1948

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Year 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

Events of 1948

January

January 1

Nationalisation of UK railways to form British Railways.
Arab militants lay siege to the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.
First day of the Italian republican constitution.
First day of the New Jersey State Constitution.

January 4 - Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
January 5 - Warner Brothers shows the first color newsreel (Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl).
January 17 - Truce between nationalist Indonesian and Dutch troops in Java.
January 22 - British foreign secretary Bevin proposes the formation of a Western Union between Britain, France and the Benelux countries to stand up against the Soviet Union. The Treaty of Brussels is signed March 17 as a consequence, a predecessor to NATO.
January 26 - Teigin poison case: a man masquerading as a doctor poisons 12 of 16 bank employees of the Tokyo branch of Imperial Bank and takes the money; artist Sadamichi Hirasawa is later sentenced to death for the crime, but is never executed.
January 30

Indian pacifist and leader Mahatma Gandhi is murdered by Nathuram Godse.
January 30 - 1948 Winter Olympics open in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

February

February 1 - Soviet Union begins to jam Voice of America broadcasts.
February 2 - Cooking author Ina Garten was born.
February 4 - Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth. King George VI becomes King of Ceylon.
February 18 - Eamon de Valera, head of government since 1932, loses power to an opposition coalition. John A. Costello is appointed Taoiseach of Éire (formerly called the Irish Free State) by President O'Kelly.
February 25 - The Communist Party seizes control of Czechoslovakia. This day was celebrated by the regime as the "Victorious February" (Czech:"Vítězný únor"; Slovak:"Víťazný Február") until November 1989.

March

March 8 - The United States Supreme Court rules that religious instruction in public schools did not violate the U.S. Constitution.
March 10 - Czech foreign minister Jan Masaryk killed in fall from a window of his apartment in Prague. Later communist government rules it "suicide".
March 16 - Largest flood in the history of Brampton, Ontario.
March 17 - Hells Angels founded in California.
March 20

First elections in Singapore.
Renowned Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini makes his television debut, conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in an all-Wagner program.

April

April 1 - Scientists Ralph Alpher and George Gamow publish the Alpher-Bethe-Gamow theory about the big bang.
April 3

President Harry Truman signs the Marshall Plan which authorizes $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.
Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is played on television in its entirety for the first time, in a concert featuring Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra. The chorus is conducted by Robert Shaw.

April 7

The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.
Buddhist monastery burns in Shanghai - 20 monks dead.

April 9

Jorge Eliécer Gaitán's assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá (the Bogotazo), and a further ten years of violence in all of Colombia (La Violencia).
The Deir Yassin massacre takes place in Palestine.

April 24 - End of the Costa Rican Civil War

May

May 1 - 213 communists executed in Greece.
May 2 - Hour of Charm's last broadcast.
May 4 - Laurence Olivier's film version of Hamlet receives its world premiere in London.
May 11 - Luigi Einaudi becomes President of the Italian Republic.
May 14

Declaration of Independence of Israel.
The murder of a three-year-old girl in Blackburn, England leads to the fingerprinting of more than 40,000 men in the city in an attempt to find the murderer.

May 15 - 1948 Arab-Israeli War: Mandate of Palestine is officially terminated by Britain; Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia enter Palestine and attack the nascent State of Israel .
May 16 - Chaim Weizmann is elected as the first President of Israel.
May 18 - The First Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convenes in Nanking.
May 26 - The U.S. Congress passes Public Law 557 which permanently establishes the Civil Air Patrol as the auxiliary of the United States Air Force.
May 30 - A dike along the Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon within minutes: 15 people die and tens of thousands are left homeless.

June

June 3 - Palomar Observatory telescope finished in California.
June 16

Communist guerillas kill three rubber planters in Malaya.
Three armed men hijack Cathay Pacific passenger plane Miss Macao and shoot the pilot; the plane crashes - one of 27 survives.

June 17 - A Douglas DC-6 carrying United Air Lines Flight 624 crashes near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, killing all 43 people on board.
June 18

State of Emergency declared in Malaysia for communist insurgency - Malayan Emergency begins.
First democratic general election with universal suffrage in Italy.

June 20 - U.S.Congress: Commencement of Congressional Recess for the remainder of 1948 after an overtime session closed on this Saturday at 0700 D.C. time (to be shortly interrupted by Truman's recall from Congressional recess for July 20, 1948).
June 21 - The Deutsche Mark becomes official currency of the future Federal Republic of Germany.
June 22- The ship Empire Windrush brings the first group of several hundred black immigrants to Tilbury near London from the Caribbean countries. This would be the start of multiculturalism in Britain.
June 24

Cold War: The Berlin Blockade begins.
The first World Health Assembly of World Health Organisation is held in Geneva.

