August 1948

[August 1], 1948 (Sunday)

• Air France Latécoère 631 disappearance: A Latécoère 631 of Air France went missing over the Atlantic Ocean and evidently crashed with the death of all 52 on board.
• Lee Beom-seok became 1st Prime Minister of South Korea.
• Dov Yosef was appointed Military Governor of Jerusalem by the Israeli government.

  [August 2], 1948 (Monday)

• Diplomats Walter Bedell Smith of the US, Yves Chataigneau of France and Frank Roberts of the UK had a two-hour meeting in the Kremlin with Joseph Stalin to discuss the Berlin Blockade. Stalin stressed his opposition to the unification of Germany's western zones into a single governing body, but said he was willing to lift the blockade if implementation of the London agreement of May 31 was postponed pending further discussions among the Big Four powers.
• Israeli forces concluded Operation GYS 2 with the successful transport of goods to the Negev enclave.
• Born: Dennis Prager, radio talk show host, in New York City; Bob Rae, politician, in Ottawa, Canada

  [August 3], 1948 (Tuesday)

• Time magazine editor Whittaker Chambers testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee that he had been part of a Communist underground organization prior to his leaving the movement in 1937. Chambers implicated a number of government officials as being part of his underground ring, including Alger and Donald Hiss, Nathan Witt and Lee Pressman.
• Born: Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Prime Minister of France 2002–2005, in Poitiers, France
• Died: Tommy Ryan, 78, American middleweight boxing champion

  [August 4], 1948 (Wednesday)

• The New York Metropolitan Opera canceled its 1948-49 season after three of the twelve unions representing the organization's employees refused to accept contracts under the previous year's terms.
• Died: Mileva Marić, 72, Serbian mathematician and first wife of Albert Einstein

  [August 5], 1948 (Thursday)

• Former US State Department official Alger Hiss voluntarily appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee and denied under oath that he had ever been a Communist or known anybody by the name of Whittaker Chambers.
• US President Harry S. Truman said at a press conference that the Congressional spy hearings were yielding no information that had "not long been known to the FBI," and were just a "red herring" to distract the public from the Congress not getting anything done about the country's inflation problem.
• The Federal Communications Commission issued a statement threatening to crack down on the growing number of so-called "giveaway" programs - radio quiz shows that came dangerously close to violating lottery laws by offering prizes to listeners under systems that appeared to depend "upon lot or chance." The FCC publicized a set of new proposed rules, which among other restrictions would forbid giving "aid to answering the question correctly."
• The romantic comedy film Julia Misbehaves starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon was released.

  [August 6], 1948 (Friday)

• Egypt rejected Israel's proposal for direct peace negotiations on the Palestine situation. Acceptance of the proposal would have meant recognition of the Jewish state.
• Born: Dino Bravo, professional wrestler, as Adolfo Bresciano in Campobasso, Italy
• Born: Deanna Booher professional wrestler, as Matilda the Hun in GLOW and Queen Kong in POWW

  [August 7], 1948 (Saturday)

• Torrential flooding of the Min River in the Chinese province of Fujian drowned 1,000 people and sent 1 million refugees to higher ground. The tragedy became the source of a war of words between the two sides in the Civil War, as the Nationalists blamed the Communists for destroying dikes while the Communists retorted that it was impossible to repair the dikes because of Nationalist attacks.
• The special extra session of the 80th United States Congress adjourned after passing only a fraction of the legislation President Truman had asked for.
• At a national convention in Ottawa, the Liberal Party of Canada elected Louis St. Laurent to succeed outgoing Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King.
• Willem Drees became Prime Minister of the Netherlands.
• Domingo Díaz Arosemena became President of Panama.
• Born: Dan Halutz, commander of the Israeli Air Force, in Tel Aviv, Israel
• Died: Frederick Walker Baldwin, 66, Canadian aviation pioneer and the first Canadian to fly an airplane

  [August 8], 1948 (Sunday)

• The Eighth Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Communion ended after five weeks of deliberations in Lambeth, England. Archbishop of York Cyril Garbett said in his closing sermon that "with the discovery and use of the atomic bomb, we live more nearly in the mental and spiritual atmosphere of the first Christians who expected at any time the end of the world."
• Died: Leo M. Franklin, 78, American Reform rabbi

  [August 9], 1948 (Monday)

