bolton collapsed. A reported 70,000 fans had filled the stadium to watch an FA Cup playoff match between Bolton Wanderers and Stoke City. The game, which ended 0–0, halted for 28 minutes and then resumed.[19]
In a ceremony witnessed by 100,000 followers at the Brabourne Stadium in Bombay, the Aga Khan, leader of British India's Shia Ismaili Muslim population, received his weight—248 pounds—in diamonds, in honor of his 60 years (Diamond Anniversary) on the throne. For his golden anniversary in 1936, he had received his weight (238 lb.) in gold.[20]
Rudolf Höss, the Nazi Commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, was located and arrested by British military police near the northern German town of Flensburg, where he had been working on a farm under the alias "Franz Lang". Höss, who confessed to overseeing the murder of millions of prisoners, mostly Jewish, was himself executed at Auschwitz on April 16, 1947.[23]
In New York, Sylvia Lawry and 20 neurologists founded the Association for Advancement of Research in Multiple Sclerosis, now the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.[24]
March 12, 1946 (Tuesday)
General Draža Mihailović, Chetnik leader who oversaw the massacre of Bosnians and Croatians during the Nazi occupation of Yugoslavia, was captured in a mountain cave near Višegrad after two years in hiding. His capture was announced in Belgrade on March 24, and Mihailović was executed on July 17.[25]
Born:
Liza Minnelli, American singer, stage and film actress, winner of a Best Actress Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy and two Tony Awards; in Los Angeles as the daughter of film actress Judy Garland and theatrical director Vincente Minelli[26]
Died:Ferenc Szálasi, 49, strongman of the "Hungarian State" during the Nazi occupation of Hungary, was executed by hanging for war crimes.
March 13, 1946 (Wednesday)
The United Auto Workers strike against General Motors ended after 113 days, as the UAW accepted an 18+1⁄2 cent per hour wage increase for its members.[27]
The world waited to see if the United States and the Soviet Union would go to war, as the Soviets defied the ultimatum of March 7, and reportedly were continuing their advance in Iran.[29]
Clement Attlee, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, declared in the House of Commons the government's intention to grant British India its independence. "India herself must choose as to what will be her future situation and her position in the world", said Attlee, adding that "If ... she elects for independence—and in our view she has a right to do so—it will be for us to help make the transition as smooth and easy as possible."[32]
The Soviet Constitution was amended to increase the number of republics in the U.S.S.R. from 11 to 16, and to give the head of each republic a position in the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union.[33]
George Mikan, the most popular college basketball player up to that time, turned pro, signing with the Chicago American Gears of the National Basketball League days after his DePaul University team completed its season. Mikan, who passed up graduation, began playing for the Gears days later, and would later star for the Lakers in the NBA.[36]
March 17, 1946 (Sunday)
Soviet troops began their departure from Denmark's Bornholm Island. Soviet troops had seized the island from Nazi forces in May 1945.[37]
Died:Dai Li, 48, Chief of intelligence for Nationalist China, was killed in a plane crash.
March 18, 1946 (Monday)
Lavrentiy Beria was elected a full member of the Soviet Communist Party Politburo, and then promoted to the Council of Ministers in charge of state security.[38]
The deadline for Korean residents of Japan to apply for repatriation to Korea expired. Out of 1.1 million, there were 614,000 who moved to Korea, and all but 10,000 to the south.[39]
Sixty-three women were hired as the first female law enforcement officers in the history of Japan.[40]
In northern California, two separate U.S. Army plane crashes killed 33 servicemen. A B-29 bomber with seven men on board struck a 3,820-foot mountain peak near Livermore, California. In the other crash, a C-47 cargo plane with 26 on board exploded in mid air and crashed near the ghost town of Hobart Mills, California, nine days after 25 people had died in a plane crash in Hobart, Tasmania.[43]
Aracaju train crash: In the worst railway accident in the history of Brazil, 185 people were killed and hundreds more were injured. The train had derailed as it was descending a mountain incline near Aracaju, in the coastal state of Sergipe.[45]
Died:
Frederick M. Smith, 72, President of the Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints since 1915
Marguerite Perey presented her thesis, L'élément 87: Actinium K, at the Sorbonne, defending her proof that she had discovered the last of the natural elements. The element with atomic number 87 has, ever since, been referred to by the name proposed by Perey, in honor of her native land, "francium".[49]
The United Kingdom and the Emirate of Transjordan signed the Treaty of London, giving Transjordan its independence while Britain would continue to maintain military bases in the country.
