January 1948

[January 1], 1948 (Thursday)

• Nationalization of railways in Great Britain took effect under the Transport Act 1947. This has caused the Big four railway companies to become British Railways.
• The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade came into effect.
• A nationwide ban on music recording took effect in the United States by order of American Federation of Musicians President James Petrillo. The ban was aimed at a provision in the Taft-Hartley Act which criminalized a union's collection of money directly from employers "for services that are not performed or not to be performed," which made the AFM's recording fund to support unemployed musicians illegal.
• King George VI bestowed the 1948 New Year Honours.
• In college bowl games across the United States, the Michigan Wolverines shut out the USC Trojans 49-0 in the Rose Bowl, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets beat the Kansas Jayhawks 20-14 in the Orange Bowl, the Miami Redskins edged the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Sun Bowl and the Texas Longhorns defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide 27-7 in the Sugar Bowl, while the Cotton Bowl Classic ended in a 13-13 tie between the Penn State Nittany Lions and SMU Mustangs.
• Born: Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, Mexican drug lord; in El Álamo, Mexico
• Died: Edna May, 69, American actress and singer

  [January 2], 1948 (Friday)

• Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru threatened to invade Pakistan to stop Muslim attacks in Kashmir.
• The government of Yugoslavia sent a note to the United States demanding the release of $60–70 million worth of Yugoslav funds which had been deposited with the Federal Reserve Bank in New York prior to the German invasion in 1941. Washington had frozen these assets pending the settlement of various debts and claims.
• The Gongzhutun Campaign began in the Chinese Civil War.
• White House Press Secretary Charlie Ross unveiled plans to add a second-floor balcony to the White House at a projected cost of $15,000. The idea would prove to be controversial, as the White House mail room would soon be flooded with protest letters demanding that the historic building be left unaltered.
• Born: Judith Miller, journalist, in New York City; Joyce Wadler, journalist, in the United States; Deborah Watling, actress, in Loughton, England
• Died: Vicente Huidobro, 54, Chilean poet

  [January 3], 1948 (Saturday)

• British Prime Minister Clement Attlee made his strongest and most specific attack on communism to date when he declared that "today in eastern Europe the Communist Party, while overthrowing the economic tyranny of landlordism and capitalism, has renounced the doctrines of individual freedom and political democracy and rejected the whole spiritual heritage of western Europe."
• A large TNT shipment bound for Palestine was seized at Jersey City, New Jersey after a box fraudulently marked as industrial machinery was accidentally dropped. Police said there was little doubt that the explosives were intended for use in the Jewish-Arab conflict in Palestine.

  [January 4], 1948 (Sunday)

• Burma formally gained independence from the United Kingdom. Sao Shwe Thaik became the country's first president and U Nu its first prime minister.
• The Al-Wathbah uprising began in Iraq when students from al-Karkh and Al-Adhamiyah secondary schools went on a march in protest of a statement attributed to foreign minister Muhammad Fadhel al-Jamali suggesting that the monarchy may renew the Anglo- Iraqi Treaty of 1930. Many students were wounded when the police attempted to break up the protest.
• An Irgun car bomb blew up a government complex in Jaffa, killing 26 Arabs.

  [January 5], 1948 (Monday)

• The Interim Committee of the United Nations General Assembly held its opening session and elected Luis Padilla Nervo of Mexico as its chairman.
• Semiramis Hotel bombing: Members of Haganah blew up a hotel in west Jerusalem, killing 24-26 civilians.
• Sexual Behavior in the Human Male by Dr. Alfred Kinsey was published. This landmark book about human sexuality, together with 1953's Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, are commonly referred to as the Kinsey Report.
• The novel Raintree County by Ross Lockridge Jr. was published.
• Born: Wally Foreman, sports administrator and commentator, in Kalgoorlie, Australia ; Charlie Hough, baseball player, in Honolulu, Hawaii; Ted Lange, actor and director, in Oakland, California
• Died: Mary Dimmick Harrison, 89, second wife of U.S. President Benjamin Harrison

  [January 6], 1948 (Tuesday)

• The Ministries Trial began in Nuremberg. Twenty-one officials of various ministries of the Third Reich went on trial, facing an assortment of charges for their roles in atrocities committed by the Nazis.
• The adventure drama film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre starring Humphrey Bogart was released.

