1946
Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades: 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s - 1940s - 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
Years: 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 - 1946 - 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951
Events:
- January 11 - Enver Hoxha declares the people's republic of Albania with himself as dictator.
- Devil's Island penal colony closes permanently
- June 2 - Italy becomes a republic, after a plebiscite
- November 19 - Afghanistan, Iceland and Sweden joins the United Nations
- Bulgaria declared a People's Republic after a referendum
- The 20mm Vulcan gatling gun is invented
- December 24 - France's Fourth Republic founded
Art, Culture & Fashion
- 1946 in film
- The Best Years of Our Lives
- Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life, starring Jimmy Stewart
- Henry V
- The Razor's Edge
- Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious starring Cary Grant
- The Big Sleep starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall
- 1946 in literature
- The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O'Neill
- 1946 in music
- 1946 in sports
- 1946 in television
- February 4 – RCA demonstrates all-electronic color television system.
- February 18 - The first Washington-New York telecast through AT&T coaxial cable is termed success by engineers and viewers.
- April 22 - CBS color television program is successfully transmitted over a 450 mile coaxial cable link from New York to Washington
- May 9 - The first variety show premieres, Hour Glass, on NBC.
- June 19 - The first televised heavyweight title fight between Joe Louis and Billy Conn is broadcast from Yankee Stadium. The fight was seen by 141,000 people, the largest television audience to see a fight.
- October 2 - The first TV network soap opera, Faraway Hill, airs on the DuMont network.
- December 24 - The first church service is telecast, Grace Episcopal Church in New York, on WABD.
- ToKyo Tushin Kogyo founded, which would later become Sony
- Zoomar introduces the first professional zoom lens
Births:
- January 3 - John Paul Jones, bassist from Led Zeppelin
- January 5 - Diane Keaton, actress
- January 6 - Syd Barrett, guitarist and singer
- January 8 - Robby Krieger, musician ("The Doors")
- January 20 - David Lynch, film director
- February 11 - M C Walker, CEO of Iceland Frozen Foods.
- February 11 - Timothy Chambers, pediatrician.
- April 30 - Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden, Swedish monarch (1973- )
- May 20 - Cher, American singer
- June 14 - Harold Frederick Shipman, British serial killer
- July 22 - Mireille Mathieu, French singer
- August 3 - Jack Straw, British politician
- August 19 - Bill Clinton, American president (1993-2000)
- September 5 - Freddie Mercury, British singer
- September 7 - Francisco Varela, biologist
- September 15 - Oliver Stone, American film director
- November 5 - Herman Brood, Dutch rock 'n' roll artist
- November 5 - Gram Parsons, country music/rock musician
- November 24 - Ted Bundy, American serial killer
- December 31 - President Harry Truman officially proclaims an end of hostilities in World War II.
Deaths:
- March 23 - Gilbert N. Lewis, physical chemist.
- March 24 - Alexander Alekhine, chess champion
- June 10 - Jack Johnson, African-American boxer
- October 15 - Hermann Göring, prominent Nazi leader, marshall of the Third Reich, head of the Airforce (suicide)
- October 16 - Artur Seuss-Inquart, Austrian Nazi leader, governor of The Netherlands during the German occupation (1940-1945) (executed)