Timeline 1948
Return to home
1948 Jan 3, King
Michael left Romania. His Peles Castle in Sinaia was confiscated by the
Communists. In 2006 it was returned to the former king.
(SFC, 10/20/00, p.A16)(SFC, 5/24/06, p.A2)
1948 Jan 4, Britain granted
independence to Burma (later renamed to Myanmar). Aung San had arranged
for national independence on this day but was assassinated before the
event by political rivals.
(SFEC, 1/19/97, Par p.4)(AP, 1/4/98)
1948 Jan 7, Kenny Loggins, singer
(& Messina-This is it, Footloose), was born in Everett, WA.
(MC, 1/7/02)
1948 Jan 7, US president Truman
raised taxes for the Marshall plan.
(MC, 1/7/02)
1948 Jan 8, Richard Tauber (55),
Austria-British tenor, composer (Lehar), died.
(MC, 1/8/02)
1948 Jan 11, President Harry S
Truman proposed free, two-year community colleges for all who wanted an
education.
(HN, 1/11/99)
1948 Jan 12, The Supreme Court
ruled that states could not discriminate against law-school applicants
because of race.
(AP, 1/12/98)
1948 Jan 13, T Bone Burnett,
rocker, was born.
(MC, 1/13/02)
1948 Jan 16, Anatoli Yakovlevich
Solovyov, cosmonaut (TM-5,9,15,26, STS 71), was born in Riga, Latvia.
(MC, 1/16/02)
1948 Jan 18, Ghandi broke a
121-hour fast after halting Moslem-Hindu riots.
(HN, 1/18/99)
1948 Jan 23, Director John
Huston's "Treasure of Sierra Madre" starring Humphrey Bogart opened.
(MC, 1/23/02)
1948 Jan 23, The Soviets refused
UN entry into North Korea to administer elections.
(HN, 1/23/99)
1948 Jan 24, Elliott Abrams, asst.
secretary of state, supplied arms to the Contras, was born.
(MC, 1/24/02)
1948 Jan 27, Mikhail Baryshnikov,
ballet dancer, was born in Riga, Latvia.
(MC, 1/27/02)
1948 Jan 27, The 1st tape recorder
sold.
(MC, 1/27/02)
1948 Jan 28, Charles Taylor, later
president of Liberia (1997-2003), was born in Arthington, Liberia, into
a family descended from freed American slaves.
(AP, 7/14/09)
1948 Jan 30, Orville Wright
(b.1871), US aviation pioneer, died. In 1953 McGraw Hill published 2
volumes edited by Marvin W. McFarland: "The Papers of Wilbur and
Orville Wright."
(WUD, 1994, p.1647)(ON, SC, p.4)(MC, 1/30/02)
1948 Jan 30, Mohandas Karamchand
Gandhi (78) was assassinated by Nathuram Godse, a fellow Hindu while
walking to a prayer meeting in New Delhi a few minutes after five
o'clock in the evening. Godse felt that in trying to achieve
reconciliation between Hindus and Muslims, Gandhi had betrayed the
Hindu cause. Born into a family of merchants, Gandhi studied law in
England, where he was inspired by Henry David Thoreau's "Civil
Disobedience" and developed his own philosophy of peaceful resistance.
After residing and practicing law in South Africa for 20 years, Gandhi
returned to India to campaign for home rule and reconciliation of all
classes and religious groups. Convinced that India would never be free
as part of the British Empire, he demanded independence as payment for
helping Britain win World War II. Indian independence was achieved in
1947, but riots broke out between Hindus and Muslims seeking the
partition of the country into India and Pakistan. Mahatma ("Great
Soul") Gandhi was on a hunger strike demanding an end to the violence
when he was murdered. The book "Gandhi the Man" by Eknath Easwaran was
published in 1972.
(AHD, 1971, p.542)(HFA, '96, p.40)(SFC, 1/31/97,
p.A13)(SFC,12/24/97, p.C6) (HNPD, 1/309)
1948 The seven sins according to
Mahatma Gandhi were: 1) wealth without work. 2) Pleasure without
conscience. 3) Knowledge without character. 4) Commerce without
morality. 5) Science without humanity. 6) Worship without sacrifice. 7)
Politics without principal.
(SFEC, 1/23/00, Z1 p.2)
1948 Feb 1, The Palestine Post
building in Jerusalem was bombed.
(MC, 2/1/02)
1948 Feb 2, President Harry Truman
sent to Congress a 10-point civil rights program calling for measures
against lynching, poll taxes and job discrimination.
(AP, 2/2/08)
1948 Feb 2, The United States and
Italy signed a pact of friendship, commerce and navigation.
(HN, 2/2/99)
1948 Feb 4, The island nation of
Ceylon—now Sri Lanka—became an independent dominion within the British
Commonwealth.
(AP, 2/4/97)
1948 Feb 7, Gen. Dwight D.
Eisenhower resigned as Army chief of staff and was succeeded by Gen.
Omar Bradley.
(AP, 2/7/97)
1948 Feb 8, The National
Republicans, who had held the majority of Costa Rica's political power
for decades, were finally voted out of the presidency. The National
Republicans used their strong influence in the Legislative Assembly to
annul the presidential election of rival candidate Otilio Ulate of the
Social Democratic Party.
(www.elespiritudel48.org/docu/h_i01.htm)
1948 Feb 11, Sergei Eisenstein
(b.1898 in Latvia), Russian film director, died. He pioneered the
dialectic montage where 2 films shots were arranged to clash in order
to produce an emotional or intellectual response in the viewer. In 1999
Ronald Bergan published the biography: "Sergei Eisenstein: A Life In
Conflict."
(SFEC, 5/2/99, BR p.1,10)(MC, 2/11/02)
1948 Feb 12, 1st Lt. Nancy
Leftenant became the 1st black in the army nursing corps.
(MC, 2/12/02)
1948 Feb 14, Winthrop Rockefeller
(1912-1973), later governor of Arkansas (1967-1971), married Barbara
Sears (1916-2008), the Pennsylvania-born daughter of Lithuanian
immigrants. They had one child, Winthrop Paul Rockefeller, but the
marriage dissolved in a high-profile divorce in 1954. Barbara Bobo
Rockefeller, born as Jievute Paulekiute in Noblestown, Pa., was
featured as Miss Lithuania at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. She later
was known as Eva Paul.
(www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Insight/Article.aspx?id=772208)
1948 Feb 15, Mao Zedong's army
occupied Yenan.
(MC, 2/15/02)
1948 Feb 16, NBC-TV began airing
its first nightly newscast, "The Camel Newsreel Theatre," which
consisted of "20th Century Fox- Movietone News" newsreels.
(AP, 2/16/98)(MC, 2/16/02)
1948 Feb 20, Czechoslovakia's
non-communist minister resigned.
(MC, 2/20/02)
1948 Feb 22, An Arab bomb attack
in Jerusalem killed 50 people.
(MC, 2/22/02)
1948 Feb 25, Communists seized
power in Czechoslovakia in a coup d’etat.
(AP, 2/25/98)(SFC, 3/13/98, p.A6)
1948 Feb 28, Mercedes Ruehl,
actress (Lost in Yonkers, Crazy People), was born in Queens NY.
(MC, 2/28/02)
1948 Feb 28, The last
British troops left India. The First Battalion of the Somerset Light
Infantry passed through the Gateway of India monument in a ceremony.
(AP, 8/26/03)
1948 Feb, The U.S. Air Force
initiated Project Blue Book to investigate the numerous civilian and
military reports of mysterious unidentified flying objects (UFOs). It
was originally known as Project Sign. A year later the unit was
reorganized and renamed Project Grudge. Finally, in 1952, Project
Grudge was upgraded and given the code name Project Blue Book. It was
terminated in 1969.
(AP, 12/17/97)(HNQ, 5/30/00)
1948 Mar 4, Antonin Artaud (51),
French poet, actor (Napoleon), died.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1948 Mar 5, Leslie Marmon Silko,
writer (Ceremony), was born.
(HN, 3/5/01)
1948 Mar 6, During talks in
Berlin, the Western powers agreed to internationalize the Ruhr region.
(HN, 3/6/98)
1948 Mar 8, The US Supreme Court,
in the case of McCollum vs. the Board of Education, struck down
voluntary religious education classes in Champaign, Ill., public
schools, saying the program violated separation of church and state.
Judge Robert Jackson warned: "One can hardly respect a system of
education that would leave the student wholly ignorant of the currents
of religious thought that move the world."
(HN, 3/8/98)(WSJ, 8/13/99, p.W11)(AP, 3/8/08)
1948 Mar 10, Author Zelda
Fitzgerald died in a fire at Highland Hospital, NC. She was locked in
on the 3rd floor while undergoing insulin-induced coma therapy. In 2001
Kendall Taylor authored "Sometimes Madness Is Wisdom: Zelda and Scott
Fitzgerald, a Marriage."
(HN, 3/10/01)(SSFC, 9/23/01, DB p.61)
1948 Mar 10, Jan Masaryk (b.1886),
son of the first president of Czechoslovakia and anti-Communist foreign
minister, was found dead in the courtyard of Czernin Palace in Prague.
He had dropped 45 feet from a window and the case remained unsolved.
(http://www.radio.cz/en/article/24973)
1948 Mar 10, Political and
military men gathered at the Tel Aviv headquarters of the Haganah and
put the final touches to Plan Dalet. In 2006 Prof. Ilan Pappe of the
Univ. of Haifa authored “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine.” He held
that Plan Dalet was a plan for the ethnic cleansing of some 800,000
Palestinians in order to allow the formation of the Jewish state.
(Econ, 11/4/06, p.92)
1948 Mar 11, Reginald Weit became
the 1st black to play in the US Tennis Open.
(MC, 3/12/02)
1948 Mar 11, Jewish Agency of
Jerusalem was bombed.
(MC, 3/12/02)
1948 Mar 12, In Alaska 24 merchant
marines and six crewmen were flying from China to New York City, when
their DC-4 slammed into Mount Sanford killing all 30. Pilots Kevin
McGregor and Marc Millican discovered some mummified remains in 1999
while recovering artifacts to identify the wreckage they had found two
years earlier.
(AP, 8/17/08)
1948 Mar 18, France, Great Britain
and Benelux signed the Treaty of Brussels.
(MC, 3/18/02)
1948 Mar 18, Philips began
experimental TV broadcasting.
(MC, 3/18/02)
1948 Mar 20, "Gentleman’s
Agreement" won the Academy Award for best picture of 1947, as well as
best director (Elia Kazan); Ronald Colman won best actor for "A Double
Life," and Loretta Young won best actress for "The Farmer’s Daughter."
The 20th event was held at the Shrine auditorium in LA.
