July 1949

• Judith Coplon was sentenced to 3 to 10 years in prison for acting as a spy for the Soviets.{{cite journal |date=July 2, 1949 |title=Judith Coplon Is Sentenced To 3 to 10 Years as a Spy |journal=The New York Times |page=1 }}
• The Kemi strike began in Finland.
• The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India was established.
• In Quebec, the Asbestos strike ended after the workers accepted a 10-cent per hour wage increase.{{cite journal |date=July 2, 1949 |title=End Asbestos Strike; 2,000 Get Pay Raise |journal=Chicago Daily Tribune |location=Chicago |page=8 }}
• American Ted Schroeder defeated Czech Jaroslav Drobný in the Gentlemen's Singles Final at the Wimbledon Championships.{{cite journal |date=July 2, 1949 |title=Schroeder Halts Drobny in Final as U.S. Enjoys Big Day in Wimbledon Tennis |journal=The New York Times |page=11 }}
• Born: John Farnham, English-born Australian singer, in Dagenham
• Died: Isamu Takeshita, 79, Japanese admiral

• The State of Vietnam was proclaimed.
• 1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash: A Douglas DC-3 flying from Perth to Carnarvon, Western Australia lost control shortly after takeoff and crashed, killing all 18 aboard.
• Vasil Kolarov became 33rd prime minister of Bulgaria.
• Louise Brough defeated Margaret Osborne duPont in an all-American Ladies' Singles Final at the Wimbledon Championships.{{cite journal |last=Gruson |first=Sydney |date=July 3, 1949 |title=Miss Brough Keeps Wimbledon Titles |journal=The New York Times |page=S1 }}
• The romantic drama film The Fountainhead based on the Ayn Rand novel of the same name and starring Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal was released.
• Born: David Eaton, composer and conductor, in Cleveland, Ohio
• Died: Georgi Dimitrov, 67, Bulgarian communist politician

• The government of Yugoslavia claimed that "gross violations" of the Italian Peace Treaty by the US, Britain and Italy had compelled it to incorporate the Yugoslavian occupation area of the Free Territory of Trieste into the Yugoslavian economy.{{cite journal |date=July 4, 1949 |title=Belgrade Absorbs Trieste Economy |journal=The New York Times |page=2 }}
• Born: Jan Smithers, actress, in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California; Johnnie Wilder Jr., lead vocalist of the R&B/funk group Heatwave, in Dayton, Ohio (d. 2006)

• Princess Elizabeth moved from Buckingham Palace to Clarence House, her first official residence.{{cite journal |date=July 5, 1949 |title=Elizabeth Moves Into Her Own Home |journal=The New York Times |page=8 }}
• Born: Horst Seehofer, politician, in Ingolstadt, West Germany
• A Strasbourg-to-Paris express train derailed in Emberménil, killing at least six and injuring at least 29.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=a25gAAAAIBAJ&pg=3551,1099310 |work=Wilmington Morning Star |date=5 July 1949 |title=French Express Train Derails, At Least Six Die |access-date=January 25, 2021 |agency=U.P. }}

• The treason trial of "Tokyo Rose" Iva Toguri D'Aquino began in San Francisco with jury selection.{{cite journal |last=Davies |first=Lawrence E. |date=July 6, 1949 |title=Jury Is Completed In Tokyo Rose Case |journal=The New York Times |page=16 }}
• Shimoyama incident: Japanese National Railways president Sadanori Shimoyama disappeared on his way to work. His body was found the next day but the cause of death remains a mystery.

