1948

Events

January

• January 1
• * The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade is inaugurated.
• * The current Constitutions of Italy and of New Jersey go into effect.
• * The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British Railways.
• January 4 - Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom, becoming an independent republic, named the 'Union of Burma', with Sao Shwe Thaik as its first President and U Nu its first Prime Minister.
• January 5 - In the United States:
• * Warner Brothers shows the first color newsreel.
• * The first Kinsey Report, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, is published.
• January 7 - Mantell UFO incident: Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell crashes while in pursuit of an unidentified flying object.
• January 12 - Mahatma Gandhi begins his fast-unto-death in Delhi, to stop communal violence during the Partition of India.
• January 17 - A truce is declared between nationalist Indonesian and Dutch troops in Java.
• January 22 - British foreign secretary Ernest 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 29 - A DC-3 aircraft crash at Los Gatos Creek, near Coalinga, California, kills 4 US citizens and 28 deportees, commemorated in a protest song by Woody Guthrie.
• January 30
• * Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi: Indian pacifist and leader Mahatma Gandhi is shot by Nathuram Godse in New Delhi.
• * The 1948 Winter Olympics open in St Moritz, Switzerland.
• January 31 - The British crown colony of the Malayan Union, Penang and Malacca form the Federation of Malaya.

  February

• February 1
• * The Soviet Union begins to jam Voice of America broadcasts.
• * The Federation of Malaya is proclaimed.
• February 4 - Ceylon becomes an independent country, within the British Commonwealth continuing to adopt King George VI as the King of Ceylon.
• February 11 - General Douglas Gracey becomes Commander-in-chief of Pakistan Army.
• February 16 - Miranda, innermost of the large moons of Uranus, is discovered by Gerard Kuiper.
• February 18 - Éamon de Valera, Irish head of government from 1918 to 1932, loses power to an opposition coalition. John A. Costello is appointed Taoiseach by President Seán T. O'Kelly, until 1960.
• February 19 - The Conference of Youth and Students of Southeast Asia Fighting for Freedom and Independence convenes in Calcutta.
• February 21 - The United States stock car racing organization NASCAR is founded by Bill France Sr. with other drivers.
• February 22 - The first of the Ben Yehuda Street bombings in Jerusalem kills between 49 and 58 civilians and injures between 140 and 200.
• February 25 - 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état: Edvard Beneš, President of Czechoslovakia, cedes control of the country to the Communist Party, a day celebrated by that regime as "Victorious February" until November 1989.
• February 28
• *Accra Riots: Riots take place in Accra, capital of the British colony of Gold Coast, when a peaceful protest march by ex-servicemen is broken up by police, leaving several members of the group dead, among them Sergeant Adjetey, one of the leaders.
• *The 2nd Congress of the Communist Party of India convenes in Calcutta.

  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 12 - The Costa Rican Civil War begins.
• March 17
• * The Treaty of Brussels is signed by Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, providing for economic, social and cultural collaboration and collective self-defence.
• * The Hells Angels motorcycle gang is founded in California.
• March 18 - The Round Table Conference convenes in The Hague, Netherlands, to prepare the decolonization process for the Caribbean island of Aruba and the other Dutch Colonies. Aruba presents the mandate of the Aruban People for Aruba to become an independent country, under the sovereignty of the House of Orange, based on Aruba's first state constitution presented officially since August 1947, and a member state of the future Dutch Commonwealth.
• March 20
• * Singapore holds its first elections.
• * Renowned Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini makes his television debut, conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in an all-Wagner program in the United States.
• * The 20th Academy Awards Ceremony is held in Los Angeles. Gentleman's Agreement wins the Academy Award for Best Picture.
• March 25 - The United States Proposal for Temporary United Nations Trusteeship for Palestine is announced by Harry S. Truman.

