1947

Events

January

• January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in the 20th century causes extensive disruption of travel. Given the low ratio of private vehicle ownership at the time, it is mainly remembered in terms of its effects on the railway network.
• January 1 – The Canadian Citizenship Act comes into effect, providing a Canadian citizenship separate from British law.
• January 4 – First issue of weekly magazine Der Spiegel published in Hanover, Germany, edited by Rudolf Augstein.
• January 10 – The United Nations adopts a resolution to take control of the free city of Trieste.
• January 11 – The Afghan tribal revolts of 1944–1947 conclude with the Surrender at Datta Khel.
• January 15 – Elizabeth Short, an aspiring actress nicknamed the "Black Dahlia", is found brutally murdered in a vacant lot in Los Angeles; the mysterious case is never solved.
• January 16 – Vincent Auriol is inaugurated as president of France.
• January 19 – Ferry sinks in the South Euboean Gulf of Greece killing 392.
• January 24 – In the third phase of the Greek Civil War, Dimitrios Maximos forms a monarchist government in Athens and begins a brief term as prime minister.
• January 26 – A KLM Douglas DC-3 aircraft crashes soon after taking off from Kastrup Airport, Copenhagen, killing all 22 people on board, including Prince Gustaf Adolf, second in line to the Swedish throne, and American opera singer Grace Moore.

  February

• February 3
• * The lowest air temperature in North America was recorded in Snag, in the Yukon Territory.
• * P.L. Prattis becomes the first African American news correspondent allowed in the United States House of Representatives and Senate press galleries.
• February 5
• * Bolesław Bierut becomes the President of Poland.
• * The Government of the United Kingdom announces the £25 million Tanganyika groundnut scheme, for cultivation of peanuts in the Tanganyika Territory.
• February 7 – The South Pacific Commission is founded.
• February 8 – The Karlslust dance hall fire in Berlin, Germany, kills over 80 people.
• February 10 – In Paris, France, peace treaties are signed between the World War II Allies and Italy, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Finland. Italy cedes most of Istria to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
• February 12
• * A meteorite creates an impact crater in Sikhote-Alin, in the Soviet Union.
• * In Burma, the Panglong Agreement is reached between the Burmese government under its leader, General Aung San, and the Shan, Kachin, and Chin ethnic peoples at the Panglong Conference. U Aung Zan Wai, Pe Khin, Major Aung, Sir Maung Gyi, Sein Mya Maung and Myoma U Than Kywe are among the negotiators.
• February 17 – Cold War: The Voice of America begins to transmit radio broadcasts into Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union
• February 20
• * An explosion at the O'Connor Electro-Plating Company in Los Angeles leaves 17 dead, 100 buildings damaged, and a crater in the ground.
• * The U.S. Army Ordnance Corps Hermes program V-2 rocket Blossom I is launched into space, carrying plant material and fruitflies, the first living things to enter space.
• February 21 – Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", his Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America in New York City.
• February 23 – The International Organization for Standardization is founded.
• February 25
• * The German state of Prussia is officially abolished, by the Allied Control Council.
• * Hachikō Line derailment: The worst-ever train accident in Japan kills 184 people.
• * John C. Hennessy Jr. brings the first Volkswagen Beetle to the United States. He purchased the 1946 automobile from the U.S. Army Post Exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, while serving in the U.S. Army. The Beetle is shipped from Bremerhaven, arriving in New York this day.
• February 28 - In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down, with large loss of civilian lives.

  March

• March 1
• * The International Monetary Fund begins to operate.
• * German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun marries his first cousin, 18-year-old Maria von Quirstorp.
• March 4 – The Treaty of Dunkirk is signed between the United Kingdom and France, providing for mutual assistance in the event of attack.
• March 12 – The Cold War begins: The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed, to help stem the spread of Communism.
• March 14 – The Thames flood and other widespread flooding occurs, as the exceptionally harsh British winter of 1946–1947 ends in a thaw.
• March 15 – Hindus and Muslims clash in Punjab.
• March 19 – The 19th Academy Awards Ceremony is held. The movie The Best Years of Our Lives wins the Academy Award for Best Picture, along with several other Academy Awards.
• March 25 – A coal mine explosion in Centralia, Illinois, United States; 111 miners are killed.
• March 28 – A World War II Japanese booby trap explodes on Corregidor Island, killing 28 people.
• March 29 – A rebellion against French rule erupts in Madagascar.
• March 31 – The leaders of the Kurdish People's Republic of Mahabad, the second Kurdish state in the history of Iran, are hanged at Chuwarchira Square in Mahabad, after the state has been overrun by the Iranian army.

