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| Ivar Rooth |
Ivar RoothIvar Rooth was Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from August 3, 1951 to October 3, 1956.
Ivar Rooth had previously been governor of the Bank of Sweden.
Rooth, Ivar
International Monetary Fund: IMF redirects here. For other meanings of IMF see IMF (disambiguation)
IMF (disambiguation)
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the international organization entrusted with overseeing the global financial system by monitoring exchange rates and balance of payments, as well as offering technical and financial assistance when asked.
Organization and purpose
The IMF
describes itself as: "an organization of 184 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty". With the exception of North Korea, Cuba, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Monaco, Tuvalu and Nauru, all UN member states either participate directly in the IMF or are represented by other member states.
During the 1930s, as economic activity in the major industrial countries dwindled, countries attempted to defend their economies by increasing restrictions on imports. To conserve dwindling reserves of gold and foreign exchange, some countries curtailed foreign imports, some devalued their currencies, and some introduced complicated restrictions on foreign exchange accounts held by their citizens. These measures were arguably ineffective since they diminished Ricardian comparative advantage. World trade declined sharply, as did employment and living standards in many countries.
As World War II came to a close, the leading allied countries considered various plans to restore order to international monetary relations, and at the Bretton Woods conference the IMF emerged. The founding members drafted a charter (or Articles of Agreement) of an international institution to oversee the international monetary system and to promote both the elimination of exchange restrictions relating to trade in goods and services, and the stability of exchange rates.
The IMF came into existence in December 1945, when the first 29 countries signed its Articles of Agreement. The statutory purposes of the IMF today are the same as when they were formulated in 1944 (see Box 2). From the end of World War II until the late-1970s, the capitalist world experienced unprecedented growth in real incomes. (Since then, China's integration into the capitalist system has added substantially to the growth of the system.) Within the capitalist system, the benefits of growth have not flowed equally to all (either within or among nations) but most capitalist countries have seen recent increases in prosperity that contrast starkly with the conditions within capitalist countries during the interwar period. The lack of a recuring global depression is likely due to improvements in the conduct of international economic policies that have encouraged the growth of international trade and helped smooth the economic cycle of boom and bust.
In the decades since World War II, apart from rising prosperity, the world economy and monetary system have undergone other major changes that have increased the importance and relevance of the purposes served by the IMF, but that have also required the IMF to adapt and reform. Rapid advances in technology and communications have contributed to the increasing international integration of markets and to closer linkages among national economies. As a result, financial crises, when they erupt, now tend to spread more rapidly among countries.
The IMF's influence in the global economy steadily increased as it accumulated more members. The number of IMF member countries has more than quadrupled from the 44 states involved in its establishment, reflecting in particular the attainment of political independence by many developing countries and more recently the collapse of the Soviet bloc. The expansion of the IMF's membership, together with the changes in the world economy, have required the IMF to adapt in a variety of ways to continue serving its purposes effectively.
History
Agreement for the creation of the International Monetary Fund came at the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States, on July 22, 1944. The principal architects of the IMF at the conference were British economist John Maynard Keynes and the chief international economist at the US Treasury Department, Harry Dexter White. The Articles of Agreement came into force on December 27, 1945, the organization came into existence on May 1, 1946, as part of a post-WWII reconstruction plan, and it began financial operations on March 1, 1947.
It is sometimes referred to as "a Bretton Woods institution", along with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (now part of the larger World Bank Group).
Membership qualifications
A country may apply for membership of the IMF. The application will be considered, first, by the IMF's Executive Board. After its consideration, the Executive Board will submit a report to the Board of Governors of the IMF with recommendations in the form of a "Membership Resolution." These recommendations cover the amount of quota in the IMF, the form of payment of the [http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/aa/aa03.htm#1 subscription], and other customary terms and conditions of membership. After the Board of Governors has adopted the "Membership Resolution," the applicant state needs to take the legal steps required under its own law to enable it to sign the IMF's Articles of Agreement and to fulfill the obligations of IMF membership.
A member's quota in the IMF determines the amount of its subscription, its voting weight, its access to IMF financing, and its allocation of SDRs.
Assistance and reforms
Part of its mission has become to provide assistance to countries that experience serious economic difficulties. Member states with balance of payments problems may request loans and/or organizational management of their national economies. In return, the countries are obliged to launch certain reforms, an example of which is the "Washington Consensus".
Criticism
The role of the two Bretton Woods institutions has been controversial to many since the late Cold War period. Critics claim that IMF policy makers deliberately supported capitalist military dictatorships friendly to American and European corporations. Critics also claim that the IMF is generally apathetic or hostile to their views of democracy, human rights, and labor rights. These criticisms generated a controversy that helped spark the anti-globalization movement. Others claim the IMF has little power to democratize sovereign states, nor is that its stated objective: to advise and promote financial stability. Arguments in favor of the IMF say that economic stability is a precursor to democracy.
Two criticisms from economists have been that financial aid is always bound to so-called "Conditionalities", including Structural Adjustment Programs. Conditionalities, it is claimed, retard social stability and hence inhibit the stated goals of the IMF.