• In Quito, Ecuador, delegates representing Colombia, Panama, Venezuela and Ecuador signed a charter for a new customs union.
• A group of sixteen young Québécois artists released the anti-establishment manifesto Le Refus Global, calling for "an untamed need for liberation" and "resplendent anarchy".
• Born: Claudia Blum, psychologist and politician, in Cali, Colombia

  [August 10], 1948 (Tuesday)

• An armor-plated Mercedes-Benz that Adolf Hitler once presented to Baron Mannerheim of Finland was driven through Times Square at the beginning of a nationwide tour of the United States. The long black automobile was scheduled to stop at recruitment centers throughout the country to encourage enlistment in the US military.
• The hidden camera/practical joke reality television series Candid Camera premiered on ABC, the year after it initially began on radio as The Candid Microphone.
• Died: Kan'ichi Asakawa, 74, Japanese historian; Lucille Bogan, 51, American blues singer; Beatrice Edgell, 75, British psychologist and professor

  [August 11], 1948 (Wednesday)

• In further testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee, Elizabeth Bentley described an incident in October 1945 in which she was paid $2000 for her spy work by first secretary of the Russian Embassy Anatoly Gromov. Bentley said the cash payoff happened by the New York waterfront and was probably witnessed by agents of the FBI, who had instructed Bentley to maintain her contacts with the Communists while it watched.
• The Pohl trial ended at Nuremberg with the tribunal issuing its final sentences.

  [August 12], 1948 (Thursday)

• The Babrra massacre occurred in Pakistan when unarmed workers of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement were fired upon by the government of the North-West Frontier Province. Estimates of those killed range as high as 600 people.
• An international incident began when Soviet consular employee Oksana Kasenkina jumped from a third-floor window of the Soviet consulate in New York City, injuring herself critically. Kasenkina, who had been in New York for three years as a tutor for the consulate's children, was taken to Roosevelt Hospital where she regained consciousness several hours later and told police that she did not want to see anyone from the Russian consulate.
• Born: Mizengo Pinda, 9th Prime Minister of Tanzania, in Rukwa, Tanzania

  [August 13], 1948 (Friday)

• The United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan adopted a three-part resolution, calling for a ceasefire in the Kashmir conflict and for the governments of India and Pakistan to agree to enter consultation with the Commission to determine the future status of the disputed region in accordance with the will of the people.
• Lauchlin Currie and Harry Dexter White appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee and denied under oath that they were ever members of, or had any knowledge of, any Communist spy rings before or during the war.
• Born: Kathleen Battle, operatic soprano, in Portsmouth, Ohio
• Died: Elaine Hammerstein, 51, American actress

  [August 14], 1948 (Saturday)

• The 1948 Summer Olympics closed in London. The United States finished atop the medal count with 38 gold medals and 84 total.
• 1948 Ashes series: Australian cricket team in England in 1948: Australian batsman Don Bradman, playing his last Test cricket match, against England at The Oval in London, was bowled by Eric Hollies for a duck ; however, Australia won the match by an innings and 149 runs, and The Ashes 4–0.
• The States' Rights Democratic Party formally adopted its platform at Oklahoma City, affirming its pro-segregation policy and condemning the Democratic civil rights program.
• Mile High Stadium opened in Denver, Colorado, under its original name of Bears Stadium.
• "You Call Everybody Darlin'" by Al Trace and His Orchestra hit #1 on the Billboard singles charts.
• Born: Joseph Marcell, actor and comedian, in Saint Lucia

  [August 15], 1948 (Sunday)

• The First Republic of South Korea was established.
• Juan Natalicio González was sworn in as President of Paraguay.
• Born: Tom Johnston, guitarist and lead singer of The Doobie Brothers, in Visalia, California

  [August 16], 1948 (Monday)

• President Truman signed an anti-inflation bill authorizing him to restrict bank credit and reimpose wartime consumer credit controls, but he called it a "tiny fraction of what we need."
• The Northrop F-89 Scorpion interceptor jet had its first flight.
• Died: Babe Ruth, 53, American baseball player

  [August 17], 1948 (Tuesday)

• An estimated 25,000 people filed past the coffin of Babe Ruth lying in state for the first of two days at Yankee Stadium.
• Born: Alexander Ivashkin, cellist, in Blagoveshchensk, USSR ; Edward Lazear, economist, in New York City
• Died: Mariette Rheiner Garner, 79, Second Lady of the United States 1933–41