1948

1948 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar).

Years: 1945 1946 1947 - 1948 - 1949 1950 1951
Decades: 1910s 1920s 1930s - 1940s - 1950s 1960s 1970s
Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century 1948 in art 1948 in aviation 1948 in film 1948 in literature 1948 in music 1948 in radio 1948 in science 1948 in sports 1948 in television 1948 state leaders 1948 in Canada

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Events

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January-February

January 1 - Nationalisation of UK railways to form British Railways. Arab militants lay siege to the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.
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 26 - Man masquerading as a doctor poisons 12 out of 15 bank employees of the Tokyo branch of Imperial Bank and takes the money; artist Sadimacha Hirasawa is later sentenced for the crime
January 30 - Indian pacifist and leader Mahatma Gandhi is murdered by a Hindu extremist.
January 30 - 1948 Winter Olympics open in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
February 1 - Soviet Union begins to jam Voice of America broadcasts
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 24 - The Communist Party seizes control of Czechoslovakia.

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March-April

March 8 - The United States Supreme Court rules that religious instruction in public schools violated the Constitution.
March 10 - Czech foreign minister Jan Masaryk killed in ?fall? from his office window
March 20 - First elections in Singapore
April 1 - Cold War: Berlin Airlift - Military forces, under direction of the Soviet-controlled government in East Germany, establish a land blockade of West Berlin.
April 3 - President Harry Truman signs the Marshall Plan which authorizes $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.
April 7 - The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.
April 9 - The Deir Yassin massacre takes place in Palestine.

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May

May 1 - 213 communists executed in Greece
May 11 - Luigi Einaud becomes president of Italy
May 14 - Israel is declared as an independent state.
May 14 - 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 - Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia attack 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 United States 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 died and tens of thousands are left homeless.

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June-July

June 3 - Palomar Observatory telescope finished in California
June 16 - Communist guerillas kill three rubber planters in Malay
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
June 21 - The Deutsche Mark becomes official currency of the Federal Republic of Germany
June 24 - The Berlin Blockade begins.
June 28 - Cominform Resolution marks the beginning of the Informbiro period in Yugoslavia and Soviet/Yugoslav split.
July 5 - British National Health Service Act enacted.
July 15 - Attempted assassination of Palmiro Togliatti, general secretary of the Italian Communist Party, incites number of strikes all over the country
July 15 - First London,England chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous
July 20 - Cold War: President Harry S. Truman issues the first peacetime military draft in the United States amid increasing tensions with the Soviet Union.
July 24 - Great oil fire in the harbor of Naantali, Finland
July 26 - U.S. President signs Executive Order 9981, ending segregation in the United States Armed Forces.
July 31 - At Idlewild Field in New York, New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated.

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August-December

August 12 - USA recognizes the government of South Korea
August 19 - Soviet troops fire at German demonstrators that protest against the Berlin Blockade
September 4 - Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicates for health reasons.
September 6 - Juliana becomes Queen of the Netherlands.
September 17 - Stern Gang assassinates count Folke Bernadotte
November 2 - U.S. presidential election, 1948: Harry S. Truman defeats Thomas E. Dewey for the US presidency.
November 12 - In Tokyo, an international war crimes tribunal sentences seven Japanese military and government officials to death, including General Hideki Tojo, for their roles in World War II.
November 15 - Louis Stephen St. Laurent becomes Canada's twelfth prime minister.
November 16 - Operation Magic Carpet to transport Jews from Yemen to Israel begins
November 17 - Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi divorces Queen Fawzia of Egypt after she is unable to produce a male heir.
December 10 - United Nations General Assembly adopts Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
December 28 - Member of Muslim Brotherhood assassinates Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmud Fahmi Nokrashi
December 30 - The play Kiss Me, Kate opens for the first of 1,077 performances.
December 31 - Israeli troops drive Egyptians from Negev

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Undated

Hell's Angels motorcycle gang forms
Empire Windrush immigrant ship arrives to Britain
Pharoe Islands receive autonomy from Denmark
Civil war in Costa Rica
Civil war in Colombia

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Unknown date

Porsche is founded.
Miranda, the innermost moon of Uranus, is discovered by Gerard Kuiper.
Casimir effect discovered by Dutch physicist Hendrik Casimir.
Tunnel of Vielha is opened in Val d'Aran, Spanish Pyrenees.
Fresh Kills, world's largest landfill, opens in Staten Island, New York.
The law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom is founded.

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Year in topic

1948 in film
- Hamlet
- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre starring Humphrey Bogart
- Joan of Arc starring Ingrid Bergman and José Ferrer
- Key Largo starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall
- Alfred Hitchcock's Rope, starring Jimmy Stewart
1948 in literature
1948 in music
- Columbia Records introduces the 33 1/3 LP (“long playing”) record.
1948 in sports
- February 21 - The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) was incorporated by William HG France to organize and promote the sport of stock car racing.
- February 28 - Bud Gartiser sets a new world record after clearing the 50-yard low hurdles in 6.8 seconds.
- 1948 Winter Olympic Games in St. Moritz, Switzerland
- 1948 Summer Olympic Games in London, United Kingdom
- Baseball World Series: Cleveland Indians defeat the Boston Braves.
1948 in television
- CBS begins network programming.
- ABC opens its first television station in New York.
- June 20 - Toast of the Town, with Ed Sullivan, premieres on CBS, with guests Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.
- June 21 - The first network telecast of political conventions from Philadelphia.
- July 30 - Professional wrestling premieres in prime-time on the DuMont Network.
- August 10 - Candid Camera debuts on ABC.
- August 15 - The first network nightly newscast, CBS-TV News, debuts on CBS with Douglas Edwards.
- September - Milton Berle becomes the first television star, with Texaco Star Theatre on NBC.
- Television manufacturing begins in Canada.