June 26 - William Shockley files the original patent for the grown junction transistor, the first bipolar junction transistor.
June 28

Cominform Resolution marks the beginning of the Informbiro period in Yugoslavia and Soviet/Yugoslav split.
David Lean's Oliver Twist, based on Charles Dickens's famous novel, premieres in the UK. It will be banned for 3 years in the U.S. because of alleged anti-Semitism in depicting master criminal Fagin, played by Alec Guinness.
Earthquake hits Fukui, Japan killing 3,895.

June - The 57th Street Art Fair, the oldest juried art fair in the American midwest, is founded.

July

July 5 - British National Health Service Act enacted.
July 13 - The Coptic and Ethiopian Churches reach an agreement leading to the promotion of the Ethiopian church to the rank of an autocephalous Patriarchate. Five bishops are immediately consecrated by the Patriarch of Alexandria, and the successor to Abuna Qerellos IV is granted the power to consecrate new bishops, who are empowered to elect a new Patriarch for their church.
July 15

Attempted assassination of Palmiro Togliatti, general secretary of the Italian Communist Party, incites number of strikes all over the country.
First London chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous

July 20 - Cold War: President Harry S. Truman issues the second peacetime military draft in the United States amid increasing tensions with the Soviet Union (the first peacetime draft occurred in 1940 under President Roosevelt).
July 24 - Great oil fire in the harbor of Naantali, *Finland
July 24- Marvin the Martian makes his debut in the Bugs Bunny cartoon Haredevil Hare.
July 26 - U.S. President signs Executive Order 9981, ending racial segregation in the United States Armed Forces.
July 28 - Around 200 die in explosion at a chemical plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany.
July 29 - 1948 Summer Olympics begin in London, the first Summer Olympics since World War II.
July 31 - At Idlewild Field in New York, New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated.

August

August 1 - The U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations is founded.
August 5 - Earl Shaffer becomes the first person to hike the Appalachian National Scenic Trail from end to end without interruption.
August 10 - August 23 - Herrenchiemsee Convent prepares the draft for the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany.
August 13 - Establishment of the Republic of Korea.
August 16 - Babe Ruth Passed Away
August 19 - Soviet troops fire at German demonstrators that protest against the Berlin Blockade.
August 23 - World Council of Churches established.

September

September 4 - Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicates for health reasons.
September 5 - Robert Schuman becomes Prime Minister of France.
September 6 - Juliana becomes Queen of the Netherlands.
September 11 - Death of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Founder and first Governor General of Pakistan (b. 1876). Pakistan is in a state of shock as it mourns the departure of the father of the nation. The day is a public holiday nation-wide.
September 12 - Invasion of the State of Hyderabad by the Indian Army on the day after the Pakistani leader Jinnah's death to assist damage control. Operation Polo led to the deaths of an estimated tens of thousands of Hyderabadi Muslims.
September 17 - Stern Gang assassinates count Folke Bernadotte.
September 29 - Laurence Olivier's Hamlet opens in the United States. It will become the first, and through 2007, the only film version of a Shakespeare play to win Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor. It will bring Olivier his only Best Actor Oscar, though he will receive an honorary one late in life.

Undated

Brandeis University is founded.

Casimir effect discovered by Dutch physicist Hendrik Casimir.
Fresh Kills, world's largest landfill, opens in Staten Island, New York.
Literature In the spring, playwright Arthur Miller writes "Death of a Salesman." He completes Act I in less than a day. Act II and the Requiem are completed in the next six weeks. He writes his new play in a small, freshly built studio that he constructed himself on his property in Roxbury, CT.
The law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom is founded.
Miranda, the innermost moon of Uranus, is discovered by Gerard Kuiper.
Oakridge Transit Centre opened in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The Slovak city Gúta was renamed to Kolárovo.
Tunnel of Vielha is opened in Val d'Aran, Spanish Pyrenees.
The Caspian Tiger became extinct in Kazakhstan by this date.
The Rhode Island Highlanders Pipe Band was founded.