The United States Army made its first successful launch of an American-built rocket out of the atmosphere, using a combination of American and German scientists in adapting the German V-2 rockets seized after the Allied victory in World War II. The Army rocket reached an altitude of about 50 miles.[50]
Died:Clemens von Galen, 68, German bishop who had been made a Roman Catholic cardinal by Pope Pius XII the previous month.
President Truman sent an ultimatum to Joseph Stalin demanding that the Soviets comply with their agreement to withdraw their troops from Iran.[52]
Argentina extended its claims over Antarctica, adding a claim of sovereignty over the portion from 68°34' W to 74°W. Argentine Antarctic Territory is claimed from 25° W to 74°W.[53]
Indonesia Tentara Republik Indonesia (Armed Forces of the Republic of Indonesia) or TRI evacuated Indonesian citizens from the city of Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. In an operation called "bumihangus" or "scorched earth", TRI and over 200,000 civilians purposely burned their homes in an attempt to prevent incoming Allied forces and the Netherlands-Indies Civil Administration (NICA) from being able to easily set up an army base. The event is commemorated as "Bandung Lautan Api", or "Bandung Sea of Fire".[54]
Died:Gilbert N. Lewis, 70, American chemist who discovered the covalent bond, died (of natural causes) while carrying out an experiment on fluorescence in his laboratory.
BBC Home Service radio broadcast Alistair Cooke's first American Letter in the U.K. As Letter from America, this programme ran for nearly 58 years until a few weeks before Cooke's death. When the 2,869th and last weekly show was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on February 20, 2004, it had become the longest-running radio commentary program in history.[56]
Richard L. Griffin and Polly Ann Moore became the first of five people to die in the Texarkana Moonlight Murders, when they were both slain near Texarkana, Texas by a serial killer. Their murders remain unsolved. Three more people would be killed over the next six weeks.[57]
Died:Alexander Alekhine, 53, the chess champion of the world, was found dead in his hotel room in Estoril, Portugal. The Russian chessmaster had first won the title in 1927, lost it for two years, and then had regained it in 1937.[58]
March 25, 1946 (Monday)
A confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union was defused when the Soviet government made the announcement, broadcast on Moscow Radio, that it would withdraw all troops from Iran within six weeks.[59]
The United Nations moved to its new location in New York City, not in Manhattan but in the Bronx, on the campus of Lehman College, part of the City College of New York system. Lehman and its buildings were the site of the 51-member international body for almost five months, until August 15, 1946.[60]
March 26, 1946 (Tuesday)
U.S. President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9708 under the authority of federal legislation, in the first such measure defining diseases for which a quarantine could be implemented and enforced within the United States.[61]
The results of the first general election in India were certified. Over a four-month period, voting was conducted for the Provincial Assemblies in each of the eleven provinces of British India. The Congress Party formed the majority in the legislatures for Bombay, Madras, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, the Central Provinces, Orissa, Assam and the North West Frontier; while the Muslim League won power in Bengal and the Sind. In Punjab, a coalition of Unionists, Congress and Sikhs formed a ministry.[65]
The longest official (soccer) football game in history took place at Edgeley Park, when Stockport County F.C. hosted Doncaster Rovers F.C. for a replay of a playoff game in Division Three of The Football League. The teams had played to a 2–2 tie at Doncaster, and were tied 2–2 at the end of 90 minutes regulation time and the extra 30 period. The "golden goal" rule then applied, with the first team to score winning in sudden death. A goal by Les Cocker of Stockport after 53 minutes was disallowed by the referee, and play continued. By 7:00 pm, the game was called after 3 hours 23 minutes of play. Doncaster won the next replay at home, 4–0, on April 3.[68]
