Timeline February 1950

Events in February 1950 11

• 1950 – 2015 Natalie Cole (1950-2015) Died 31 December 2015, aged 65 Natalie Cole was an American singer who won multiple Grammy Awards, including for her 1991 album Unforgettable... with Love, which digitally paired her voice with recordings of her late father, Nat King Cole. She had earlier hits in the 1970s including 'This Will Be' and 'Our Love'. Her career survived a well-publicized battle with drug addiction in the 1980s.
• 1950 Diners Club card introduced First general-purpose charge card launches in New York Businessman Frank McNamara launched the Diners Club card, allowing members to charge meals at participating restaurants and pay later. It is widely credited as the first general-purpose charge card, predating bank-issued credit cards. The concept quickly spread to other categories of spending and inspired later card networks.
• 1950 Joseph McCarthy's Wheeling speech Senator alleges communist infiltration of the State Department In a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, Senator Joseph McCarthy claimed to hold a list of communists working in the US State Department. The unsubstantiated claim launched a wave of anti-communist investigations that came to be known as McCarthyism. It intensified Cold War political tensions within the United States for years afterward.
• 1950 – present Peter Gabriel Singer-songwriter English musician, founding singer of Genesis, solo artist of Solsbury Hill and Sledgehammer, and champion of world music and human rights.
• 1950 Peter Gabriel born in Chobham, Surrey Surrey Grows up in the Surrey countryside.
• 1950 Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship signed Mao and Stalin formalize alliance between China and the USSR Mao Zedong and Joseph Stalin signed the Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance in Moscow, binding China and the Soviet Union in a thirty-year military and economic alliance. The treaty shaped Cold War alignments in Asia for the following decade. It included Soviet loans and the return of Chinese railway and port assets held since the 1945 agreements.
• 1950 Disney's Cinderella premieres Animated feature revives Walt Disney's fortunes Walt Disney Productions released the animated feature Cinderella, its first fairy-tale musical since Bambi in 1942. The film was a major commercial success and helped stabilize the studio's finances after a difficult decade. It remains one of Disney's most enduring animated classics.
• 1950 – 2009 John Hughes (1950-2009) Died 6 August 2009, aged 59 Hughes was an American filmmaker who wrote and directed a series of defining 1980s teen comedies including The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Sixteen Candles, and later wrote Home Alone. His films shaped the era's popular image of American adolescence. He largely withdrew from public life in his later career.
• 1950 – 2017 Walter Becker (1950-2017) Died 3 September 2017, aged 67 American musician and co-founder of the jazz-rock band Steely Dan, alongside Donald Fagen. Known for meticulous studio production and sardonic lyricism, the band's albums remain touchstones of 1970s rock. He died following surgery.
• 1950 – present Julius Erving Dr. J Pioneer of modern slam dunking; a star in both the ABA and NBA.
• 1950 1950 United Kingdom general election Labour retains power under Clement Attlee with a slim majority Clement Attlee's Labour Party narrowly won re-election over Winston Churchill's Conservatives, retaining government with a majority of just five seats. The result reflected exhaustion with post-war austerity and rationing. The slim majority led Attlee to call another election the following year.