May 1, 1946 (Wednesday)

• At least 800 Indigenous Australian pastoral workers walk off the job in Northwest Western Australia
  Western Australia
  Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
  
  , starting one of the longest industrial strikes in Australia
  1946 Pilbara strike
  The 1946 Pilbara strike was a landmark strike by Indigenous Australian pastoral workers in the Pilbara region of Western Australia for human rights recognition and payment of fair wages and working conditions...
  
  .
• Born: Lesley Gore
  Lesley Gore
  Lesley Gore is an American singer. She is perhaps best known for her 1963 pop hit "It's My Party", which she recorded at the age of 16. Following the hit, she became one of the most recognized teen pop singers of the 1960s.- Biography :Gore was born in New York City, New York. She was raised in...
  
  , American rock singer ("It's My Party"), as Lesley Sue Goldstein in New York City
  New York City
  New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
  
  
• Died: Bill Johnston, 61, American tennis player; Wimbledon 1923, U.S. champion 1915 and 1919.

May 2, 1946 (Thursday)

• Six inmates unsuccessfully tried to escape from Alcatraz Prison, leading to a riot later recalled as the so-called "Battle of Alcatraz".

May 3, 1946 (Friday)

• Willie Francis
  Willie Francis
  Willie Francis is best known for being the first recipient of a failed execution by electrocution in the United States. He was a black juvenile offender sentenced to death by electrocution by the state of Louisiana in 1945 for murdering Andrew Thomas, a Cajun pharmacy owner in St...
  
  , 17, was strapped into the electric chair, awaiting execution at St. Martinville, Louisiana
  St. Martinville, Louisiana
  St. Martinville is a city in and the parish seat of St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on Bayou Teche, sixteen miles south of Breaux Bridge, eighteen miles southeast of Lafayette, and nine miles north of New Iberia. The population was 6,989 at the 2000 census. It is part of the...
  
  , but got only a mild shock when the circuits failed. Francis had been convicted of the murder of a local pharmacist. After the chair was repaired, Purvis's execution was rescheduled for May 9, but Lieutenant Governor Emile Verret used his power as Acting Governor to grant a stay of execution. Francis was eventually executed on May 9, 1947.
• The Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal began the trial of Japanese military and political leaders for war crimes.

May 4, 1946 (Saturday)

• Despite being the leader of the party that won the 1946 Japanese general election, Ichirō Hatoyama
  Ichiro Hatoyama
  was a Japanese politician and the 52nd, 53rd and 54th Prime Minister of Japan, serving terms from December 10, 1954 through March 19, 1955, from then to November 22, 1955, and from then through December 23, 1956.-Personal life:...
  
   was barred from becoming Prime Minister of Japan
  Prime Minister of Japan
  The is the head of government of Japan. He is appointed by the Emperor of Japan after being designated by the Diet from among its members, and must enjoy the confidence of the House of Representatives to remain in office...
  
  , after the American occupational authority vetoed the choice. Shigeru Yoshida
  Shigeru Yoshida
  , KCVO was a Japanese diplomat and politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1946 to 1947 and from 1948 to 1954.-Early life:...
  
   became Prime Minister instead.

May 5, 1946 (Sunday)

• French constitutional referendum, May 1946
  French constitutional referendum, May 1946
  A constitutional referendum was held in France on 5 May 1946. Voters were asked whether they approved of a new constitution proposed by the National Assembly elected in 1945. Moderates, Radicals, and the Popular Republican Movement campaigned against the referendum. It was rejected by 52.8% of...
  
  : Voters in France rejected the proposed constitution for the Fourth Republic
  French Fourth Republic
  The French Fourth Republic was the republican government of France between 1946 and 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Third Republic, which was in place before World War II, and suffered many of the same problems...
  
  . Another vote, boycotted by millions, was taken on October 13, and a new draft was approved.
• Mariano Ospina Pérez
  Mariano Ospina Pérez
  Luis Mariano Ospina Pérez was a Colombian engineer and political figure, member of the Colombian Conservative Party. He served as President of Colombia between 1946 and 1950.- Biographic data :...
  
   was elected President of Colombia
  President of Colombia
  The President of Colombia is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Colombia. The office of president was established upon the ratification of the Constitution of 1819, by the Congress of Angostura, convened in December 1819, when Colombia was part of "la Gran Colombia"...
  
  , defeating Jorge Gaitan. The later assassination of Gaitan precipitated "La Violencia
  La Violencia
  La Violencia is a period of civil conflict in the Colombian countryside between supporters of the Colombian Liberal Party and the Colombian Conservative Party, a conflict which took place roughly from 1948 to 1958 ....
  
  ", in which thousands of people would be killed.