A roundup of Nazi activists was carried out throughout the American and British zones of Germany, with 7,000 Allied soldiers serving the warrants. What was described as "a well-financed attempt to revive Nazism" was foiled after the December 1945 capture of ringleader Artur Axmann.[69]
Russia, one of three Soviet members of the United Nations, paid its U.N. dues of $1,725,000 and ended concern that the Soviets were planning to withdraw from the international organization.[71]
^"33 Die, Scores Hurt in Collapse of British Stadium Barriers", Salt Lake Tribune, March 10, 1946, p1; "Have They Forgotten Bolton?"Archived 2012-06-16 at the Wayback Machine, by Norman Baker, The Sports Historian (May 1998), pp120–151
^"Moslems Give Aga Khan His Weight in Gems", Salt Lake Tribune, March 11, 1946, p1
^"Russian Orthodoxy and Western Christianity", by Theodore Pulcini, in Russia and Western Civilization: Cultural and Historical Encounters (Russell Bova, ed.; M.E. Sharpe 2003) p91
^Death Dealer: The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz (by Rudolf Höss, edited by Steven Paskuly, Da Capo Press, 1996), pp179, 197
^T. Jock Murray, Multiple Sclerosis: The History of a Disease (Demos Medical Publishing, 2005), p506
^"Chetnik Chief Mihailovic Seized by Tito Forces" Salt Lake Tribune, March 25, 1946, p1; John K. Cox, The History of Serbia (Greenwood Press, 2002), p96
^"G M Strike Ends; Union Accepts 18.5-Cent Hike", Salt Lake Tribune, March 14, 1946, p1
^"CIO Walkout Ends at G.E. Plants"Salt Lake Tribune, March 14, 1946, p1
^"War-Jittery World Waits Russ Reply on Iran Issue"; "Russ Cavalry, Tanks Near Iran's Capital"Salt Lake Tribune, March 13, 1946, p1
^"Canada Arrests Lawmaker as Russ Atom Spy", Salt Lake Tribune, March 15, 1946, p1
^Alan West, Blacks in the Caribbean: A Reference Guide (Greenwood Press, 2002) p93
^Rajendra Prasad, India Divided (Hind Kitabs Ltd., 1947) pp399–400; "British Offer India Chance For Full Independence", Salt Lake Tribune, March 16, 1946, p1
^"The Evolution of the Soviet Federal System", by Gregory Gleason, in The Soviet Nationality Reader: The Disintegration in Context (Westview Press, 1992) p111
^Judith Ewell, Venezuela: A Century of Change (Stanford University Press, 1984), p97
^Andrew Montgomery, On the Road: America's Legendary Highways (Motorbooks International, 2004), p18
^Murry R. Nelson, The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949 (McFarland & Co., 2009), p246
^"Russ Leaving Danish Isle" Salt Lake Tribune, March 18, 1946, p1
^Yoram Gorlizki and Oleg Khlevniuk, Cold Peace: Stalin and the Soviet Ruling Circle, 1945–1953 (Oxford University Press, 2004) p28
^Sonia Ryang, North Koreans in Japan: Language, Ideology, and Identity (Westview Press, 1997) p80
^Maya Majumdar, Encyclopaedia of Gender Equality Through Women Empowerment (Sarup & Sons, 2005), p193
^"Kalinin Steps Down", Salt Lake Tribune, March 20, 1946, p1
^Nick Nesbitt, Voicing Memory: History and Subjectivity in French Caribbean Literature (University of Virginia Press, 2003) p6; "Departmentalization at Sixty"Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine, International Journal of Francophone Studies (Spring/Summer 2008)
^"26 Die in Plane; Fear 7 Killed in Another", Chicago Tribune, March 20, 1946, p1
^Benjamin B. Ringer, "We the People" and Others: Duality and America's Treatment of Its Racial Minorities (Tavistock, 1983) p883
^"Brazil's Worst Rail Crash Kills 185" Salt Lake Tribune, March 21, 1946, p1
^"Russ Withdrawing From Iran"; "U.S. Officials Cheer Russ Action in Iran"; "Iran Premier Waits Exit Of Russ Army" Salt Lake Tribune, March 26, 1946, p1; "This Day in History"Archived 2010-02-10 at the Wayback Machine, The History Channel