Ongoing

First Indochina War

Births

January-February

January 2

Mary Archer, British scientist
Deborah Watling, British actress

January 5

Wally Foreman, Australian media icon (d. 2006)

January 7

Kenny Loggins, American singer

January 10

Donald Fagen, American keyboardist
Mischa Maisky, Latvian cellist

January 12

Kenny Allen, English footballer

January 14

T-Bone Burnett, American record producer and musician
Carl Weathers, American football player and actor

January 15

Ronnie Van Zant, American musician (d. 1977)

January 16

John Carpenter, American film director and composer
Cliff Thorburn, Canadian snooker player

January 17 - Davíð Oddsson, Prime Minister of Iceland
January 19 - Frank McKenna, Premier of New Brunswick and Canadian Ambassador
January 27 - Mikhail Baryshnikov, Russian-born dancer
January 28 - Charles Taylor, Liberian president
January 29 - Marc Singer, Canadian actor
January 30 - Paul Magee, Provisional Irish Republican Army member
January 31 - Muneo Suzuki, Japanese politician
February 1

Elisabeth Sladen, British actress
Rick James, American musician (d. 2004)

February 3 - Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo, East Timorean Catholic bishop, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
February 4

Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier), American hard rock singer and musician
Roedy Green, Canadian programmer and LGBT activist

February 5

Sven-Göran Eriksson, Swedish football manager
Christopher Guest, American actor, writer, director, and composer

February 6 - Jack Conway, musician, composer, arranger, guitarist
February 7 - Tony Iommi, English guitarist (Black Sabbath)
February 12 - Raymond Kurzweil, American inventor and author
February 14

Teller, American magician
Jackie Martling, American comedian and radio personality

February 17 - José José, Mexican singer and actor
February 24

J. Jayalalithaa, Indian politician
Walter Smith, Scottish football manager

February 25 - Danny Denzongpa, Indian actor
February 28

Steven Chu, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
Mike Figgis, American director, writer, and composer
Bernadette Peters, American actress and singer
Mercedes Ruehl, American actress
Alfred Sant, Leader of Malta Labour Party (1992-) and Prime Minister of Malta (1996-1998)

March-April

March 1 - [Bill Longmore], family tree research officer
March 2

R. T. Crowley, pioneer of electronic commerce
Rory Gallagher, Irish musician
Jeff Kennett, Australian politician

March 4

Lindy Chamberlain, Australian author
James Ellroy, American writer
Tom Grieve, American baseball player
Leron Lee, American baseball player
Chris Squire, British bassist
Shakin' Stevens, Welsh singer

March 5 -

Richard Hickox, English classical conductor and musician
Elaine Paige, English singer and actress

March 9 - Jeffrey Osborne, American singer
March 11 - Dominique Sanda, French actress
March 12 - James Taylor, American musician
March 14 - Billy Crystal, American actor and comedian
March 15 - Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian diplomat (d. 2003)
March 15 - Gareth Wyn Jones Not Famous, Sussex England
March 17 - William Gibson, American writer
March 20

John de Lancie, American actor
Bobby Orr, Canadian hockey player

March 22

Wolf Blitzer, American television journalist
Andrew Lloyd Webber, English composer

March 26 - Steven Tyler, American singer (Aerosmith)
March 28 - Dianne Wiest, American actress
March 31

Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States
Rhea Perlman, American actress

April 1 - Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican musician
April 4 - Derek Thompson, Northern Irish actor

Squire Parsons, Southern Gospel singer/songwriter
Derek Thompson, Northern Irish actor

April 12 - Jeremy Beadle, TV presenter
April 13 - Nam Hae-il, 25th Chief of Naval Operations of the Republic of Korea Navy
April 15 - Michael Kamen, American composer (d. 2003)
April 23 - Serge Thériault, Canadian actor
April 27 - Kate Pierson, American singer (The B-52's)
April 29 - Michael Karoli, German musician (d. 2001)

May-June

May 4 - Tanya Falan, American singer from The Lawrence Welk Show
May 6 - Richard Bryant, African American pastor
May 8

Felicity Lott, English soprano
Stephen Stohn, Canadian television producer (Degrassi)

May 11 - Shigeru Izumiya, Japanese musician
May 12

Steve Winwood, English singer
Bob Carolgees, British comedy entertainer

May 14 - Bob Woolmer, British cricket coach
May 15 - Brian Eno, English musician and record producer

Yutaka Enatsu, Japanese professional baseball pitcher

May 19 - Grace Jones, Jamaican singer and actress
May 21 - Leo Sayer, English musician
May 26 - Stevie Nicks, American singer and songwriter (Fleetwood Mac)
May 27 - Wubbo de Boer, Dutch civil servant
May 29 - Michael Berkeley, British composer
May 31 - John Bonham, British drummer (Led Zeppelin) (d. 1980)
June 2 -

Jerry Mathers, American actor
Ed Danielson, jazz DJ

June 4 - Bob Champion, English Jump Jockey
June 13 - Garnet Bailey, Canadian hockey player and scout (d. 2001)
June 15 - Paul Michiels, Belgian singer-songwriter
June 17 - Dave Concepcion, Venezuelan baseball player
June 19

