1951 was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar.

Events

January

• January 9 - United Nations headquarters officially opens (New York City).
• January 15 - Ilse Koch, The "Witch of Buchenwald," wife of the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp, is sentenced to life imprisonment in a court in West Germany.
• January 17 - Korean War: Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul.
• January 20 - Avalanches in the Alps - 240 die and 45.000 are buried for a time in Switzerland, Austria and Italy
• January 27 - Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site begins with a one-kiloton bomb dropped on Frenchman Flats, northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada.

February

• February 1 - United Nations General Assembly declares that China is the aggressor in the Korean War
• February 12 - Marriage of Muhammad Reza Shah to Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiari
• February 19- Jean Lee becomes the last woman hanged in Australia. When,Lee and her two pimps are hanged for the murder and tourture of a 73 year old bookmaker.
• February 24 - Nestor is born at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• February 27 - The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified.

March

• March 6 - The trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg begins.
• March 7 - Korean War: Operation Ripper - In Korea, United Nations troops led by General Matthew Ridgeway begin an assault against the Chinese "volunteers".
• March 12 - The Dennis the Menace comic strip appears in newspapers across the U.S. for the first time.
• March 14 - Korean War: For the second time, United Nations troops recapture Seoul.
• March 14 - West Germany joins UNESCO
• March 29 - Red Scare: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. On April 5 they are sentenced to receive the death penalty.
• March 30 - Remington Rand delivers the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau.

April

• April 1 - Australia, New Zealand, United States security treaty signed in San Francisco.
• April 1 - Female suffrage in Greece
• April 11 - Stone of Scone found in Scottish church
• April 18 - Treaty of Paris (1951) adopted, establishing European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC); see EU.
• April 21 - The National Olympic Committee of the USSR is formed
• April 28 - Menzies Govt Re-elected for 2nd term

May

• May 1 - Opera house of Geneva almost destroyed in a fire
• May 14 - First volunteer-run passenger trains on Talyllyn Railway, Wales.
• May 15 - Military coup in Bolivia

June

• June 14 - UNIVAC I is dedicated by U.S. Census Bureau.[1]
• June 15 - July 1- In New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, thousands of acres (several km²) of forests were destroyed in fires.

July

• July 5 - William Shockley invents the junction transistor.
• July 10 - Korean War: At Kaesong, armistice negotiations begin.
• July 14 - In Joplin, Missouri, George Washington Carver National Monument becomes the first United States National Monument in honor of an African American.
• July 16 - King Leopold III of Belgium signs the act of abdication in favour of his son Baudouin.
• July 17 - Baudouin takes the oath as king of Belgium, after his father abdicated the day before.
• July 20 - King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem.

September

• September 1 - The United States, Australia and New Zealand all sign a mutual defense pact, called the ANZUS Treaty (for "Australia, New Zealand, United States").
• September 8 - Treaty of San Francisco: In San Francisco, California, 48 nations sign Sign a peace treaty with Japan in formal recognition of the end of the Pacific War.
• September 10 - The United Kingdom begins an economic boycott of Iran.
• September 20 - NATO accepts Greece and Turkey as members
• September 26-28 - Blue sun seen over Europe; effect is due to ash coming from the Canadian forest fires four months previously

October

• October 7 - Malayan Emergency - communist insurgents kill British commander Sir Henry Gurney
• October 16 - Assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan, president of Pakistan
• October 21 - Storm in southern Italy - over 100 dead
• October 26 - Winston Churchill re-elected British Prime Minister; his foreign minister is Anthony Eden
• October 27 - Farouk of Egypt declares himself also as a king of Sudan - no support

November

• November 1 - First military exercises for nuclear war, with infantry troops included, in the Nevada desert
• November 11 - Juan Peron re-elected president of Argentina
• November 20 - Po river floods in northern Italy
• November 10 - Direct-dial coast-to-coast telephone service begins in the United States.
• November 24 - The Broadway play Gigi opens starring little known actress Audrey Hepburn playing the lead character.