May 6, 1946 (Monday)

• American Zuni and Navajo veterans of World War II were denied in their attempts to register to vote
  Voter registration
  Voter registration is the requirement in some democracies for citizens and residents to check in with some central registry specifically for the purpose of being allowed to vote in elections. An effort to get people to register is known as a voter registration drive.-Centralized/compulsory vs...
  
   in the 1946 general elections in New Mexico
  New Mexico
  New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
  
  . The county clerk of McKinley County
  McKinley County, New Mexico
  -2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*15.2% White*0.5% Black*75.5% Native American*0.8% Asian*0.0% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.1% Two or more races*4.6% Other races*13.3% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
  
   rejected their applications, citing a provision in the state constitution that denied the right of suffrage to "Indians not taxed", referring to Native Americans who lived on federal reservations. The applicants challenged the provision, and on August 3, 1948, a federal court ruled that the New Mexico constitutional provision violated the United States Constitution. The 1948 general election marked the first time that residents of New Mexico's Indian reservations were allowed to vote.
• LIFE Magazine
  Life (magazine)
  Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
  
   published "Bedlam 1946: Most U.S. Mental Hospitals are a Shame and a Disgrace" in its May 6, 1946, issue. Albert Q. Maisel's exposé
  Investigative journalism
  Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...
  
   of the atrocities at two mental institutions, in Ohio and Pennsylvania, which he described as "concentration camps masquerading as hospitals", p102 spurred reforms in psychiatric care.
  • Curly Howard
    Curly Howard
    Jerome Lester "Jerry" Horwitz , better known by his stage name Curly Howard, was an American comedian and vaudevillian. He is best known as a member of the American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges, along with his older brothers Moe Howard and Shemp Howard, and actor Larry Fine...
    
     suffered a sroke on the final day of filming of Half-Wits Holiday
    Half-Wits Holiday
    Half-Wits Holiday is the 97th short subject starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.-Plot:...
    
     and retired at age 42.

May 7, 1946 (Tuesday)

• Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo or Totsuko) was founded by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita, who started with only 20 employees and built the company into one of the world's largest electronics manufacturers. In 1955, the company renamed itself Sony
  Sony
  , commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
  
  .
• Born: Thelma Houston
  Thelma Houston
  Thelma Houston is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She scored a number-one hit in 1976 with her cover version of the song "Don't Leave Me This Way", which won the 1978 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.-Early life & career:Houston is the daughter of a cotton picking mother...
  
  , American pop singer ("Don't Leave Me This Way"), in Leland, MS

May 8, 1946 (Wednesday)

• Operation Crossroads
  Operation Crossroads
  Operation Crossroads was a series of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. It was the first test of a nuclear weapon after the Trinity nuclear test in July 1945...
  
  : For the first time, the United States invited rest of the world to watch nuclear testing, with an invitation to the eleven other member nations of the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission
  United Nations Atomic Energy Commission
  The United Nations Atomic Energy Commission was founded on 24 January 1946 by Resolution 1 of the United Nations General Assembly "to deal with the problems raised by the discovery of atomic energy."...
  
   to watch the testing in July. The Soviet Union
  Soviet Union
  The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
  
  , United Kingdom, France, China, Canada, Australia, Brazil
  Brazil
  Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
  
  , Egypt
  Egypt
  Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
  
  , Poland
  Poland
  Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
  
  , the Netherlands
  Netherlands
  The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
  
   and Mexico
  Mexico
  The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
  
   were afforded the chance to send government and press representatives as witnesses.

May 9, 1946 (Thursday)

• Hour Glass, considered the first network television entertainment show, premiered at on WNBT-TV in New York
  New York
  New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
  
  . The program, described by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh as "one of the most important pioneers in the early history of television", By November, the show was telecast on the NBC television network, which consisted of three stations (New York, Philadelphia and Schenectady).
• King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
  Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
  Victor Emmanuel III was a member of the House of Savoy and King of Italy . In addition, he claimed the crowns of Ethiopia and Albania and claimed the titles Emperor of Ethiopia and King of Albania , which were unrecognised by the Great Powers...
  
   abdicated, and was succeeded by his son Umberto II.
• Born: Candice Bergen
  Candice Bergen
  Candice Patricia Bergen is an American actress and former fashion model.She is known for starring in two TV series, as the title character on the situation comedy Murphy Brown , for which she won five Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards; and as Shirley Schmidt on the comedy-drama Boston Legal...
  
  , American actress, in Beverly Hills; and Drafi Deutscher
  Drafi Deutscher
  Drafi Deutscher was a German singer and composer of Sinti origin.-Biography:He was born Drafi Franz Richard Deutscher in Berlin. His best known song was the 1965 Schlager "Marmor, Stein und Eisen bricht" which sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc...
  
  , German Schlager singer, in Berlin
  Berlin
  Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
  
   (d. 2006)

May 10, 1946 (Friday)

• Two naval airplanes collided during a training mission at the Pensacola Naval Air Station, killing 28 U.S. Navy airmen. The two PB-4Y planes were practicing evasive maneuvers with an F6F Hellcat fighter, and crashed into a wooded area eight miles north of Lake Munson
  Lake Munson
  Lake Munson is a shallow impoundment on the southeast side of Tallahassee in Leon County, Florida.Historically known as Munson's Mill Pond as early as the 1840s, in 1950 a permanent dam was constructed...
  