Phylicia Rashad, American actress
Nick Drake, English musician (d. 1974)

June 20 - Ludwig Scotty, President of Nauru
June 21

Lionel Rose, Australian boxer
Andrzej Sapkowski, Polish writer
Don Airey, English musician (Deep Purple)

June 22 - Todd Rundgren, American singer and record producer
June 29 - Ian Paice, English drummer (Deep Purple, Whitesnake)
June 30 - Vladimir Yakunin, Russian official, head of state-run Russian Railways company

July-August

July 3 - Tarmo Koivisto, Finnish comics artist
July 6 - Wadih Saadeh, Lebanese-Australian poet and journalist
July 8 - Raffi, Egyptian-born children's entertainer
July 12 - Richard Simmons, American television personality and fitness expert
July 15 - Richard Franklin, Australian film director (d. 2007)
July 16 - Pinchas Zukerman, Israeli violinist
July 18 - Hartmut Michel, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
July 20 - Muse Watson, American actor
July 21

Ed Hinton, American sportswriter
Cat Stevens, English musician
Garry Trudeau, American cartoonist
Mikhail Zadornov, Russian stand-up comedian and writer

July 22

Neil Hardwick, British-born Finnish director and writer
Susan Eloise Hinton, American author
Don Henley, American musician

July 23 - John Cushnahan, Northern Irish politician
July 25 - Steve Goodman, a Grammy Award-winning folk music singer and songwriter from Chicago, United States. (d. 1984)
July 27 - Peggy Fleming, American figure skater
July 28 - Sally Struthers, American actress
July 30 - Jean Reno, French actor
July 31 - Jonathan Dollimore, famous author and professor
August 2

Dennis Prager, American radio talk show host and author
Bob Rae, Canadian politician

August 3 - Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Prime Minister of France
August 13 - Kathleen Battle, American soprano
August 15

Uschi Digard, American erotic actress and figure model
George Ryton, British engineer

August 18 - Joseph Marcell, actor
August 20 - Robert Plant, English singer (Led Zeppelin)
August 24 - Kim Sung-Il, Chief of Staff of the Republic of Korea Air Force
August 30 - Lewis Black, American comedian

September-October

September 1 - James Rebhorn, American actor
September 2 - Terry Bradshaw, American football player
September 4 - Samuel Hui, Hong Kong singer
September 5 - Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Austrian diplomat and politician
September 10

Bob Lanier, American basketball player
Margaret Trudeau, ex-wife of former Prime Minister of Canada

September 13 - Nell Carter, American singer and actress (d. 2003)
September 17 - John Ritter, American actor (d. 2003)
September 19 - Nadezhda Tkachenko, former Soviet pentathlete
September 22 - Denis Burke, Australian politician
September 24

Heinz Chur, German composer
Phil Hartman, Canadian comedian (d. 1998)

September 25 - Vladimir Yevtushenkov, a Russian oligarch
September 26 - Olivia Newton-John, Australian singer and actress
September 27 - Michele Dotrice, English actor
September 29

Bryant Gumbel, American television broadcaster
Theo Jörgensmann, German jazz clarinetist

October 1 - Sir Peter Blake, New Zealand yachtsman (d. 2001)
October 2

Avery Brooks, American television actor
Chris LeDoux, American singer and rodeo star (d. 2005)

October 6 - Gerry Adams, Northern Irish politician
October 7 - Diane Ackerman, American poet and essayist
October 8 - Johnny Ramone, American guitarist (The Ramones) (d. 2004)
October 9 - Jackson Browne, American musician
October 13

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Pakistani musician
Ted Poe, American politician
John Ford Coley, American musician

October 14 - Engin Arık, Turkish nuclear physicist (d. 2007)
October 16 - Leo Mazzone, American baseball coach
October 17 - George Wendt, American television actor
October 17 - Robert Jordan, American novelist
October 18 - Hans Köchler, Austrian philosopher

November-December

November 3 - Lulu (singer), Scottish singer
November 5 - William Daniel Phillips, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
November 10 - Vincent Schiavelli, American actor (d. 2005)
November 14 - Prince Charles of Edinburgh, now Prince of Wales
November 15 - James Kemsley, Australian cartoonist and actor (d. 2007)
November 16 - Mutt Lange, Rhodesian-born record producer
November 17 - Howard Dean, American politician
November 20

John R. Bolton, Former U.S. Ambassador to the UN
Barbara Hendricks, American-born soprano

