May 1946

• At least 800 Indigenous Australian pastoral workers walked off the job in Northwest Western Australia, starting one of the longest industrial strikes in Australia.{{cite news |url=http://www.greenleft.org.au/2006/666/6754 |title=Pilbara: Australia's longest strike |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091220075025/http://www.greenleft.org.au/2006/666/6754 |archive-date=20 December 2009 |newspaper=Green Left |date=May 3, 2006}}
• Born:
• Lesley Gore, American rock singer ("It's My Party"), as Lesley Sue Goldstein in New York City (d. 2015)
• Joanna Lumley, English actress, in Srinagar
• John Woo, Hong-kongais film director, in Guangzhou.
• Died: Bill Johnston, 61, American tennis player who was the U.S. champion 1915 and 1919, and winner of Wimbledon in 1923

• Douglas Aircraft Company, Inc., completed an engineering study on the feasibility of designing a human-carrying satellite. The study showed that if a vehicle could be accelerated to a speed of {{Convert|27,360|kph}} and aimed properly it would revolve on a circular orbit above the Earth's atmosphere as a new satellite. Such a vehicle would make a complete circuit of the Earth approximately every hour and a half. However, it would not pass over the same ground stations on successive circuits because the Earth would make about a one-sixteenth turn for each circuit of the satellite. Two fuels were considered in the study: hydrogen-oxygen and alcohol-oxygen. The liquid alcohol-hydrogen had been used to propel the German V-2 rockets. The use of either fuel to orbit an artificial satellite, the study showed, would require the use of a multistage vehicle. The study also indicated that maximum acceleration and temperatures could be kept within limits safe for humans. The vehicle envisioned would be used in obtaining scientific information on cosmic rays, gravitation, geophysics, terrestrial magnetism, astronomy, and meteorology.{{Source attribution}} {{cite book |title=SKYLAB: A CHRONOLOGY |chapter=PART I: Early Space Station Activities -1923 to December 1962. |last1=Brooks |first1=Courtney G. |last2=Ertel |first2=Ivan D. |last3=Newkirk |first3=Roland W. |series=NASA Special Publication-4011 |chapter-url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4011/part1a.htm |publisher=NASA |pages=4–5 |access-date=21 February 2023}}
• Six inmates unsuccessfully tried to escape from Alcatraz Prison, leading to a riot later recalled as the so-called "Battle of Alcatraz".{{cite news |title=Convict Revolt Grips Alcatraz |newspaper=Salt Lake Tribune |date=May 3, 1946 |page=1}}{{cite news |title=Alcatraz Officers Regain Control |newspaper=Salt Lake Tribune |date=May 5, 1946 |page=1}}{{cite web |url=http://www.alcatrazhistory.com/battle1.htm |title=The Battle of Alcatraz |website=AlcatrazHistory.com}}
• The drama film noir The Postman Always Rings Twice starring Lana Turner and John Garfield was released.

• The Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal began the trial of Japanese military and political leaders for war crimes.{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/macarthur-tokyo-war-crimes-trials/ |title=The Tokyo War Crimes Trials (1946–1948) |work=The American Experience}}
• In Paris, at the Luxembourg Palace, the Council of Foreign Ministers debated the Italian peace treaty and Italy's border with Yugoslavia, in the presence of the two countries’ delegations, led by the Prime Ministers Alcide De Gasperi and Edvard Kardelj. Kardelj asked for Trieste’s annexation to Yugoslavia, while De Gasperi defended the Italian character of the Julian March.{{cite news |date=4 May 1946 |title=I punti di vista della Yugoslavia e dell'Italia esposti da Kardelj e da De Gasperi ai Quattro. |trans-title=The points of view of Yugoslavia and Italy presented by Kardelj and De Gasperi to the Four. |language=it |url=http://www.archiviolastampa.it/component/option,com_lastampa/task,search/mod,libera/action,viewer/Itemid,3/page,1/articleid,0040_01_1946_0105_0001_24609046/ |newspaper=La Stampa}}
• Willie Francis, 17, was strapped into the electric chair, awaiting execution at St. Martinville, Louisiana, but got only a mild shock when the circuits failed. Francis had been convicted of the murder of a local pharmacist.{{cite news |title=Convict Lives On As 'Chair' Fails |newspaper=Salt Lake Tribune |date=May 4, 1946 |page=1}} After the chair was repaired, Francis'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 would eventually be executed on May 9, 1947.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/18/AR2006071801376.html |title=The Two Executions of Willie Francis |first=Gilbert |last=King |author-link=Gilbert King (author) |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=July 19, 2006 |page=A19}}