  , Florida
  Florida
  Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
  
  .
• An American-launched V-2 rocket
  V-2 rocket
  The V-2 rocket , technical name Aggregat-4 , was a ballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the Second World War in Germany, specifically targeted at London and later Antwerp. The liquid-propellant rocket was the world's first long-range combat-ballistic missile and first known...
  
   reached a record high altitude, soaring 75 miles above the White Sands, New Mexico
  White Sands, New Mexico
  White Sands is a census-designated place in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 1,323 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Las Cruces Metropolitan Statistical Area...
  
  , proving grounds. Prior to the flight, a brave man from Dorchester, Massachusetts, had volunteered to ride inside the nose cone of the reassembled German missile, and the U.S. Army politely declined his offer to become the first astronaut in history. "Experts said that there was room in a V-2 for a human being and he probably could survive the 3,500 mile an hour top speed," noted a report, "but added there was no known means of escaping alive before the rocket crashed to earth."
• Born: Donovan Leitch
  Donovan
  Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
  
  , Scottish rock musician ("Mellow Yellow"), in Maryhill
  Maryhill
  Maryhill is an area of the City of Glasgow in Scotland. Maryhill is a former burgh. The population of Maryhill is about 52,000. Maryhill stretches over along Maryhill Road...
  
  ; and Dave Mason
  Dave Mason
  David Thomas "Dave" Mason is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist from Worcester, who first found fame with the rock band Traffic...
  
  , English rock musician (Traffic
  Traffic (band)
  Traffic were an English rock band whose members came from the West Midlands. The group formed in April 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason...
  
   ("We Just Disagree"), in Worcester
  Worcester
  The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...
  
  

May 11, 1946 (Saturday)

• The first 20,000 "CARE Package
  CARE Package
  The CARE Package was the original unit of aid distributed by the humanitarian organization CARE...
  
  s", each with almost twenty pounds of food, were delivered to people in need, as a ship unloaded the materials at the French port of Le Havre
  Le Havre
  Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...
  
  . Under the charity program, an individual could pay for a CARE Package to be delivered elsewhere in the world. The phrase "care package" would become a generic term for sending necessary items to someone in need. CARE originally stood for "Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe", and later for "Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere".
• Sixty-one SS members, who had carried out exterminations at the Mauthausen concentration camp at Dachau, were convicted of murdering 70,000 people, mostly Jewish. Forty-nine of them were executed, and the other 12 released from prison by 1951.
• Born: Robert Jarvik, American physicist and artificial heart inventor, in Midland, Michigan
  Midland, Michigan
  Midland is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan in the Tri-Cities region of the state. It is the county seat of Midland County. The city's population was 41,863 as of the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Midland Micropolitan Statistical Area....
  
  

May 12, 1946 (Sunday)

• The Newfoundland Herald
  Newfoundland Herald
  The Newfoundland Herald is a weekly magazine available throughout Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, published in St. John's. Owned by Stirling Communications International, a company run by Geoff Stirling, the Herald is part news magazine, part entertainment magazine, and includes television...
  
  published its first issue, originally as The Sunday Herald, founded by Geoffrey Sterling.
• Born: Richard Bruce Silverman
  Richard Bruce Silverman
  Richard Bruce Silverman is a chemistry professor at Northwestern University in the United States. He currently holds the title of "John Evans Professor of Chemistry". He is most known for his invention of pregabalin, which is now marketed by Pfizer under the trade name Lyrica.Silverman was awarded...
  
  , American chemist and developer of Pregabalin
  Pregabalin
  Pregabalin is an anticonvulsant drug used for neuropathic pain and as an adjunct therapy for partial seizures with or without secondary generalization in adults. It has also been found effective for generalized anxiety disorder and is approved for this use in the European Union. It was designed...
  
   (Lyrica), treatment for fibromyalgia
  Fibromyalgia
  Fibromyalgia is a medical disorder characterized by chronic widespread pain and allodynia, a heightened and painful response to pressure. It is an example of a diagnosis of exclusion...
  
  

May 13, 1946 (Monday)

• The Soviet ballistic missile program was formally created by a top secret decree (No. 1017-419ss) signed by Joseph Stalin
  Joseph Stalin
  Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
  
  , and Minister of Armaments Dmitriy Ustinov
  Dmitriy Ustinov
  Dmitriy Feodorovich Ustinov was Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union from 1976 until his death.-Early life:Dimitry Feodorovich Ustinov was born in a working-class family in Samara. During the civil war, when hunger became intolerable, his sick father went to Samarkand, leaving Dimitry as head...
  
   was made overseer of the project.
• The Federal Airport Act was signed into law by U.S. President Harry S Truman, providing for dollars in federal grants for civilian airport projects across the United States over a seven year period.
• With U.S. coal supplies dwindling, striking American coal miners returned to work for two weeks on the orders of United Mine Workers
  United Mine Workers
  The United Mine Workers of America is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners and coal technicians. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the United States and Canada...
  