(AP, 3/20/98)(SFC, 3/13/02, p.D1)
1948 Mar 20, The 1st live
televised musical Eugene Ormandy on CBS.
(MC, 3/20/02)
1948 Mar 20, A televised concert
by NBC Symphony was conducted by Arturo Toscanini.
(MC, 3/20/02)
1948 Mar 20 A severe tornado moved
through Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City destroying 52 aircraft.
(SFC, 3/20/09, p.D8)
1948 Mar 20, The Communist
administration of Lithuania decided on a plan for the organization of
collective farms.
(LHC, 3/20/03)
1948 Mar 22, Andrew Lloyd Webber,
Broadway composer, was born. His works include "Phantom of the Opera"
and "Cats."
(AP, 3/22/99)(HN, 3/22/97)
1948 Mar 22, The U.S. announced a
land reform plan for Korea.
(HN, 3/22/97)
1948 Mar 23, John Cunningham set a
world altitude record at 54,492' (18,133 meters).
(SS, 3/23/02)
1948 Mar 24, Israel Galili, chief
of the Haganah, sent orders reminding commanders of the policy to
protect the “full rights, needs, and freedoms of the Arabs in the
Hebrew state without discrimination.”
(Econ, 11/4/06, p.93)
1948 Mar 25, The Italians banned a
compromise with Yugoslavia and demanded the return of Trieste.
(HN, 3/24/98)
1948 Mar 31, David Eisenhower,
Eisenhower's grandson (married Julie Nixon), was born.
(MC, 3/31/02)
1948 Mar 31, Al Gore, Vice
President to President William J. Clinton (1993-2001), was born.
(HN, 3/31/99)
1948 Mar 31, Rhea Perlman, actress
(Zena-Taxi, Carla-Cheers), was born in Brooklyn.
(MC, 3/31/02)
1948 Mar 31, Congress passed a
$6.2 billion foreign aid bill, the Marshall Aid Act, to rehabilitate
war-torn Europe.
(HN, 3/31/98)(MC, 3/31/02)
1948 Mar 31, The Soviet Union in
Germany began controlling the Western trains headed toward Berlin.
(HN, 3/31/98)
1948 Mar, R.W. Chaney, UC
scientist, and Milton Silverman (1911-1997), science writer, traveled
to China to fetch dawn redwoods (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), thought
to be extinct for 20 million years, from the only known grove in
existence. They brought seedlings back to California and the trees now
thrive.
(SFC, 12/18/96, p.A25)
1948 Apr 2, Emmylou Harris,
American singer, was born.
(HN, 4/2/01)
1948 Apr 3, Garrick Ohlsson,
pianist (Intl Busoni winner 1969), was born in Bronxville, NY.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1948 Apr 3, The 1st US figure
skating championships were held.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1948 Apr 3, Congress adopted and
President Truman signed the Marshall Plan, which allocated more than $5
billion in aid for 16 European countries. The Marshall Plan was begun
to aid the European nations in their economic recovery following WW II.
It provided $13.15 billion over 4 years to 17 European nations.
(SFC, 2/5/97, p.A20)(AP, 4/3/97)(SFEC, 5/25/97,
p.A10)(HN, 4/3/98)
1948 Apr 4, 84-year-old Connie
Mack challenged 78-year-old Clark Griffith to a race from home to 1st
base; it ended in a tie.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1948 Apr 5, WGN TV channel 9 in
Chicago, IL., began broadcasting.
(MC, 4/5/02)
1948 Apr 7, The World Health
Organization was founded by the UN. [see Sep 1, 1948]
(AP, 4/7/97)(MC, 4/7/02)
1948 Apr 9, Chaim Weizmann, head
of the World Zionist Organization, wrote to Pres. Truman saying: “The
choice for our people, Mr. President, is between statehood and
extermination.”
(Econ, 1/13/07, p.53)
1948 Apr 9, In Deir Yassin about
one-third of 750 Palestinians were killed by Jewish fighters of the
National Military Organization, an underground group better known as
the Irgun, and a splinter group called Lehi. The event is called
Al-Nakbah (catastrophe) by the Palestinians. 30 similar massacres
happened on other Palestinian villages. The death toll was said to be
inflated by Jewish forces to invoke fear and cause maximum flight.
(SFC, 3/18/98, p.A10)(SFC, 4/25/98, p.A1,11)
1948 Apr 10, Jewish Hagana
repelled an Arab attack on Mishmar HaEmek.
(MC, 4/10/02)
1948 Apr 12, Cartago, Costa Rica,
fell into the hands of Jose Figueres Ferrer, a vociferous adversary of
the National Republicans.
(www.elespiritudel48.org/docu/h_i01.htm)
1948 Apr 14, Walter P. Reuther,
Pres (United Auto Workers), was shot at his home. [see Apr 20]
(MC, 4/14/02)
1948 Apr 15, Arabs were defeated
in the first Jewish-Arab battle.
(HN, 4/15/98)
1948 Apr 18, Catherine Malfitano,
soprano (Metropolitan Opera), was born in NYC.
(MC, 4/18/02)
1948 Apr 18, International Court
of Justice opened at Hague, Netherlands.
(MC, 4/18/02)
1948 Apr 19, Teodoro Picado and
Father Benjamin Nunez, an eminent labor leader within Costa Rica,
signed The Pact of the Mexican Embassy, ending an armed uprising.
(www.elespiritudel48.org/docu/h_i01.htm)
1948 Apr 20, United Auto Workers
president Walter P. Reuther was shot and wounded at his home in
Detroit. [see Apr 14]
(AP, 4/20/98)
1948 Apr 21, The 1st Polaroid
camera was sold in US.
(MC, 4/21/02)
1948 Apr 24, The
forces of Jose Figueres Ferrer entered San Jose, almost six weeks
after beginning their revolt in southern Costa Rica.
(www.elespiritudel48.org/docu/h_i01.htm)
1948 Apr 30, The charter of the
Organization of American States (OAS) was signed in Bogota, Colombia.
(AP, 4/30/08)
1948 May 1, Glenn Taylor, Idaho
Senator, was arrested in Birmingham Alabama for trying to enter a
meeting through a door marked "for Negroes."
(MC, 5/1/02)
1948 May 1, Christos Ladas, Greek
minister of Justice, was murdered.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1948 May 1, The People's
Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) was proclaimed. The border
between North and South Korea was sealed when Kim Il Sung established
his communist regime.
(SFC, 3/12/97, p.A14)(AP, 5/1/97)
1948 May 3, The U.S. Supreme Court
ruled that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks and
other minorities were legally unenforceable.
(AP, 5/3/97)
1948 May 4, The Hague Court of
Justice convicted Hans Rauter (SS) of war crimes.
(MC, 5/4/02)
1948 May 5, 1st air squadron of
jets aboard a carrier
(MC, 5/5/02)
1948 May 6, 43 communist rebels
were executed in Athens.
(MC, 5/6/02)
1948 May 9, The first television
guide, called TV Forecast, was published by Les Vihon and 3 partners in
Chicago. It became the basis for TV Guide which was consolidated under
Walter Annenberg.
(WSJ, 5/8/98, p.W10)(WSJ, 6/18/99, p.W6)
1948 May 11, Haganah took control
of Safed and port of Haifa.
(MC, 5/11/02)
1948 May 11, Edward Ricketts (Doc
Ricketts, 51), marine biologist and friend of John Steinbeck, died in
Monterey, Ca., after his car stalled on railroad tracks and was struck
by a Del Monte Express. He authored "Between Pacific Tides."
(SFC, 2/22/02, p.A21)
1948 May 12, Queen Wilhelmina
resigned. [see Sep 4]
(MC, 5/12/02)
1948 May 14, US granted Israel de
facto recognition.
(MC, 5/14/02)
1948 May 14, The British evacuated
Israel. The independent state of Israel was proclaimed in Tel Aviv
under Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion as British rule in Palestine came
to an end. Ben-Gurion and 36 fellow members of the Provisional Council
of State signed the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of
Israel. 10 of the member’s signatures were delayed for 10 days because
they were cut off by fighting in Jerusalem.
(SFC, 10/18/96, C8)(AP, 5/14/97) (SFC, 4/24/98,
p.A17)(HN, 5/14/98)(WSJ, 6/1/00, p.A20)(SFC, 10/12/02, p.A21)
1948 May 15, A 28 year old British
Mandate over Palestine ended.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1948 May 15, Hours after declaring
its independence, the new state of Israel was attacked by Transjordan,
Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. The first president of the State of
Israel, Chaim Weizmann, took office with the founding of the nation.
David Ben-Gurion was Israel’s first prime minister. Weizmann, born in
Russia in 1874, taught chemistry in England and as a leading Zionist
influenced Britain’s Balfour Declaration of 1917 favoring a Jewish
homeland in Palestine. Weizmann settled in Palestine in 1934 and
served as president of Israel from 1948 until his death in 1952.
(AP, 5/15/97)(HNQ, 6/19/99)
1948 May 16, The body of CBS News
correspondent George Polk was found in Salonika Harbor in Greece,
several days after he'd left his hotel for an interview with the leader
of a Communist militia.
(AP, 5/16/99)
1948 May 16, Chaim Weizmann was
elected 1st president of Israel.
(MC, 5/16/02)
1948 May 16, PM David Ben-Gurion
appointed Israel Amir (d.2002) to head the fledgling air force of 8
secondhand light aircraft. Amir held the post for 10 weeks and raised
the force to 3,000 personnel.
(SFC, 11/2/02, p.A22)
1948 May 17 The Soviet Union
recognized the new state of Israel.
(AP, 5/17/97)
1948 May 18, "Ballet Ballads"
opened at Music Box Theater in NYC for 62 performances.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1948 May 18, Arab Legion captured
the fort on Mount Scopus.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1948 May 18, Saudi Arabia joined
the invasion of Israel.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1948 May 20, Israel made the 1st
use of its Air Force and claimed its 1st war victory with the defeat of
the Syrian army.
(MC, 5/20/02)
1948 May 25, Klaus Meine, rocker
(Scorpions-No One Like You), was born in Hanover, Germany.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1948 May 25, KPIX went on the air
as the first TV station in Northern Ca.
(SFEC, 5/16/99, Z1 p.4)
1948 May 25, Jacques Feyder (59),
actor, director (kermesse héroique), died.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1948 May 26, Entire Hagana arm
forces were sworn-in as Israeli soldiers.
(MC, 5/26/02)
1948 May 26, South Africa elected
a nationalist government with apartheid policy. The National Party of
the Dutch Afrikaners came to power and imposed apartheid. P.W. Botha
(1916-2006) was among those elected to parliament.