• Despite being the leader of the party that won the 1946 Japanese general election, Ichirō Hatoyama was barred from becoming Prime Minister of Japan, after the American occupational authority vetoed the choice. Shigeru Yoshida became prime minister instead.{{cite web |url=http://www.japanfocus.org/-Juha-Saunavaara/3229 |title=Occupation Authorities, the Hatoyama Purge and the Making of Japan's Postwar Political Order |first=Juha |last=Saunavaara |website=JapanFocus.org}}
• In Rome, the third congress of the Italian Liberal Party ended; concerning the institutional referendum, the Party declared itself favorable to the maintenance of monarchy.{{cite web |title=Le notizie del 4 maggio 1946 |trans-title=The news of 4 May 1946 |language=it |url=https://www.cinquantamila.it/storyTellerGiorno.php?day=4&month=5&year=1946 |access-date=25 February 2023 |website=www.cinquantamila.it}}
• Born: Enrico Oldoini, Italian director, In La Spezia (d. 2023)

• In Italy, the SISAL football pools gambling system was launched; the first winner was the clerk Emilio Blasetti, who won 463,846 liras. In the following decades, SISAL (renamed Totocalcio) would become the most popular Italian betting pool and a social phenomenon.{{cite web |title=5 maggio 1946: si gioca la prima schedina SISAL; l'antenata del Totocalcio. |trans-title=5 May 1946: the first SISAL card is played; the ancestor of Totocalcio. |url=https://www.eurosport.it/calcio/serie-a/2018-2019/5-maggio-1946-si-gioca-la-prima-schedina-sisal-l-antenata-del-totocalcio_sto7255964/story.shtml |access-date=25 February 2023 |language=it |website=www.eurosport.com}}
• Voters in France rejected the proposed constitution for the Fourth Republic. Another vote, boycotted by millions, would be taken on October 13, and a new draft would be approved.{{cite book |first=Ton |last=van der Eyden |title=Public Management of Society: Rediscovering French Institutional Engineering in the European Context |publisher=IOS Press |year=2003 |page=57}}
• Mariano Ospina Pérez was elected President of Colombia, defeating Jorge Gaitan. The later assassination of Gaitan precipitated "La Violencia", in which thousands of people would be killed.{{cite book |first=Herbert |last=Braun |title=The Assassination of Gaitan: Public Life And Urban Violence In Colombia |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |year=2003 |page=226}}
• Stan Laurel was married for the fifth time, to the actress Ida Kitaeva.{{cite web |title=Famous Weddings & Divorces in May 1946 |url=https://www.onthisday.com/weddings/date/1946/may |access-date=25 February 2023 |website=OnThisDay.com |date=May 1946 |language=en}}

• American Zuni and Navajo veterans of World War II were denied in their attempts to register to vote in the 1946 general elections in New Mexico. The county clerk of McKinley County 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."Indians Seek Vote Right", Salt Lake Tribune, May 7, 1946, p1 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."Suffrage for the Suffering Indians", Milwaukee Journal, October 12, 1948, p20
• LIFE Magazine 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 of the atrocities at two mental institutions, in Ohio and Pennsylvania, which he described as "concentration camps masquerading as hospitals",[https://books.google.com/books?id=BlUEAAAAMBAJ&dq=LIFE+magazine+bedlam+1946&pg=PA102 LIFE Magazine, May 6, 1946] p102 spurred reforms in psychiatric care.[http://ec2-184-73-243-168.compute-1.amazonaws.com/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/lobotomist-bedlam-1946/ The American Experience], pbs.org
• Curly Howard, the bald member of The Three Stooges, suffered a stroke on the final day of filming of Half-Wits Holiday and retired at age 42.