December 2 - T. Coraghessan Boyle, American writer
December 3

Rick Cua, American singer and evangelist
Ozzy Osbourne, English singer

December 6

Keke Rosberg, Finnish Formula One Champion
JoBeth Williams, American actress

December 7

Gary Morris, singer and actor
Mads Vinding, Danish bassist

December 10 - Abu Abbas, founder of the Palestine Liberation Front (d. 2004)
December 14 - Lester Bangs, American music journalist (d. 1982)
December 18 - Bill Nelson, (born William Nelson), British guitarist, songwriter, painter and experimental musician
December 19 - Ken Brown, Canadian ice hockey player
December 21

Samuel L. Jackson, American actor
Willi Resetarits, Austrian musician and cabaret artist

December 22

Lynne Thigpen, American actress (d. 2003)
Noel Edmonds, British TV presenter

December 27 - Gérard Depardieu, French actor
December 28 - Dick Siegel, American songwriter
date unknown

Ciarán Carson, Northern Irish poet and novelist
Maurizio Gucci, Italian businessman and murder victim (d. 1995)
Johnny Nicholas, American blues musician
Edward Rutherfurd, British novelist
Kenny Troutt, billionaire businessman

Deaths

January - March

January 2 - Kathryn Mary Dienelt born to Herbert and Maisie
January 5 - Mary Dimmick Harrison, wife of President Benjamin Harrison (b. 1858)
January 21 - Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Italian composer (b. 1876)
January 30

Mahatma Gandhi, Indian independence movement leader (assassinated) (b. 1869)
Orville Wright, American co-inventor of the airplane (b. 1871)

February 2 - Bevil Rudd, South African athlete (b. 1894)
February 11 - Sergy Eisenstein, Russian film director (b. 1898)
February 23 - John Robert Gregg, Irish-born inventor of shorthand (b. 1866)
March 4 - Antonin Artaud, playwright, actor and director (b. 1896)
March 6 - Ross Lockridge, Jr., American novelist (suicide) (b. 1914)
March 10 - Jan Masaryk, Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia (b. 1886)
March 24 - Nikolai Berdyaev, Russian religious and political philosopher (b.1874)
March 31 - Egon Erwin Kisch, Austrian journalist and author (b. 1885)

April - June

April 9

George Carpenter, 5th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1872)
Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian politician (b. 1903)

April 15 - Manuel Roxas, President of the Philippines (b. 1892)
April 17 - Suzuki Kantaro, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1867)
May 15 - Father Edward J. Flanagan, Irish-born priest and founder of Boys Town (b. 1886)
May 28 - Unity Mitford, British friend of Hitler (b. 1914)
June 25 - William C. Lee, American general (b. 1895)

July - September

July 2 - Baba Sawan Singh, Known as "The Great Master," was an Indian Saint (b. July 27 1858)
July 5 - Georges Bernanos, French writer (b. 1888)
July 15 - John J. Pershing, American general (b. 1860)
July 18 - May Moss, Australian women's rights activist (b. April 27 1869)
July 21 - Arshile Gorky, Armenian-born painter (b. 1904)
July 23 - David Wark Griffith, American film director (b. 1875)
July 31 - Lucy Page Mercer Rutherfurd, Franklin Roosevelt's lover (b. 1891)
August 10 - Kwan-Ichi Asakawa, Japanese historian(ｂ. 1873)
August 12 - Harry Brearley, English inventor of stainless steel (b. 1871)
August 16 - Babe Ruth, baseball player (b. 1895)
August 27 - Charles Evans Hughes, Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1862)
September 2 - Sylvanus G. Morley, American scholar and World War I spy (b. 1883)
September 5 - Richard C. Tolman, American mathematical physicist (b. 1881)
September 11 - Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Founder and first Governor General of Pakistan (b. 1876)
September 30 - Edith Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States (b. 1861)

October - December

October 1 - Phraya Manopakorn Nititada (b. 1884)
October 12- Susan Sutherland Isaacs, educational psychologist and psychoanalyst (b.1885).
October 24 - Franz Lehár, Hungarian composer (b. 1870)
November 28 - D.D. Sheehan, Irish politician (b. 1873)
December 23 - Japanese war leaders (hanged):

Kenji Doihara, spy (b. 1883)
Koki Hirota, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1878)
Iwane Matsui, general (b. 1878)
Itagaki Seishiro, military officer (b. 1885)
Hideki Tojo, general (b. 1884)

December 31 - Sir Malcolm Campbell, English land and water racer (b. 1885)

Nobel prizes

Physics - Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett
Chemistry - Arne Wilhelm Kaurin Tiselius
Medicine - Paul Hermann Müller
Literature - T. S. Eliot
Peace - not awarded

Notes

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