Typically the IMF and its supporters advocate a Keynesian approach. As such, adherents of supply-side economics generally find themselves in open disagreement with the IMF. The IMF frequently advocates currency devaluation, criticized by proponents of supply-side economics as inflationary. Secondly they link higher taxes under "austerity programmes" with economic contraction.
Currency devaluation is recommended by the IMF to the governments of poor nations with struggling economies. Supply-side economists claim these Keynesian IMF policies are destructive to economic prosperity, although many other economists disagree.
Complaints are also directed toward International Monetary Fund gold reserve being undervalued. At its inception in 1945, the IMF pegged gold at 35 dollars per Troy ounce of gold. In 1973 the Nixon administration lifted the fixed asset value of gold in favour of a world market price. Hence the fixed exchange rates of currencies tied to gold were switched to a floating rate, also based on market price and exchange. This largely came about because Petrodollars outside the United States were more than could be backed by the gold at Fort Knox under the fixed exchange rate system. The fixed rate system only served to limit the amount of assistance the organization could use to help debt-ridden countries.
That said, the IMF sometimes advocates "austerity programmes," increasing taxes even when the economy is weak, in order to generate government revenue and balance budget deficits, which is the opposite of Keynesian policy. These policies were criticised by Joseph E. Stiglitz, former chief economist at the World Bank, in his book Globalization and Its Discontents. He argued that by converting to a more Monetarist aproach, the fund no longer had a valid purpose, as it was designed to provide funds for countries to carry out Keynesian reflations.
Most altermondialists, like ATTAC, believe that IMF interventions aggravate the poverty and debt of Third World and developing countries. According to the analysis by Yves Engler, the IMF is considered to be responsible for worsening or actually creating famine in Malawi (2002), Ethiopia (2003) and Niger (2005). [http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=2&ItemID=8494]
Opposition to the IMF is often fragmented. For instance, advocates of supply-side economics would generally regard the policies advocated by ATTAC to be little different in form to the ideas peddled by the IMF. In other words, they would see ATTAC tax-and-spend policies and the IMF's austerity policies as being fundamentally similar.
Argentina, which had been considered by the IMF to be a model country in its compliance to policy proposals by the Bretton Woods institutions, experienced a catastrophic economic crisis in 2001, generally believed to have been caused by IMF-induced budget restrictions — which undercut the government's ability to sustain national infrastructure even in crucial areas such as health, education, and security — and privatization of strategically vital national resources. The crisis added to widespread hatred of this institution in Argentina and other South American countries, with many blaming the IMF for the region's economic problems [http://www.serendipity.li/hr/imf_and_dollar_system.htm]. The current — as of 2005 — trend towards moderate left-wing governments in the region and a growing concern with the development of a regional economic policy largely independent of big business pressures has been ascribed to this crisis.
Another example of where IMF Structural Adjustment Programmes aggravated the problem was in Kenya. Before IMF got involved in the country, the Kenya central bank oversaw all currency movement in and out of the country. IMF mandated that Kenya central bank had to allow easier currency movement. However, the adjustment resulted in very little foreign investment, but allowed Kamlesh Manusuklal Damji Pattni, with the help of corrupt government officials, to syphon out billions of Kenya shillings in what came to be known as the Goldenberg scandal, leaving the country in a state worse than that which it was in before the IMF reforms were implemented.
That the IMF intervenes only in countries that experience years of dire economic conditions has certainly hurt its reputation. The financial collapses it intervenes in are products of uneven capitalist development sometimes exacerbated by government mismanagement, but mismanagement is often cited by rich nations as the source of the financial crises. These collapses tend to lead to years of economic difficulty that can be addressed in various ways, but IMF Stuctural Adjustment Policies consistently serve to open up or "liberalize" economies to foreign capital rather than provide for economic recovery through statist policies such as government financed projects to achieve full employment. Thus, IMF policies further the notion that economic development in underdeveloped countries is dependent on attracting foreign investment rather than through a state-managed approach centered on full employment and progressive taxation. It is also true that politicians have used the IMF as an easy target for blame when they themselves have erred, using nationalism to gain easy political points.
Overall the IMF success record is limited. While it was created to help stabilize the global economy, since 1980 over 100 countries have experienced a banking collapse that reduced GDP by four percent or more -- far more than at any previous time in history. The considerable delay in IMF response to a crisis, and the fact that it tends to only respond to rather than prevent them, has led many economists to argue for reform.
Whatever the feelings people in the Western world have for the IMF, research by the Pew Research Center shows that more than 60 percent of Asians and 70 percent of Africans feel that the IMF and the World Bank have a positive effect on their country [http://people-press.org/reports/pdf/185topline.pdf]. Such research has made proponents of IMF claim the IMF-critique misleading, as it would be difficult to speak of suffering if the sufferers don't feel hurt.
The documentary Life and Debt deals with the IMF's policies' influence on Jamaica and its economy, from a critical point of view.
.
Past managing directors
An unwritten rule establishes that the IMF's managing director must be European and that the president of the World Bank must be from the United States. Executive Directors, who confirm the managing director are voted in by Finance Ministers from countries they represent.