   President John L. Lewis
  John L. Lewis
  John Llewellyn Lewis was an American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960...
  
  , who said that the walkout would start anew of negotiations on a new labor contract failed.

May 14, 1946 (Tuesday)

• Nueces County, Texas, including Corpus Christi
  Corpus Christi, Texas
  Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas. The county seat of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio counties. The MSA population in 2008 was 416,376. The population was 305,215 at the 2010 census making it the...
  
  , was quarantined to prevent the spread of a "polio-like disease" that had broken out in Corpus Christi and San Antonio. In addition to the closing of all schools, churches, theaters, and parks, the roads leading into and out of Nueces County were blocked by 300 members of the Texas National Guard, and nobody under 21 was allowed in. Buses and trains were "sprayed with DDT", with the pesticide being used as a disinfectant.

May 15, 1946 (Wednesday)

• The USCG Eagle
  USCGC Eagle (WIX-327)
  The is a barque used as a training cutter for future officers of the United States Coast Guard. She is one of only two active commissioned sailing vessels in American military service, the other being the USS Constitution....
  
  , known as "America's Tall Ship", was commissioned as a training vessel for the United States Coast Guard. The only active American sail-powered vessel had been built in 1936 for the German Navy as the Horst Wessel, and was captured in World War II.

May 16, 1946 (Thursday)

• The musical Annie Get Your Gun
  Annie Get Your Gun (musical)
  Annie Get Your Gun is a musical with lyrics and music written by Irving Berlin and a book by Herbert Fields and his sister Dorothy Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley , who was a sharpshooter from Ohio, and her husband, Frank Butler.The 1946 Broadway production...
  
  , starring Ethel Merman
  Ethel Merman
  Ethel Merman was an American actress and singer. Known primarily for her powerful voice and roles in musical theatre, she has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage." Among the many standards introduced by Merman in Broadway musicals are "I Got Rhythm", "Everything's...
  
   as Annie Oakley
  Annie Oakley
  Annie Oakley , born Phoebe Ann Mosey, was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Oakley's amazing talent and timely rise to fame led to a starring role in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, which propelled her to become the first American female superstar.Oakley's most famous trick is perhaps...
  
  , premiered on Broadway, at the Imperial Theatre. Written by Irving Berlin
  Irving Berlin
  Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
  
  , the show introduced the hit songs There's No Business Like Show Business
  There's No Business Like Show Business
  "There's No Business Like Show Business" is an Irving Berlin song, written for the musical Annie Get Your Gun and orchestrated by Ted Royal. The song, a slightly tongue-in-cheek salute to the glamor and excitement of a life in show business, is sung in the musical by members of Buffalo Bill's Wild...
  
  , Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better), I Got the Sun in the Mornin' (and the Moon at Night)
  I Got the Sun in the Mornin' (and the Moon at Night)
  "I Got the Sun in the Mornin' " is a song from the 1946 musical Annie Get Your Gun, written by Irving Berlin and originally performed by Ethel Merman....
  
  , and The Girl That I Marry
  The Girl That I Marry
  "The Girl That I Marry" is a song from the 1946 musical Annie Get Your Gun, written by Irving Berlin.It was originally performed by Ray Middleton on stage and on record.Other hit versions in 1946 were by Frank Sinatra and Eddy Howard ....
  
  , and ran for 1,159 performances.
• British Prime Minister Clement Attlee
  Clement Attlee
  Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
  
   informed the House of Commons that the Cabinet Mission had rejected the Muslim League proposal for an independent State of Pakistan
  Pakistan
  Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
  
  . The six-point plan for a Federal Union of India included a provision that legislation would have to be approved by a majority of both the Hindu legislators and the Muslim legislators.
• A Viking Transport DC-3 airliner enroute from Newark
  Newark, New Jersey
  Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
  
   to Atlanta crashed while attempting a landing at Richmond
  Richmond, Virginia
  Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
  
  , killing all 27 people on board.
• At the Institute of Radio Engineers
  Institute of Radio Engineers
  The Institute of Radio Engineers was a professional organization which existed from 1912 until January 1, 1963, when it merged with the American Institute of Electrical Engineers to form the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers .-Founding:Following several attempts to form a...
  
   convention in San Francisco, Major Jack Mullin
  Jack Mullin
  John T. "Jack" Mullin was an American pioneer in the field of magnetic tape sound recording and made significant contributions to many other related fields. From his days at Santa Clara University to his death, he displayed a deep appreciation for classical music and an aptitude for electronics...
  
   of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, demonstrated the Magnetophon
  Magnetophon
  Magnetophon was the brand or model name of the pioneering reel-to-reel tape recorder developed by engineers of the German electronics company AEG in the 1930s, based on the magnetic tape invention by Fritz Pfleumer...
  
   and its magnetic recording tape, which he had found in Germany following the Allied victory in World War II. The high fidelity system had never been heard in the United States, and with Mullin as a consultant, the Ampex company developed the first American audiotape recording systems.