December

• December 6 - State of emergency in Egypt due to increasing riots
• December 13 - Water tank collapses in Tucamcari, New Mexico - 4 dead, 200 buildings destroyed
• December 16 - Salar Jung Museum is opened to the public by the Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru.
• December 24 - Libya becomes independent from Italy

Undated

• A fourth, and final, forest fire starts in the Tillamook Burn; but unlike earlier fires this one only burns 32,700 acres (132 km²), and within area already affected by the earlier fires.
• IBM United Kingdom formed

Year in topic

• 1951 in film
  • An American in Paris
  • The African Queen, starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn
  • A Streetcar Named Desire
  • Flying Leathernecks starring John Wayne
• 1951 in literature
  • The Catcher in the Rye
• 1951 in music
  • The release of "Rocket 88", a song by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats. Some music historians consider this record to be the first rock and roll recording.
• 1951 in rail transport
  • Southern Pacific Railroad subsidiary Sud Pacifico de Mexico (predecessor of Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Mexico ) is sold to the Mexican government.
• 1951 in sports
• 1951 in television
  • January 3 - Dragnet airs on television for the first time (NBC).
  • May 28 - The U. S. Supreme Court upholds the FCC's approval of the CBS color television system
  • June 25 ? CBS presents its first commercial color telecast with Arthur Godfrey, Ed Sullivan, and Faye Emerson .
  • June - RCA demonstrates its new electronic color system.
  • August 11 - The first baseball games televised in color, a double-header between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Boston Braves
  • September 4 - The first coast-to-coast TV broadcast in the United States, featuring President Truman.
  • September 22 - The first live sporting event seen coast-to-coast in the United States, a college football game between Duke and the University of Pittsburgh, is televised on NBC.
  • October 3 - The first live coast-to-coast network telecast of a World Series game in the United States
  • October 15 - I Love Lucy debuts on CBS.
  • December 24 - The first televised opera written for television, Amahl and the Night Visitor, airs on NBC.
  • Ernie Kovacs' Time for Ernie and Ernie in Kovacsland television shows premiere. Kovacs pushes the limits of television technology with his use of camera tricks and special effects.

Births

January-March

• January 6 - Kim Wilson, blues singer and harmonica player
• January 12 - Kirstie Alley, actress
• January 12 - Rush Limbaugh, radio personality
• January 30 - Phil Collins, musician
• February 6 - Princess Daphné of Belgium
• February 14 - Kevin Keegan, footballer and football manager
• February 15 - Melissa Manchester, singer
• February 15 - Jane Seymour, actress
• February 20 - Gordon Brown, British politician
• February 25 - Don Quarrie, Jamaican sprinter
• March 4 - Kenny Dalglish footballer and football manager
• March 4 - Chris Rea, British singer and musician
• March 8 - Karen Kain, Canadian ballerina
• March 17 - Kurt Russell, actor
• March 24 - Tommy Hilfiger, fashion designer

April-June

• April 6 - Bert Blyleven, baseball pitcher
• April 7 - Janis Ian, singer and songwriter
• April 10 - Steven Seagal, actor
• April 11 - Doris McGowen Beck Angleton, Houston, Texas socialite (d. 1997)
• April 13 - Peabo Bryson, pop singer
• April 13 - Peter Davison, actor and the fifth Doctor Who
• April 13 - Max Weinberg, drummer
• April 29 - Dale Earnhardt, stock car racer (NASCAR) (d. 2001)
• May 10 - Michael Tarn , actor
• May 15 - Jonathan Richman, musician
• May 23 - Anatoly Karpov, chess world champion
• May 26 - Sally Ride, astronaut
• May 30 - Stephen Tobolowsky , actor
• June 2 - Larry Robinson, Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman
• June 14 - Paul Boateng, British politician, first black Cabinet minister
• June 17 - Mary McAleese, eighth President of Ireland
• June 20 - Tress MacNeille, voice actress