The IMF is for the most part controlled by the major Western Powers, with voting rights on the Executive board based on a quota derived from a monetary stake in the institution. Rarely does the board vote and pass issues contradicting the will of the US or Europeans. There have been some exceptions in the past. Dr. Mohamed Finaish from Libya, the Executive Director representing the majority of the Arab World and Pakistan, was a tireless defender of the developing nations' rights at the IMF. He stood steadfast in his beliefs and principles for fourteen years until his defeat in the 1992 elections to an Egyptian IMF Staff Member.
Dates
| | Name
| | Country
|
| May 6, 1946 - May 5, 1951 | Camille Gutt | Belgium |
| August 3, 1951 - October 3, 1956 | Ivar Rooth | Sweden |
| November 21, 1956 - May 5, 1963 | Per Jacobsson | Sweden |
| September 1, 1963 - August 31, 1973 | Pierre-Paul Schweitzer | France |
| September 1, 1973 - June 16, 1978 | Johannes Witteveen | Netherlands |
| June 17, 1978 - January 15, 1987 | Jacques de Larosière | France |
| January 16, 1987 - February 14, 2000 | Michel Camdessus | France |
| May 1, 2000 - March 4, 2004 | Horst Köhler | Germany |
| March 5, 2004 - June 6, 2004 | Anne Krueger | United States - (acting)
| | June 7, 2004 - present | Rodrigo de Rato | Spain |
Footnotes
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-
See also
- Bretton Woods Institutions
- Economics
- Bank for International Settlements
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
- Special Drawing Rights
- World Bank
- Globalization and Its Discontents
- Bancor
External links
- [http://www.imf.org International Monetary Fund website]
- [http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/index.htm Finance & Development - A quarterly magazine of the IMF]
- [http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/ar/ Annual Reports of the Executive Board]
- [http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/weorepts.htm World Economic Outlook Reports]
- [http://www.imf.org/external/pubind.htm IMF Publications]
- [http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2941379 Kenneth Rogoff - The sisters at 60]
- How the IMF Props Up the Dollar System [http://www.serendipity.li/hr/imf_and_dollar_system.htm]
- [http://web.gc.cuny.edu/eusc/activities/paper/schwartz.htm IMF’s Origins as a Blueprint for Its Future, Anna J. Schwartz, National Bureau of Economic Research]
References
-
-
- Dreher, Axel (2004), A Public Choice Perspective of IMF and World Bank Lending and Conditionality, Public Choice 119, 3-4: 445-464.
- Dreher, Axel (2004), The Influence of IMF Programs on the Re-election of Debtor Governments, Economics & Politics 16, 1: 53-75
- Dreher, Axel (2003), The Influence of Elections on IMF Programme Interruptions, The Journal of Development Studies 39,6: 101-120.
- The Best Democracy Money Can Buy by Greg Palast (2002)
- The IMF and The World Bank: How do they differ?[http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/exrp/differ/differ.htm] by David D. Driscoll
Category:International organizations
Category:International economics
Category:International Monetary Fund
ko:국제통화기금
ja:国際通貨基金
1951
1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar.
Events
January-February
- 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 1 - United Nations General Assembly declares that China is the aggressor in the Korean War
- February 4-8 - Surgeons remove an ovarian cyst from Gertrude Levandowski in 96-hour long operation in Chicago, Illinois. She loses almost half of her weight and emerges weighing 140 kg / 308 lbs
- February 6 - A Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train derails near Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. The accident kills 85 people and injures over 500 more; one of the worst rail disasters in American history.
- 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 27 - The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified.
March-April
- March 1 - Japanese cities Uji, Kyoto and Muroto, Kochi are founded.
- 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 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 - Robert Menzies' Liberal Party government in Australia is re-elected for a second term.
May-July
- May 1 - Opera house of Geneva, Switzerland almost destroyed in a fire
- May 3 - London's Royal Festival Hall opens.
- May 3 - The U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services and U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations begin their closed door hearings into the dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur by U.S. President Harry S. Truman.
- May 14 - First volunteer-run passenger trains on Talyllyn Railway, Wales.
- May 15 - Military coup in Bolivia
- June 14 - UNIVAC I is dedicated by U.S. Census Bureau.[http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/industry/06/14/computing.anniversary/]
- 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 5 - William Shockley invents the junction transistor.
- July 10 - Korean War: At Kaesong, armistice negotiations begin.
- July 13 - The Great Flood of 1951 reaches it's highest point in Northeast Kansas, culminating in the greatest flood damage to date in the Midwestern United States.
- 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 Léopold 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-October
- 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 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 3 - "Shot Heard 'Round the World" One of the greatest moments in Major League Baseball history occurs when the New York Giants Bobby Thomson hits a game winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning off of the Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca, to win the National League pennant after being down 14 games.
