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Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1948.
1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar).
Events
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 26 - Teigin poison case - A man masquerading as a doctor poisons 12 of 15 bank employees of the Tokyo branch of Imperial Bank and takes the money; artist Sadamichi Hirasawa is later sentenced for the crime.
- 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 4 - Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth. King George VI becomes King of Ceylon; Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier), hard rock singer and musician born.
- 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.
March
- 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 a window of his apartment in Prague. Later communist government rules it "suicide".
- March 17 - Hells Angels founded in California
- March 20 - First elections in Singapore
April
- 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 7 - 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).
- April 9 - The Deir Yassin massacre takes place in Palestine.
- April 12 -Ian Cullen (Musician), Australian piano composer and musician, born.
May
- May 1 - 213 communists executed in Greece.
- May 2 - Hour of Charm's last broadcast.
- May 11 - Luigi Einaudi becomes President of the Italian Republic.
- May 14 - Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel
- 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 - 1948 Arab-Israeli War: 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 U.S. Congress passes Public Law 557 which permanently establishes the Civil Air Patrol as the auxiliary of the United States Air Force.
- May 29 - Wisconsin celebrates its 100th anniversary of being admitted to the United States as the 30th State in 1848.
- 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.
- June 16 - 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.
- June 18 - 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.
- June 24 - The first World Health Assembly of World Health Organisation was held in Geneva.
- June 25 - U.S.Congress or Not at all ?: United States Codes : U.S.C. Title 3 (The President), Title 18 (Crimes) and Title 28 (Judiciary) mysteriously, and rather dubiously passed by an absent Congress NO LONGER IN SESSION since June 20 (see USCodes History).
- June 28 - Cominform Resolution marks the beginning of the Informbiro period in Yugoslavia and Soviet/Yugoslav split.
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.
- July 15 - First London, England 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 26 - U.S. President signs Executive Order 9981, ending racial segregation in the United States Armed Forces.
- July 29 - 1948 Summer Olympics begin in London.
- 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 12 - USA recognizes the government of South Korea.
- 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 - Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Founder and first Governor General of Pakistan (b. 1876) Pakistan is in a state of shock and mourning the departure to tribute their father. It is a public holiday nation-wide.
- September 17 - Stern Gang assassinates count Folke Bernadotte.
October
- October 11 - Cleveland Indians defeat the Boston Braves to win the World Series, four games to two.
November
- 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 his second wife, the former Princess Fawzia of Egypt.
- November 20 - Geoffrey B. Orbell rediscovers the Takahē, last seen 50 years ago, near Lake Te Anau, New Zealand.
- November 24 - In Venezuela, president Rómulo Betancourt is ousted by a military coup. A military junta takes over the government.
December
- December 7 - Gary Morris, singer and actor
- December 7 - Mads Vinding, Danish bassist
- December 10 - United Nations General Assembly adopts Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- December 26 - Last Soviet troops withdraw from North Korea.
- 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 - 1948 Arab-Israeli War: Israeli troops drive Egyptians from Negev.
Undated
- 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.
- Empire Windrush immigrant ship arrives in Britain
- Civil war in Costa Rica
- Civil war in Colombia
- Rope (film) released
Unknown date
- 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.
- Brandeis University is founded.
- Oakridge Transit Centre opened in Vancouver, British Columbia.
- a Slovak city's name was changed from Gúta to Kolárovo
Births
January
- January 2 - Mary Archer, British scientist
- January 2 - Deborah Watling, British actress
- January 7 - Kenny Loggins, American singer
- January 10 - Donald Fagen, American keyboardist
- January 10 - Mischa Maisky, Latvian cellist
- January 12 - Kenny Allen, English footballer
- January 14 - T-Bone Burnett, American record producer and musician
- January 14 - 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
- 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 31 - Muneo Suzuki, Japanese politician
February
- February 1 - Elisabeth Sladen, British actress
- February 3 - Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo, East Timorean Catholic bishop, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- February 4 - Alice Cooper, American musician
- February 5 - Sven-Göran Eriksson, Swedish Football Manager
- February 5 - Christopher Guest, American actor, writer, director, and composer
- February 6 - Jack Conway, musician, composer, arranger, guitarist
- February 14 - Teller, American magician
- February 14 - Jackie Martling, American comedian and radio personality
- February 17 - José José, Mexican singer and actor
- February 24 - J. Jayalalithaa, Indian politician
- February 25 - Danny Denzongpa, Indian actor
