Timeline November 1952

Events in November 1952 7

• 1866 – 1952 Benedetto Croce (1866-1952) Died 20 November 1952, aged 86 Benedetto Croce, the Italian philosopher, historian and liberal statesman, died in Naples on 20 November 1952. He was a leading anti-fascist intellectual voice during Mussolini's rule and helped rebuild Italian democratic institutions after the war. His work on aesthetics and historiography influenced philosophy across Europe.
• 1874 – 1952 Chaim Weizmann (1874-1952) Died 9 November 1952, aged 77 Chaim Weizmann, a chemist and Zionist leader who became the first President of Israel, died on 9 November 1952 in Rehovot. He had played a key role in securing the 1917 Balfour Declaration and led the World Zionist Organization for decades. He took office as Israel's president in 1949.
• 1895 – 1952 Paul Eluard (1895-1952) Died 18 November 1952, aged 56 Paul Eluard, one of the founders of the French Surrealist movement and a leading poet of the Resistance, died of a heart attack in Charenton-le-Pont on 18 November 1952. His poetry collection Liberty became emblematic of wartime resistance to Nazi occupation. He was a close associate of Andre Breton and Pablo Picasso.
• 1952 Ivy Mike hydrogen bomb test United States detonates the first thermonuclear device The US tested Ivy Mike at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands on 1 November 1952, yielding about 10.4 megatons. It was the first successful test of a hydrogen bomb, vastly more powerful than the atomic bombs used in 1945. The blast vaporized the island of Elugelab.
• 1952 Dwight Eisenhower elected US president Republican war hero wins by landslide Dwight D. Eisenhower defeated Democrat Adlai Stevenson in the US presidential election on 4 November 1952, ending twenty years of Democratic control of the White House. Eisenhower's running mate was Richard Nixon. The election was also notable for early television use of computer-based vote prediction.
• 1952 Declines the presidency of Israel A telegram from Ben-Gurion, and a polite no After Weizmann's death Israel offered Einstein the largely ceremonial presidency in November 1952. He answered that he had neither the aptitude nor the experience to deal with people properly, and was too old. Ben-Gurion is said to have been relieved.
• 1952 Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap opens Murder mystery begins its record-breaking West End run Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap opened at the Ambassadors Theatre in London on 25 November 1952. It went on to become the longest continuously running play in history. The identity of the murderer became one of theatre's most closely guarded secrets.