(WSJ, 7/28/98,
p.A16)(http://tinyurl.com/yxx4zh)(Econ, 11/4/06, p.56)
1948 May 27, Arabs blew up the
Jewish synagogue Hurvat Rabbi Yehudah he-Hasid.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1948 May 29, Michael Berkley,
composer, broadcaster, was born.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1948 May 29, Anthony Geary, actor
(Luke/Bill-General Hospital), was born in Coalville, UT.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1948 May 29, Linda Esther Gray,
opera singer, was born.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1948 May 29, May Whitty (82),
actress (Gaslight, Mrs. Miniver, Suspicion), died.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1948 May, Howard Lilly, test
pilot, flew the D-559-1, aka Skystreak, rocket powered aircraft at
Muroc Army Air Field (later Edwards Air Base) in Calif., and was killed
when the rocket engine blew up.
(SFC, 8/5/96, p.A3)
1948 May, India and Pakistan went
to war over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, which was divided between
the two nations at partition. The Pakistani third was known as Jammu
and Kashmir, while India controlled the eastern two-thirds where 8
million people lived. The region was mostly Muslim.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.A15)(WSJ, 5/22/98, p.A15)(WSJ,
10/12/01, p.A1)
1948 Jun 1, "We The People", TV
Talk Show, radio from ‘36; debuted on CBS.
(DT, 6/1/97)
1948 Jun 1, Israel & the
Arabs agreed to a cease fire.
(DT, 6/1/97)
1948 Jun 2, Albert Innaurato,
playwright, director (Age in Soho), was born in Phila.
(SC, 6/2/02)
1948 Jun 2, Jerry Mathers, actor
(Beaver-Leave It To Beaver), was born in Sioux City, Iowa.
(SC, 6/2/02)
1948 Jun 2, Jamaican-born track
star Herb McKenley set a new world record for the 400 yard dash.
(HN, 6/2/00)
1948 Jun 3, Korczak Ziolkowski
(1908-1982), a self-taught sculptor, began blasting a figure of Crazy
Horse into rock in the Black Hills of South Dakota under an invitation
by the Lakota Sioux. Ziolkowski had worked under Gutzon Borglum at the
Mount Rushmore site. The face of Crazy Horse, at the site known as
Thunder Mountain, was completed and dedicated in 1998.
(SSFC, 7/28/02, Par p.11)(SSFC, 9/9/07, p.C4)
1948 Jun 3, The 200-inch
reflecting telescope at the Palomar Mountain Observatory in California
was dedicated. The nearly 5.1 meter Hale telescope was operated by
Caltech.
(AP, 6/3/97)(SFEC, 4/23/00, p.C14)
1948 Jun 3, Newfoundland and
Labrador voted by a slim margin to relinquish status as a British
colony and to become the 10th province of Canada.
(Econ, 10/13/07,
p.42)(www.heritage.nf.ca/law/referendums.html)
1948 Jun 4, Hugh Kenner (d.2003 at
80) met for the 1st time with Ezra Pound in a Washington-area mental
facility. Pound became his mentor and directed him in a number of
literary efforts. In 1951 Kenner turned his thesis into the book: "The
Poetry of Ezra Pound." In 1971 Kenner authored "The Pound Era."
(SSFC, 11/30/03, p.A31)
1948 Jun 7, The Communists
completed their takeover of Czechoslovakia with the resignation of
President Eduard Benes.
(AP, 6/7/97)
1948 Jun 8, The "Texaco Star
Theater" made its debut on NBC-TV with Milton Berle hosting the first
program. Although Berle was initially chosen to be only a guest host,
he was named the show’s permanent host the following September.
Sponsors changed and it became "The Buick-Berle Show" and then just
"The Milton Berle Show." The show lasted to 1956.
(SFEC, 5/24/98, DB p.37)(AP, 6/8/98)
1948 Jun 9, Nathaniel Rosen,
cellist (Tchaikovsky-gold-1978), was born in Altadena, Ca.
(MC, 6/9/02)
1948 cJun 9, John Phillips
(1915-1996), photographer for Life Magazine, took pictures of the
ill-fated defense of the Jewish quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem
against Arab troops.
(SFC, 8/27/96, p.A17)
1948 Jun 10, The news that the
sound barrier has been broken is finally released to the public by the
U.S. Air Force. Chuck Yeager, piloting the rocket airplane X-1,
exceeded the speed of sound on October 14, 1947.
(HN, 6/10/01)
1948 Jun 14, Lee Wagner, a New
York publisher, launched his TeleVision Guide. It became known as TV
Guide. The Barowski brothers in Philadelphia soon followed with their
TV Digest.
(WSJ, 5/8/98, p.W10)
1948 Jun 18, The United Nations
Commission on Human Rights adopted its Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. It stated in part that: "Everyone has the right to leave any
country including his own and to return to that country." In 2001 Mary
Ann Glendon authored "A World Made New," a history of the drafting of
the declaration.
(AP, 6/18/97)(SFC, 5/30/98, p.E4)(WSJ, 3/1/00, p.A20)
1948 Jun 18, Columbia Records
publicly unveiled its new long-playing phonograph record in New York.
(AP, 6/18/99)
1948 Jun 19, Panama & Costa
Rica recognized Israel.
(DT, 6/19/97)
1948 Jun 19, USSR blocked access
road to West Berlin.
(SFEC, 5/25/97, p.A10)(DT, 6/19/97)
1948 Jun 21, The Republican
national convention opened in Philadelphia. The delegates ended up
choosing Thomas E. Dewey to be their presidential nominee.
(AP, 6/21/07)
1948 Jun 21, The first
successfully produced microgroove 33 1/3 rpm, long-playing, records
were unveiled by Dr. Peter Goldmark of Columbia Records. Plans to phase
out 78's followed.
(Camelot, 6/21/99)(MC, 6/21/02)
1948 Jun 21, Lord Mountbatten
resigned as Viceroy of India.
(MC, 6/21/02)
1948 Jun 24, The Republican
National Convention, meeting in Philadelphia, nominated New York
Governor Thomas E. Dewey for president.
(AP, 6/24/98)
1948 Jun 24, Communist forces with
30 military divisions cut off all land and water routes between West
Germany and West Berlin, prompting the United States to organize the
massive Berlin airlift. Gen’l. Lucius Clay, the local American
commander, ordered an air supply effort. Clay made his decision based
on a recommendation by British military governor Gen'l. Sir Brian
Robertson. The Royal Air Force had already begun a limited airlift. The
airlift story was later told by Alvi Shlaim in: "The United States and
the Berlin Blockade, 1948-1949."
(AP, 6/24/97)(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A12)(WSJ, 6/9/99,
p.A27)
1948 Jun 25, Truman signed
Displaced Persons Bill allowing 205,000 Europeans to come to the US.
(MC, 6/25/02)
1948 Jun 25, The Republican
national convention in Philadelphia chose California Gov. Earl Warren
to be Thomas E. Dewey’s running mate.
(AP, 6/25/98)
1948 Jun 25, The Soviet Union
tightened its blockade of Berlin by intercepting river barges heading
for the city.
(HN, 6/25/98)
1948 Jun 26, The Berlin Airlift
began in earnest as the United States, Britain and France started
ferrying supplies to the isolated western sector of Berlin, after the
Soviet Union cut off land and water routes. The Soviets had been
harassing the French, British and American authorities in Berlin for
weeks, trying to force them from the city. Finally, when all surface
routes to the city were blockaded, it became clear that an airlift
through the Allied sectors was the only way to re-supply the 2 million
West Berliners. In spite of the enormous human and financial cost,
“Operation Vittles” supplied food, fuel and hope to beleaguered
citizens until the Soviet barricades were finally lifted on May 12,
1949.
(AP, 6/26/98)(HN, 6/26/99)(http://tinyurl.com/gqhi)
1948 Jun 28, Kathy Bates (Academy
Award-winning actress: Misery [1990]; Fried Green Tomatoes, Home
of Our Own, Prelude to a Kiss), was born.
(MC, 6/28/02)
1948 Jun 30, Bell Labs introduced
the point-contact transistor in the New York Times on p.46 as a
replacement for the vacuum tube. Bell Labs had kept it secret for six
months. John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley
demonstrated their invention, the transistor, for the first time. John
Pierce (d.2002) proposed the name. Transistors, much smaller than
vacuum tubes, allowed the creation of smaller electronic devices and
became a key component of the integrated circuit, which are found in
everything from radios to computers to any of a number of automated
systems. They were awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for the invention
in 1956. William Schockley, co-developer of the transistor, founded
Schockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Palo Alto. Two of his hires,
Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, later went on to start Intel Corp. Tim
Jackson in 1998 published "Inside Intel." [see Dec 23, 1947]
(SFE, 10/1/95, p.D-5)(SFEC, 8/17/97, BR
p.4)(SFEC,12/14/97, p.A1)(WSJ, 2/13/98, p.A13)(HNQ, 12/23/99)(HN,
6/30/01)(SFC, 4/9/02, p.A18)
1948 Jun, In SF Blanco’s Cotton
Club under Barney Deasy opened at what is now The Great American Music
Hall. It was intended to be a fancy nightspot with only black artists
and black workers, but open to the public. It opened with a big splash
but only lasted a few months due to price increases for large
orchestras.
(SFEC, 2/8/98, DB p.34)
1948 Jun, Cominform expelled
Yugoslavia; Albanian leaders launched an anti-Yugoslav propaganda
campaign, cut economic ties, and forced Yugoslav advisors to leave.
Later on the treaty of friendship with Yugoslavia was abrogated; Hoxha
began purging high-ranking party members accused of "Titoism"; Soviet
Union began economic aid to Albania.
(www, Albania, 1998)
1948 Jul 1, Brooklyn's Roy
Campanella debuted as catcher.
(MC, 7/1/02)
1948 Jul 1, New York International
Airport at Idlewild, later renamed John F. Kennedy International
Airport, was officially opened.
(AP, 7/1/98)
1948 Jul 1, The fare on New York
City subways doubled from a nickel to ten cents.
(AP, 7/1/98)
1948 Jul 1, Charles D. Harrold,
radio pioneer, died in Oakland, Ca. He broadcast the 1st radio
entertainment program in 1912.
(TV)
1948 Jul 1, Zahava Rozman, artist,
was born in Tel Aviv, Israel. In 1958 she moved to NYC and in 1976
graduated from Pratt Inst. with a BFA in Fine Arts.
(www.see-art.net/current_work.html)
1948 July 2, At a meeting in Paris
among the foreign ministers of Great Britain, France and the Soviet
Union, Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov walked out of the meeting and
called the Marshall Plan—an American proposal for economic aid—an
"imperialist" plot for the enslavement of Europe. Put forward by
Secretary of State George E. Marshall, the Marshall Plan was a
comprehensive European recovery program supported by the U.S. The
Soviets and their satellites did not attend the Marshall Plan
Conference that convened July 12 in Paris.
