March 1948

[March 1], 1948 (Monday)

• US Lieutenant General John R. Hodge announced that general elections would be held in Korea under UN supervision on May 9. The elections would be observed "in such parts of Korea as are accessible to the commission."
• The Costa Rican Congress annulled as fraudulent the election of February 8 in which Otilio Ulate Blanco was elected president.

  [March 2], 1948 (Tuesday)

• 1948 Heathrow Disaster: A Douglas DC-3 of the Belgian airline Sabena crashed at Heathrow Airport, London, killing 20 of the 22 aboard.
• By a vote of 18-8, the US House Judiciary Committee approved an anti-lynching bill over protests from Southern Democrats.
• Born: Rory Gallagher, blues rock musician, in Ballyshannon, Ireland ; Jeff Kennett, politician and media commentator, in Melbourne, Australia
• Died: Abraham Brill, 73, Austrian-born American psychiatrist

  [March 3], 1948 (Wednesday)

• A Stern Gang car bombing in Haifa killed 11 Arabs.
• Juraj Slávik and František Němec, the Czechoslovak ambassadors to the United States and Canada respectively, resigned their posts in protest of the Communist coup in Czechoslovakia. "I cannot accept as legal the government nominated by President Beneš under duress and terror," Slávik explained at a press conference, further declaring that he would "fight for a free Czechoslovakia."

  [March 4], 1948 (Thursday)

• In London, exiled former king Michael of Romania commented in public for the first time since abdicating the throne. In front of a gathering of reporters he read a statement explaining that his abdication "was imposed on me by force by a government installed and maintained in power by a foreign country, a government utterly unrepresentative of the will of the Romanian people... The removal of the monarchy constitutes a new act of violence in the policy for the enslavement of Romania. In these conditions I do not consider myself bound in any way by this act imposed upon me."
• NACA pilot Herb Hoover became the first civilian to break the sound barrier, flying the X-1-2 aircraft.
• The film noir The Naked City starring Barry Fitzgerald was released.
• Born: Brian Cummings, voice actor, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; James Ellroy, crime fiction writer and essayist, in Los Angeles, California; Tom Grieve, baseball player and broadcaster, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts; Leron Lee, baseball player, in Bakersfield, California; Chris Squire, bass player and founding member of the rock band Yes, in Kingsbury, London, England ; Shakin' Stevens, rock musician, as Michael Barrett in Cardiff, Wales
• Died: Antonin Artaud, 51, French playwright, actor and director

  [March 5], 1948 (Friday)

• New records for US rocket missiles were established when a Navy rocket reached a speed of and an altitude of during tests at White Sands, New Mexico.
• Born: Eddy Grant, musician, in Plaisance, British Guiana; Elaine Paige, singer and actress, in Barnet, Hertfordshire, England

  [March 6], 1948 (Saturday)

• The US Atomic Energy Commission announced a $3 million program to encourage research into the use of radioactive materials for treating cancer. Radioisotopes would be provided for free to qualified medical and research workers.
• Born: Anna Maria Horsford, actress, in New York City
• Died: Ross Lockridge Jr., 33, American novelist

  [March 7], 1948 (Sunday)

• The Linfen Campaign began during the Chinese Civil War.
• Legislative elections were held in Argentina, won by the Peronist Party with 64.1% of the vote.
• In accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Peace with Italy, the Dodecanese Islands were returned to Greece for the first time since 1522.

  [March 8], 1948 (Monday)

• The United States Supreme Court decided McCollum v. Board of Education, a landmark ruling regarding the separation of church and state with respect to education.
• The National Film School in Łódź was established in Poland.
• Born: Gyles Brandreth, British broadcaster and former politician in Wuppertal, West Germany
• Died: Hulusi Behçet, 59, Turkish dermatologist and scientist

  [March 9], 1948 (Tuesday)

• The Republican presidential primaries began in New Hampshire, with Thomas E. Dewey winning six of the state's eight delegates.
• Hockey players Billy Taylor of the New York Rangers and Don Gallinger of the Boston Bruins were banned for life from the NHL for gambling.
• Born: Eric Fischl, artist, in New York City; László Lovász, mathematician, in Budapest, Hungary; Jeffrey Osborne, musician, in Providence, Rhode Island

  [March 10], 1948 (Wednesday)

• The RuSHA trial ended at Nuremberg with thirteen of the fourteen defendants found guilty of at least one charge.
• Hitoshi Ashida became Prime Minister of Japan.
• Died: Zelda Fitzgerald, 47, American socialite, novelist and wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald ; Jan Masaryk, 61, Czech diplomat and politician

  [March 11], 1948 (Thursday)