May 17, 1946 (Friday)

• An U.S. Army C-47 airplane with 12 persons, and the remains of 41 U.S. servicemen, crashed while enroute from Rangoon (Yangon
  Yangon
  Yangon is a former capital of Burma and the capital of Yangon Region . Although the military government has officially relocated the capital to Naypyidaw since March 2006, Yangon, with a population of over four million, continues to be the country's largest city and the most important commercial...
  
  ) to Calcutta (Kolkata
  Kolkata
  Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
  
  ). The wreckage, located somewhere in modern day Bangladesh
  Bangladesh
  Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
  
  , has never been found.
• The Bell X-1
  Bell X-1
  The Bell X-1, originally designated XS-1, was a joint NACA-U.S. Army/US Air Force supersonic research project built by Bell Aircraft. Conceived in 1944 and designed and built over 1945, it eventually reached nearly 1,000 mph in 1948...
  
   supersonic jet aircraft was shown to the general public for the first time, at an exhibition at Wright Field
  Wright Field
  Wright Field was an airfield of the United States Army Air Corps and Air Forces near Riverside, Ohio. From 1927 to 1947 it was the research and development center for the Air Corps, and during World War II a flight test center....
  
  .
• Died: William Jefferson Blythe, Jr.
  William Jefferson Blythe, Jr.
  William Jefferson "Bill" Blythe, Jr. was an Arkansas salesman of heavy equipment and the biological father of former U.S. President Bill Clinton.-Personal life:...
  
  , 28, in an automobile accident near Sikeston, Missouri
  Sikeston, Missouri
  Sikeston is a city located both in southern Scott County and northern New Madrid County, in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is geographically situated just north of the "Missouri Bootheel", although many locals consider Sikeston a part of it. By way of Interstate 55, Sikeston is close to the...
  
  . Blythe died three months before the birth of his son, who would be named William Jefferson Blythe III, and who would, in 1993, become Bill Clinton
  Bill Clinton
  William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
  
  , the 42nd President of the United States
  President of the United States
  The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
  
  .

May 18, 1946 (Saturday)

• Minutes before the scheduled 4:00 p.m. railroad strike across the United States, President Truman announced that the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers
  Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers
  The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen is a labor union founded in Marshall, Michigan, on May 8, 1863, as the Brotherhood of the Footboard. A year later, its name was changed to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, sometimes referred to as the Brotherhood of Engineers...
  
   had agreed to postpone the walkout for five days.
• According to Swedish athlete Gösta Carlsson, he was visited on this date by aliens from outer space, who landed their craft at a forest clearing near Kronoskogen
  Kronoskogen
  Kronoskogen is a forest area between Ängelholm and Skälderviken in Sweden....
  
  , and gave him information about natural remedies, which he used to found two successful companies. The UFO-Memorial Ängelholm
  UFO-Memorial Ängelholm
  The UFO-Memorial Ängelholm is a shrine dedicated to a supposed UFO landing in Kronoskogen, a suburb of Ängelholm, Sweden. Few such memorials exist in Europe...
  
   was erected at the site in 1963 and is a tourist attraction.
• Born: Reggie Jackson
  Reggie Jackson
  Reginald Martinez "Reggie" Jackson , nicknamed "Mr. October" for his clutch hitting in the postseason with the New York Yankees, is a former American Major League Baseball right fielder. During a 21-year baseball career, he played from 1967-1987 for four different teams. Jackson currently serves as...
  
  , American MLB player 1967–1987, Hall of Fame 1993; in Wyncote, Pennsylvania
  Wyncote, Pennsylvania
  Wyncote is a census-designated place in Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,044 at the 2010 census...
  
  

May 19, 1946 (Sunday)

• The "People's Rally for Obtaining Food" took place in Tokyo
  Tokyo
  , ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
  
  , as hundreds of thousands of demonstrators protested against food shortages and against the government of Japan's Prime Minister, Shigeru Yoshida
  Shigeru Yoshida
  , KCVO was a Japanese diplomat and politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1946 to 1947 and from 1948 to 1954.-Early life:...
  
  .
• The city of Guadalupe, California
  Guadalupe, California
  Guadalupe is a small city located in Santa Barbara County, California. According to the U.S. Census of 2010, the city has a population of 7,080. It was incorporated as a city on May 19, 1946...
  
  , was incorporated.
• Born: André the Giant
  André the Giant
  André René Roussimoff , best known as André the Giant, was a French professional wrestler and actor. His best remembered acting role was that of Fezzik, the giant in the film The Princess Bride...
  
  , French professional wrestler, as André Roussimoff, in Grenoble
  Grenoble
  Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
  
   (d. 1993)
• Died: Booth Tarkington
  Booth Tarkington
  Booth Tarkington was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novels The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams...
  