(HNQ, 9/28/99)
1948 Jul 3, Kidnapper Caryl
Chessman was sentenced to death.
(MC, 7/3/02)
1948 Jul 5, The pilot episode of
“My Favorite Husband,” with Lucille Ball, aired. It was entitled “The
Cugat's Tenth Wedding Anniversary” It became the gifted redhead’s first
regular radio program on CBS. Regular broadcasting began on July 23,
1948 and aired on various nights through March 31, 1951. Through most
of its life it was sponsored by Jello.
(www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/6066/epguhuby.html)
1948 Jul 5, Britain's National
Health Service Act went into effect, providing government-financed
medical and dental care. Aneurin Bevan was its political founder.
(AP, 7/5/98)(Econ, 7/17/04, Survey p.5)
1948 Jul 7, Six female reservists
became the first women to be sworn into the regular U.S. Navy.
(AP, 7/7/98)
1948 Jul 8, The 500th anniversary
of the Russian orthodox church was celebrated in Moscow.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1948 Jul 9, Satchel Paige (42)
debuted in majors pitching 2 scoreless inning for Cleveland.
(MC, 7/9/02)
1948 Jul 12, The Democratic
national convention opened in Philadelphia.
(AP, 7/12/98)
1948 July 12, The Marshall Plan
Conference convened in Paris. It was attended by 16 European nations
and established the Committee for European Economic Cooperation.
(HNQ, 9/28/99)
1948 Jul 14, Israel bombed Cairo.
(MC, 7/14/02)
1948 Jul 15, President Truman was
nominated for another term of office by the Democratic National
Convention in Philadelphia.
(AP, 7/15/97)
1948 Jul 15, John J. Pershing
(87), [Black Jack], US general (Mexico, WW I), died.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1948 Jul 16, Ruben Blades,
songwriter and actor, was born.
(HN, 7/16/01)
1948 Jul 16, Pinchas Zukerman,
violinist and conductor, was born in Tel Aviv Israel.
(HN, 7/16/01)(MC, 7/16/02)
1948 Jul 17, Southern Democrats
opposed to the nomination of President Truman met in Birmingham, Ala.,
to endorse South Carolina Gov. Strom Thurmond.
(AP, 7/17/97)
1948 Jul 20, William Forster, US
Communist Party chairman, was arrested.
(MC, 7/20/02)
1948 Jul 20, Syngman Rhee (b.1875)
was elected president of South Korea. He served to 1960.
(HN, 4/26/98)(MC, 4/26/02)(MC, 7/20/02)
1948 Jul 21, Garry Trudeau,
political cartoonist (Doonesbury), was born.
(http://din-timelines.com/1948.q3_timeline.shtml)
1948 Jul 21, Arshile Gorky
(b.1904/5), artist, (born as Vostanig Adoian of Armenian parents in
Eastern Turkey) died of suicide. He came to the US in 1920 and assumed
a new name in admiration of Russian writer Maxim Gorky. His works
included "Gray Drawing for Pastoral" (1946). His last paintings were
described as "imaginary erotic cosmologies." In 1999 Matthew Spender
published the biography "From a High Place: A Life of Arshile Gorky."
(WSJ, 1/28/04,
p.D6)(www.legacy-project.org/artists/display.html?ID=5)
1948 July 23, American pioneer
filmmaker, D.W. Griffith, died in Los Angeles at age 73. He was the
director of such films as "The Birth of a Nation," "Intolerance," "Way
Down East" and "Orphans of the Storm." The 1915 movie The Birth of a
Nation cost $100,000 to make and, by 1948 it had earned $48 million.
The controversial film, which premiered on March 3, 1915, was based on
"The Clansman," a novel by Thomas Dixon, Jr. Griffith, born on January
22, 1875. Griffith was among the foremost pioneers and early
innovators of motion pictures, producing or directing some 500 films.
(AP, 7/23/98)(HNQ, 3/2/99)
1948 Jul 24, Henry A. Wallace
accepted the presidential nomination of the Progressive Party in
Philadelphia.
(AP, 7/24/08)
1948 Jul 25, Steve Goodman,
singer, songwriter (Somebody Else’s Trouble), was born in Chicago.
(SC, 7/25/02)
1948 Jul 26, President Harry
Truman In Executive Order No. 9981 called for "equality of treatment
and opportunity for all persons in the armed forces without regard to
race, color, religion or national origin."
(USAT, 7/23/98, p.8A)(HN, 7/26/98)(MC, 7/26/02)
1948 Jul 27, Otto Skorzeny escaped
an anti-Nazi camp at Darmstadt.
(MC, 7/27/02)
1948 Jul 28, Georgia Engel,
actress (Georgette-Mary Tyler Moore Show), was born in Wash DC.
(SC, 7/28/02)
1948 Jul 28, In Ludwigshafen,
Germany, the I.G. Farben chemical plant exploded due to a vapor
explosion from dimethyl ether and 182/209 died.
(HSAB, 1994, p.46)(SC, 7/28/02)
1948 Jul 29, Britain's King George
VI opened the first Olympics since 1936 in London. Germany and Japan
were not invited and the Soviet Union chose not to attend. Alice
Coachman of the US was the first black woman to win a gold medal when
she triumphed in the high jump. Audrey "Mickey" Patterson-Tyler
(1927-1996) was the first black woman to win an Olympic medal. She won
a bronze medal in the 200-meter dash.
(TMC, 1994, p.1948)(WSJ, 6/7/96, p.A1)(SFEC,
8/25/96, p.B5)(AP, 7/29/97)(WSJ, 4/12/08, p.R2)
1948 Jul 31, "Brigadoon" closed at
Ziegfeld Theater in NYC after 581 performances.
(MC, 7/31/02)
1948 Jul 31, President Truman
helped dedicate New York International Airport (later John F. Kennedy
International Airport) at Idlewild Field.
(HFA, ‘96, p.34)(AP, 7/31/97)
1948 Aug 3, Whittaker Chambers, an
editor for Time Magazine and a former Communist, told a hearing of the
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) that he was a courier of
stolen government documents in a Communist espionage operation during
the 1930s, some of which were supplied by Alger Hiss. He publicly
accused former State Department official Alger Hiss of having been part
of a Communist underground, a charge Hiss denied.
(SFC, 11/16/96, p.A3)(AP, 8/3/97)
1948 Aug 4, A 5 day US southern
filibuster succeeded in maintaining the poll tax.
(MC, 8/4/02)
1948 Aug 5, Alger Hiss testified
that he had never been a Communist, never participated in espionage and
never knew anyone named Whittaker Chambers.
(SFC, 11/16/96, p.A3)
1948 Aug 6, Bob Mathias, later a
US state representative, won the decathlon at the London Olympics. His
unofficial title became "the world's greatest athlete." He won gold
again in 1952.
(AP, 8/6/98)(SFC, 11/10/99, p.E7)(WSJ, 7/23/96, p.A6)
1948 Aug 10, Allen Funt’s "Candid
Microphone," later titled "Candid Camera," made its television debut on
ABC-TV.
(AP, 8/10/98)
1948 Aug 13, During the Berlin
Airlift, the weather over Berlin became so stormy that American planes
had their most difficult day landing supplies. They deemed it ‘Black
Friday.’
(HN, 8/13/98)
1948 Aug 14, The summer Olympic
games in London ended.
(AP, 8/14/08)
1948 Aug 15, The Republic of Korea
(South Korea) declared independence.
(AP, 8/15/97)(Econ, 9/27/08, SR p.16)
1948 Aug 16, Famed home-run
slugger George Herman "Babe" Ruth died at age 53 in New York City. He
is credited with turning baseball from a game of speed and skill to one
of power. During a flamboyant major league career that began as a
pitcher with the Boston Red Sox in 1914 and ended with his retirement
from the Boston Braves in 1935, the Babe hit an astonishing total of
714 homers, a feat that was not surpassed until Henry Aaron of the
Atlanta Braves broke Ruth’s record in 1974. The fans loved the
warm-hearted Babe Ruth, who had a reputation as a hard drinker,
carouser and womanizer. In 1931, at the height of his career with the
Yankees, Ruth earned $80,000, which made him the highest-paid
ballplayer in history. At a special "Babe Ruth Day" just two months
before his death, the cancer-stricken Babe donned his uniform for the
last time and appeared before a cheering crowd at Yankee Stadium. In
2006 Leigh Montville authored “The Big Bam,” a biography of Babe Ruth.
(SFC, 10/15/96, p.A19)(AP, 8/16/97)(HNPD,
8/16/98)(WSJ, 5/9/06, p.D6)
1948 Aug 16, Harry Dexter White,
former assistant US Treasury Secretary, died of a heart attack.
White had helped write the UN Charter. A few days earlier he had
testified before the House-Un-American Activities Committee and denied
leaking secrets to Soviet intelligence. Later evidence confirmed that
he had worked for Soviet intelligence. In 2004 R. Bruce Craig authored
"Treasonable Doubt," a study of White.
(WSJ, 4/16/04, p.W8)
1948 Aug 17, Former State
Department official Alger Hiss faced his chief accuser, Whittaker
Chambers, during a closed-door meeting in New York of the House
Un-American Activities Committee, and repeated his denial that he'd
ever been a Communist agent.
(AP, 8/17/08)
1948 Aug 19, Tipper Gore, wife of
vice president Al Gore (1993-01), was born.
(MC, 8/19/02)
1948 Aug 20, Robert Plant
(Honeydrippers: Rockin' at Midnight; Led Zeppelin: Stairway to Heaven,
etc.), was born.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1948 Aug 20, The United States
ordered the expulsion of the Soviet Consul General in New York, Jacob
Lomakin, accusing him of attempting to return two consular employees to
the Soviet Union against their will.
(AP, 8/20/08)
1948 Aug 23, Count Bernadotte
asked for aid for fugitives to Palestine. [see Sep 17]
(MC, 8/23/02)
1948 Aug 23, The World Council of
Churches (WCC) was formed in Amsterdam to help reconcile differences
among Christians. Headquarters were later established in Geneva.
(Econ, 2/23/08,
p.79)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Council_of_Churches)
1948 Aug 24, Edith Mae Irby became
the University of Arkansas’ first African-American student.
(HN, 8/24/98)
1948 Aug 27, Former US Chief
Justice Charles Evans (86) Hughes died in Osterville, Mass.
(AP, 8/27/08)
1948 Aug, Earl V. Shaffer (d.2002)
became the 1st person to walk the Appalachian Trail, created in 1937,
in one continuous hike over 123 days. He repeated the effort in 1965
and in 1998 at age 79. He later authored the memoir "Walking With
Spring."