- February 28 - Steven Chu, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- February 28 - Mike Figgis, American director, writer, and composer
- February 28 - Bernadette Peters, American actress and singer
- February 28 - Mercedes Ruehl, American actress
March
- March 1 - Burning Spear, Jamaican singer and musician
- March 2 - R. T. Crowley, pioneer of electronic commerce
- March 2 - Jeff Kennett, Australian politician
- March 9 - Jeffrey Osborne, American singer
- March 11 - Dominique Sanda, French actress
- March 12 - James Taylor, American musician
- March 15 - Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian diplomat (d. 2003)
- March 17 - William Gibson, Canadian writer
- March 20 - John de Lancie, American actor
- March 20 - Bobby Orr, Canadian hockey player
- March 22 - Wolf Blitzer, American television journalist
- March 22 - 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
- March 31 - Rhea Perlman, American actress
April
- April 1 - Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican musician
- April 4 - Derek Thompson, Northern Irish actor
- 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 29 - Michael Karoli, German musician (d. 2001)
May
- May 8 - Felicity Lott, English soprano
- May 11 - Shigeru Izumiya, Japanese musician
- May 12 - Steve Winwood, English singer
- May 14 - Bob Woolmer, British cricket coach
- May 15 - Brian Eno, English musician and record producer
- 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
- June 13 - Garnet Bailey, Canadian hockey player and scout
- June 15 - Paul Michiels, Belgian singer-songwriter
- June 17 - Dave Concepcion, Venezuelan baseball player
- June 19 - Phylicia Rashad, American actress
- June 20 - Ludwig Scotty, President of Nauru
- June 21 - Lionel Rose, Australian boxer
- June 21 - Andrzej Sapkowski, Polish writer
- June 22 - Todd Rundgren, American singer and record producer
July
- July 8 — Raffi, Egyptian-born children's entertainer
- July 16 — Pinchas Zukerman, Israeli violinist
- July 18 — Hartmut Michel, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- July 21 — Ed Hinton, American sportswriter
- July 21 — Cat Stevens, English musician
- July 21 — Garry Trudeau, American cartoonist
- July 23 — John Cushnahan, Northern Irish politician
- July 25 — 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
- August 2 - Dennis Prager, American radio talk show host and author
- 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
- 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
- September 4 - Samuel Hui, Hong Kong singer
- September 5 - Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Austrian diplomat and politician
- September 10 - Bob Lanier, American basketball player
- September 10 - Margaret Trudeau, Estranged 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 22 - Denis Burke, Australian politician
- September 24 - Heinz Chur, German composer
- September 27 - Michele Dotrice, English actor
- September 29 - Bryant Gumbel, American television broadcaster
October
- October 1 - Sir Peter Blake New Zealand yachtsman (d. 2001)
- October 2 - Avery Brooks, American television actor
- October 2 - Chris LeDoux, American singer and rodeo star (d. 2005)
- October 6 - Gerry Adams, Northern Irish politician
- October 8 - Johnny Ramone, American guitarist (The Ramones) (d. 2004)
- October 9 - Jackson Browne, American musician
- October 13 - Ted Poe, American politician
- October 13 - John Ford Coley, American musician
- October 16 - Leo Mazzone, American baseball coach
- October 17 - George Wendt, American television actor
November
- November 1 - Jim Steinman, American songwriter and producer
- 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 16 - Mutt Lange, Rhodesian-born record producer
- November 17 - Howard Dean, American politician
- November 20 - John R. Bolton, U.S. Ambassador to the UN
- November 20 - Barbara Hendricks, American-born soprano
December
- December 3 - Ozzy Osbourne, British singer
- December 6 - Keke Rosberg, Finnish Formula One Champion
- December 6 - JoBeth Williams, American actress
- December 10 - Abu Abbas, founder of the Palestine Liberation Front (d. 2004)
- December 21 - Samuel L. Jackson, American actor
- December 21 - Willi Resetarits, Austrian musician and cabaret artist
- December 22 - Noel Edmonds, British TV presenter
- December 27 - Gérard Depardieu, French actor
- December 28 - Dick Siegel, American songwriter
Unknown date
- Ciaran Carson, Northern Irish poet and novelist
- Maurizio Gucci, Italian business man and murder victim (d. 1995)
- Edward Rutherfurd, British novelist
Deaths
January - March
- January 5 - Mary Dimmick Harrison, wife of President Benjamin Harrison (b. 1858)
- January 21 - Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Italian composer (b. 1876)
- January 30 - Mohandas Gandhi, Indian independence movement leader (assassinated) (b. 1869)
- January 30 - 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, Playwrite, 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 31 - Egon Erwin Kisch, Austrian journalist and author (b. 1885)
April - August
- April 9 - George Carpenter, the 5th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1872)
- April 9 - Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian politician (b. 1903)
- 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 5 - Georges Bernanos, French writer (b. 1888)
- July 15 - John J. Pershing, American general (b. 1860)
- July 23 - David Wark Griffith, American film director (b. 1875)
- July 31 - Lucy Page Mercer Rutherfurd, Franklin Roosevelt's lover (b. 1891)
- 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 - December
- 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 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
Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1948.