  , 76, American novelist

May 20, 1946 (Monday)

• By a vote of 324 to 143, the British House of Commons
  British House of Commons
  The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
  
   passed a bill to nationalize
  Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946
  The Coal Industry Nationalisation Act of 1946 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It received Royal Assent on 12 July 1946, and provided for the nationalization of the entire British coal industry. It established the National Coal Board which acted as the managing authority for coal...
  
   the United Kingdom's coal mining
  Coal mining
  The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
  
   industry. The measure was then approved by the House of Lords
  House of Lords
  The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
  
   and received royal assent on July 12.
• A U.S. Army C-45 transport plane crashed into the 58th floor of the 70-story Bank of Manhattan building on Wall Street, killing all five persons aboard. The accident happened at eight in the evening, and most of the 5,000 persons who normally would have been in the building had left for the day.
• Born: Cher
  Cher
  Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
  
  , American actress and rock singer, as Cherilyn Sarkisian, in El Centro, CA
• Died: Jacob Ellehammer
  Jacob Ellehammer
  Jacob Christian Hansen Ellehammer was a Danish watchmaker and inventor born in Bakkebølle, Denmark. He is remembered chiefly for his contributions to powered flight....
  
  , 74, Danish inventor

May 21, 1946 (Tuesday)

• Dr. Louis Slotin
  Louis Slotin
  Louis Alexander Slotin was a Canadian physicist and chemist who took part in the Manhattan Project, the secret US program during World War II that developed the atomic bomb....
  
  , a physicist at the Los Alamos
  Los Alamos, New Mexico
  Los Alamos is a townsite and census-designated place in Los Alamos County, New Mexico, United States, built upon four mesas of the Pajarito Plateau and the adjoining White Rock Canyon. The population of the CDP was 12,019 at the 2010 Census. The townsite or "the hill" is one part of town while...
  
   research center, was fatally injured during an experiment with a "subcritical nuclear assembly", a plutonium
  Plutonium
  Plutonium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with the chemical symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation...
  
   core and two halves of a beryllium sphere. The purpose was to measure the increase in radiation as the two hemispheres (which deflected neutrons back into the plutonium) were moved closer together. At , the screwdriver slipped and the two beryllium pieces came together, causing a critical reaction. Slotin knocked the halves apart, saving the other seven men in the room, while absorbing a lethal dose of radiation that a radiologist described as a "3-D sunburn" to all the cells of his body. Slotin died nine days later.

May 22, 1946 (Wednesday)

• At 12:01 a.m., all United States bituminous coal mines whose workers were on strike were seized by the federal government and placed under the operation of the U.S. Department of the Interior and its Secretary, Julius A. Krug. President Truman had issued Executive Order 9278 at 3:00 the afternoon before.
• The Culinary Institute of America
  Culinary Institute of America
  The Culinary Institute of America is a non-profit culinary college located in Hyde Park USA, founded in 1946. The CIA also has branch campuses in St. Helena, California, and San Antonio, Texas, as well as a campus in Singapore. It is a not-for-profit academic institution of higher learning...
  
   was founded.
• Born: George Best
  George Best
  George Best was a professional footballer from Northern Ireland, who played for Manchester United and the Northern Ireland national team. He was a winger whose game combined pace, acceleration, balance, two-footedness, goalscoring and the ability to beat defenders...
  
  , Northern Irish footballer, in Belfast
  Belfast
  Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
  
   (d. 2005)
• Died: Karl Hermann Frank
  Karl Hermann Frank
  Karl Hermann Frank was a prominent Sudeten German Nazi official in Czechoslovakia prior to and during World War II and an SS-Obergruppenführer...
  
  , 48, Nazi SS leader who oversaw the massacres at Lidice
  Lidice
  Lidice is a village in the Czech Republic just northwest of Prague. It is built on the site of a previous village of the same name which, as part of the Nazi Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, was on orders from Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, completely destroyed by German forces in reprisal...
  
   and Ležáky
  Ležáky
  Ležáky was a village in Czechoslovakia. In 1942 it was razed to the ground by Nazis during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia.Ležáky was a settlement inhabited by poor stone-cutters and little cottagers...
  
  , was hanged in Prague
  Prague
  Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
  
  .

May 23, 1946 (Thursday)

• At 4:00 p.m., thousands of railroad workers in the Eastern Time Zone of the United States walked off of their jobs. Hour by hour, as 4 o'clock arrived in the rest of the nation, laborers walked off of their jobs. By EST, the 227,000 miles of American railroads were tied up. In addition to the halt of freight shipments, millions of travelers were stranded in what was described as "the most crippling work stoppage the nation ever suffered",

May 24, 1946 (Friday)

• At 9:00 pm Eastern Time, U.S. President Harry S. Truman
  Harry S. Truman
  Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
  
   made a nationwide radio address regarding the railway strike, and delivered an ultimatum: "If sufficient workers to operate the trains have not returned, by tomorrow, as head of our government, I have no alternative but to operate the trains by using every means within my power ... I shall ask our armed forces to furnish protection to every man who heeds the call of his country in this hour of need." Having set a deadline of 19 hours for action, Truman closed by saying that he would address a joint session of Congress the next day at 4.
• Thailand
  Thailand
  Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
  
   was invaded at dawn by 800 soldiers of the French Army
  French Army
  The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...
  