- 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-December
- 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 6 - State of emergency in Egypt due to increasing riots
- December 13 - Water storage tank collapses in Tucumcari, 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
- 1951 New Zealand waterfront dispute lasts for 151 days
Births
January-March
- January 6 - Kim Wilson, American singer and harmonica player
- January 8 - Kenny Anthony, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia
- January 12 - Kirstie Alley, American actress
- January 12 - Rush Limbaugh, American radio personality
- January 30 - Phil Collins, English musician
- February 14 - Kevin Keegan, English footballer and football manager
- February 15 - Melissa Manchester, American singer
- February 15 - Jane Seymour, English actress
- February 18 - Dale Earnhardt, American racing car driver (d. 2001)
- February 19 - Tahir-ul-Qadri, Islamic scholar and leader
- February 20 - Gordon Brown, Scottish politician
- February 25 - Don Quarrie, Jamaican sprinter
- March 4 - Kenny Dalglish Scottish footballer and football manager
- March 4 - Chris Rea, British singer and musician
- March 6 - Gerrie Knetemann, Dutch cyclist (d. 2004)
- March 8 - Karen Kain, Canadian ballerina
- March 12 - Susan Musgrave Canadian poet and children's writer
- March 13 - Fred Berry, American actor (d. 2003)
- March 17 - Kurt Russell, American actor
- March 24 - Tommy Hilfiger, American fashion designer
- March 26 - Carl Wieman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
April-May
- April 5 - Guy Vanderhaeghe, Canadian author
- April 6 - Bert Blyleven, Dutch Major League Baseball player
- April 7 - Janis Ian, American singer and songwriter
- April 10 - David Helvarg, American journalist and activist
- April 10 - Steven Seagal, American actor
- April 11 - Doris McGowen Beck Angleton, American socialite and murder victim (d. 1997)
- April 13 - Peabo Bryson, American singer
- April 13 - Peter Davison, British actor
- April 13 - Max Weinberg, American drummer
- April 14 - Julian Lloyd Webber, English cellist and composer
- April 16 - Ioan Mihai Cochinescu, Romanian writer
- April 20 - Louise Jameson, British actress
- April 29 - Dale Earnhardt, American race car driver (d. 2001)
- May 9 - Christopher Dewdney, Canadian poet
- May 13 - Sharon Sayles Belton, Mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota
- May 15 - Jonathan Richman, American musician
- May 15 - Frank Wilczek, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- May 19 - Joey Ramone, American musician (The Ramones) (d. 2001)
- May 23 - Anatoly Karpov, Russian chess player
- May 26 - Sally Ride, astronaut
- May 30 - Stephen Tobolowsky, American actor
June-August
- June 2 - Larry Robinson, Canadian hockey player
- June 14 - Paul Boateng, British politician
- June 17 - Mary McAleese, eighth President of Ireland
- June 20 - Tress MacNeille, American voice actress
- June 28 - Lalla Ward, British actress
- July 3 - Richard Hadlee, New Zealand cricketer
- July 5 - Rich "Goose" Gossage, baseball player
- July 8 - Anjelica Huston, American actress
- July 10 - Cheryl Wheeler, American singer and songwriter
- July 14 - Erich Hallhuber, German actor (d. 2003)
- July 18 - Elio Di Rupo, Belgian politician
- June 28 - Lloyd Maines, American musician and record producer
- July 24 - Chris Smith, British politician
- August 3 - Marcel Dionne, Canadian hockey player
- August 6 - Daryl Somers, Australian television personality
- August 20 - Greg Bear, American author
- August 21 - Eric Goles, Chilean mathematician and computer scientist
- August 23 - Akhmad Kadyrov, President of Chechnya
- August 23 - Queen Noor of Jordan
- August 24 - Orson Scott Card, American author
September-October
- September 7 - Julie Kavner, American voice actress
- September 12 - Joe Pantoliano, American actor
- September 21 - Aslan Maskhadov, President of Chechnya
- September 22 - David Coverdale, English singer
- September 25 - Mark Hamill, American actor
- September 26 - Stuart Tosh, Scottish musician
- September 29 - Andrés Caicedo, Colombian writer (d. 1977)
- September 29 - Maureen Caird, Australian hurdler
- September 30 - Barry Marshall, Australian physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine
- October 3 - Dave Winfield, baseball player
- October 3 - Keb Mo', American musician
- October 5 - Bob Geldof, Irish musician (The Boomtown Rats)
- October 6 - Manfred Winkelhock, German race car driver
- October 7 - John Mellencamp, American musician and songwriter
- October 10 - Ratu Epeli Ganilau, Fiji soldier and statesman
- October 11 - Jean-Jacques Goldman, French singer and songwriter
- October 26 - Bootsy Collins, American musician, singer, and songwriter
- October 30 - Harry Hamlin, American actor
November-December
- November 11 - Marc Summers, American television host
- November 15 - Alamgir Hashmi, English poet
- November 19 - Lord Falconer, British politician
- November 24 - Chet Edwards, American politician
- November 26 - Cicciolina, Italian actress and politician
- November 30 - Christian Bernard, French-born mystic
- December 6 - Tomson Highway, Canadian writer
- December 8 - Jan Eggum, Norwegian singer-songwriter
- December 12 - Wau Holland, German hacker (d. 2001)
