1949 facts for kids

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century – 20th century – 21st century
Decades:	1910s 1920s 1930s – 1940s – 1950s 1960s 1970s
Years:	1946 1947 1948 – 1949 – 1950 1951 1952

1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday in the Gregorian calendar.

Events

January 20 – Harry S. Truman proposes Point Four program to help world's less developed areas.
February 22 – Grady the Cow, a 1,200-pound cow gets stuck inside a silo on a farm in Yukon, Oklahoma and garners national media attention.
April 4 – Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty establishing the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
May 11 – Siam changes its name to Thailand.
September 21 – The German Federal Republic (West Germany) established.
October 1 – The founding of the People's Republic of China is announced by Mao Zedong.
October 7 – The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) is established.
December 27 – Indonesia's independence is recognised by the Netherlands.

Births

January 12 – Murakami Haruki, Japanese writer
January 12 – Ottmar Hitzfeld, German football manager
February 5 – Kurt Beck, German politician
February 22 – Niki Lauda, Austrian racecar driver
February 24 – John Belushi, American actor (d. 1982)
April 11 – Bernd Eichinger, German movie producer
April 19 – Joachim Sauer, husband of German chancellor Angela Merkel
April 20 – Jessica Lange, American actress
March 28 - Kevin Lloyd, British actor (d. 1998)
May 9 – Billy Joel, American singer
May 13 – Zoe Wanamaker, actress
May 23 – Alan Garcia, President of Peru (d. 2019)
May 26 – Jeremy Corbyn, English politician
June 6 – Robert Englund, American actor
June 18 – Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Polish politician
June 18 – Lech Kaczynski, President of Poland (d. 2010)
June 20 – Lionel Richie, American singer and musician
June 22 – Meryl Streep, American actress
July 4 – Horst Seehofer, German politician
July 26 – Thaksin Shinawatra, Thai politician
July 26 – Roger Taylor, British musician
August 1 – Kurmanbek Bakiyev, former President of Kyrgyzstan
August 15 – Ivan Boldirev, Russian ice hockey player
August 31 – Richard Gere, American actor
September 9 – Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of Indonesia
September 19 – Twiggy, British model
September 23 – Bruce Springsteen, American singer and musician
October 8 – Sigourney Weaver, American actress
October 21 – Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli politician
December 1 – Pablo Escobar, Colombian drug lord (d. 1993)
December 12 – Marc Ravalomanana, former President of Madagascar
December 21 – Thomas Sankara, President of Burkina Faso (d. 1987)
December 22 – Maurice Gibb, singer (d. 2003)
December 22 – Robin Gibb, singer (d. 2012)
December 25 – Sissy Spacek, American actress
December 26 – Jose Ramos Horta, President of East Timor

Deaths

January 6 – Victor Fleming, American director (b. 1883)
January 11 – Nelson Doubleday, American publisher (b. 1889)
January 14 – Joaquín Turina, Spanish composer (b. 1882)
January 28 – Jean-Pierre Wimille, French race car driver (b. 1908)
February 12 – Imam Hassan al Banna, Egyptian founder of the Muslim Brotherhood (b. 1906)
March 30 – Friedrich Bergius, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1884)
April 19 – Ulrich Salchow, Swedish figure skater (b. 1877)
May 6 – Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
May 9 – Louis II, Prince of Monaco (b. 1870)
May 22 – James Forrestal, U.S. Secretary of Navy and Defense(b. 1892)
May 22 – Klaus Mann, German writer (b. 1906)
June 10 – Sigrid Undset, Norwegian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1882)
June 14 – Russell Doubleday, American writer and publisher (b. 1872)
July 9 – Fritz Bennicke Hart, English-born composer (b. 1874)
July 12 – Douglas Hyde, first President of Ireland (b. 1860)
July 18 – Vítězslav Novák, Czech composer (b. 1870)
August 18 – Paul Mares, American musician (b. 1900)
August 30 – Arthur Fielder, English cricketer (b. 1877)
September 8 – Richard Strauss, German composer (b. 1864)
September 13 – August Krogh, Danish zoophysiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1874)
September 19 – Will Cuppy, American humorist (b. 1884)
September 19 – Nikolaos Skalkottas, Greek composer (b. 1901)
October 27 – Marcel Cerdan, French boxer (plane crash) (b. 1916)
October 27 – Ginette Neveu, French violinist (plane crash) (b. 1919)
December 6 – Leadbelly, American musician (b. 1885)
December 11 – Krishna Chandra Bhattacharya, Indian philosopher (b. 1875)
December 16 – Sidney Olcott, Canadian movie director (b. 1873)
December 28 – Hervey Allen, American writer (b. 1889)
December 28 – Jack Lovelock, New Zealand athlete (b. 1910)