Secretary’s Day is first celebrated.
Tag Archives: 1952
19 September 1952
The United States prevents Charlie Chaplin from entering the country after a trip to England.
September 1952 marked Charlie Chaplin’s first visit to England in 21 years; yet it also marked the beginning of his exile from the United States. The trip to Europe was meant to be a brief one to promote his new film Limelight, with Chaplin remarking upon his departure that “I shall probably be away for six months, but no more.” However, on 19 September, while Chaplin was still at sea, the US Attorney-General announced plans to lauch an inquiry into whether he would be re-admitted to the US. In the end it would be 20 years before he would return.
US press such as the New York Times cautioned that “those who have followed him through the years cannot easily regard him as a dangerous person”; but, as the above article reporting from a press conference given by Chaplin at Cherbourg on 22 September details, American critics of Chaplin’s “anti-Americanness’ had been following him since 1917.
Chaplin arrived in Southampton on 23 September to a rapturous greeting from fans and well-wishers, and later that day gave a press conference in London where he resolutely stated that he was not a Communist, but someone “who wants nothing more for humanity than a roof over every man’s head.”
3 May 1952
The CBS network televises the Kentucky Derby for the first time.
Thoroughbred Racing on CBS is the de facto title for a series of horse races events whose broadcasts are produced by CBS Sports, the sports division of the CBS television network in the United States.
CBS first televised horse racing in 1948 with their broadcast of the Belmont Stakes. CBS would broadcast the Belmont Stakes the following year before losing the rights to NBC for the next three years. CBS would resume broadcasting the Belmont Stakes in 1953 and continue to televise it through 1985.
A year after their inaugural telecast of the Belmont Stakes, CBS broadcast the Preakness Stakes, which they would continue to do so through 1976. In 1977, ABC was awarded the contract to televise the Preakness.
Finally, CBS broadcast the Kentucky Derby from 1952-1974. The 1952 Kentucky Derby was the first to be broadcast on network television; Louisville had previously not been connected to network lines. The first coast-to-coast, network-televised Kentucky Derby aired on CBS. Favorite Hill Gail won the Derby, giving his jockey Eddie Arcaro a record fifth victory in the Kentucky Derby, and his trainer, Ben A. Jones, the record for most number of wins (six). Arcaro’s record was matched on this day in 1969 by jockey Bill Hartack. Jones’ record has not been equaled.
15 April 1952
The first flight of the B-52 Stratofortress takes place.
23 September 1952
Richard Nixon delivers his “Checkers speech”.
19 July 1952
The 1952 Summer Olympic Games were opened in Helsinki, Finland. The games were officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad. A total 69 nations with 4955 athletes took part in 149 events in 17 sports. The Olympic flame was lit by the Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi. These Olympics were the first competed in by the Soviet Union, Israel and China. Taiwan withdrew in protest at China’s inclusion. The USA, Soviet Union and Hungry won the most medals.
13 June 1952
A Swedish Douglas DC3 is shot down by a Soviet MiG15 fighter to create the Catalina affair.
19 July 1952
The 1952 Helsinki Summer Olympics are opened in Finland.
5 December 1952
A combination of a cold fog combined with air pollution in London kills at least 12,000 in the months that follow.
20 November 1952
Stalinist and anti-Semitic show trials take place in Czechoslovakia.