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

[edit] Events of 1948

[edit] January

• January 1 - UK railways are nationalised to form British Railways.
• January 1 - Arab militants lay siege to the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.
• January 1 - The Italian republican constitution goes into effect.
• January 1 - The latest New Jersey State Constitution goes into effect.
• 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 - A truce is declared 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 assassinated by Nathuram Godse.
• January 30 - 1948 Winter Olympics open in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

[edit] February

• February 1 - The 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 25 - The Communist Party seizes control of Czechoslovakia, a day celebrated by that regime as "Victorious February" (Czech:"Vítězný únor"; Slovak:"Víťazný Február") until November 1989.

[edit] March

• March 8 - McCollum v. Board of Education: The United States Supreme Court rules that religious instruction in public schools violates the U.S. Constitution.
• March 16 - The largest flood in the history of Brampton, Ontario occurs. ^[1]
• March 17 - The Hells Angels motorcycle gang is founded in California.
• March 20 - The first elections are held in Singapore.
• March 20 - Renowned Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini makes his television debut, conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in an all-Wagner program.

[edit] April

• April 1 - Scientists Ralph Alpher and George Gamow publish the Alpher-Bethe-Gamow paper about the big bang.
• April 3 - President Harry Truman signs the Marshall Plan, which authorizes $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.
• April 3 - 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.
• April 7 - A fire in a Buddhist monastery Shanghai kills 20 monks.
• April 9 - Jorge Eliécer Gaitán's assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá (the Bogotazo), and a further 10 years of violence in all of Colombia (La Violencia).
• April 9 - The Deir Yassin massacre takes place in Palestine.
• April 24 - The Costa Rican Civil War ends.
• April 30 - The Land Rover is unveiled at the Amsterdam Motor Show.

[edit] May

• May 4 - Laurence Olivier's film version of Hamlet makes its world premiere in London.
• May 11 - Luigi Einaudi becomes President of the Italian Republic.
• May 14 - The Declaration of Independence of Israel is made.
• May 14 - The murder of a 3-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: The 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 28 - Daniel Francois Malan defeats Jan Smuts and becomes Prime Minister of South Africa, ushering in the heinous era of apartheid, which is finally dismantled by F W de Klerk in 1994.
• May 30 - A dike along the Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon within minutes: 15 people die and tens of thousands are left homeless.

[edit] June

• June 3 - The Palomar Observatory telescope is finished in California.
• June 16 - Communist guerillas kill 3 rubber planters in Malaya.
• June 16 - Three armed men hijack the Cathay Pacific passenger plane Miss Macao and shoot the pilot; the plane crashes, with only one of 27 survives.
• June 11 - The first monkey astronaut, Albert I, is launched into space from White Sands, New Mexico.
• 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 - Malayan Emergency: A state of emergency is declared in Malaysia due to a communist insurgency.
• June 18 - The first democratic general election with universal suffrage is held in Italy.
• June 20 - The U.S. Congress recesses for the remainder of 1948, after an overtime session closes at 7:00 a.m. 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 (the start of multiculturalism in Britain).
• June 24 - Cold War: The Berlin Blockade begins.
• June 24 - The first World Health Assembly of the 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 - The Cominform Resolution marks the beginning of the Informbiro period in Yugoslavia and the Soviet/Yugoslav split.
• June 28 - David Lean's Oliver Twist, based on Charles Dickens's famous novel, premieres in the UK. It is banned for 3 years in the U.S. because of alleged anti-Semitism in depicting master criminal Fagin, played by Alec Guinness.
• June 28 - An earthquake in Fukui, Japan kills 3,895.

[edit] July

• July 5 - The National Health Service Acts are enacted in United Kingdom.
• July 6 - The world's first Air Car-ferry service is flown by a Bristol Freighter of Silver City Airways from Lympne to Le Touquet.
• 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 - The attempted assassination of Palmiro Togliatti, general secretary of the Italian Communist Party, incites numerous strikes all over the country.
• July 15 - The first London chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous is founded.
• 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 - A great oil fire breaks out in the harbor of Naantali, Finland.
• July 26 - U.S. President Truman 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 - The 1948 Summer Olympics begin in London, the first 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.

[edit] August

• August 1 - The U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations is founded.
• August 10 - August 23 - The Herrenchiemsee Convent prepares the draft for the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany.
• August 15 - The Republic of Korea is established.
• August 23 - The World Council of Churches is established.
• August 24 - The first meeting of the charter members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) is held.^[2]
• August 25 - The House Un-American Activities Committee holds its first-ever televised congressional hearing, featuring "Confrontation Day" between Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss.

[edit] 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 9 - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is formally declared, with Kim Il-sung as prime minister.
• September 11 - Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Founder and first Governor General of Pakistan, dies. 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 - The State of Hyderabad is invaded by the Indian Army on the day after Pakistani leader Jinnah's death, to assist damage control. Operation Polo leads to the deaths of an estimated tens of thousands of Hyderabadi Muslims.
• September 17 - The Stern Gang assassinates Swedish count Folke Bernadotte.
• September 29 - Laurence Olivier's Hamlet opens in the United States.

[edit] October

• October 5 - The 1948 Ashgabat earthquake kills 100,000.
• October 11 - The Cleveland Indians defeat the Boston Braves to win the World Series, 4 games to 2.
• October 16 - The 57th Street Art Fair, the oldest juried art fair in the American midwest, is founded.
• October 26 - Killer smog settles into Donora, Pennsylvania.

[edit] November

• November 2 - United States presidential election, 1948: Democratic incumbent Harry S. Truman defeats Republican Thomas E. Dewey and 'Dixiecrat' Strom Thurmond.
• November 12 - In Tokyo, an international war crimes tribunal sentences 7 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 12th 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 junta.
• November 27 - The Calgary Stampeders defeat the Ottawa Rough Riders 12-7 before 20,013 fans at Toronto's Varsity Stadium to capture their first Grey Cup and complete the only perfect season to date in Canadian Football.

[edit] December

• December 1 - José Figueres Ferrer abolishes the army in Costa Rica, making it the first country in history to do so.
• December 10 - The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• December 26 - The last Soviet troops withdraw from North Korea.
• December 28 - A Muslim Brotherhood member 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 the Egyptians from Negev.

[edit] Undated

• Brandeis University is founded.
• The Casimir effect is discovered by Dutch physicist Hendrik Casimir.
• The Fresh Kills Landfill, the world's largest, opens in Staten Island, New York.
• Playwright Arthur Miller writes Death of a Salesman.
• The law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom is founded.
• Miranda, the innermost moon of Uranus, is discovered by Gerard Kuiper.
• The Oakridge Transit Centre opens in Vancouver, British Columbia.
• The RAND Corporation is established as a nonprofit policy research and analysis institution.
• The Slovak city Gúta is renamed Kolárovo.
• The Tunnel of Vielha is opened in the Aran Valley, Spanish Pyrenees.
• The Caspian Tiger becomes extinct in Kazakhstan.
• The Rhode Island Highlanders Pipe Band is founded.

[edit] Ongoing

• First Indochina War

[edit] Births

[edit] January–February

• January 2 - Mary Archer, British scientist
• January 2 - Deborah Watling, British actress
• January 5 - Wally Foreman, Australian media icon (d. 2006)
• January 7 - Kenny Loggins, American rock singer (Footloose)
• January 10 - Donald Fagen, American rock keyboardist (Steely Dan)
• 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, African-American football player and actor (Rocky III)
• January 15 - Ronnie Van Zant, American rock musician (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (d. 1977)
• January 16 - John Carpenter, American film director and composer
• January 16 - 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 (V)
• January 30 - Paul Magee, Provisional Irish Republican Army member
• January 31 - Muneo Suzuki, Japanese politician
• February 1 - Elisabeth Sladen, British actress
• February 1 - Rick James, African-American musician (Super Freak) (d. 2004)
• February 2 - Ina Garten, American cooking author
• 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
• February 4 - Roedy Green, Canadian programmer and LGBT activist
• February 5 - Sven-Göran Eriksson, Swedish football manager
• February 5 - Christopher Guest, American actor, writer, director, and composer
• February 6 - Jack Conway, American musician, composer, arranger, and guitarist
• February 7 - Tony Iommi, English rock guitarist (Black Sabbath)
• February 10 - John Magnier, Irish businessman and thoroughbred racehorse breeder
• February 12 - Raymond Kurzweil, American inventor and author
• February 14 - Teller, American magician
• February 14 - Jackie Martling, American comedian and radio personality
• February 17 - José José, Mexican singer and actor
• February 19 - Pim Fortuyn, Dutch politician and author (d. 2002)
• February 24 - J. Jayalalithaa, Indian politician
• February 24 - Walter Smith, Scottish football manager
• 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
• February 28 - Alfred Sant, Leader of Malta Labour Party (1992-) and Prime Minister of Malta (1996-1998)