• Poland joined in Eastern Europe's economic blockade of Yugoslavia.{{cite journal |last=Morrow |first=Edward A. |date=July 7, 1949 |title=Poles End Trade With Tito; Transfer Market to Finns |journal=The New York Times |page=1 }}
• NAACP leader Walter Francis White married writer Poppy Cannon in New York. The interracial marriage was kept a secret from the public for over a month.{{cite journal |date=February 25, 1954 |title=Famous Secret Marriages |journal=Jet |page=46 }}
• Born: Noli de Castro, journalist and politician, in Pola, Oriental Mindoro, Philippines; Phyllis Hyman, singer and actress, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1995)
• Died: Hans Heinz Zerlett, 56, German screenwriter and film director (died of tuberculosis in a Soviet internment camp)

• British soldiers began unloading food on the London waterfront to combat a wildcat dock workers' strike.{{cite journal |date=July 8, 1949 |title=British Troops Begin Unloading Struck Ships in London's Docks |journal=The New York Times |page=4 }}
• The "Free Albania" National Committee was formed.
• Born: Shelley Duvall, actress, in Houston, Texas

• The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act went into effect in South Africa, one of the first pieces of apartheid legislation since the National Party came to power.
• The perjury trial of Alger Hiss ended in a hung jury.{{cite journal |last=Conklin |first=William R. |date=July 9, 1949 |title=Jury In Hiss Case Dismissed; Stood 8 To 4 For Conviction; Retrial Scheduled For Fall |journal=The New York Times |page=1 }}
• Born: Carmel Cryan, actress, in London, England; Wolfgang Puck, chef, in Sankt Veit an der Glan, Austria
• Died: Harold Knerr, 66, American comic strip cartoonist (The Katzenjammer Kids)

• Bobby Locke won the British Open.
• Born: Ali Akbar Abdolrashidi, intellectual and journalist, in Kerman, Iran; Jesse Duplantis, televangelist minister, in New Orleans, Louisiana; Nigel Lythgoe, dancer, choreographer and television personality, in Wallasey, England
• Died: Fritz Hart, 75, English composer

• The Khait earthquake in Tajikistan triggered a massive landslide that killed an estimated 7,200 people.

• King George VI gave the British government emergency powers to deal with the strike of London dock workers.{{cite book |date=1950 |editor1-last=Yust |editor1-first=Walter |title=1950 Britannica Book of the Year |publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. |page=9 }}
• The four-masted barque Pamir became the last windjammer to carry a commercial load around Cape Horn.
• The first sitting of the Newfoundland and Labrador General Assembly after the province joined the Canadian federation.
• Anna Lucasta a 1949 America drama film, directed by Irving Rapper, starring Paulette Goddard, Oscar Homolka, and John Ireland was released.
• Headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, the Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation, an electrical generation and distribution cooperative, was founded.
• Died: Corneliu Dragalina, 52, Romanian World War II general; Beauford H. Jester, 56, 36th Governor of Texas (heart attack aboard a train)

• A Lockheed L-749 Constellation of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines crashed in a monsoon rainstorm near Bombay, India. All 45 aboard (including Pulitzer Prize winning journalist H R. Knickerbocker) perished.{{cite web |url=http://www.planecrashinfo.com/1949/1949-33.htm |title=July 12, 1949 |website=PlaneCrashInfo |access-date=June 4, 2018 }}
• The American League defeated the National League 11–7 in the 16th Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn.
• Died: Douglas Hyde, 89, Irish scholar and 1st president of Ireland

• The Vatican warned that all Catholics who "defend and spread the materialistic and anti-Christian doctrine of the Communists" would be excommunicated.{{cite journal |last=Cianfarra |first=Camille M. |date=July 14, 1949 |title=Decree Of Vatican Puts A Strict Ban Upon Communism |journal=The New York Times |page=1 }}
• The drama film The Great Gatsby starring Alan Ladd and based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel of the same name was released.

