June 1, 1950

1950Perrin Beatty, Canadian businessman and politician^[†]

Henry Perrin Beatty is a Canadian corporate executive and former politician, who served as a Progressive Conservative of the House of Commons from 1972 to 1993, and as a cabinet minister from 1979 to 1980 and again from 1984 to 1993.

1950Charlene, American singer-songwriter^[†]

Charlene Marilynn Oliver, better known mononymously as Charlene, is an American easy-listening and R&B singer best known for the song "I've Never Been to Me", which, initially being a commercial flop upon its original release in 1977, became a worldwide hit upon a re-release in 1982 and has remained an enduring adult contemporary music staple. Charlene is also a songwriter, record producer, and author.

1950Jean Lambert, English educator and politician^[†]

Jean Denise Lambert is an English politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament for the London Region between 1999 and 2019.

1950Michael McDowell, American author and screenwriter (died 1999)^[†]

Michael McEachern McDowell was an American novelist and screenwriter described by author Stephen King as "the finest writer of paperback originals in America today". His best-known work is the screenplay for the Tim Burton film Beetlejuice.

1950The Declaration of Conscience speech, by U.S. Senator from Maine, Margaret Chase Smith, is delivered in response to Joseph R. McCarthy's speech at Wheeling, West Virginia.^[†]

The Declaration of Conscience was a Cold War speech made by U.S. Senator from Maine, Margaret Chase Smith on June 1, 1950, less than four months after Senator Joseph McCarthy's "Wheeling Speech", on February 9, 1950. Her speech was endorsed by six other liberal-to-moderate Republicans. In it, she criticized national leadership and called for the country, the United States Senate, and the Republican Party to re-examine the tactics used by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and Senator McCarthy. She stated the basic principles of "Americanism" were:The right to criticize; The right to hold unpopular beliefs; The right to protest; The right of independent thought.

1950The Chinchaga fire ignites. By September, it would become the largest single fire on record in North America.^[†]

The Chinchaga fire, also known as the Wisp fire, Chinchaga River fire and Fire 19, was a forest fire that burned in northern British Columbia and Alberta in the summer and early fall of 1950. With a final size of between 1,400,000 and 1,700,000 hectares, it is the single largest recorded fire in North American history. The authorities allowed the fire to burn freely, following local forest management policy considering the lack of settlements in the region. The Chinchaga fire produced large amounts of smoke, creating the "1950 Great Smoke Pall", observed across eastern North America and Europe. As the existence of the massive fire was not well-publicized, and the smoke was mostly in the upper atmosphere and could not be smelled, there was much speculation about the atmospheric haze and its provenance. The Chinchaga firestorm's "historic smoke pall" caused "observations of blue suns and moons in the United States and Europe". It was the biggest firestorm documented in North America, and created the world's largest smoke layer in the atmosphere.