  April

• April - Children's Bargain Town, a predecessor of toy and child-related retailer Toys "R" Us, is founded in Washington, D.C., United States.
• April 1 - Physicists Ralph Asher Alpher and George Gamow publish the Alpher–Bethe–Gamow paper, about the Big Bang.
• April 3
• * United States President Harry S. Truman signs the Marshall Plan, which authorizes $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.
• * Jeju Uprising: Residents revolt on Jeju island, South Korea, eventually leading to the deaths of between 14,000 and 30,000.
• * Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 is played on television in its entirety for the first time, in a series of concerts featuring Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in the United States. The chorus is conducted by Robert Shaw.
• April 5 - 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine: Haganah launches Operation Nachshon, provoking the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight.
• April 6 - The Finno-Soviet Treaty is signed in Moscow.
• April 7- The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.
• April 9
• * Liberal politician Jorge Eliécer Gaitán's assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá and a further 10 years of violence across Colombia.
• * The Deir Yassin massacre takes place in British Mandatory Palestine.
• April 13 - The Hadassah medical convoy massacre takes place, in British Mandatory Palestine.
• April 15 - Pan American World Airways flight 1-10 crashes on approach to Shannon Airport killing all but one of the thirty-one passengers and crew.
• April 16 - The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is founded, as the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation.
• April 18 - Italian general election, 1948: The first democratic general election with universal suffrage is held in Italy. The Christian Democracy party achieves a majority over the Popular Democratic Front Communist-Socialist coalition.
• April 19
• * Burma joins the United Nations.
• * The American Broadcasting Company begins television services, on WFIL-TV in Philadelphia.
• April 22
• * Civil War in Mandatory Palestine: Battle of Haifa - Jewish paramilitary group Haganah captures Haifa from the Arab Liberation Army.
• * WTVR begins television services. WTVR is the first TV station south of Washington D.C., giving it the nickname "The South's First Television station".
• April 23 - First National Games of Pakistan held in Karachi.
• April 24 - The Costa Rican Civil War ends.
• April 30
• * The Organization of American States is founded.
• * The English-built Land Rover is unveiled at the Amsterdam Motor Show.

  May

• May - The RAND Corporation is established, as an independent nonprofit policy research and analysis institution, in the United States.
• May 9 - Solar eclipse of May 9, 1948: An annular solar eclipse is visible in Japan and South Korea, and is the 32nd solar eclipse of Solar Saros 137. This eclipse is very short, lasting just 0.3 seconds. The path width is just about 200 meters wide.
• May 11 - Luigi Einaudi becomes President of the Italian Republic.
• May 14 - The Israeli Declaration of Independence is made. David Ben-Gurion becomes the first prime minister, a provisional position that will become formalized on February 14, 1949.
• May 15
• * 1948 Arab–Israeli War: The British Mandate of Palestine is officially terminated; expeditionary forces from Egypt, Transjordan, Syria and Iraq invade Israel and clash with Israeli forces after declaring war.
• * The murder of June Anne Devaney a 3-year-old girl in Blackburn, England. To solve the crime, officers take 46,253 sets of fingerprints before identifying her murderer.
• * Australian cricket team in England in 1948: The touring Australians set an all-time first-class record, by scoring 721 runs in a day against Essex.
• May 16
• * Chaim Weizmann is elected as the first President of Israel
• * New York City Fire Department Rescue 5 is founded for Staten Island.
• May 18 - The first Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convenes in Nanjing.
• May 22 - The Soviets launch Operation Vesna, the largest Lithuanian deportation to Siberia.
• May 25 - The United Church of Christ in the Philippines is founded at Ellinwood Malate Church in Manila.
• 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 28 - Daniel François Malan defeats Jan Smuts and becomes Prime Minister of South Africa, which starts the era of apartheid.
• May 29 - The Casimir effect is predicted by Dutch physicist Hendrik Casimir.
• May 30 - A dike along the Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon, within minutes; 15 people die and tens of thousands are left homeless.