(WSJ, 8/21/01, p.A17)(SFC, 5/28/02, p.A18)
1948 Sep 1, Chinese Communists
formed the North China People's Republic.
(MC, 9/1/02)
1948 Sep 1, The UN World Health
Organization formed. [see Apr 7, 1948]
(MC, 9/1/02)
1948 Sep 2, Christa McAuliffe, the
first civilian passenger on a space mission, was born in Boston, Mass.
During that 1986 mission, she and the six other crew members on the
space shuttle Challenger perished in an explosion shortly after launch.
(HN, 9/2/98)
1948 Sep 3, Donald Brewer,
musician-drums, songwriter-Silver Bullet Band, Flint, Grand Funk
Railroad, was born. We're an American Band, Walk like a Man, Shinin'
On, Some Kind of Wonderful, Bad Time.
(MC, 9/3/01)
1948 Sep 4, Queen Wilhelmina
abdicated the Dutch throne for health reasons.
(AP, 9/4/97)
1948 Sep 6, Queen Juliana
(1909-2004) of the Netherlands was crowned, two days after the
abdication of her mother, Queen Wilhelmina. Juliana abdicated in 1980.
(AP, 9/6/98)(SSFC, 3/21/04, p.B7)
1948 Sep 9, The Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) emerged out of Soviet
occupation. Kim Du Bong stood as Chairman of the Presidium of the
Supreme People’s Assembly.
(www.worldstatesmen.org/Korea_North.htm)
1948 Sep 10, Mildred Gillars,
accused of being Nazi wartime radio broadcaster "Axis Sally," was
indicted in Washington, D.C., on treason charges. She was later
convicted, and served 12 years in prison.
(AP, 9/10/04)
1948 Sep 11, Mohammed Ali Jinnah
(b.1876, 1st governor of Pakistan (1947-48), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali_Jinnah)
1948 Sep 13, Republican Margaret
Chase Smith of Maine was elected to the U.S. Senate, becoming the first
woman to serve in both houses of Congress.
(AP, 9/13/97)
1948 Sep 14, A groundbreaking
ceremony took place in New York at the site of the United Nations'
world headquarters.
(AP, 9/14/99)
1948 Sep 15, Gerald Ford upset
Rep. Bartel J. Jonkman in the Michigan 5th Dist Rep. primary.
(http://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov)
1948 Sep 15, Ansel Adams in
California shot his famous photograph “Autumn Moon: The High Sierra
from Glacier Point.”
(SFC, 9/19/05, p.A1)
1948 Sep 17, Count Folke
Bernadotte (b.1895) of Sweden, the UN mediator for Palestine, was
assassinated in Jerusalem by members of the extreme Zionist Stern
Group. Yehoshua Zettler (d.2009 at 91), one of the founding members of
the group, masterminded the assassination.
(AP,
9/17/98)(www.us-israel.org/jsource/biography/Bernadotte.html)(AP,
5/25/09)
1948 Sep 18, Margaret Chase Smith
became the first woman elected to the Senate without completing another
senator’s term when she defeated Democratic opponent Adrian Scolten.
Smith was also the only woman to be elected to and serve in both houses
of Congress.
(HN, 9/18/98)
1948 Sep 18, Ralph J. Bunche was
confirmed as acting UN mediator in Palestine.
(MC, 9/18/01)
1948 Sep 19, Jeremy Irons,
England, actor (French Lieutenant's Woman), was born.
(MC, 9/19/01)
1948 Sep 19, Moscow announced it
would withdraw all soldiers from Korea by the end of the year.
(HN, 9/19/98)
1948 Sep 21, Milton Berle made his
debut as permanent host of the TV vaudeville show "The Texaco Star
Theater" on NBC on Tuesday nights. [see Jun 8, 1948]
(AP, 9/21/98)(SFC, 5/29/00, p.E4)
1948 Sep 24, Mildred Gillars,
accused of being Nazi wartime radio propagandist "Axis Sally," pleaded
innocent in Washington, D.C., to charges of treason. Gillars ended up
serving 12 years in prison.
(AP, 9/24/97)
1948 Sep 25, Iva Toguri D'Aquino
(b.1916), a Japanese-American suspected of being wartime radio
propagandist "Tokyo Rose," arrived in SF aboard the General Hodges and
was taken away by FBI agents. On Sep 9, 1949, she was found guilty of
speaking into a microphone concerning the loss of US ships. She was
sentenced to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. She was released in
1956 and pardoned by Pres. Ford in 1977.
(AP, 9/5/99)(AH, 10/02, p.28)
1948 Sep 26, Olivia Newton-John
singer and actress, was born. (You're the One that I Want, If Not for
You, Let Me Be There, I Honestly Love You, Have You Never Been Mellow,
Please Mr. Please, Physical, Magic; actress: Grease, Xanadu, Two of a
Kind).
(MC, 9/26/01)
1948 Sep 29, Bryant Gumbel,
broadcast journalist, best known for the "Today Show," was born.
(HN, 9/29/98)
1948 Oct 1, The California Supreme
Court voided a state statue banning interracial marriages.
(MC, 10/1/01)
1948 Oct 2, Donna Karan, fashion
designer (Coty Award-1977), was born in Forest Hills, NY.
(MC, 10/2/01)
1948 Oct 2, "Finian's Rainbow"
closed at 46th St Theater NYC after 725 performances.
(MC, 10/2/01)
1948 Oct 2, In New York the 1st
Grand Prix at Watkins Glen was held. Cameron Argetsinger (1921-2008)
was the main driving force behind the race which was won by Frank
Griswold. Formula racing continued there until bankruptcy in 1981. Two
year later Corning Glass Works revived the Watkins Glen race course in
partnership with Int’l. Speedway Corp.
(WSJ, 4/26/08,
p.A6)(www.nascar.com/races/tracks/wgi/index.html)
1948 Oct 4, Thomas Merton
(1915-1968), Trappist monk in Kentucky, published his first book: "The
Seven Storey Mountain."
(SFEC, 9/27/98, BR p.3)(WSJ, 10/2/98, p.W15)
1948 Oct 6, "Polonaise" opened at
Alvin Theater NYC for 113 performances.
(MC, 10/6/01)
1948 Oct 6, The Tennessee Williams
play "Summer and Smoke" opened on Broadway.
(AP, 10/6/98)
1948 Oct 6, An American B-29
crashed near Waycross, Ga., during a test flight from Robins AFB.
Details of the flight were kept as military secrets and formed the
basis for the 1953 U.S. vs. Reynolds case. Details were later
declassified and no military secrets were revealed.
(LAT, 4/18/04)
1948 Oct 6, A 7.3 earthquake hit
Ashgebat, Turkeminstan, and killed an estimated 110,000 people.
Stalinist media at the time claimed only 35,000 deaths.
(http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eqlists/eqsmosde.html)
1948 Oct 10, Carlos Prio became
Cuba’s last democratically elected president. He was ousted by Batista
in 1952.
(WSJ, 3/26/96,
p.A-10)(http://library.thinkquest.org/18355/carlos_prio.html)
1948 Oct 11, The musical comedy
"Where's Charley?," starring Ray Bolger and featuring songs by Frank
Loesser, opened at St James Theater NYC for 792 performances.
(AP, 10/11/98)(MC, 10/11/01)
1948 Oct 14, Large scale fighting
took place between Israel and Egypt.
(MC, 10/14/01)
1948 Oct 15, China's Red army
occupied Chinchov.
(MC, 10/15/01)
1948 Oct 16, Moscow Jews held a
demonstration honoring Israeli ambassador Golda Meir.
(MC, 10/16/01)
1948 Oct 18, The Israeli
offensive, Operation 10 Plagues, began the against Egyptian army.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1948 Oct 18, [Heinrich A.H.]
Walther von Brauchitsch, German field marshal, died.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1948 Oct 21, Beersheba was
liberated by the Israeli army.
(MC, 10/21/01)
1948 Oct 24, Bernard Baruch,
presidential advisor, coined the term 'Cold War:' "Although the war is
over, we are the midst of a cold war which is getting warmer."
(MC, 10/24/01)
1948 Oct 24, Franz Lehar,
Austrian-Hungarian composer (Wiener Frauen), died at 78.
(MC, 10/24/01)
1948 Oct 28, Flag of Israel was
adopted.
(MC, 10/28/01)
1948 Oct 31, By this date
some 20 people died and 6,000 were made ill by smog from steel and zinc
plants in Donora, Pennsylvania. Between October 26 and October 31,
1948, an air inversion trapped fluoride effluent from the Zinc Works.
In three days, 18 people died. After the inversion lifted, another 50
died. Hundreds more finished the rest of their lives with damaged lungs
and hearts. Both plants closed in 1966. In 2002, “When Smoke Ran Like
Water” was published by Devra Davis.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donora,_Pennsylvania)(SSFC, 11/2/08, p.A6)
1948 Oct 31, Halloween in the
Castro District of SF began as a children’s costume contest at Cliff’s
Variety store.
(SFC, 11/3/06, p.B7)
1948 Oct, Samuel Beckett began
writing "En Attendant Godot." He finished it in Jan, 1949 and
translated it into English as "Waiting for Godot" in 1953.
(WSJ, 8/5/96, p.A10)
1948 Nov 1, During the
Chinese Civil War (1945-1949) Mao's Red army conquered Mukden,
Manchuria.
(DoW, 1999, p.113)
1948 Nov 2, President Truman was
elected 33rd president in an upset. He won re-election by a narrow
margin over Republican challenger Thomas E. Dewey. The Chicago Daily
Tribune had been so sure of Dewey's victory that they had printed
front-page "Dewey Defeats Truman" articles before the final results
were in. Truman defeated Dewey by 2.2 million popular votes and 114
electoral votes. During the presidential election campaign, almost
everyone expected New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey to win and few had
faith in a victory for incumbent Harry S. Truman. While Truman went on
a "whistle stop" tour across the United States, giving more than 350
speeches, Dewey's confident campaign was more reserved. Prof. Frank
Kofsky later wrote "Harry Truman and the War Scare of 1948." Henry
Wallace was the candidate for the Progressive Party. In 2000 Zachary
Karabell authored "The Last Campaign: How Harry Truman Won the 1948
Election."
(AP, 11/2/97)(SFC,11/26/97, p.C6)(SFC, 10/12/98,
p.A17)(HN, 11/2/98)(HNPD, 11/2/98)(SFEC, 5/14/00, BR p.5)
1948 Nov 3, The Chicago Tribune
printed the headline "Dewey defeats Truman." Later votes threw the
election in the opposite direction. And later editions of other papers
ran pictures showing Truman holding up the Tribune and grinning ear to
ear.