- December 14 - Jan Timman, Dutch chess player
- December 17 - Ken Hitchcock, Canadian hockey coach
- December 30 - Meredith Viera, American television host
Deaths
- January 7 - René Guénon, French-born author (b. 1886)
- January 10 - Sinclair Lewis, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1885)
- January 29 - Frank Tarrant, Australian cricketer (b. 1880)
- February 9 - Eddy Duchin, American pianist and bandleader (b. 1909)
- February 13 - Lloyd C. Douglas, American author (b. 1877)
- February 18 - Lyman Gilmore, American aviation pioneer (b. 1874)
- February 19 - André Gide, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1869)
- February 21 - Choudhary Rahmat Ali, founding father of Pakistan (b. 1895)
- March 6 - Ivor Novello, Welsh actor, musician, and composer (b. 1893)
- March 10 - Shidehara Kijuro, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1872)
- March 21 - Willem Mengelberg, Dutch conductor (b. 1871)
- March 25 - Eddie Collins, baseball player (b. 1887)
- March 25 - Oscar Micheaux, American filmmaker (b. 1884)
- April 4 - Al Christie, Canadian-born film director and producer (b. 1881)
- April 4 - George Albert Smith, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1870)
- April 6 - Robert Broom, Scottish paleontologist (b. 1866)
- April 22 - Horace Donisthorpe, English myrmecologist (b. 1870)
- April 23 - Charles G. Dawes, Vice President of the United States, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1865)
- May 7 - Warner Baxter, American actor (b. 1889)
- May 30 - Hermann Broch, Austrian author (b. 1886)
- June 4 - Serge Koussevitzky, Russian conductor (b. 1874)
- June 13 - Ben Chifley, Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1885)
- June 21 - Charles Dillon Perrine, American-born astronomer (b. 1867)
- July 9 - Harry Heilmann, baseball player (b. 1894)
- July 13 - Arnold Schoenberg, Austrian composer (b. 1874)
- July 20 - King Abdullah I of Jordan (b. 1882)
- July 23 - Robert J. Flaherty, American filmmaker (b. 1884)
- July 23 - Philippe Pétain, leader of Vichy France (b. 1856)
- July 29 - Hozumi Shigeto, Japanese author (b. 1883)
- August 14 - William Randolph Hearst, American newspaper publisher (b. 1863)
- August 15 - Artur Schnabel, Polish pianist (b. 1882)
- August 21 - Constant Lambert, British composer (b. 1905)
- October 6 - Otto Fritz Meyerhof, Germn-born physician and biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1884)
- October 16 - Liaquat Ali Khan, first Prime Minister of Pakistan (b. 1896)
- November 5 - Reggie Walker, South African athlete (b. 1889)
- November 9 - Sigmund Romberg, Hungarian-born composer (b. 1887)
- November 13 - Nikolai Medtner, Russian pianist and composer (b. 1880)
Nobel Prizes
- Physics - John Cockcroft, Ernest Walton
- Chemistry - Edwin McMillan, Glenn T. Seaborg
- Medicine - Max Theiler
- Literature - Pär Lagerkvist
- Peace - Léon Jouhaux
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ko:1951년
ms:1951
ja:1951年
simple:1951
th:พ.ศ. 2494
1956
1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.
Events
January-April
- January 1 - End of Anglo-Egyptian Codominium in Sudan.
- January 16 - President Gamal Abdal Nasser of Egypt vows to reconquer Palestine.
- January 26 - 1956 Winter Olympic Games open in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
- January 26 - The United Kingdom bans heroin.
- January 25-January 26 - Finnish troops reoccupy Porkkala after Soviet troops vacate its military base. Civilians can return February 4.
- February 6 - Paul Harvey arrested for trying to break into Argonne National Laboratory.
- February 15 - Urho Kekkonen is elected President of Finland.
- February 22 - Elvis Presley enters the music charts for the first time, with "Heartbreak Hotel."
- February 23 - Nikita Khrushchev attacks the veneration of Joseph Stalin as a "cult of personality."
- March 1 - the International Air Transport Association finalises a draft of the Radiotelephony spelling alphabet for the International Civil Aviation Organization.
- March 2 - Morocco declares its independence from France.
- March 9 - British deport Archbishop Makarios from Cyprusto Seychelles.
- March 12 - United Kingdom abolishes death penalty for murder
- March 15 - The Broadway musical My Fair Lady opens in New York City.
- March 20 - Tunisia gains independence from France.
- March 23 - Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic.
- April 7 - Spain relinquishes its protectorate in Morocco.
- April 9 - Habib Bouirgiba is elected prime minister of Tunisia.
- April 19 - British diver Lionel Crabb dives into the Portsmouth harbor to investigate visiting Soviet cruiser and vanishes.
- April 19 - Actress Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier III of Monaco.
May-June
- early May - The Methodist Church in America decides at its General Conference to grant women full ordained clergy status.
- May 8 - Austria and Israel form diplomatic relations.
- May 8 - Constitutional union between Indonesia and Netherlands is dissolved.
- May 9 - First ascent of Manaslu, eighth highest mountain in the world.
- May 18 - First ascent of Lhotse (main), fourth highest mountain.
- May 21 - Nuclear testing: In the Pacific Ocean, Bikini Atoll is nearly obliterated by the first airborne explosion of a hydrogen bomb.