July-September

• July 3 - Richard Hadlee, New Zealand cricketer
• July 5 - Rich "Goose" Gossage, baseball pitcher
• July 8 - Anjelica Huston, actress
• July 10 - Cheryl Wheeler, singer/songwriter
• June 28 - Lloyd Maines, country music musician and record producer
• July 24 - Chris Smith, British politician, first "out" gay MP
• August 3 - Marcel Dionne, Hockey Hall of Famer
• August 6 - Daryl Somers, Australian television personality
• August 20 - Greg Bear, science fiction author
• August 23 - Akhmad Kadyrov, President of Chechnya
• August 23 - Queen Noor of Jordan
• August 24 - Orson Scott Card, science fiction author
• September 7 - Julie Kavner, voice actress
• September 12 - Joe Pantoliano, actor
• September 22 - David Coverdale, singer
• September 29 - Andrés Caicedo, Colombian writer (d. 1977)
• September 29 - Maureen Caird, Australian hurdler

October-December

• October 3 - Dave Winfield, Baseball Hall of Famer
• October 3 - Keb Mo', blues musician
• October 6 - Manfred Winkelhock, auto racing driver
• October 7 - John Mellencamp, musician/songwriter
• October 10 - Ratu Epeli Ganilau, Fijian soldier and statesman
• October 11 - Jean-Jacques Goldman, French pop singer, songwriter
• October 26 - Bootsy Collins, funk musician, singer, songwriter
• October 30 - Harry Hamlin, actor
• November 11 - Marc Summers, television host
• November 15 - Alamgir Hashmi, poet, scholar, professor
• November 19 - Lord Falconer, British lawyer and politician
• November 24 - Chet Edwards, American politician
• November 26 - Ilona Staller, aka Cicciolina, pornographic film actress, politician
• November 30 - Christian Bernard, F.R.C., Rosicrucian, Imperator of AMORC
• December 17 - Ken Hitchcock, NHL coach
• December 30 - Meredith Viera, television host

Deaths

January-March

• January 10 - Sinclair Lewis, writer
• January 29 - Frank Tarrant, Australian all-rounder and one of the best cricketers never to play a Test match (b. 1880).
• February 9 - Eddy Duchin, musician
• February 13 - Lloyd C. Douglas, author
• February 18 - Lyman Gilmore, Choctaw Native American airplane pioneer
• February 19 - André Gide, author
• February 21 - Choudhary Rahmat Ali, founding father of Pakistan (b. 1895)
• March 6 - Ivor Novello, actor, musician, composer
• March 10 - Shidehara Kijuro, Japanese prime minister
• March 21 - Willem Mengelberg, Dutch conductor (b. 1871)
• March 25 - Eddie Collins, Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1887)
• March 25 - Oscar Micheaux, pioneer African-American, filmmaker/author

April-June

• April 4 - Al Christie, early Hollywood director/producer
• April 6 - Robert Broom, paleontologist
• April 22 - Horace Donisthorpe, myrmecologist
• April 23 - Charles G. Dawes, former U.S. vice-president
• May 7 - Warner Baxter, actor
• May 30 - Hermann Broch, Austrian author
• June 4 - Serge Koussevitzky, Russian conductor (b. 1874)
• June 13 - Ben Chifley, Australian Prime Minister
• June 21 - Charles Dillon Perrine, astronomer (b. 1867)

July-September

• July 9 - Harry Heilmann, Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1894)
• July 13 - Arnold Schoenberg, Austrian composer
• July 20 - King Abdullah, King of Jordan
• July 23 - Robert J. Flaherty, filmmaker
• July 29 - Hozumi Shigeto, Japanese author
• August 14 - William Randolph Hearst, American newspaper publisher
• August 15 - Artur Schnabel, Polish pianist (b. 1882)
• August 21 - Constant Lambert, composer

October-December

• October 16 - Liaquat Ali Khan, first Prime Minister of Pakistan
• November 5 - Reggie Walker, South African athlete
• November 9 - Sigmund Romberg, composer
• November 13 - Nikolai Medtner, Russian pianist/composer

Nobel Prizes

• Physics - John Cockcroft, Ernest Walton
• Chemistry - Edwin McMillan, Glenn T. Seaborg
• Medicine - Max Theiler
• Literature - Pär Lagerkvist
• Peace - Léon Jouhaux