• 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.[http://www.sony-europe.com/article/id/1178278971500 "Sony Corporate History"], SonyEurope.com
• Born: Thelma Houston, American pop singer ("Don't Leave Me This Way"), in Leland, Mississippi

• For the first time, the United States invited the rest of the world's nations to watch nuclear testing, bringing eleven other member nations of the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission to view Operation Crossroads in July. The Soviet Union, United Kingdom, France, China, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Egypt, Poland, the Netherlands and Mexico were afforded the chance to send government and press representatives as witnesses.{{cite news |title=11 Nations Invited to View Atom Test |newspaper=Milwaukee Journal |date=May 8, 1946 |page=11}}
• The Chief of Naval Operations directed the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics to make preliminary investigations in the field of earth satellite vehicles.{{Source attribution}} {{cite book |title=Project Mercury - A Chronology |chapter=Part 1 (A) Major Events Leading to Project Mercury March 1944 through December 1957 |last=Grimwood |first=James M. |series=NASA Special Publication-4001 |chapter-url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4001/p1a.htm |publisher=NASA |access-date=29 January 2023}}

File:Vitorioemanuel.jpg

• Hour Glass, considered the first network television entertainment show, premiered at {{Nowrap|8:00 p.m.}} on WNBT-TV in New York City. The program, described by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh as "one of the most important pioneers in the early history of television",Brooks and Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946–present (8th Ed., Random House, Inc., 2003) pp554–555 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 abdicated, and was succeeded by his son Umberto II."Italian King Abdicates; Umberto Wins Crown", Salt Lake Tribune, May 10, 1946, p1
• Born:
• Candice Bergen, American actress, in Beverly Hills, California
• Drafi Deutscher, German Schlager singer, in Berlin (d. 2006)

• 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 the town of Munson in Santa Rosa County, Florida.{{cite news |title=28 Navy Airmen Die As Planes Collide |newspaper=Salt Lake Tribune |date=May 11, 1946 |page=1}}
• An American-launched V-2 rocket reached a record high altitude, soaring {{Convert|75|mi}} above the White Sands, New Mexico, proving grounds. Prior to the flight, a 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."{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=n1AVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=N-UDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6257,2697317&dq=mark+ridge+dorchester&hl=en |title=Rocket Pierces Skies 75 Miles |newspaper=The Spokesman-Review |location=Spokane, Washington |date=May 11, 1946 |page=1 |via=Google News}}
• Born:
• Donovan Leitch, Scottish rock musician ("Mellow Yellow"), in Maryhill
• Dave Mason, English rock musician, Traffic ("We Just Disagree"), in Worcester
• Maureen Lipman, British actress in Hull, England

• 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.{{cite news |title=61 SS Killers Convicted |newspaper=Salt Lake Tribune |date=May 12, 1946 |page=1}} Forty-nine of them were executed, and the other 12 released from prison by 1951.[http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007731 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]
• The first 20,000 "CARE Packages", each with almost {{convert|20|lb}} of food, were delivered to people in need, as a ship unloaded the materials at the French port of Le Havre. 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".[http://www.care.org/about/history.asp CARE.org]
• Born: Robert Jarvik, American physicist and artificial heart inventor, in Midland, Michigan

• The Newfoundland Herald published its first issue, originally as The Sunday Herald, founded by Geoffrey Sterling.[http://www.nfherald.com/aboutus.html Newfoundland Herald website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081003020742/http://www.nfherald.com/aboutus.html |date=2008-10-03}}
• The U.S. Army Air Forces' Project RAND filed a report entitled "Preliminary Design of an Experimental World-Circling Spaceship," which indicated the technical feasibility of building and launching an artificial satellite.
• Born: Richard Bruce Silverman, American chemist and developer of Pregabalin (Lyrica), treatment for fibromyalgia, in Philadelphia

• The Soviet ballistic missile program was formally created by a top secret decree (No. 1017-419ss) signed by Joseph Stalin, and Minister of Armaments Dmitriy Ustinov was made overseer of the project.[http://www.russianspaceweb.com/centers_industry_orgin.html#decision RussianSpaceWeb.com]
• The Federal Airport Act was signed into law by U.S. President Harry S Truman, providing for {{Nowrap|500 million}} dollars in federal grants for civilian airport projects across the United States over a seven-year period.[http://www.tcpilots.org/resource/fund_history.html "The History of Government Airport Funding"]
• With U.S. coal supplies dwindling, striking American coal miners returned to work for two weeks on the orders of United Mine Workers President John L. Lewis, who said that the walkout would start anew if negotiations on a new labor contract failed.