(MC, 11/3/01)
1948 Nov 4, T.S. Eliot won the
Nobel Prize for literature.
(MC, 11/4/01)
1948 Nov 4, The International
Military Tribunal for the Far East was concluded.
(WSJ, 4/30/98, p.A15)
1948 Nov 12, Hideki Tojo, former
Japanese premier and military dictator through World War II, and
several other World War II Japanese leaders were sentenced to death by
an international war crimes tribunal. In 1998 a film about Gen’l. Tojo
was produced titled: "Pride, the Fateful Moment."
(HFA, '96, p.20)(AHD, p.1351)(AP, 11/12/97)(WSJ,
4/30/98, p.A15)(HN, 11/12/98)
1948 Nov 12, Umberto Giordano
(81), composer (Andrea Chenier), died.
(MC, 11/12/01)
1948 Nov 14, Charles, Prince of
Wales and heir to the throne of England, was born.
(HN, 11/14/98)
1948 Nov 15, William Lyon
Mackenzie King retired as prime minister of Canada after 21 years; he
was succeeded by Louis St. Laurent.
(AP, 11/15/98)
1948 Nov 16, Steve Railsback,
actor (Blue Monkey, Helter Skelter, Green Monkey, Escape 2000), was
born.
(MC, 11/16/01)
1948 Nov 16, President Harry S.
Truman rejected four-power talks on Berlin until the blockade was
removed. Truman relied heavily on Dean Acheson for his most significant
foreign policy achievements.
(HN, 11/16/98)
1948 Nov 16, Operation Magic
Carpet began with the 1st plane from Yemen carrying Jews to Israel.
(MC, 11/16/01)
1948 Nov 17, Howard Dean, governor
of Vermont (1991-2002), was born.
(SFC, 6/24/03, p.A4)
1948 Nov 17, Britain's House of
Commons voted to nationalize steel industry.
(MC, 11/17/01)
1948 Nov 23, Dr. Frank G. Back in
NYC patented a lens to provide zoom effects.
(MC, 11/23/01)
1948 Nov 28, “Hopalong Cassidy” TV
western premiered on NBC television. [see Jun 24, 1949]
(DT, 11/28/97)
1948 Nov 28, The Polaroid Land
Camera, created by Dr. Edwin Land, went on sale in Boston.
(HN, 11/28/01)
1948 Nov 29, The popular
children's television show, Kukla, Fran and Ollie, moved to the NBC
Midwest network.
(HN,11/29/00)(http://www.kukla.tv/)
1948 Nov 29, The NYC Metropolitan
Opera was televised for the first time as the season opened with
"Othello." It featured Ramon Vinay, Licia Albenese, and Leonard Warren
and was conducted by Fritz Busch
(HN, 11/29/98)(MC, 11/29/01)
1948 Nov 30, Communists completed
the division of Berlin, installing the government in the Soviet sector.
(HN, 11/30/98)
1948 Nov, Communist Party of
Albania renamed itself the Party of Labor of Albania.
(www, Albania, 1998)
1948 Dec 2, T. Corgaghessan Boyle,
novelist and short story writer, was born. His work included "Water
Music."
(HN, 12/2/00)
1948 Dec 3, The "Pumpkin Papers"
came to light. The House Un-American Activities Committee announced
that former Communist spy Whittaker Chambers had produced microfilm of
secret documents hidden inside a pumpkin on his Maryland farm.
(AP, 12/3/97)
1948 Dec 3, Sam Shockley (b.1909)
and Miran Edgar Thompson (b.1917), 2 Alcatraz inmates, were executed at
the San Quentin gas chamber for a 1946 escape attempt in which 2 guards
and 3 prisoners were killed.
(SFC, 6/27/09,
p.B4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcatraz_escape_attempts)
1948 Dec 3, Chinese refugee ship
"Kiangya" exploded in East China Sea killing 1,100. [see Dec 4]
(MC, 12/3/01)
1948 Dec 4, SS Kiangya hit a mine
in Whangpoo River, China. It sank and 2,750 were killed. [see Dec 3]
(MC, 12/4/01)
1948 Dec 6, The "Pumpkin spy
papers" were found on the Maryland farm of Whittaker Chambers. They
became evidence that State Department employee Alger Hiss was spying
for the Soviet Union.
(HN, 12/6/01)
1948 Dec 7, Yoko Morishita, prima
ballerina (Baterina No Habataki), was born.
(MC, 12/7/01)
1948 Dec 8, Jordan annexed Arabic
Palestine. The old city of East Jerusalem came under Jordanian control
until 1968. Transjordan was given to a client Arab family, the
Hashenites (led by King Hussein’s grandfather), and was run out of
Mecca by the Saudis.
(SFC, 6/24/96, p.A19)(WSJ, 4/9/97, p.A14)(MC,
12/8/01)
1948 Dec 8, UN approved the
recognition of South Korea.
(HN, 12/8/98)
1948 Dec 9, U.S. abandoned a plan
to de-concentrate industry in Japan.
(HN, 12/9/98)
1948 Dec 9, The Int’l. Convention
Against Genocide was approved by the UN General Assembly.
(HFA, ‘96, p.44)(SFC, 9/3/98, p.A14)(MC, 12/9/01)
1948 Dec 10, The U.N. General
Assembly adopted its Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
(AP, 12/10/97)
1948 Dec 11, United Nations
General Assembly Resolution 194 was passed near the end of the 1948
Arab-Israeli War. The resolution expresses appreciation for the efforts
of UN Envoy Folke Bernadotte after his assassination by members of the
Stern Gang. It was later often quoted in support of the Palestinian
right of return.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_General_Assembly_Resolution_194)(Econ,
9/6/08, p.68)
1948 Dec 15, Former State
Department official Alger Hiss was indicted by a federal grand jury in
New York on charges of perjury. They charged that he lied in denying
that he gave Chambers confidential documents and that he had spoken
with Chambers in Feb and Mar of 1938. A first trial ended in a hung
jury. (Hiss, accused of lying about dealings with confessed Communist
spy Whittaker Chambers, was convicted in 1950 and served nearly four
years in prison.) The grand jury testimony was ordered unsealed in 1999.
(SFC, 11/16/96, p.A3)(AP, 12/15/98)(SFC, 5/14/99,
p.A5)
1948 cDec 15, Richard Nixon, a
California Congressman and member of HUAC, made an influential
appearance before the Alger Hiss grand jury.
(SFC, 10/13/99, p.A3)
1948 Dec 15, The French brought
the first nuclear reactor into service.
(HN, 12/15/98)
1948 Dec 17, The Smithsonian
Institution accepted the Wright brothers' plane, the Kitty Hawk.
(HN, 12/17/98)
1948 Dec 18, Janet Fay was
hammered to death by Honeymoon Killers.
(MC, 12/18/01)
1948 Dec 20, U.S. Supreme Court
announced that it had no jurisdiction to hear the appeals of Japanese
war criminals sentenced by the International Military Tribunal.
(HN, 12/20/98)
1948 Dec 21, The state of Eire
(formerly the Irish Free State) declared its independence.
(AP, 12/21/97)
1948 Dec 21, Seishiro Itagaki,
Japanese General and minister of War, was hanged.
(MC, 12/21/01)
1948 Dec 23, Hideki Tojo, Japanese
Prime Minister and military dictator through World War II, and six
other Japanese war leaders were executed by Hanging in Tokyo. In 1998 a
film about Gen’l. Tojo was produced titled: "Pride, the Fateful Moment."
(HFA, ‘96, p.20)(AHD, p.1351)(WSJ, 4/30/98,
p.A15)(AP, 12/23/98)
1948 Dec 26, Hungarian Cardinal
Mindszenty was arrested.
(MC, 12/26/01)
1948 Dec 27, Gerard Depardieu,
actor (Get Out Your Handkerchiefs, Danton, Green Card), was born in
France.
(MC, 12/27/01)
1948 Dec 28, Premier Nokrashy
Pasha of Egypt was assassinated by a member of the outlawed Moslem
Brotherhood because of his failure to achieve victory in the war
against Israel.
(HN, 12/28/98)
1948 Dec 29, Tito declared
Yugoslavia would follow its own Communist line.
(HN, 12/29/98)
1948 Dec 30, The Cole Porter
musical "Kiss Me, Kate" opened on Broadway at the New Century Theater
and ran for 1,077 performances. It was based on Shakespeare’s "The
Taming of the Shrew" and was written by Bella Spewack (d.1990 at age
91), who helped originate the Girl Scout cookie. The songs "Too Darn
Hot" and "I Hate Men" were featured.
(WSJ, 5/8/97, p.A20)(WSJ, 6/3/98, p.CA1,4) (AP,
12/30/98)(MC, 12/30/01)
1948 The Perry Como Show made its
debut on TV. It ran for 15 years to1963. Como died in 2001 at age 88.
(SSFC, 5/13/01, p.A27)
1948 Alexander Calder (1898-1976)
made his mobile "Roxbury Flurry."
(SFC,11/15/97, p.C1)
1948 Willem de Kooning
(1904-1997), abstract artist, had his first one man show at the Egan
Gallery in New York.
(SFC, 3/20/97, p.A6)
1948 Walt Kelly began drawing his
"Pogo" comic strip for newspapers. He was an animator for Disney in the
late 30s when he started drawing the Pogo characters that appeared in
comic books in the 1940s.
(SFC, 3/10/99, Z1 p.6)
1948 Mark Rothko’s paintings have
by now developed to the style by which he is universally known
(abstract expressionist). His canvasses, often as large as a wall,
consist of bands of color that float mysteriously in an indeterminate
space.
(V.D.-H.K.p.362)
1948 Ben Shahn painted his
lion-monster "Allegory."
(WSJ, 12/1/98, p.A20)
1948 Rufino Tamayo, Mexican
artist, painted "Retrato De Cantinflas."
(SFC, 4/14/96, EM, p.18)
1948 Andrew Wyeth painted
"Christina’s World" in Maine.
(WSJ, 6/16/00, p.W12)
1948 The Kinsey Report "Sexual
Behavior in the Human Male" was published.
(TMC, 1994, p.1948)(SFEM, 2/9/97, p.27)
1948 Herb Caen, SF newspaper
columnist, wrote his 1st book "The San Francisco Book."
(SFEC, 2/2/97, p.A13)
1948 The first publication of a
story in English by Jorge Luis Borges was published in Ellery Queen’s
Mystery Magazine: "The Garden of Forking Paths."