  April

• April – The previous discovery of the 'Dead Sea Scrolls' in the Qumran Caves by Bedouin shepherds, becomes known.
• April 1
• * Jackie Robinson, the first African American in Major League Baseball since the 1880s, signs a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
• * Paul I becomes King of Greece, aged 45, following the death of his brother, King George II.
• * The 1947 Royal New Zealand Navy mutinies begin.
• April 4 – The International Civil Aviation Organization begins operations.
• April 7
• * The Arab Ba'ath Party is established by merger in Damascus.
• *The largest recorded sunspot group appears on the solar surface.
• April 9
• * Multiple tornadoes strike Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, killing 184 and injuring 970.
• * The Journey of Reconciliation in the Southern United States begins, organized by the Congress of Racial Equality.
• April 15 – Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to play Major League Baseball since the 1880s.
• April 16
• * Texas City disaster: The ammonium nitrate cargo of French-registered Liberty ship explodes in Texas City, Texas in one of the largest man-made non-nuclear explosions in history, killing at least 581, including all but one member of the city fire department, injuring at least 5,000 and destroying 20 city blocks. Of the dead, remains of 113 are never found, and 62 are unidentifiable.
• * American financier and presidential adviser Bernard Baruch describes the post–World War II tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States as a "Cold War".
• * The first public demonstration of a TV camera zoom lens, the Jerry Fairbanks Zoomar, is held at NBC studios in New York.
• April 18
• * The British Royal Navy detonates 6,800 tons of explosives, in an attempt to demolish the fortified island of Heligoland, Germany, in another of the largest man-made non-nuclear explosions in history.
• * 'Mrs. Ples', an Australopithecus africanus skull, is discovered in the Sterkfontein area in Transvaal, South Africa.
• April 20 – King Frederik IX succeeds his father, Christian X, on the throne of Denmark.

  May

• May 1 – Portella della Ginestra massacre: The Salvatore Giuliano gang of Sicilian separatists opens fire on a Labour Day parade at Portella della Ginestra, Sicily, killing 11 people and wounding 27.
• May 2 – The movie Miracle on 34th Street, a Christmastime classic, is first shown in theaters.
• May 3 – The new post-war Constitution of Japan goes into effect.
• May 11 – The Kingdom of Laos is officially formed, but is still a French protectorate.
• The Ferrari 125 S, the first car to bear the Ferrari name, debuts.
• May 22 – The Cold War begins: To fight the spread of Communism, President Harry S. Truman signs an Act of Congress that implements the Truman Doctrine. This Act grants $400 million in military and economic aid to Turkey and Greece. The Cold War ends in 1991.
• May 25 – Hyundai Togun, the initial name of the Hyundai Group, is founded by Chung Ju-young.
• May 29
• * An Air Iceland Douglas C-47 on a domestic flight in Iceland crashes into a mountainside killing all 25 people on board.
• * A United States Army Air Forces Douglas C-54 Skymaster crashes on approach to Naval Air Station Atsugi, Japan, killing all 41 on board in the worst aviation accident in Japanese history up to this time.
• May 30 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 605: A Douglas C-54 Skymaster crashes near Bainbridge, Maryland, killing all 53 aboard, in America's worst commercial aviation disaster to this date.
• May 31 – Alcide de Gasperi forms a new government in Italy, the first postwar Italian government not to include members of the Italian Communist Party.

  June

• June – The Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is introduced.
• June 5 – U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall outlines the Marshall Plan for American reconstruction and relief aid to Europe, in a speech at Harvard University.
• June 7 – The Romanian Army founds the association football club CCA, which will become the most successful Romanian football team during its time as CSA Steaua București.
• June 10 – SAAB in Sweden produces its first automobile.
• June 11–15 – The first Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod is held in Wales.
• June 15 – The Estado Novo in Portugal orders 11 military officers and 19 university professors, who are accused of revolutionary activity, to resign.
• June 21 – The Parliament of Canada votes unanimously to pass several laws regarding displaced foreign refugees.
• June 23 – The United States Senate follows the House of Representatives, in overriding President Harry S. Truman's veto of the Taft–Hartley Act.
• June 24 – Kenneth Arnold makes the first widely reported UFO sighting near Mount Rainier, Washington. Over 800 copycat sightings are reported throughout the US in the coming following weeks.
• June 25 – The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank is published for the first time as Het Achterhuis: Dagboekbrieven 14 juni 1942 – 1 augustus 1944 in Amsterdam, two years after the writer's death in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.