"Coal Unions Trek Back to Mines", Salt Lake Tribune, May 13, 1946, p1

• Nueces County, Texas, including Corpus Christi, 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.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DwotAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Y9YFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5532,5200475&dq=nueces+county&hl=en "Guardsmen Patrol Texas City As Polio-Like Disease Spreads"], Miami Daily News, May 14, 1946, p1

• The USCG Eagle, later 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.[http://www.cga.edu/display1.aspx?id=11549 "Eagle Captain Spends Last Summer Aboard America's Tall Ship"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613223617/http://www.cga.edu/display1.aspx?id=11549 |date=2011-06-13 }} U.S. Coast Guard Academy

• The musical Annie Get Your Gun, starring Ethel Merman as Annie Oakley, premiered on Broadway, at the Imperial Theatre. Written by Irving Berlin, the show introduced the hit songs "There's No Business Like Show Business", "Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)", "I Got the Sun in the Mornin' (and the Moon at Night)", and "The Girl That I Marry", and ran for 1,159 performances.[https://web.archive.org/web/20060720193444/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/oakley/peopleevents/e_stage.html "Annie Oakley on Stage and Screen"], The American Experience, pbs.org
• British Prime Minister Clement Attlee informed the House of Commons that the Cabinet Mission had rejected the Muslim League proposal for an independent State of Pakistan. 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."British Propose India Union; Reject Moslem State Idea", Salt Lake Tribune, May 17, 1946, p1
• A Viking Transport DC-3 airliner en route from Newark to Atlanta crashed while attempting a landing at Richmond, killing all 27 people on board."27 Die as Airliner Dives Into Virginia Pine Woods", Salt Lake Tribune, May 17, 1946, p1
• At the Institute of Radio Engineers convention in San Francisco, Major Jack Mullin of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, demonstrated the Magnetophon 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.[http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/1994/2/1994_2_52.shtml "The Race to Video"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110404045940/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/1994/2/1994_2_52.shtml |date=2011-04-04 }}, by Stewart Wolpin, Invention & Technology Magazine (Fall 1994), AmericanHeritage.com

• A U.S. Army C-47 airplane with 12 persons, and the remains of 41 U.S. servicemen, crashed while en route from Rangoon (Yangon) to Calcutta (Kolkata). The wreckage, located somewhere in modern-day Bangladesh, has never been found.[http://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/c-47/43-48308/portland.html "A homecoming long overdue"], by Meredith Goad, Portland Press-Herald, November 9, 2009
• The Bell X-1 supersonic jet aircraft was shown to the general public for the first time, at an exhibition at Wright Field.{{cite web |title=NASA - Dryden History - Historic Aircraft - X-1 Flight Summary |website=NASA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629052638/https://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/history/HistoricAircraft/X-1/fltsummary.html |archive-date=2023-06-29 |url-status=live |url=http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/history/HistoricAircraft/X-1/fltsummary.html}}
• Died: William Jefferson Blythe, Jr., 36, in an automobile accident near Sikeston, Missouri. 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, the 42nd President of the United States.

• Strike wave of 1945–1946: 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 had agreed to postpone the walkout for five days."Unions Delay Rail Tieup 5 Days", Salt Lake Tribune, May 19, 1946, p1
• 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, and gave him information about natural remedies, which he used to found two successful companies. The UFO-Memorial Ängelholm was erected at the site in 1963 and is a tourist attraction.[http://www.nature-spot.com/2009/11/ufo-memorial-in-angelholm.html Nature-Spot.com]
• "Laughing on the Outside (Crying on the Inside)" by Dinah Shore hit #1 on the Billboard Honor Roll of Hits.
• Born: Reggie Jackson, American MLB player 1967–1987 and Baseball Hall of Fame inductee; in Wyncote, Pennsylvania

File:Booth Tarkington cph.3b27122.jpg

• The "People's Rally for Obtaining Food" took place in Tokyo, as hundreds of thousands of demonstrators protested against food shortages and against the government of Japan's prime minister, Shigeru Yoshida.John W. Dower, Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II (W.W. Norton, 2000) p254; "125,000 Japs Ask Food at Palace Gate", Sarasota (FL) Herald-Tribune, May 19, 1946, p1
• The city of Guadalupe, California, was incorporated.
• Born: André the Giant, French professional wrestler, as André Roussimoff, in Grenoble (d. 1993)
• Died: Booth Tarkington, 76, American novelist