• Former national committeeman for the American Communist Party Manning Johnson testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee in Washington. Johnson estimated that there were about 2,000 Negro Communists in the United States and claimed that singer Paul Robeson had been a secret member of the Communist Party "for many years."{{cite journal |date=July 15, 1949 |title='Black Stalin' Aim Is Laid To Robeson |journal=The New York Times |page=13}}
• 5-year-old Robert Kasik of Berwyn, Illinois, fell into one of three hot springs near the foundations of the West Thumb Geyser Basin cafeteria building in Yellowstone National Park. He died from his burns six hours later.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U5uLAgAAQBAJ&dq=Death+in+Yellowstone+David+Allen+Kirwan&pg=PA16 |first=Lee H. |last=Whittlesey |title=Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park |publisher=Roberts Rinehart Publishers |year=2014 |page=16}}
• Died: Otto Wächter, 48, Austrian SS officer and Nazi politician

• Prüm explosion: An ammunition depot in the Eifel mountains in western Germany blew up for reasons that were never determined, killing 12 people and leaving one of the largest man-made explosion craters in existence.
• Mitaka incident: An unmanned train drove into Mitaka Station in Tokyo, Japan, killing 6 people and injuring 20.
• Czech tennis stars Jaroslav Drobný and Vladimír Černík declared at a tournament in Gstaad, Switzerland that they were defecting and would seek asylum in the United States.{{cite journal |date=July 16, 1949 |title=2 Czech Tennis Aces Renounce Country |journal=The New York Times |page=1 }}
• Born: Carl Bildt, 30th prime minister of Sweden, in Halmstad, Sweden; Trevor Horn, musician and record producer, in Durham, England; Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai, in Al Shindagha, Dubai
• Died: Anastasios Dalipis, 52 or 53, Greek Army officer and politician; Eva Marian Hubback, 53, English feminist

• The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia issued a manifesto maintaining that there would be no compromise in the fight against the church, which it characterized as "our greatest enemy."{{cite journal |last=Cianfarra |first=Camille M. |date=July 17, 1949 |title=Czech Reds Invoke No-Quarter Fight Against Hierarchy |journal=The New York Times |page=1 }}

• Hunan Province in China reported its worst flooding in 50 years, leaving 57,000 dead, 5 million homeless and 5 million acres of rice fields destroyed.{{cite journal |date=July 18, 1949 |title=20 Million Chinese Reported Driven From Their Homes by River Floods |journal=The New York Times |page=1 }}
• Born: Geezer Butler, bassist, songwriter and founding member of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, as Terence Butler in Aston, Birmingham, England; Andrei Fursenko, politician, scientist and businessman, in Leningrad, USSR; Charley Steiner, sportscaster and broadcast journalist, in Malverne, New York
• Jacques Lacan gives a lecture on the Mirror stage at the 16th International Congress of Psychoanalysis.{{Cite book |last=Lacan |first=Jacques |title=Écrits |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |year=2006 |isbn=9780393061154 |edition=1st |pages=74}}

• Jackie Robinson testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee to dispute a declaration from Paul Robeson that Negroes would not fight against Russia. Robinson maintained, however, that "Negroes were stirred up long before there was a Communist party" and would remain that way until racial equality was achieved.{{cite journal |last=Trussell |first=C. P. |date=July 19, 1949 |title=Jackie Robinson Terms Stand Of Robeson on Negroes False |journal=The New York Times |pages=1, 14 }}
• Died: Francisco Javier Arana, 43, Guatemalan Army officer (killed in a shootout); Vítězslav Novák, 78, Czech composer

• French President Vincent Auriol signed an agreement with Laotian King Sisavang Vong in Paris to recognize Laos as an independent state within the French Union.{{cite journal |date=July 20, 1949 |title=Laos Freedom Signed |journal=The New York Times |page=14 }}
• The USSR accused Italy of violating the 1947 peace treaty by signing the North Atlantic pact. The Russian note said that Italy broke a clause in the treaty that forbade the joining of "any alliances or other groupings pursuing aggressive aims."{{cite journal |date=July 20, 1949 |title=Reds Blast Italy For Signing Pact |journal=Pottstown Mercury |location=Pottstown, Pennsylvania |page=11 }}
• Born: Kgalema Motlanthe, 3rd president of South Africa, in Boksburg, South Africa; Daniel Vaillant, politician, in Lormes, France
• Died: Frank Murphy, 59, United States Supreme Court justice

• Israel and Syria signed an armistice agreement in which both sides agreed to keep their military forces behind their international borders and to establish demilitarized zones in contested areas.{{cite journal |last=Currivan |first=Gene |date=July 21, 1949 |title=Israel And Syria Sign An Armistice; Forces To Retire |journal=The New York Times |page=1 }}