  [January 7], 1948 (Wednesday)

• U.S. President Harry S. Truman delivered the annual State of the Union address to Congress. Truman outlined five goals for the future: " to secure fully the essential human rights of our citizens," "to protect and develop our human resources," "to conserve and use our natural resources so that they can contribute most effectively to the welfare of our people," "to lift the standard of living for all our people by strengthening our economic system and sharing more broadly among our people the goods we produce," and "to achieve world peace based on principles of freedom and justice and the equality of all nations."
• An Irgun bomb attack at the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem killed 25 Arabs.
• The Gongzhutun Campaign ended in Communist victory.
• Mantell UFO incident: Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas F. Mantell died in the crash of his F-51 Mustang fighter plane after being sent in pursuit of an unidentified flying object.
• Born: Shobhaa De, columnist and novelist, in Satara, India; Kenny Loggins, singer-songwriter, in Everett, Washington; Ichirou Mizuki, musician and actor, in Tokyo

  [January 8], 1948 (Thursday)

• German officials accepted a US-British offer to assume responsibility for a new economic government in the Bizone, to be called the Bizonal Economic Administration.
• U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall appeared before the Senate to make the case for Truman's request for $6.8 billion to cover the first 15 months of the Marshall Plan, warning that U.S. failure to help rebuild Europe's economy would turn the continent into "the dictatorship of police states."
• Died: Edward Stanley Kellogg, 77, United States Navy Captain and 16th Governor of American Samoa; Kurt Schwitters, 60, German artist

  [January 9], 1948 (Friday)

• A record Chinese budget of 96 trillion yuan for the first six months of 1948 was announced in Nanjing.
• The U.S. Navy Department announced the transfer of four large submarines and eleven other naval vessels to Turkey and six submarines to Greece.

  [January 10], 1948 (Saturday)

• The U.S. State Department designated radar equipment as "arms" so it could not be exported without a license after concerns were raised that some such equipment was going to the Soviet Union and its satellite states.
• Born: Donald Fagen, musician, in Passaic, New Jersey; Teresa Graves, actress and singer, in Houston, Texas ; Mischa Maisky, cellist, in Riga, Latvian SSR

  [January 11], 1948 (Sunday)

• The acting president of the American University of Beirut announced the development of the most complete and effective cholera serum known to science.
• Born: Larry Harvey, artist, activist and co-founder of the Burning Man event, in San Francisco, California ; Danne Larsson, Swedish musician

  [January 12], 1948 (Monday)

• President Truman presented Congress with a $39.7 billion budget, the second-largest in peacetime history.
• The U.S. Supreme Court decided Sipuel v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, ruling that black students were entitled to the same education as whites.
• Born: Kenny Allen, footballer, in Thornaby-on-Tees, England; Anthony Andrews, actor, in Finchley, London, England

  [January 13], 1948 (Tuesday)

• Fistfights broke out in the French National Assembly. The Communists broke up the session by shouting and fighting in the aisles after the Assembly rejected their demand that Jacques Duclos be re-elected first vice-president.
• The Mahatma Gandhi began fasting for a "reunion of hearts" between the Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs of India.
• Died: Solomon Mikhoels, 57, Soviet Jewish actor and director of the Moscow State Jewish Theater

  [January 14], 1948 (Wednesday)

• U.S. Secretary of State Marshall rejected Yugoslavia's request for the return of its funds until all outstanding claims were settled, including the concern of the two American planes shot down over Yugoslavia in August 1946.
• The Battle of 3 Shevat was fought when Arab forces attacked Gush Etzion but were repulsed with heavy casualties.
• The American Communist Party held two rallies in New York City to mark the twenty-fourth anniversary of Vladimir Lenin's death. National chairman William Z. Foster hailed the presidential candidacy of Henry A. Wallace, telling his followers that millions of Americans believe that "the Wallace movement is the one movement that has the possibility to put a halt to this drive to a new war." A combined total of about 5,000 people attended the two rallies.
• Born: T Bone Burnett, music producer and guitarist, as Joseph Burnett III in St. Louis, Missouri; Valeri Kharlamov, ice hockey player, in Moscow, USSR ; Muhriz of Negeri Sembilan, eleventh Yamtuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan, in Kuala Pilah, Malayan Union; Carl Weathers, actor and football player, in New Orleans, Louisiana
• The Treasure of the Sierra Madre premieres in Los Angeles, California