- May 23 - French minister Pierre Mendes-France resigns due to government's policy on Algeria.
- June 1 - Vyacheslav Molotov resigns as a foreign minister of Soviet Union; he later becomes ambassador in Mongolia.
- June 6 - In Singapore, chief minister David Marshall resigns after breakdown of talks about internal self government in London.
- June 10 - 1956 Summer Olympics: Equestrian events open in Stockholm, Sweden.
- June 14 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the phrase "under God" should be added to the Pledge of Allegiance
- June 18 - Last foreign troops leave Egypt.
- June 23 - Gamal Abdel Nasser becomes the second president of Egypt.
- June 28 - MP Sydney Silverman's bill for abolition of death penalty passes the British House of Commons.
- June 28 - Labour riots at Poznan, Poland, are crushed with heavy loss of life. Soviet troops fire at crowd that protests high prices - 53 dead.
- June 29 - Actress Marilyn Monroe marries the playwright Arthur Miller.
- June 30 - A TWA Lockheed Constellation and United Airlines Douglas DC-7 collide in mid-air over the Grand Canyon in Arizona and crash. All 128 people aboard the two aircraft are killed in the disaster. The accident prompts tighter air traffic control to be implemented in the United States.
July-August
- July 2 - Two passengers planes collide and fall into Grand Canyon - 127 dead
- July 8 - First ascent of Gasherbrum II.
- July 10 - British House of Lords defeats the abolition of death penalty.
- July 24 - At New York City's Copacabana Club, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis perform their last comedy show together which started on July 25, 1946.
- July 25 - 45 miles south of Nantucket Island, the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria sinks after colliding with the Swedish ship SS Stockholm in heavy fog, killing 51.
- July 26 - Egyptian leader Gamal Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal sparking international condemnation.
- July 30 - A Joint Resolution of the U.S. Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing "In God We Trust" as the U.S. national motto.
- July 31 - Jim Laker sets extraordinary record at Old Trafford in the fourth Test of taking nineteen wickets in a first class match (the previous best was seventeen).
- August 8 - Fire and explosion kills 263 miners at Marcinelle, Belgium.
- August 17 - West Germany bans communist party
September-October
- September 25 - Submarine telephone cable across the Atlantic opened
- October 10 - Finland joins UNESCO
- October 14 - Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Indian Untouchable leader, converts to Buddhism along with 385,000 followers. See Neo-Buddhism.
- October 15 - RAF retires its last Lancaster bomber
- October 15 - Fidel Castro and Che Guevara depart from Tuxpan, Mexico enroute to Santiago de Cuba aboard ship Granma with 82 men. After the ship passes a storm, it lands on Belici, Cuba, December 2
- October 23 - Hungarian revolution against the pro-Soviet government. Soviet Union intervenes. Hungary attempts to leave the Warsaw Pact.
- October 26 - Warsaw Pact troops invade Hungary.
- October 29 - Suez Crisis begins: Israel invades the Sinai Peninsula and push Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal.
- October 29 - Tangier Protocol signed: The international city Tangier is reintegrated into Morocco.
- October 31 - Suez Crisis: The United Kingdom and France begin bombing Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal.
November-December
- November 4 - 1956 Hungarian Revolution: Soviet troops invade Hungary to crush a revolt that started on October 23. Thousands are killed, more are wounded and nearly a quarter million leave the country.
- November 6 - U.S. presidential election, 1956: Republican incumbent Dwight D. Eisenhower is reelected by defeating Democrat challenger Adlai E. Stevenson in a rematch of their contest four years earlier.
- November 6 - Enoch A. Holtwick defeated as presidential candidate of Prohibition Party.
- November 7 - Suez Crisis: The United Nations General Assembly adopts a resolution calling for the United Kingdom, France and Israel to withdraw their troops from Egypt immediately.
- November 14 - Fighting ends in Hungary.
- November 16 - Suez canal blocked.
- November 20 - In Yugoslavia, former prime minister Milovan Sjilas is arrested after he critisized Josip Broz Tito
- November 22 - Beginning of the Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia.
- November 23 - Suez Crisis causes petrol rationing in Britain.
- December 2 - Fidel Castro and his followers land on Cuba in the boat Granma.
- December 2 - A pipe bomb explodes at a movie theater in Brooklyn (work of George Metesky), injuring six people.
- December 5 - Rose Heilbron becomes Britain's first female judge
- December 12 - Japan becomes member of the United Nations.
- December 23 - British and French troops leave Suez Canal region
Unknown date
- Eindhoven University of Technology founded in Eindhoven, The Netherlands
- First hard disk (5MB) invented by IBM.