• By a vote of 324 to 143, the British House of Commons passed a bill to nationalize the United Kingdom's coal mining industry."British Agree to Coal Control", Milwaukee Journal, May 21, 1946, p10 The measure was then approved by the House of Lords and received royal assent on July 12.[http://www.opsi.gov.uk/RevisedStatutes/Acts/ukpga/1946/cukpga_19460059_en_1 Office of Public Sector Information], United Kingdom
• 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."C-45 Strikes Skyscraper, Kills 5 in N.Y.", Salt Lake Tribune, May 21, 1946, p1
• Born: Cher, American actress and rock singer, as Cherilyn Sarkisian, in El Centro, California
• Died: Jacob Ellehammer, 74, Danish inventor

File:Slotin Los Alamos.jpg

• Dr. Louis Slotin, a physicist at the Los Alamos research center, was fatally injured during an experiment with a "subcritical nuclear assembly", a plutonium 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 {{Nowrap|3:20 pm}}, 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.{{cite news |title=A-Bomb Staff Men Exposed to Radiation |newspaper=El Paso Herald-Post |date=May 24, 1946 |page=1}}{{cite book |first=Jon |last=Hunner |title=Inventing Los Alamos: The Growth of an Atomic Community |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |year=2007 |pages=118–119}}

File:Julius A Krug.png

File:Karl Hermann Frank.jpg

• 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."Truman Seizes Coal Pits; Orders Wage Parley", Salt Lake Tribune, May 22, 1946, p1
• The Culinary Institute of America was founded in the U.S. by Frances Roth and Katharine Cramer Angell, initially as the New Haven Restaurant Institute in New Haven, Connecticut.[http://www.ciachef.edu/admissions/about/history.asp Institute history]
• Born: George Best, Northern Irish footballer, in Belfast (d. 2005)
• Died: Karl Hermann Frank, 48, Nazi SS leader who oversaw the massacres at Lidice and Ležáky, was hanged in Prague.

• At 4 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 {{Nowrap|7 pm}} EST, the 227,000 miles of American railroads were tied up.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=WQsdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WX4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=3162,3599238&dq=rail+strike&hl=en "Rail Crews Out in East"], Milwaukee Journal, May 23, 1946, p1

"Railroad Strike Paralyzes U.S.", Salt Lake Tribune, May 24, 1946, p1 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","Rail Strike Outlook Dark", El Paso Herald-Post, May 24, 1946, p1; [https://books.google.com/books?id=I0oEAAAAMBAJ&dq=1946+rail+strike&pg=PA27 "The Great Train Strike"], LIFE Magazine, June 3, 1946, pp27-33

• The first issue of the weekly news magazine World Report, created by publisher David Lawrence as a complement to his weekly newspaper United States News, was published. Beginning on January 16, 1948, the two publications would be combined into one weekly magazine, U.S. News & World Report.[https://www.usnews.com/usnews/photography/70thanniversary/timeline.htm "History of U.S. News"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051116145324/http://www.usnews.com/usnews/photography/70thanniversary/timeline.htm |date=2005-11-16 }}
• Chick-fil-A, a U.S. chain of restaurants known originally for their chicken fillet sandwiches, was founded by S. Truett Cathy with the opening of his Dwarf Grill 24-hour diner in Hapeville, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta.[https://www.fox5ny.com/news/the-history-of-chick-fil-a-from-small-diner-to-fast-food-giant-closed-on-sunday "The history of Chick-fil-A: From small diner to fast-food giant closed on Sunday"], by Kelly Hayes, Fox 5 News (New York), June 6, 2022 Mr. Cathy would expand his chicken restaurant chain by opening the first restaurant with the name "Chick-fil-A" on November 24, 1967, in Atlanta’s Greenbriar Mall and the chain remained limited to indoor shopping malls until inaugurating a stand-alone location in 1986.