[edit] March–April

• March 2 - R. T. Crowley, American pioneer of electronic commerce
• March 2 - Rory Gallagher, Irish musician
• March 2 - Jeff Kennett, Australian politician
• March 4 - Lindy Chamberlain, Australian author
• March 4 - James Ellroy, American writer
• March 4 - Tom Grieve, American baseball player
• March 4 - Leron Lee, American baseball player
• March 4 - Chris Squire, British bassist
• March 4 - Shakin' Stevens, Welsh singer
• March 5 - Richard Hickox, English classical conductor and musician
• March 5 - Elaine Paige, English singer and actress
• March 9 - Jeffrey Osborne, African-American singer (On The Wings Of Love)
• March 11 - Dominique Sanda, French actress
• March 12 - James Taylor, American rock musician (Fire And Rain)
• March 14 - Billy Crystal, American actor and comedian
• March 15 - Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian diplomat (d. 2003)
• March 17 - William Gibson, American writer
• March 19 - John Oldfield , British advertising & management consultant
• March 20 - John de Lancie, American actor
• March 20 - Bobby Orr, Canadian hockey player
• March 22 - Wolf Blitzer, American television journalist (CNN)
• March 22 - Andrew Lloyd Webber, English composer (Jesus Christ Superstar)
• March 26 - Steven Tyler, American rock singer (Aerosmith)
• March 28 - Dianne Wiest, American actress
• March 29 - Bud Cort, American actor (Harold and Maude)
• March 31 - Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States
• March 31 - Rhea Perlman, American actress (Cheers)
• April 1 - Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican musician
• April 4 - Squire Parsons, American Southern Gospel singer/songwriter
• April 4 - Derek Thompson, Northern Irish actor
• April 12 - Jeremy Beadle, English TV presenter (d. 2008)
• 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 27 - Kate Pierson, American rock singer (The B-52's)
• April 27 - Amrit Kumar Bohara, Nepalese politician
• April 29 - Michael Karoli, German musician (d. 2001)

[edit] May–June

• May 1 - Constance, Lady Crabtree, British comedienne
• May 2 - Vladimir Matorin, Russian opera singer
• May 4 - Tanya Falan, American singer (The Lawrence Welk Show)
• May 6 - Richard Bryant, African-American pastor
• May 8 - Felicity Lott, English soprano
• May 8 - Stephen Stohn, Canadian television producer (Degrassi)
• May 9 - Calvin Murphy, American basketball player and analyst
• May 11 - Shigeru Izumiya, Japanese musician
• May 12 - Steve Winwood, English rock singer (Higher Love)
• May 12 - Bob Carolgees, British comedy entertainer
• May 14 - Bob Woolmer, British cricket coach (d. 2007)
• May 15 - Brian Eno, English musician and record producer
• May 15 - Yutaka Enatsu, Japanese professional baseball pitcher
• May 19 - Grace Jones, Jamaican singer and actress
• May 21 - Leo Sayer, English rock musician (You Make Me Feel Like Dancing)
• May 25 - Nand Huyghe, Flemish sculptor (P.Nand.R)
• May 26 - Stevie Nicks, American rock singer and songwriter (Fleetwood Mac)
• May 27 - Wubbo de Boer, Dutch civil servant
• May 29 - Michael Berkeley, British composer
• May 31 - John Bonham, British rock drummer (Led Zeppelin) (d. 1980)
• June 2 - Jerry Mathers, American actor (Leave It To Beaver)
• 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 Concepción, Venezuelan baseball player
• June 19 - Lea Laven, Finnish singer
• June 19 - Phylicia Rashad, African-American actress (The Cosby Show)
• June 19 - Nick Drake, English musician (d. 1974)
• June 20 - Ludwig Scotty, President of Nauru
• June 21 - Lionel Rose, Australian boxer
• June 21 - Andrzej Sapkowski, Polish writer
• June 21 - Don Airey, English rock musician (Deep Purple)
• June 22 - Todd Rundgren, American rock singer and record producer (Hello It's Me)
• June 28 - Kathy Bates, American actress (Misery)
• June 29 - Ian Paice, English rock drummer (Deep Purple, Whitesnake)
• June 30 - Vladimir Yakunin, Russian official, head of state-run Russian Railways company

[edit] 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
• July 21 - Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam), English musician (Peace Train)
• July 21 - Garry Trudeau, American cartoonist (Doonesbury)
• July 21 - Mikhail Zadornov, Russian stand-up comedian and writer
• July 22 - Neil Hardwick, British-born Finnish director and writer
• July 22 - Susan Eloise Hinton, American author
• July 23 - John Cushnahan, Northern Irish politician
• July 25 - Steve Goodman, Grammy Award-winning folk music singer and songwriter (d. 1984)
• July 27 - Peggy Fleming, American figure skater
• July 28 - Sally Struthers, American actress (All In The Family)
• July 30 - Jean Reno, French actor
• July 31 - Jonathan Dollimore, British author and professor
• August 2 - Dennis Prager, American radio talk show host and author
• August 2 - 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
• August 15 - George Ryton, British engineer
• August 18 - Joseph Marcell, English actor
• August 20 -