- Minamata disease discovered
Births
January-February
- January 3 - Mel Gibson, Australian actor and director
- January 4 - Bernard Sumner, British guitarist (Joy Division and New Order)
- January 5 - Chen Kenichi, Japanese chef
- January 7 - David Caruso, American actor
- January 10 - Shawn Colvin, American singer
- January 14 - Ben Heppner, Canadian tenor
- January 16 - Martin Jol, Dutch football manager
- January 17 - Paul Young, English musician
- January 20 - Bill Maher, American actor, comedian, and political analyst
- January 21 - Geena Davis, American actress
- January 27 - Mimi Rogers, American actress
- January 31 - Johnny Rotten, British singer (Sex Pistols)
- February 3 - Nathan Lane, American actor
- February 11 - Didier Lockwood, French jazz violinist
- February 13 - Peter Hook, British bassist (Joy Division and New Order)
- February 14 - Tom Burlinson, Australian actor
- February 14 - Ron Shore, American film and television composer and producer
- February 15 - Desmond Haynes, West Indian cricketer
- February 18 - Thomas Gradin, Swedish hockey player
- February 19 - Roderick MacKinnon, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- February 24 - Paula Zahn, American television journalist
- February 26 - Keisuke Kuwata, Japanese musician
- February 29 - Randy Jackson, American musician
- February 29 - Bob Speller, Canadian politician
- February 29 - Aileen Carol Wuornos, American serial killer (d. 2002)
March-April
- March 11 - Rob Paulsen, American voice actor
- March 21 - Ingrid Kristiansen, Norwegian runner
- April 3 - Ray Combs, American game show host and comedian
- April 4 - Kerry Chikarovski, Australian politician
- April 4 - David E. Kelley, American writer and television producer
- April 6 - Dilip Vengsarkar, Indian cricketer
- April 12 - Andy Garcia, American actor
- April 13 - Peter 'Possum' Bourne, Australian race car driver (d. 2003)
- April 13 - Alison Wheeler, British political activist
- April 14 - Barbara Bonney, American soprano
- April 16 - David M. Brown, United States Naval Captain, NASA astronaut (d. 2003)
- April 16 - Lise-Marie Morerod, Swiss skier
- April 19 - Sue Barker, British tennis player and television presenter
- April 23 - Judy Davis, Australian actress
- April 26 - Koo Stark, British actress
- April 28 - Jimmy Barnes, Australian musician
- April 30 - Jorge Chaminé, Portuguese baritone
- April 30 - Lars von Trier, Danish film director
May-June
- May 4 - David Guterson, American writer
- May 4 - Ulrike Meyfarth, German high jumper
- May 7 - Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
- May 13 - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Indian guru
- May 13 - Steve Blackwood, American actor and musician
- May 15 - Dan Patrick, American sportscaster
- May 16 - Olga Korbut, Russian gymnast
- May 17 - Sugar Ray Leonard, American boxer
- May 17 - Bob Saget, American actor
- May 19 - James Gosling, Canadian software engineer
- May 20 - Ingvar Ambjørnsen, Norwegian author
- May 21 - Judge Reinhold, American actor
- May 23 - Buck Showalter, baseball player and manager
- June 6 - Björn Borg, Swedish tennis player
- June 9 - Patricia Cornwell, American novelist
- June 11 - Joe Montana, American football player
- June 23 - Glenn Danzig, American musician (Danzig)
- June 25 - Boris Trajkovski, President of the Republic of Macedonia (d. 2004)
- June 27 - Heiner Dopp, German field hockey player
- June 30 - Ronald Winans, American musician (d. 2005)
July-August
- July 2 - Jerry Hall, American model and actress
- July 9 - Tom Hanks, American actor
- July 14 - Ran Andrews, Canadian painter
- July 15 - Ian Curtis, British musician (Joy Division) (d. 1980)
- July 15 - Barry Melrose, Canadian hockey player, coach, and commentator
- July 15 - Marky Ramone American drummer (The Ramones)
- July 16 - Tony Kushner, American playwright
- July 31 - Michael Biehn, American actor
- August 5 - Maureen McCormick, American actress
- August 14 - Rusty Wallace, American race car driver
- August 20 - Joan Allen, American actress
- August 21 - Kim Cattrall, Canadian actress
- August 22 - Paul Molitor, baseball player
- August 23 - Andreas Floer, German mathematician (d. 1991)
- August 24 - John Culberson, American politician
- August 31 - Masashi Tashiro, Japanese television performer
September-December
- September 11 - Phil Bissett, American politican
- September 12 - Ricky Rudd, American race car driver
- September 14 - Costas Caramanlis, Greek politician
- September 14 - Ray Wilkins, English footballer and coach
- September 20 - Gary Cole, American actor
- September 22 - Masayuki Suzuki, Japanese singer (Rats & Star)
- September 26 - Linda Hamilton, American actress
- September 30 - Fran Drescher, American actress
- October 11 - Nicanor Duarte Frutos, President of Paraguay
- October 17 - Mae Jemison, astronaut
- October 18 - Martina Navratilova, Czech-born tennis player
- October 19 - Carlo Urbani, Italian physician (d. 2003)
- November 18 - Warren Moon, American football player
- November 23 - Shane Gould, Australian swimmer
- November 23 - Steve Harvey, American actor and comedian
- November 26 - Dale Jarrett, American race car driver
- November 27 - William Fichtner, American actor
- November 28 - Lucy Gutteridge, British actress