• At 9 pm Eastern Time, U.S. President Harry S. Truman made a nationwide radio address regarding the railway strike, and delivered an ultimatum: "If sufficient workers to operate the trains have not returned, by {{Nowrap|4 p.m.}} 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."Run Trains or Army Will–Today!–Truman", Milwaukee Sentinel, May 25, 1946, p1; [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=qUsaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2gwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7312,1898300&dq=truman+address+text+strike&hl=en "Complete Text of Truman Talk"], Id. at p2
• Thailand was invaded at dawn by 800 soldiers of the French Army, who crossed the Mekong River from Laos, 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."French Troops Move Into Siam", Salt Lake Tribune, May 27, 1946, p1
• 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"."New U.S. Secret Weapon Is Germ Spray That Can Wipe Out Cities" El Paso Herald-Post, May 24, 1946, p1

File:Flag of Jordan.svg

• In a 14-minute ceremony at Amman, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (referred to as the Kingdom of Transjordan until 1949) won its full independence from the United Kingdom. Before a crowd of 300,000 witnesses, the Emir Abdullah became the nation's King."Trans-Jordan Gets a King, Bearded Abdullah Hussein", Milwaukee Journal, May 25, 1946, p2; [http://www.jordanembassyus.org/05252004002.htm "Jordan celebrates Independence Day"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090527094512/http://www.jordanembassyus.org/05252004002.htm |date=2009-05-27 }}, Jordan Times, May 25, 2004
• 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. With soldiers in place and a deadline of {{Nowrap|4 pm}} EST, a verbal agreement was reached at 3:50 and the written pact was signed at 3:57.

"Rail Unions Yield, End Strike–Beat Ultimatum Dead Line Only 3 Minutes", Salt Lake Tribune, May 25, 1946, p1 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."Rail Strike Settled: House Votes 306 to 13 for Industrial Draft In Emergencies, at Truman's Demand; Unions Accept Truman Terms At Zero Hour", Syracuse Herald-American, May 26, 1946, p1

• "The Gypsy" by The Ink Spots topped the Billboard Honor Roll of Hits.
• Died:
• Patty Smith Hill, 78, pioneering American educator known for co-authoring (with her sister Mildred J. Hill) the melody and lyrics for "Happy Birthday to You", originally as "Good Morning to All"; she was also the first director of the Institute of Child Welfare Research at Columbia University."Dr. Patty Hill Funeral Set For Today", Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal, May 27, 1946, p5
• Marcel Petiot, 49, French serial killer, was executed by guillotine

File:Klement Gottwald-4801.jpg

• In the first democratic elections since World War II in Czechoslovakia, the Communist Party, led by Klement Gottwald captured 114 of the 300 seats in Parliament. Gottwald became prime minister of a coalition government. In 1948, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia would become the sole legal party.Norman M. Naimark and Leonid Gibianskii, The Establishment of Communist Regimes in Eastern Europe, 1944–1949 (Westview Press, 1997) p250
• Vincent Pellicio, a 21-year-old prisoner in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, escaped from a road crew and would remain free for more than 40 years. At the time of his arrest on August 4, 1987, Pellicio was an electrician in Newhall, California. Returned to Virginia, Pellicio was pardoned later that month by Virginia Governor Gerald Baliles, "in view of his law-abiding behavior and commendable adjustment since his escape".[https://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/07/us/man-in-1946-escape-found-in-california.html?pagewanted=1 "Man in 1948 Escape Found"], New York Times, August 7, 1987; [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=t2ELAAAAIBAJ&sjid=l1IDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4437,5888786&dq=vincent+pellicio&hl=en "Chain gang fugitive 41 years, wins pardon"] Mohave Daily Miner (Kingman AZ), August 19, 1987

• In Vietnam, the French colonial government created an administration for the minority Montagnard population, separate from the Vietnamese people, with the headquarters at Buôn Ma Thuột. A short-lived, autonomous Pays Montagnard du Sud followed in 1950.Sidney Jones, et al., Repression of Montagnards: Conflicts over Land and Religion in Vietnam's Central Highlands (Human Rights Watch, 2002) p18; [http://www.unpo.org/content/view/7898/130/ Unrepresented nations and people's organisation]

• The United States made a loan package to France for a record {{Nowrap|1.37 billion}} dollars."France Given U.S. Loan of {{Nowrap|$1,370 Million}}", Salt Lake Tribune, May 29, 1946, p1
• In the first nighttime baseball game ever played at Yankee Stadium, a crowd of 49,917 watched the New York Yankees lose to the Washington Senators, 2–1."Senators Nip Yanks, Threaten For Second", Milwaukee Journal, May 29, 1946, pB-3; [http://www.ballparksofbaseball.com/past/YankeeStadium.htm BallparksOfBaseball.com]
• Born: Koyamparambath Satchidanandan, Indian Malayalam language poet, in Kerala
• Died: Carter Glass, 89, United States Senator (D-Virginia) since 1920 and oldest member of the U.S. Senate. Senator Glass had not appeared in Congress in almost four years after a stroke, but had been re-elected later in 1942. Even after he became incapacitated, his seat was never declared vacant.