(WSJ, 9/21/98, p.A26)
1948 The book “Cheaper by the
Dozen,” co-written by Ernstine Gilbreth Carey (1908-2006) and her
brother Frank, became a best-seller. It documented the adventures of
their family, which included 6 boys and 6 girls and management expert
parents. Film versions were made in 1959 and 2003.
(SFC, 11/7/06, p.B5)
1948 Govindas Vishnoodas Desani
(1909-2000), Kenya-born Pakistani writer in England, authored “All
About Hatterr,” his novel of an absurdist and mystical odyssey in
India. In 1968 he was invited to teach at the Univ. of Texas and spent
11 years there.
(SSFC, 12/2/07, p.M1)
1948 Richard M. Weaver authored
“Ideas Have Consequences.”
(Econ, 9/18/04, p.43)
1948 Prof. Earl Wendell Count
(1897-1996) wrote "4,000 years of Christmas," a 95-page book that
collected strands of myth and folklore into a narrative that linked the
modern celebration to the ancient festival.
(SFEC, 12/22/96, p.C12)
1948 William Faulkner published
his novel "Intruder in the Dust."
(SFC, 6/29/99, p.D3)
1948 Norman Mailer (b.1923)
published his novel "The Naked and the Dead."
(USAT, 5/6/98, p.1D)(SFEC, 12/26/99, BR p.7)
1948 H.L. Mencken published "Stare
Decisis."
(WSJ, 12/24/98, p.A8)
1948 Allan Nevins and John Kraut
put together a volume of essays titled "the Greater City: New York,
1898-1948," to commemorate the 50th anniversary of consolidation.
(WSJ, 12/31/97, p.A10)
1948 Alan Paton authored the South
African novel "Cry the Beloved Country."
(WSJ, 10/4/99, p.A40)
1948 Dawn Powell wrote her novel
"The Locusts Have No King."
(WSJ, 10/19/98, p.A24)
1948 Lewis Fry Richardson, British
physicist, authored a paper on the mathematics of war. He showed that
the probability of wars having a particular number of casualties
followed a mathematical relationship known as a power law.
(Econ, 7/23/05, p.74)
1948 Babe Ruth published his
autobiography.
(WSJ, 8/21/98, p.W13)
1948 Paul A. Samuelson published
"Economics: An Introductory Analysis."
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R20)
1948 Carl Sandburg authored novel
"Remembrance Rock."
(NW, 8/20/01, p.56)
1948 Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.
authored "The Vital Center."
(WSJ, 11/16/00, p.A24)
1948 Stanford Prof. Frederic
Spiegelberg authored “The Religion of No Religion.” Spiegelberg and his
book had a major influence on Richard Price (1930-1985) and Michael
Murphy (b.1930), co-founders of the Esalen Institute (1962) at Big Sur,
Ca.
(Econ, 12/22/07, p.75)
1948 MIT Prof. Dirk J. Struik
(d.2000 at 106) authored the 2-volume work: "A Concise History of
Mathematics."
(SFC, 10/26/00, p.D2)
1948 P.G. Taylor wrote "Forgotten
Island," an account of Clipperton Island.
(NH, 12/96, p.70)
1948 John R. Tunis authored
“Highpockets,” a novel centered around baseball.
(WSJ, 3/31/07, p.P10)
1948 A.E. van Vogt (1912-2000)
authored the sci-fi story "The World of Null-A."
(SFC, 2/5/00, p.A19)
1948 Prof. Richard Watson Jr.
(d.2000 at 85) and Prof. Arthur Ferguson of Duke Univ. published the
1st volume of a 7-volume history of the US Air Force.
(SFC, 9/25/00, p.B2)
1948 Dorothy West (d.1998 at 91),
a member of the Harlem Renaissance, published her first novel: "The
Living Is Easy."
(SFC, 8/19/98, p.C4)
1948 Norbert Wiener,
mathematician, wrote "Cybernetics or Control and Communication in the
Animal and the Machine."
(Wired, 2/98, p.176)
1948 Bertram Wolfe authored "Three
Who Made a Revolution," a critique of Communism.
(SFC, 1/17/00, p.C2)
1948 The play "Summer And Smoke"
by Tennessee Williams was produced. It was made into a film in 1961
with Geraldine Page.
(WSJ, 9/66/96, p.A12)
1948 Red Buttons appeared on
Broadway in the musical “Hold It.”
(SFC, 7/14/06, p.B9)
1948 Kitty Carlisle sang in the US
premier of Benjamin Britten’s opera “The Rape of Lucretia.”
(SFC, 4/19/07, p.A2)
1948 In the Tony Awards the play
"Mr. Roberts" won over "A Streetcar Named Desire."
(WSJ, 5/13/96, p. A-16)
1948 The musical "Magdalena" was
written by George Forrest and Robert Wright.
(SFC, 10/13/99, p.C2)
1948 The radio show "My Favorite
Husband" featured Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.
(SFEC, 10/20/96, T8)
1948 In Chicago Clint Youle
(d.1999 at 83) became television's first weatherman.
(SFC, 7/27/99, p.A17)
1948 A Greek Orthodox church was
built on Chicago’s south side. In 1972 it was purchased by the Nation
of Islam and renovated under the name Mosque Maryam. In 2008 Minister
Louis Farrakhan opened the mosque to the public in a rededication
ceremony.
(SSFC, 10/19/08, p.A2)
1948 The TV show "Stop Me If
You’ve Heard This One" featured Morey Amsterdam.
(SFC, 10/29/96, p.B2)
1948 The TV show “Studio One”
began broadcasting on TV and featured a new play every week. The show
continued to 1958.
(WSJ, 11/22/08, p.W9)
1948 In NYC a group of young jazz
players gathered at the apartment of Gil Evans on West 55th and crafted
a music that was later tagged as “the birth of the cool.” Miles Davis
led the group that also included Gerry Mulligan, John Lewis and John
Carisi. This followed the recent disbanding of band led by Claude
Thornhill (d.1965), in which Gill Evans was an arranger.
(WSJ, 7/5/08, p.W12)
1948 Richard Strauss composed his
"Four Last Songs," and Shostokovich composed a suite of songs based on
Jewish folk poetry.
(WSJ, 4/30/96, p.A-12)
1948 Darius Milhaud, composer,
recorded "L’Homme et son desir" for vocal quartet, 12 instrumental
soloists and 15 percussionists.
(SFEM, 6/9/96, p.32)
1948 The Mills Brothers made a
minor hit with the song “You never miss the water till the well runs
dry.” Written by Paul Secon.
(WSJ, 3/10/07, p.A4)
1948 Igor Stravinsky composed his
"Mass."
(SFC,12/13/97, p.C16)
1948 Kurt Weill and Arnold
Sundgaard (1910-2006) premiered their folk opera "Down in the Valley"
at Indiana Univ.
(SFC,12/25/97, p.A25)(SFC, 11/10/06, p.B8)
1948 Ella Fitzgerald recorded "How
High the Moon."
(SFC, 6/15/96, p.D2)
1948 Redd Stewart (d.2003)
co-wrote "Tennessee Waltz" with Pee Wee King to the melody of King's
"No Name Waltz," while on a road trip from Nashville to Texarkana. A
1950 recording by Patti Page sold a reported 3 million copies.
(SFC, 8/6/03, p.A18)
1948 Don Tosti (1923-2004), jazz
musician born as Edmundo Martinez Tostado, made the 1st million-selling
Latin song “Pachuco Boogie.”
(SFC, 8/4/04, p.B7)
1948 Paul Williams (d.2002 at 87)
recorded "The Huckelbuck." It was released in 1949 and was later
considered an important precursor of rock ‘n’ roll. It was written by
Andy Gibson and adopted without credit from Charlie Parker’s "Now’s the
Time."
(SFC, 10/7/02, p.A19)
1948 The Frankie Yankovic
recording of "Just Because" sold over a million.
(SFC, 10/15/98, p.C6)
1948 In Hollywood a building on
Vine opened as the home of the Don Lee Mutual Broadcasting Co. In 2000
it was purchased by the Academy of Motion Pictures for $20 million and
was renamed the Pickford Center. It then became the home of the Academy
archives.
(SFC, 3/26/03, p.D8)
1948 Buckminster Fuller and his
students erected the first geodesic dome near Ashville, N.C.
(SFC, 7/14/99, p.8)
1948 Virginia Cherill, former
actress, married decorated war ace Florian Martini.
(SFEC, 11/17/96, p.C12)
1948 Loretta Lynn, later famed
country singer, married miner and moonshine runner O.V. "Mooney" Lynn
(1927-1996) at age 13.
(SFC, 8/24/96, p.A21)
1948 Moses Asch (d.1986) founded
Folkway Recordings to capture America’s native music for posterity.
After his death the label was taken over by the Smithsonian.
(WSJ, 4/21/98, p.A21)
1948 Hot Rod magazine was founded.
(SFC, 2/11/02, p.B5)
1948 The New York City Ballet was
founded.
(WSJ, 11/2/98, p.A32)
1948 Marilyn Monroe was proclaimed
Artichoke Queen in Salinas, Ca., when she visited for a diamond
promotion.
(SFC, 3/13/98, p.A23)
1948 Anthony E. Pratt’s game of
"Clue" was first published by the British Waddington’s company.
(SFEC, 12/1/96, p.C14)
1948 The Wechsler intelligence
test was developed.
(WSJ, 6/5/97, p.A1)
1948 The American Research Council
in Egypt was founded.
(WSJ, 12/27/95, p. A-8)
1948 The Hells Angels motorcycle
club was founded.
(WSJ, 5/28/99, p.W6)
1948 The Morris and Gwendolyn
Cafritz Foundation was founded in Washington D.C. by the Cafritz real
estate company to support arts, education and social programs in the DC
area.
(SFC, 4/1/97, p.A17)
1948 Arthur E. Raymond (d.1999 at
99), airplane designer, helped found the Rand Corp. He was the lead
designer of the DC-1 in 1932.
(SFC, 3/27/99, p.C2)
1948 The heirs of Sun Oil’s Joseph
Newton Pew began to create a foundation in his name. They envisioned an
institution to advance conservative views in the Philadelphia area.
(WSJ, 10/17/96, p.A6)
1948 Julia Child enrolled in the
Cordon Bleu Cooking School in Paris.
(SFC, 10/20/99, Z1p.4)
1948 Richard (d.1998 at 89) and
Maurice McDonald (d.1971) started the McDonald’s chain of fast food
restaurants in San Bernadino, California. Ray Kroc purchased the chain
in 1955.
(SFC, 7/15/98, p.A20)
1948 Ann Curtis won a silver and 2
Olympic gold medals for swimming.
(SFC, 9/25/96, p.E10)
1948 Owen Guinn Smith (d.2004), WW
II pilot, won a gold medal in the pole vault. He used a bamboo pole on
a windy and rainy London day and won at 14 feet, 1 ¼ inches.