• The Zhoucun–Zhangdian Campaign began during the Chinese Civil War.
• A bombing of the Jewish Agency's headquarters in Jerusalem killed 12 Jews.
• American movie producers agreed to end a boycott of the British market that had been in place since August because of a 75 percent ad valorem tax imposed upon imported films. Britain promised to eliminate the tax in exchange for American producers agreeing not to withdraw from Britain any profits above $17 million.
• Born: Dominique Sanda, actress and model, in Paris, France

  [March 12], 1948 (Friday)

• The Costa Rican Civil War began.
• Northwest Airlines Flight 4422, a C-54 charter plane flying from Shanghai to the United States, crashed into Alaska's Mount Sanford, killing all 30 aboard.
• Chile formally accused the Soviet Union of threatening world peace and demanded that the UN Security Council investigate what role Moscow had in the Czechoslovak coup.
• Born: James Taylor, singer-songwriter, in Boston, Massachusetts; Virginia Bottomley, British Conservative Party politician and member of the House of Lords

  [March 13], 1948 (Saturday)

• Governors of the Southern United States met in Washington and signed a pledge to oppose President Truman's re-election bid. While not mentioning Truman by name, the document affirmed that "we go on record as repudiating the present leadership of the Democratic party in opposing the so-called civil rights program," and recommended "to the people of the Southern States that they fight to the last ditch to prevent the nomination of any candidate for President or Vice President who advocates such invasions of State sovereignty as those proposed in the said program." The signers of the document were Governors Fielding L. Wright of Mississippi, Beauford H. Jester of Texas, Jim Folsom of Alabama, Melvin E. Thompson of Georgia, Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, Ben Laney of Arkansas and Senator Harry F. Byrd on behalf of Virginia Governor William M. Tuck.
• A state funeral was held in Prague for Jan Masaryk. Prime Minister Klement Gottwald used his eulogy to blame the Western press for making a concerted effort to drive Masaryk to suicide by hurting his feelings.
• In the Chinese Civil War, the Siping Campaign ended in Communist victory.
• "Mañana " by Peggy Lee hit #1 on the Billboard singles charts.

  [March 14], 1948 (Sunday)

• The Israel Broadcasting Authority made its first broadcast as an independent station.
• A referendum on the sugar industry was held in Switzerland. 63.8% of voters rejected a proposal to reorganize the Swiss sugar industry.
• Born: Billy Crystal, actor, filmmaker and comedian, in New York City
• Died: Anabheri Prabhakar Rao, 37, Indian revolutionary and guerrilla leader

  [March 15], 1948 (Monday)

• British Prime Minister Clement Attlee told Parliament that known or suspected Communists or Fascists in the Civil Service would be dismissed from posts vital to national security.
• The Winter Offensive of 1947 in Northeast China ended in Communist victory.
• Born: Sérgio Vieira de Mello, diplomat, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

  [March 16], 1948 (Tuesday)

• Some 100,000 members of the CIO United Packinghouse Workers went on strike throughout the United States for a wage increase of 29 cents an hour.
• The drama film The Miracle of the Bells starring Fred MacMurray, Alida Valli, Frank Sinatra and Lee J. Cobb premiered in New York City.

  [March 17], 1948 (Wednesday)

• Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom signed the Treaty of Brussels, providing for mutual defence as well as economic, social and cultural collaboration.
• President Truman addressed a special joint session of Congress in which he called for swift passage of the Marshall Plan as well as a temporary peacetime draft.
• The United States of Matsya formed.
• The Hells Angels motorcycle gang was founded in California.
• Born: William Gibson, speculative fiction writer and essayist, in Conway, South Carolina
• Died: Sidney Nowell Rostron, 64, Church of England priest, theologian and academic

  [March 18], 1948 (Thursday)

• Bulgaria and the Soviet Union signed a twenty-year treaty of friendship, co-operation and mutual military defense.
• Born: Guy Lapointe, ice hockey player, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• Died: Jakob Weis, 68, German priest and prison chaplain

  [March 19], 1948 (Friday)

• Vladimír Clementis was named Czechoslovakia's new Foreign Minister to succeed the late Jan Masaryk.
• Born: Ricky Lee, screenwriter, journalist, novelist and playwright, in Daet, Camarines Norte, Philippines

  [March 20], 1948 (Saturday)

• The United States, Great Britain and France announced that they had proposed to the Soviet Union and to Italy that the Free Territory of Trieste be returned to Italian sovereignty.
• The 20th Academy Awards were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Gentleman's Agreement won three Oscars including Best Picture.
• Sheila's Cottage won the Grand National horse race.
• General elections were held for the first time in Singapore, with three of the six contested seats going to the Progressive Party.
• Born: John de Lancie, actor, filmmaker and musician, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Bobby Orr, ice hockey player, in Parry Sound, Ontario; Helene Vannari, actress, in Kilingi-Nõmme, Estonia