• The Minsk Tractor Works was founded in the Soviet Union at the capital of the Byelorussian SSR (now Belarus). The state-supported company became the world's largest manufacturer of farm tractors.[http://www.minsktourist.com/offer/excursions/description/industry.html Minsk Tourist Bureau]

File:JLewis-fsa8a33660-cropped.jpg

• 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 and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Krug. Lewis said that the nation's 400,000 soft coal miners would be back to work by June 2.{{cite news |title=Coal Dispute Ends; Strike Draft Dies – Lewis Orders Men Back, Gains 18.5 c Wage Hike |newspaper=Salt Lake Tribune |date=May 30, 1946 |page=1}}
• Eddie Klep became the first white player in baseball's Negro leagues when he pitched seven innings for the Cleveland Buckeyes, in an 8–6 win over the Chicago American Giants in Grand Rapids, Michigan.{{cite journal |url=http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/JSH/JSH1998/JSH2503/jsh2503g.pdf |title=Baseball's other 'great experiment': Eddie Klep and the integration of the Negro leagues |first=Larry R. |last=Gerlach |journal=Journal of Sport History |date=Fall 1998 |page=465}}
• Born: Fernando Buesa, Spanish Basque politician, in Bilbao (assassinated 2000)

• George Robson, who had never before finished first in a major auto race, won the Indianapolis 500, which was being run for the first time since 1941."L.A. Dark Horse Wins Auto Race", Salt Lake Tribune, May 31, 1946, p1
• The derailment of a train at Hengyang in China killed more than 90 passengers and injured 60 others. The group was in four coaches of a train traveling from Guangzhou (Canton) to Hankow."90 Killed and 60 Injured as Chinese Train Derails", Milwaukee Journal, June 3, 1946, p1
• Born: Candy Lightner, American founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, in Pasadena, California

• The Antonov Design Bureau was established at Novosibirsk to begin production of the Antonov series of Soviet civilian airplanes.{{cite web |url=http://www.antonov.com/about/history/index.xml;jsessionid=a88t21Qz4l9g |title="History of the Antonov ASTC" |access-date=2010-04-23 |archive-date=2011-06-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608130758/http://www.antonov.com/about/history/index.xml;jsessionid=a88t21Qz4l9g |url-status=dead}}
• An earthquake in the Muş Province of Turkey killed at least 255 people. The quake was centered at the village of Varto.{{cite news |title=Turkish 'Quake Toll Set at 255 |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=June 3, 1946 |page=1}}
• London Heathrow Airport was officially opened for civilian use.{{cite book |first=David St John |last=Thomas |author-link=David St John Thomas |title=Journey Through Britain: Landscape, People and Books |publisher=Frances Lincoln Ltd. |year=2006 |page=503}}
• The USS George A. Johnson was decommissioned in San Diego.{{cite web |url=http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/1613.html |title=USS George A. Johnson (DE 583) of the US Navy - American Destroyer Escort of the Rudderow class - Allied Warships of WWII |website=uboat.net |access-date=2016-12-31}}
• The Japanese submarine {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-401||2}}, described along with her sister ship {{ship|Japanese submarine|I-400||2}} as history's first "underwater aircraft carriers" and the largest non-nuclear submarines ever built, was sunk secretly near Hawaii by the submarine {{USS|Cabezon|SS-334|}}. I-401 was rediscovered on March 17, 2005. At {{convert|400|ft|m|0}} long, the "Sensuikan Toku" class of subs were designed to carry three Aichi M6A1 Seiran bombers, each of which could be readied to fly once the submarine surfaced.{{cite news |url=http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/HURL/StarBull_03-20-05.pdf |title=UH team locates huge Japanese sub |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610121338/http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/HURL/StarBull_03-20-05.pdf |archive-date=2010-06-10 |newspaper=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |date=March 20, 2005}}

{{reflist}}

{{Events by month links}}

1946

*1946-05