  , who crossed the Mekong
  Mekong
  The Mekong is a river that runs through China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is the world's 10th-longest river and the 7th-longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annually....
  
   River from Laos
  Laos
  Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
  
  , at that time part of French Indo-China. The troops from France were supported by planes and artillery, and clashed with local forces while pursuing Communist rebels.
• An unidentified U.S. Congressman on the House Appropriations Committee told a reporter of a biological weapon that "can wipe out all form of life in a large city", describing a "germ proposition" that would be sprayed from airplanes to deliver "quick and certain death".

May 25, 1946 (Saturday)

• With only three minutes left before the United States Army would seize control of the nation's railroads, the leaders of both striking railway workers' unions signed a settlement at the White House
  White House
  The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
  
  . With soldiers in place and a deadline of EST, a verbal agreement was reached at 3:50 and the written pact was signed at 3:57. Earlier in the day, the U.S. House of Representatives had approved President Truman's request for emergency legislation that would have allowed striking workers to be drafted into the U.S. armed forces.
• In a 14 minute ceremony at Amman
  Amman
  Amman is the capital of Jordan. It is the country's political, cultural and commercial centre and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Greater Amman area has a population of 2,842,629 as of 2010. The population of Amman is expected to jump from 2.8 million to almost...
  
  , the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (referred to as the Kingdom of Transjordan
  Transjordan
  The Emirate of Transjordan was a former Ottoman territory in the Southern Levant that was part of the British Mandate of Palestine...
  
   until 1949) won its full independence from the United Kingdom. Before a crowd of 300,000 witnesses, emir Abdullah
  Abdullah I of Jordan
  Abdullah I bin al-Hussein, King of Jordan [‘Abd Allāh ibn al-Husayn] عبد الله الأول بن الحسين born in Mecca, Second Saudi State, was the second of three sons of Sherif Hussein bin Ali, Sharif and Emir of Mecca and his first wife Abdiyya bint Abdullah...
  
   became the nation's King.

May 26, 1946 (Sunday)

• Czechoslovak parliamentary election, 1946
  Czechoslovak parliamentary election, 1946
  Parliamentary elections were held in Czechoslovakia on 26 May 1946. The result was a victory for the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, which won 93 of the 300 seats. Voter turnout was 93.9%.-Background:...
  
  : In the first democratic elections in Czechoslovakia
  Czechoslovakia
  Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
  
   since World War II, the Communist Party, led by Klement Gottwald
  Klement Gottwald
  Klement Gottwald was a Czechoslovakian Communist politician, longtime leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia , prime minister and president of Czechoslovakia.-Early life:...
  
   captured 114 of the 300 seats in Parliament. Gottwald became Prime Minister of a coalition government. In 1948, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia became the sole legal party.
• Vincent Pellicio, a 21 year old prisoner in Mecklenburg County, Virginia
  Mecklenburg County, Virginia
  As of the census of 2010, there were 32,727 people, 12,951 households, and 8,962 families residing in the county. The population density was 52 people per square mile . There were 17,403 housing units at an average density of 28 per square mile...
  
  , escaped from a road crew. Pellicio started a new life, becoming an electrician in Newhall, California
  Newhall, California
  Newhall is the southernmost and oldest district of Santa Clarita, California. Prior to the 1987 consolidation of Valencia, Canyon Country, Saugus, Newhall, and other geographically proximate settlements into the conglomerate city of Santa Clarita, it was an independent but unincorporated town...
  
  , and remained free until August 4, 1987, when he was arrested on a 41 year old escape warrant and returned to Virginia. Two weeks later, Pellicio was pardoned by Virginia Governor Gerald Baliles, "in view of his law-abiding behavior and commendable adjustment since his escape".
• Gerald Walter Conrad was born.

May 27, 1946 (Monday)

• In Vietnam
  Vietnam
  Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
  
  , the French colonial government created an administration for the minority Montagnard population, separate from the Vietnamese people, with the headquarters at Buôn Ma Thuột
  Buon Ma Thuot
  Buôn Ma Thuột or sometimes Buon Ma Thuat or Ban Mê Thuột, is the capital city of Dak Lak Province, in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Its population is approximately 300,000...
  
  . A short-lived, autonomous Pays Montagnard du Sud followed in 1950.

May 28, 1946 (Tuesday)

• The United States made a loan package to France for a record dollars.
• In the first nighttime baseball game ever played at Yankee Stadium
  Yankee Stadium
  Yankee Stadium was a stadium located in The Bronx in New York City, New York. It was the home ballpark of the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1973 and from 1976 to 2008. The stadium hosted 6,581 Yankees regular season home games during its 85-year history. It was also the former home of the New York...
  
  , a crowd of 49,917 watched the New York Yankees lose to the Washington Senators, 2–1.
• Born: Koyamparambath Satchidanandan, Malayalam language poet, in Kerala
  Kerala
  or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
  
  , India
• Died: Carter Glass
  Carter Glass
  Carter Glass was a newspaper publisher and politician from Lynchburg, Virginia. He served many years in Congress as a member of the Democratic Party. As House co-sponsor, he played a central role in the development of the 1913 Glass-Owen Act that created the Federal Reserve System. Glass...
  