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Births

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January-February

January 7 - Kenny Loggins, singer
January 10 - Donald Fagen, keyboardist
January 14 - Carl Weathers, actor
January 14 - T-Bone Burnett, producer, musician
January 15 - Ronnie VanZant, musician (d. 1977)
January 16 - John Carpenter, director
January 17 - Davíð Oddsson, Prime Minister of Iceland
January 22 - George Foreman, boxer
January 27 - Mikhail Baryshnikov, dancer
February 4 - Alice Cooper, musician
February 5 - Christopher Guest, actor, writer, director, composer
February 5 - Barbara Hershey, actress
February 11 - Sue Bernard, Playboy playmate for December 1966
February 14 - Teller, magician (Penn and Teller)
February 24 - J. Jayalalithaa, Indian politician
February 28 - Bernadette Peters, actress, singer
February 28 - Mike Figgis, director, writer, composer
February 28 - Mercedes Ruehl, actress

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March-May

March 1 - Winston Rodney, aka Burning Spear, Jamaican roots rock reggae singer and musician
March 2 - R. T. Crowley, writer, pioneer of Electronic Data Interchange
March 9 - Jeffrey Osborne, singer
March 11 - Dominique Sanda, actress
March 12 - James Taylor, musician
March 17 - William Gibson, writer
March 20 - John de Lancie, actor (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Voyager)
March 20 - Bobby Orr, ice hockey player
March 22 - Andrew Lloyd Webber, composer
March 22 - Wolf Blitzer, television journalist
March 26 - Steven Tyler, lead singer of Aerosmith
March 28 - Dianne Wiest, actress (Hannah and Her Sisters, Law & Order)
March 31 - Al Gore, US Vice President
March 31 - Rhea Perlman, actress
April 1 - Jimmy Cliff, musician
May 12 - Steve Winwood, singer
May 15 - Brian Eno, musician, record producer
May 19 - Grace Jones, singer, actress
May 21 - Leo Sayer, musician
May 26 - Stevie Nicks, singer & songwriter (Fleetwood Mac)
May 31 - John Bonham ("Bonzo"), drummer (d. 1980)

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June-September

June 2 - Todd Rundgren, singer and producer
June 13 - Marc Flanagan, television writer and producer
June 13 - Garnet Bailey, professional hockey player & scout
June 19 - Phylicia Rashad, actress
June 21 - Lionel Rose, first aboriginal boxer to win a world title (in 1968)
June 21 - Andrzej Sapkowski, Polish fantasy writer
July 21 - Ed Hinton, sportswriter
July 21 - Cat Stevens, musician
July 21 - Garry Trudeau, cartoonist
July 25 - Peggy Fleming, figure skater
July 28 - Sally Struthers, actress
July 30 - Jean Reno, actor
August 2 - Dennis Prager, radio talk show host and author
August 3 - Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Prime Minister of France
August 20 - Robert Plant, singer (Led Zeppelin)
August 30 - Lewis Black, stand-up comedian
September 5 - Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Austrian diplomat and politician
September 10 - Bob Lanier, Basketball Hall of Famer
September 10 - Margaret Trudeau, former First Lady of Canada
September 22 - Denis Burke, Australian politician
September 29 - Bryant Gumbel, television broadcaster

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October-December

October 2 - Avery Brooks, actor (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
October 9 - Jackson Browne, musician
October 17 - George Wendt, actor (Cheers)
November 10 - Vincent Schiavelli, actor
November 14 - Prince Charles, later Prince of Wales
November 16 - Mutt Lange, record producer
December 27 - Gérard Depardieu, French actor

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Deaths

January 21 - Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, composer
January 30 - Mohandas Gandhi, Leader of Indian Non-Violent Independence movement (assassinated)
January 30 - Orville Wright of the Wright brothers, co-inventor of the airplane
February 2 - Bevil Rudd, South African athlete
February 11 - Sergy Eisenstein, film director
March 10 - Zelda Fitzgerald (Mrs. F. Scott Fitzgerald)
March 10 - Jan Masaryk, Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia
March 31 - Egon Erwin Kisch, journalist and author
April 17 - Suzuki Kantaro, Japanese admiral and prime minister
May 15 - Father Edward J. Flanagan, priest, founder of Boys Town
May 28 - Unity Mitford, British friend of Hitler
August 16 - Babe Ruth, Baseball Hall of Famer
July 23 - David Wark Griffith, film director
September 11 - Muhammed Ali Jinnah, first Governor-General of Pakistan
October 24 - Franz Lehár, composer
December 23 - Doihara Kenji, Hirota Koki, Itagaki Seishiro, Kimura Heitaro, Matsui Iwane, Muto Akira, and Tojo Hideki, Japanese war leaders (hanged)
December 31 - Sir Malcolm Campbell, land and water racer

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Nobel Prizes

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


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