• The US Senate ratified the North Atlantic Treaty by a vote of 82 to 13.
• Died: Karl-Hermann Geib, 41, German physical chemist

• A French military tribunal sentenced former German Ambassador to Vichy France Otto Abetz to 20 years hard labour as a war criminal.{{cite journal |last=Warren |first=Lansing |date=July 23, 1949 |title=French Sentence Abetz To 20 Years |journal=The New York Times |page=1 }}
• Dock workers in London voted to end their four-week strike.{{cite journal |last=Daniel |first=Clifton |date=July 23, 1949 |title=Dockers In London End 4-Week Strike |journal=The New York Times |page=4 }}
• Born: Alan Menken, film score composer and pianist, in New York City; Lasse Virén, long-distance runner, in Myrskylä, Finland

• Yugoslavian Foreign Minister Edvard Kardelj announced his country's withdrawal of "moral and political" support for Greek Communist guerrillas, whom he accused of following the Cominform's anti-Tito line.{{cite journal |last=Handler |first=M. S. |date=July 24, 1949 |title=Tito's Greek Move Laid to Cominform |journal=The New York Times |page=23 }}
• Died: Masaharu Anesaki, 75, Japanese scholar

• Shanghai was struck by a typhoon that would kill at least 29 people and leave portions of the city six feet underwater.{{cite journal |last=Lieberman |first=Henry R. |date=July 27, 1949 |title=29 Killed in Shanghai Typhoon; Some Areas 6 Feet Under Water |journal=The New York Times |pages=1, 16 }}
• The Raszyn radio transmitter became operational in Poland.{{cite journal |date=July 25, 1949 |title=Poles Open Radio Tower |journal=The New York Times |page=5 }}
• Former French Prime Minister Édouard Herriot was named chairman of the Council of Europe ahead of the body's first meeting to be held in Strasbourg on August 10.{{cite journal |date=July 25, 1949 |title=Herriot Named Chairman |journal=The New York Times |page=3 }}
• Born: Michael Richards, actor and comedian best known for playing Cosmo Kramer on the TV sitcom Seinfeld, in Culver City, California
• Died: Nils Östensson, 31, Swedish gold medalist cross-country skier (motorcycle accident)

• President Truman signed the North Atlantic Treaty and asked Congress to appropriate $1.45 billion in arms aid to signers of the treaty as well as Turkey, Greece, Iran and the Philippines.

• The Western Allied military commanders in Berlin ordered restitution of all private property seized by the Nazis in excess of 1,000 reichsmarks in value at the time of confiscation.{{cite journal |date=July 27, 1949 |title=To Restore Nazis' Loot |journal=The New York Times |page=15 }}
• Ecuador put down an armed revolt and arrested up to sixty persons, including former president Carlos Mancheno Cajas, in connection with the failed uprising.{{cite journal |date=July 27, 1949 |title=Revolt In Ecuador Quelled Speedily |journal=The New York Times |page=13 }}
• Born: Thaksin Shinawatra, businessman and 23rd prime minister of Thailand, in San Kamphaeng District, Thailand; Roger Taylor, drummer for the rock band Queen, in King's Lynn, Norfolk, England
• Died: Linda Arvidson, 65, American actress

• The French National Assembly approved the North Atlantic Treaty by a vote of 398 to 187.{{cite journal |last=Warren |first=Lansing |date=July 28, 1949 |title=Atlantic Treaty Approved in Paris |journal=The New York Times |page=3 }}
• The de Havilland Comet, the world's first production commercial jetliner, had its first flight.
• During the 1949 New Zealand rugby union tour of South Africa, Rhodesia defeated New Zealand 10–8 in an exhibition match in Bulawayo, marking the only time a non-Test nation has ever defeated the All-Blacks.
• The fantasy film Mighty Joe Young starring Terry Moore, Ben Johnson and Robert Armstrong was released.
• Died: Ellery Harding Clark, 75, American track and field athlete