  , 89, United States Senator (D-Virginia) since 1920 and oldest member of the U.S. Senate; Senator Glass had not appeared in Congress since June 1942, but had been re-elected later that year. Even after he became incapacitated, his seat was never declared vacant.

May 29, 1946 (Wednesday)

• After 45 days, the nationwide walkout of American bituminous coal miners ended, with the signing, at the White House, of a new contract by UMWA President John L. Lewis
  John L. Lewis
  John Llewellyn Lewis was an American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960...
  
   and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Krug. Lewis said that the nation's coal 400,000 soft coal miners would be back to work by June 2.
• The Minsk Tractor Works
  Minsk Tractor Works
  Minsk Tractor Works may refer to two entities: a plant in Minsk, Belarus and a plant association in Belarus....
  
   was founded in the Soviet Union at the capital of the Byellorussian SSR (now Belarus). The state supported company became the world's largest manufacturer of farm tractors.*Born: Fernando Buesa
  Fernando Buesa
  Fernando Buesa Blanco was a Spanish Basque politician in the Basque Christian Democracy and in the Socialist Party of Euskadi - Euskadiko Ezkerra branch of the social democratic Spanish Socialist Workers' Party...
  
  , Spanish Basque politician, in Bilbao
  Bilbao
  Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...
  
   (assassinated 2000)

May 30, 1946 (Thursday)

• George Robson
  George Robson
  George Robson was a Canadian racecar driver active in the 1940s. Born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, Robson later moved to Ontario and finally to the U.S. in 1924. Robson died with George Barringer in an accident at Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta, Georgia. Robson's brother Hal also competed in the...
  
  , who had never before finished first in a major auto race, won the Indianapolis 500
  Indianapolis 500
  The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, also known as the Indianapolis 500, the 500 Miles at Indianapolis, the Indy 500 or The 500, is an American automobile race, held annually, typically on the last weekend in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana...
  
  , which was being run for the first time since 1941.
• The derailment of a train at Hengyang
  Hengyang
  Hengyang is the second largest city of China's Hunan Province. It straddles the Xiang River about 160 km south of Changsha.-History:Its former name was Hengzhou . This was the capital of a prefecture in the Tang Dynasty's Jiangnan and West Jiangnan circuits...
  
   in China killed more than 90 passengers and injured 60 others. The group were in four coaches of a train traveling from Guangzhou
  Guangzhou
  Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
  
   (Canton) to Hankow.
• Born: Candy Lightner
  Candy Lightner
  Candace Lynne "Candy" Lightner is the organizer and founding president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving . On May 3, 1980, Lightner’s 13-year-old daughter, Cari, was killed by a hit-and-run driver at Sunset and New York Avenues in Fair Oaks, California.The leniency of the sentence given to the...
  
  , American founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving
  Mothers Against Drunk Driving
  Mothers Against Drunk Driving is a non-profit organization in the United States that seeks to stop drunk driving, support those affected by drunk driving, prevent underage drinking, and overall push for stricter alcohol policy...
  
  

May 31, 1946 (Friday)

• The Japanese submarines I-400 and I-401, described as history's first "underwater aircraft carriers", and the largest non-nuclear subs ever built, were secretly destroyed near Hawaii, sunk by the USS Cabezon. The I-401 was rediscovered on March 17, 2005. At 400 feet long, the "Sensuikan Toku" class of subs were designed to carry three Seiran bombers, each of which could be readied to fly once the sub surfaced.
• London Heathrow Airport
  London Heathrow Airport
  London Heathrow Airport or Heathrow , in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic, handling more international passengers than any other airport around the globe...
  
   was officially opened for civilian use.
• The Antonov
  Antonov
  Antonov, or Antonov Aeronautical Scientist/Technical Complex , formerly the Antonov Design Bureau, is a Ukrainian aircraft manufacturing and services company with particular expertise in the field of very large aircraft construction. Antonov ASTC is a state-owned commercial company...
  
   Design Bureau was established at Novosibirsk
  Novosibirsk
  Novosibirsk is the third-largest city in Russia, after Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and the largest city of Siberia, with a population of 1,473,737 . It is the administrative center of Novosibirsk Oblast as well as of the Siberian Federal District...
  
   to begin production of the Antonov series of Soviet civilian airplanes.
• An earthquake in the Muş Province
  Mus Province
  Muş Province is a province in eastern Turkey. It is 8,196 km² in area, and has a population of 406,886 . The population was 453,654 in 2000. The provincial capital is the city of Muş...
  
   of Turkey
  Turkey
  Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
  
   killed at least 255 people. The quake was centered at the village of Varto
  Varto
  Varto is a town in eastern Turkey occupied primarily by Kurdish people.Varto was the site of a major fighting during the Sheikh Said rebellion in 1924, and the 1966 earthquake that killed nearly 3,000 people....
  
  .