January 26, 1950. The new constitution of India is ratified, forming a republic, and Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as India’s first president.

March 6, 1950. Scientist Klaus Fuchs is sentenced to 14 years in prison for passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union.

April 27, 1950. In South Africa, the Group Areas Act is passed, formally segregating the races. This segregation is called apartheid.

June, 1950. The first human kidney transplant is performed by U.S. surgeon R.H. Lawler.

June 25, 1950. The People’s Republic of North Korea launches a surprise invasion of The Republic of South Korea. The 38th parallel of latitude marks the border between the two nations now, but communist North Korea under the rule of Russian-supported President Kim Il-sung wishes to unite Korea under one communist government.

June 27, 1950. U.S. President Harry S. Truman orders American military forces to aid in the defense of South Korea.

October 2, 1950. The comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz is first published in seven U.S. newspapers.

October 7, 1950. The 1950-1951 invasion of Tibet by People’s Republic of China begins.

October 19, 1950. The People’s Republic of China enters the Korean conflict by sending thousands of soldiers across the Yalu River.

The Way West by A. B. Guthrie, Jr. wins the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Bertrand Russell won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

The National Book Awards are established and the fiction award is presented by former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt to author Nelson Ahlgren for his book, Man With the Golden Arm.

The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli, published in 1949, went on to win the Newbery Award in 1950. The story a boy, Robin, during the Middle Ages who wants to become a knight like his father. However, disease (polio?) strikes, and Robin’s legs become paralyzed. He is taken to a monastery where he regains the use of his legs to some extent and strengthens his spirit and character with the friendship and help of the monks. Robin later becomes a hero. It’s a lovely story to read aloud to children who are trying to figure out what real bravery and heroism are.

The Carnegie Medal for Children’s Literature is awarded to The Lark on the Wing by Elfrida Vipont. Has anybody read it?

Published in 1950:
The Little World of Don Camillo by Giovanni Guareschi.
Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

So they went and knocked on the study door, and the Professor said, “Come in,” and got up and found chairs for them and said he was quite at their disposal. Then he sat listening to them with the tips of his fingers pressed together and never interrupting, till they had finished the whole story. After that he said noting for quite a long time. Then he cleared his throat and said the last thing either of them expected:

“How do you know,” he asked, “that your sister’s story is not true?”

“Oh, but”  began Susan, and then stopped. Anyone could see from the old man’s face that he was perfectly serious. Then Susan pulled herself together and said, “But Edmund said they had only been pretending.”

“That is a point,” said the professor, “which certainly deserves consideration. For instance, if you will excuse me for asking the question, does your experience lead you to regard you brother or your sister as the more reliable? I mean, which is the more truthful?”

“That’s just the funny thing about it, sir,” said Peter. “Up till now, I’d have said Lucy every time.”

“And what do you think, my dear?” said the Professor, turning to Susan.

“Well,” said Susan, “in general, I’d say the same as Peter, but this couldn’t be true– all this about the wood and the Faun.”

“That is more than I know,” said the Professor, “and a charge of lying against someone whom you have always found truthful is a very serious thing; a very serious thing indeed.”

“We were afraid it mightn’t even be lying,” said Susan; “we thought there might be something wrong with Lucy.”

“Madness, you mean?” said the Professor quite coolly. “Oh, you can make your minds easy about that. One has only to look at her to see that she is not mad.”

“But then,” said Susan, and stopped. She had never dreamed that a grown-up would talk like the Professor and didn’t know what to think.

“Logic!” said the Professor half to himself. “Why don’t they teach logic at these schools? There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth. You know she doesn”t tell lies and it is obvious that she is not mad. For the moment then and unless any further evidence turns up, we must assume that she is telling the truth.”

A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute.
Three Doors to Death and In the Best Families by Rex Stout. Nero Wolfe’s charge to his assistant Archie: “You are to act in the light of experience as guided by intelligence.”
The 13 Clocks by James Thurber. Reviewed at Things Mean a Lot.

“Once upon a time, in a gloomy castle on a lonely hill, where there were thirteen clocks that wouldn’t go, there lived a cold, aggressive Duke, and his niece, the Princess Saralinda. She was warm in every wind and weather, but he was always cold. His hands were as cold as his smile and almost as cold as his heart.”

Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl.

January 19, 1946. The United Nations holds its first general assembly session in London. British Prime Minister Clement Attlee: “Our aim is the creation of justice and security.”

February, 1946. IBM introduces a new electronic calculator using vacuum tubes.

February 24, 1945. Juan Peron is elected president of Argentina for a six year term, in spite of opposition from the United States.

March 5, 1946. In a lecture tour of the United States, Sir Winston Churchill warns that “an Iron Curtain has descended across Europe.” He urges an alliance between the United States and Great Britain to counter Soviet aggression, especially in the recently liberated (and re-enslaved) Communist countries of Eastern Europe.

March 2-4, 1946. Ho Chi Minh is elected President of North Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh signs an agreement with France which recognizes Vietnam as an independent state.

March 22, 1946. The United Kingdom grants Transjordan, as it is then known, its independence; 3 years later the country changes its name to Jordan.

May 1, 1946. A new plan proposed by Britain and the United States attempts to divide the ancient country of Palestine into separate Arab and Jewish states. Jewish survivors of the Holocaust and Jews from other parts of the world have been traveling to settle in Palestine, but the Arab population there is hostile to Jewish immigration into Palestine and to Zionist claims that Palestine is their hereditary homeland.

June 2, 1946. In a referendum, Italians decide to turn Italy from a monarchy into a republic. Women vote for the first time.

July 22, 1946. King David Hotel bombing: The Irgun, a Jewish Zionist terrorist group, bombs the King David Hotel (headquarters of the British civil and military administration) in Jerusalem, killing 90 people.

August-September, 1946. As the British move toward independence for India, violence between Muslims and Hindus in Calcutta leaves 3,000 dead. The interim government of India takes charge with Jawaharlal Nehru as Vice President. Street violence between Muslims and Hindus erupts in Bombay. The new British plan is to divide India into two countries, a Hindu-majority India and a Muslim-majority India that would later be renamed Pakistan.

October 16, 1946. The Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals end with 11 Nazi leaders condemned to death. Herman Goering commits suicide by swallowing cyanide hours before his scheduled execution.

November, 1946. The National Health Service (NHS) is created in Britain by the Labor government.

Suggested reading: Exodus by Leon Uris, Justice at Nuremberg by Robert Canot, Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges, Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie.