1950

Today in History 03/01/18

German born British physicist and spy, Dr Klaus Fuchs, in 1950 (© Keystone/Getty Images)(1950) Atomic spy Klaus Fuchs convicted in Britain
One of Britain’s top nuclear scientists is found guilty of spying for the Soviet Union, including passing them atomic bomb secrets from his time with the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, New Mexico.
Emil Julius Klaus Fuchs was a German theoretical physicist and atomic spy who, in 1950, was convicted of supplying information from the American, British, and Canadian Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union during and shortly after the Second World War. While at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Fuchs was responsible for many significant theoretical calculations relating to the first nuclear weapons, and later, early models of the hydrogen bomb.
Lived: Dec 29, 1911 – Jan 28, 1988 (age 76)
Spouse: Grete Keilson (m. 1959 – 1988)
Academic advisor: Nevill Francis Mott
Education: Leipzig University · University of Edinburgh · University of Bristol · Columbia University · University of Kiel
Parents: Emil Fuchs (Father)
Parties: Social Democratic Party of Germany · Communist Party of Germany · Socialist Unity Party of Germany
Highlights
  • 1943: In 1943, Fuchs and Peierls went to Columbia University, in New York City, to work on the Manhattan Project.

  • 1944: He was contacted by Harry Gold (codename: “Raymond”), an NKGB agent in early 1944.

  • 1944: In August 1944, Fuchs joined the Theoretical Physics Division at the Los Alamos Laboratory, working under Hans Bethe.

  • 1946: Most scholars agree with Hans Bethe’s 1952 assessment, which concluded that by the time Fuchs left the thermonuclear program in mid-1946, too little was known about the mechanism of the hydrogen bomb for his information to be useful to the Soviet Union.

  • 1959: In 1959, Fuchs married a friend from his years as a student communist, Grete (Margarete) Keilson.

  • 1988: He died in Berlin on 28 January 1988.

Klaus Fuchs ID badge
Los Alamos ID badge
wiki/Klaus_Fuchs
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Today in History 02/09/18

Sen. Joseph McCarthy's at a March 9, 1950 session of a hearing on McCarthy's charges of Communist infiltration in the state department (© Herbert K. White/AP)(1950) Senator McCarthy claims US government full of communists
Brandishing a list of 205 “known communists” in the State Department, Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy warns of “enemies from within” during a speech that will propel him to infamy as the ringleader of America’s Red Scare in the post-WWII era.
Joseph Raymond McCarthy was an American politician who served as U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period in the United States in which Cold War tensions fueled fears of widespread Communist subversion. He is known for alleging that numerous Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers had infiltrated the United States federal government, universities, film industry, and elsewhere. Ultimately, the smear tactics he used led him to be censured by the U.S. Senate. The term “McCarthyism”, coined in 1950 in reference to McCarthy’s practices, was soon applied to similar anti-communist activities. Today, the term is used in reference to what are considered demagogic, reckless, and unsubstantiated accusations, as well as public attacks on the character or patriotism of political opponents.
Lived: Nov 14, 1908 – May 02, 1957 (age 48)
Spouse: Jean Kerr (m. 1953 – 1957)
Movies: Point of Order
Parties: Republican Party · Democratic Party
Education: Marquette University Law School · Marquette University · University of Wisconsin-Madison
Children: Tierney Elizabeth McCarthy (Daughter)
Highlights
  • 1950: The term “McCarthyism”, coined in 1950 in reference to McCarthy’s practices, was soon applied to similar anti-communist activities.

  • 1953: In 1953, McCarthy married Jean Kerr, a researcher in his office.

  • 1954: McCarthy subpoenaed Peress to appear before his subcommittee on January 30, 1954.

  • 1954: On March 9, 1954, Vermont Republican Senator Ralph E. Flanders gave a humor-laced speech on the Senate floor, questioning McCarthy’s tactics in fighting communism, likening McCarthyism to “housecleaning” with “much clatter and hullabaloo”.

  • 1954: To counter the negative publicity, McCarthy appeared on See It Now on April 6, 1954, and made a number of charges against the popular Murrow, including the accusation that he colluded with VOKS, the “Russian espionage and propaganda organization”.

  • 1957: McCarthy died in Bethesda Naval Hospital on May 2, 1957, at the age of 48.

Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond McCarthy.
wiki/Joseph_McCarthy
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Today in History 01/21/18

Alger Hiss at the entrance to the US Courthouse in New York City on Jan. 21, 1950 (© Harry Harris/AP)(1950) Suspected Soviet spy Alger Hiss convicted of perjury
Beyond the statute of limitations for treason, former US State Department official Alger Hiss is found guilty of the lesser charge of perjury for lying about his involvement in a Soviet spy ring.
Alger Hiss was an American government official who was accused of being a Soviet spy in 1948 and convicted of perjury in connection with this charge in 1950. Before he was tried and convicted, he was involved in the establishment of the United Nations both as a U.S. State Department official and as a U.N. official. In later life he worked as a lecturer and author.
Lived: Nov 11, 1904 – Nov 15, 1996 (age 92)
Spouse: Isabel Johnson (m. 1985 – 1996) · Priscilla Hobson (m. 1929 – 1984)
Written works: In the court of public opinion · Recollections of a life
TV shows: The World at War
Education: Harvard Law School · Johns Hopkins University · Harvard University · Baltimore City College
Parents: Charles Alger Hiss (Father) · Mary Lavinia Hughes
Highlights
  • 1929: In 1929, Hiss married Priscilla Fansler Hobson, a Bryn Mawr graduate and grade school teacher.

  • 1935: Historian Jeff Kisseloff questions Haynes and Klehr’s conclusion that Vassiliev’s notes support Hede Massing’s story about talking to Hiss at a party in 1935 about recruiting their mutual friend and host Noel Field into the Communist underground.

  • 1948: On August 3, 1948, Whittaker Chambers, a former U.S. Communist Party member, testified under subpoena before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) that Hiss had secretly been a Communist, while in federal service.

  • 1978: In 1978, Victor Navasky interviewed six people Weinstein had quoted in his book Perjury, who all claimed to have been misquoted by Weinstein.

  • 1992: In 1992, records were found in Hungarian Interior Ministry archives in which self-confessed Soviet spy Noel Field named Alger Hiss as a fellow agent.

  • 1996: AHe fought his perjury conviction until his death at age 92, from emphysema on November 15, 1996, at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

Alger Hiss (1950)
Alger Hiss, American statesman accused of espionage
wiki/Alger_Hiss
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Today in History 10/31/17

NBA player Earl Lloyd, circa 1950 (© The Stevenson Collection/ NBAE/ Getty Images)(1950) Sports pioneer Earl Lloyd integrates the NBA
Just three years after Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color line, Earl Lloyd does the same for the sport of basketball as he takes the court with the Washington Capitols. The first African American NBA player scores 6 points in his opening game against the Rochester Royals.
Earl Francis Lloyd was an American professional basketball player. He was the first black person to play in the National Basketball Association, in the 1950–51 NBA season. Three other African Americans played in the same season: Chuck Cooper, Nathaniel “Sweetwater” Clifton, and Hank DeZonie.
Born: Apr 03, 1928 · Alexandria, VA
Died: Feb 26, 2015 · Crossville, TN
Height: 6′ 5″ (1.96 m)
Spouse: Charlita Lloyd
Education: West Virginia State University
Upcoming movies: The First To Do It
Earl Lloyd - CIAA HOF Brunch
Major General Walter E. Gaskin, left, greets with basketball hall of famer, Earl “The Pearl” Lloyd during the CIAA Hall of Fame brunch, March 3, 2006. Lloyd was the first African-American to play in an NBA game.
Highlights
  • 1948: Lloyd led West Virginia State to two CIAA Conference and Tournament Championships in 1948 and 1949.

  • 1951: Lloyd played in only seven games for the Washington Capitols before the team folded on January 9, 1951.

  • 1965: According to Detroit News sportswriter Jerry Green, in 1965 Detroit Pistons General Manager Don Wattrick wanted to hire Lloyd as the team’s head coach.

  • 2007: On December 1, 2007, the newly constructed basketball court at T. C. Williams High School in Lloyd’s home town of Alexandria, Virginia, was named in his honor.

  • 2015: In 2015 Lloyd, along with fellow basketball player Alonzo Mourning, was one of eight Virginians honored in the Library of Virginia’s “Strong Men & Women in Virginia History” because of his contributions to the sport of basketball.

  • 2015: Earl resided in Fairfield Glade, Tennessee, just outside Crossville, until his death in February 2015.

wiki/Earl_Lloyd
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Today in History 09/15/17

General Douglas MacArthur is shown after he stepped ashore at Inchon, South Korea, Sept 17, 1950 (© Frank Noel/AP)(1950) General MacArthur lands US Marines at Inchon, Korea
General Douglas MacArthur commands a joint US-United Nations force in a bold invasion of South Korea 25 miles from communist-held Seoul. The amphibious landing of some 50,000 troops 100 miles south of the 38th parallel will end North Korea’s string of victories and cut their forces in two.
The Battle of Inchon was an amphibious invasion and battle of the Korean War that resulted in a decisive victory and strategic reversal in favor of the United Nations. The operation involved some 75,000 troops and 261 naval vessels, and led to the recapture of the South Korean capital of Seoul two weeks later. The code name for the operation was Operation Chromite.
Start date: Sep 10, 1950
End date: Sep 19, 1950
Incheon SK
Incheon, South Korea, in pink coloring.
Inchon landing map
The landing at Incheon.

wiki/Battle_of_Inchon
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