• The House of Lords vetoed the government's steel nationalization bill by voting 103 to 29 to restore an amendment delaying the nationalization date until after the next general election.{{cite journal |date=July 29, 1949 |title=Lords Veto Steel Bill |journal=The New York Times |page=7 }}
• Daniel Chanis Pinzón became President of Panama.
• Born: Vida Blue, baseball player, in Mansfield, Louisiana (d. 2023)

• The United States and Britain announced plans to phase out the Berlin airlift by October 1.{{cite journal |last=Middleton |first=Drew |date=July 30, 1949 |title=Airlift To Berlin Will Be Reduced Starting Monday |journal=The New York Times |page=1 }}
• Murder of Bill Mason: Alice, Texas radio journalist W.H. Mason was shot and killed in a car with a friend, resulting in the arrest of deputy sheriff Sam Smithwick for murder. The previous day, Mason had claimed in a broadcast that a local dance hall was being operated in a disreputable manner without interference from law enforcement.{{cite journal |date=July 31, 1949 |title=Five Shoot Up Texas Dance Hall As Tension Rises in Radio Slaying |journal=The New York Times |pages=1, 50 }}
• Born: Jamil Mahuad, lawyer and 39th president of Ecuador, in Loja, Ecuador
• Died: Alice Everett, 84, British astronomer and engineer

• An Eastern Air Lines Douglas DC-3 collided in mid-air with an F6F Hellcat fighter plane of the US Navy near the McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey, resulting in the deaths of the Navy pilot and all fifteen people on the DC-3. The accident was attributed to reckless conduct on the part of the Navy pilot.{{cite journal |last=Feinberg |first=Alexander |date=July 31, 1949 |title=16 Die In Air Crash Of A Navy Fighter And Liner In Jersey |journal=The New York Times |page=1 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.planecrashinfo.com/1949/1949-37.htm |title=July 30, 1949 |website=PlaneCrashInfo |access-date=June 4, 2018 }}
• The British sloop Amethyst, detained by Chinese Communist forces since the Amethyst Incident on April 20, escaped down the Yangtze River under fire. Prime Minister Clement Attlee radioed a message of congratulations to the crew for its "gallant exploit."{{cite journal |date=July 31, 1949 |title=British Ship Free In Yangtze Dash |journal=The New York Times |page=1 }}
• Brigadier General Frank L. Howley resigned as commandant of the American sector of Berlin.{{cite journal |last=James |first=Michael |date=August 2, 1949 |title=Howley Asks To Quit |journal=The New York Times |page=3 }}
• The Legal Aid and Advice Act 1949 received Royal assent in the United Kingdom. It allowed those unable to pay for a solicitor to access free legal help, but it was only applicable to England and Wales.{{cite book |date=2005 |title=Legal Aid: Final Report of the Law Society of Northern Ireland and of the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee for the Period 1 April 2003 to 31 October 31 |location=London |publisher=The Stationery Office |isbn=9780102939248 }}
• "Some Enchanted Evening" by Perry Como topped the Billboard singles chart.
• Died: Stoyan Danev, 91, Bulgarian politician and two-time prime minister; Vicenta Chávez Orozco, 82, Mexican nun

• A pastoral letter was read in Catholic churches throughout West Germany telling voters that failure of Catholics to vote in the August 14 election might play into the hands of "forces which oppose Christian principles." Social Democratic Party leader Kurt Schumacher took exception to the letter, charging that it was an attempt to swing votes to the Christian Democratic Union. "We have absolute understanding for all doctrines rooted in Christian ethics and morality," Schumacher said. "But we have no understanding for outspoken power politics exercised by ecclesiastical authorities."{{cite journal |date=August 1, 1949 |title=Catholic Pastoral To German Voters Angers Socialists |journal=The New York Times |pages=1, 4 }}
• Born: Dimitri Devyatkin, filmmaker, video artist and journalist, in Manhattan, New York

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Events by month links}}

1949

*1949-07