- November 28 - Andreas Augustin, Austrian author
- November 29 - Leo Laporte, Candian author and television host
- December 5 - Krystian Zimerman, Polish pianist
- December 5 - Brian Backer, American actor
- December 7 - Larry Bird, American basketball player
- December 7 - Mark Rolston, American actor
- December 8 - Warren Cuccurullo, American musician (Missing Persons and Duran Duran)
- December 12 - Johan Van der Velde, Dutch cyclist
- December 18 - Ron White, American comedian
- December 23 - Michele Alboreto, Italian race car driver
- December 23 - Dave Murray, British guitarist
- December 26 - David Sedaris, American essayist
- December 28 - Nigel Kennedy, English violinist
Deaths
January-April
- January 3 - Alexander Grechaninov, Russian composer (b. 1864)
- January 5 - Mistinguett, French singer (b. 1875)
- January 13 - Lyonel Charles Feininger, German painter (b. 1871)
- January 24 - Sir Alexander Korda, Hungarian-born film director (b. 1893)
- January 27 - Erich Kleiber, German conductor (b. 1890)
- January 29 - H. L. Mencken, American writer (b. 1880)
- January 31 - A. A. Milne, English author (b. 1882)
- February 8 - Connie Mack, baseball executive and manager (b. 1862)
- February 18 - Gustave Charpentier, French composer (b. 1860)
- March 17 - Irène Joliot-Curie, French physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1897)
- March 20 - Fanny Durack, Australian swimmer
- March 25 - Robert Newton, English film actor (b. 1905)
- March 30 - Edmund Clerihew Bentley, English inventor (b. 1875)
- March 31 - Ralph DePalma, Italian-born race car driver (b. 1884)
- April 30 - Alben Barkley, Vice-President of the United States (b. 1877)
May-December
- May 12 - Louis Calhern, American actor (b. 1895)
- May 17 - Austin Osman Spare, English magician (b. 1886)
- May 18 - Maurice Tate, English cricketer (b. 1895)
- May 20 - Max Beerbohm, English theater critic (b. 1872)
- May 26 - Al Simmons, baseball player (b. 1902)
- May 31 - Diedrich Hermann Westermann, German linguist (b. 1875)
- June 17 - Paul Rostock, German official, surgeon, and university professor (b. 1892)
- June 23 - Reinhold Glière, Russian composer (b. 1875)
- July 7 - Gottfried Benn, German poet (b. 1886)
- August 2 - Albert Woolson, last surviving Union veteran of the American Civil War (b. 1847)
- August 11 - Jackson Pollock, American painter (b. 1912)
- August 14 - Bertolt Brecht, German playwright (b. 1898)
- August 16 - Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-born film actor (b. 1882)
- August 23 - Peaches Browning, American actress (b. 1910)
- August 25 - Alfred Kinsey, American sex researcher (b. 1894)
- September 21 - Anastasio Somoza García, President of Nicaragua (b. 1896)
- September 22 - Frederick Soddy, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1877)
- September 27 - Babe Didrikson Zaharias, American athlete and golfer (b. 1911)
- October 12 - Don Lorenzo Perosi, Italian composer (b. 1872)
- October 19 - Isham Jones, American musician (b. 1894)
- October 26 - Walter Gieseking, French conductor (b. 1895)
- November 24 - Guido Cantelli, Italian conductor (b. 1920)
- December 6 - Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Indian untouchable leader (b. 1891)
- December 7 - Huntley Gordon, Canadian actor (b. 1887)
- December 16 - Nina Hamnett, Welsh artist (b 1890)
Unknown dates
- James Alexander Allan, Australian poet (b. 1889)
Nobel Prizes
- Physics - William Bradford Shockley, John Bardeen, Walter Houser Brattain
- Chemistry - Sir Cyril Norman Hinshelwood, Nikolay Nikolaevich Semenov
- Physiology or Medicine - André Frédéric Cournand, Werner Forssmann, Dickinson W. Richards
- Literature - Juan Ramón Jiménez
- Peace - not awarded
Category:1956
ko:1956년
ms:1956
ja:1956年
simple:1956
th:พ.ศ. 2499
Bank of SwedenSveriges Riksbank (Swedish National Bank) is the central bank of Sweden, sometimes called just the Bank of Sweden. It is known to be the world's oldest central bank.
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History
The Riksbank began its operations in 1668, its antecedent being Stockholms Banco (also known as the Bank of Palmstruch), which was founded by Johan Palmstruch in 1656. Although the bank was private, it was the King who chose its management: in a letter to Palmstruch he gave permission to its operations according to stated regulations.
However, Stockholms Banco, the world's oldest note-issuing bank collapsed as a result of the issuing of too many notes without the necessary collateral. Palmstruch, who was considered responsible for the bank's losses, was condemned to death, but later received clemency. On September 17, 1668, the privilege of Palmstruch to operate a bank, was transferred to the Riksens Ständers Bank and was run under the auspices of the parliament of the day. Due to the failure of Stockholm Banco the new bank was managed under the direct control of the Riksdag of the Estates to prevent the interference of the King. When new Riksdag was instituted in 1866, the name of the bank was changed to Sveriges Riksbank.
1866
Having learnt the lesson of the Stockholms Banco experience, the Riksbank was not permitted to issue bank-notes. Nevertheless, in 1701 permission was granted to issue so called credit-notes. Some time in the middle of the | | |