(SFC, 1/23/04, p.A18)
1948 The Cleveland Indians won the
World Series.
(SFC, 10/28/04, p.A7)
1948 Bill Garrett became the first
African American to play a varsity sport in the Big Ten. He was
recruited by basketball coach Branch McCracken under the urging of
Indiana Univ. Pres. Herman B. Wells.
(SFC, 3/20/00, p.A21)
1948 The Winter Olympic were held
at St. Moritz, Switz., for a 2nd time.
(SSFC, 1/23/05, p.E14)
1948 Paul Hermann Muller (d.1965),
a Geigy pesticide researcher in Switzerland, won the Noble Prize in
medicine for his 1939 synthesis of DDT.
(ON, 11/01, p.6)
1948 The UN promulgated the
International Bill of Rights, a universal declaration of human rights.
(MT, Dec. ‘95, p.16)
1948 The Paris Convention Against
Genocide was enacted.
(SFC, 4/28/96, A-13)
1948 Pres. Truman beat Thomas E.
Dewey in the elections.
(TMC, 1994, p.1948)
1948 IRS chief Joseph Nunan was
convicted of tax evasion for not reporting the $1800 bet he won on the
re-election of Harry Truman. In 1998 the IRS compiled a Who’s Who of
white-collar crime since 1919, but only for "official use."
(SFC, 6/2/98, p.A7)
1948 Echelon began with a secret
international agreement between the US, Britain, and Canada to collate
electronic intelligence. Australia and New Zealand signing up later. By
2005 it consisted of a global network of computers that automatically
searched through millions of intercepted for pre-programmed keywords or
fax, telex and e-mail addresses.
(www.vectorsite.net/ttcode_12.html)(www.globalsecurity.org/intell/systems/echelon.htm)
1948 Maurice Papon was the top
French official in Corsica and authorized American planes loaded with
weapons bound for Israel to land on the island.
(SFC,10/22/97, p.A10)
1948 Senator J. Strom Thurmond
received 38 votes as the Dixiecrat candidate for president. His
platform was mostly based on unyielding support for racial segregation.
(SFC, 12/26/96, p.C16)
1948 Lyndon Johnson‘s nickname
"Landslide Lyndon" was coined because of his slim victory in the 1948
primary election for the senate. While Johnson finished second in the
first round of the Texas Democratic primary of 1948, a runoff election
was required. In the runoff election, Johnson won the majority of the
more than 1 million ballots cast by a mere 87 votes, thus earning him
the ironical nickname "Landslide Lyndon." Although the vote was
contested, Johnson was awarded the victory and went on to win election
to the U.S. Senate. Johnson was reelected to the senate twice and
became Vice President under John Kennedy in 1961. Upon the
assassination of Kennedy in 1963, Johnson became President. In the 1964
presidential election, Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater in a true
landslide, garnering 43 million popular votes to Goldwater‘s 27
million. Johnson did not seek reelection in 1968.
(HNQ, 4/27/00)
1948 Richard Nixon pursued Alger
Hiss for perjury in Congressional hearings.
(TMC, 1994, p.1948)
1948 The US half-dollar began to
feature an image of Ben Franklin, which replaced the Walking Liberty.
(WSJ, 12/12/03, p.W15)
1948 Abraham Ribicoff (1910-1998)
of Connecticut was elected to the US House of Representatives.
(SFC, 2/23/98,
p.A5)(www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKribicoff.htm)
1948 Chester Bowles (1901-1986)
was elected governor of Connecticut and served one term, during which
time he signed into law an end to segregation in the state national
guard.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_Bowles)
1948 US Marine Capt. Cranford
Dalby (1922-2008) was assigned to a navy missile test center at Point
Mugu, Ventura County, Ca. There he organized an informal “Marine Guided
Missile Unit,” which proceeded to devise a radar-guided remote bombing
device called AN/MPQ14. The device was widely used during the Korean
War.
(SFC, 11/5/08, p.B15)
1948 Idaho put “World Famous
Potatoes” on its car license plates. Its potato business was mostly due
to the efforts of J.R. Simplot (1909-2008), later known as the spud
king of America.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._Simplot)(Econ,
6/14/08, p.105)
1948 Michigan passed a law that
prohibited women from serving alcoholic drinks in bars. In was
overturned by a 1971 Supreme Court decision on an Idaho case that
showed discrimination against one gender.
(SFC, 10/12/02, p.A21)
1948 Robert Mitchum, Hollywood
actor, was busted for marijuana possession.
(SFC, 7/2/97, p.E2)
1948 Composer Hans Eisler was
deported from the US by the House Un-American Activities Committee for
non-cooperation. He went to East Germany and composed the East German
national anthem.
(SFEC, 5/18/97, DB p.64)
1948 Russel Long won the senate
seat that had been occupied by both his mother and father.
(SFC, 9/21/96, p.E4)
1948 Sec. of the Interior J.A.
Krug signed a contract relinquishing Indian reservation land for the
Garrison Dam.
(SFEC, 4/12/98, BR p.7)
1948 Puerto Rico gained the right
to choose its own governor and elected Munoz Marin. He held office
until 1965.
(SFC, 3/26/97, p.C3)
1948 Burt Baskin (1913-1967) and
Irvine Robbins (1917-2008) combined their ice cream parlors in Glendale
and Pomona, Ca., to form the Baskins-Robbins ice cream chain.
(WSJ, 5/10/08,
p.A8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burt_Baskin)
1948 In Seattle Clara Fraser
(d.1998 at 74), led a strike against Boeing and pressured the union to
represent women and minorities. After the strike she was blacklisted
and hounded from job to job by the FBI.
(SFC, 4/15/98, p.C3)
1948 TV advertising by liquor
makers was halted. The agreement held until 1996 when Seagram Co. began
running both radio and TV ads.
(SFC, 10/19/96, D1)
1948 Dinky Toys made the first
garbage truck toy, a Bedford refuse wagon.
(SFC, 2/4/98, Z1 p.6)
1948 The Hearst Corp. acquired
WBAL-TV, Baltimore, one of the country's first television stations.
(SFC, 8/7/99, p.A9)
1948 In San Francisco the new I.
Magnin store at Geary and Stockton opened. It was designed by Timothy
Flueger.
(SSFC, 12/31/06, p.E5)
1948 In San Francisco the Pacific
Coast’s first cancer ward opened at Laguna Honda Home. Patients were
made available for experimental research.
(SFC, 8/26/08, p.B5)
1948 Hills Pet Nutrition was
founded by Kansas veterinarian Mark Morris. After 20 years the company
introduced its Science Diet brand. In 1976 it was acquired by Colgate.
(WSJ, 11/3/97, p.A6)
1948 Henry (d.1976) and Esther
(1920-2006) Snyder opened In-N-Out Burgers in Baldwin Park, LA County.
They numbered 152 stores in 2001 as their 1st SF outlet opened. By 2006
the chain numbered 202 restaurants. In 2009 Stacy Perman authored
“In-N-Out Burger: A Behind-The Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That
Breaks All the Rules.
(SFC, 3/3/01, p.D1)(SFC, 8/15/01, p.B1)(SFEC,
3/23/97, p.A1)(WSJ, 8/12/06, p.A6)(WSJ, 4/15/09, p.A13)
1948 Robert Peterson (1926-2007)
founded Hot Rod magazine while trying to promote the custom-designed
car show at the Los Angeles Armory. In 1949 he launched Motor Trend
magazine. The Peterson Automotive Museum opened in LA in 1994.
(SFC, 3/26/07, p.B5)
1948 General Motors agreed to
annual cost-of-living pay increases.
(Econ, 6/6/09, p.61)
1948 General Motors began
regaining control over Opel operations in Germany. GM collected some
$33 million in war reparations for Allied bombing of its German
facilities.
(SSFC, 1/7/07, p.E6)
1948 Paul’s Auto Wash, the first
car wash in the US, opened in Detroit.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)
1948 Goodyear introduced tubeless
tires. [see 1954]
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)(F, 10/7/96, p.70)
1948 Harley Jefferson Earl
(1893-1969) introduced automobile tail fins in 1948. He was a Hollywood
builder of custom cars and became GM’s VP of styling from 1940-1959.
His design philosophy was "You can design a car so that every time you
get in it, it’s a relief—you have a little vacation for a while."
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)
1948 The Eckert-Mauchly Computer
Corp. was established and began creating UNIVAC, Universal Automatic
Computer, the first general-purpose computer. They hired Jean Bartik
and Betty Holberton to do the programming. It would be used to compile
the 1950 census.
(WSJ, 11/22/96, p.B1)
1948 Spud Melin (d.2002) and
Richard Knerr (1925-2008) started a mail-order toy company in southern
California named Wham-O to market sling-shots. In 1982 they sold the
company to Kransco Manufacturing for $12 million.
(SFC, 7/1/02, p.B5)(WSJ, 1/19/08, p.A10)
1948 William Rosenberg (d.2002 at
86) opened a doughnut shop called Open Kettle in Quincy. Mass. 2 years
later the name was changed to Dunkin’ Donuts. In 1955 he began selling
franchises and helped create the Int’l. Franchise Assoc.
(SFC, 9/23/02, p.B5)
1948 The Ogilvy & Mather
advertising firm was established. In 1989 it was swallowed by WPP, a
British advertising giant. Founder David Ogilvy (d.1999 at 88) later
published a series of books titled "Ogilvy on Advertising."
(SFC, 7/22/99, p.C4)(Econ, 2/24/07, p.80)
1948 Two Milwaukee lawyers founded
Manpower after they failed to find extra administrative help for an
urgent legal brief. By 2007 the company had 27,000 full-time employees
in 4,400 offices in 73 countries.
(Econ, 1/6/07, p.57)
1948 Aaron and Florence Zacks
(1911-2007) formed R.G. Barry Corp. in Pickerington, Ohio, to
manufacture foam rubber shoulder pads for women’s clothing. They soon
expanded to produce foam rubber slippers.
(WSJ, 2/17/07, p.A4)
1948 Richard Bolt and Leo Beranek,
professors at MIT, established a small acoustics consulting firm and
soon added a former student of Bolt’s, Robert Newman. In 1949 BBN won
its first major consulting contract, designing the acoustics for the UN
General Assembly Hall. In 2008 Leo Beranek authored “Riding the Waves:
A Life in Sound, Science and Industry.”
(www.bbn.com/about/timeline/)(WSJ, 5/22/08, p.A13)
1948 H.B.G. Casimir, Dutch
physicist, deduced the necessity of a quantum-mechanical effect arising
from the zero-point energy of the harmonic oscillators that are the
normal modes of the electromagnetic field. The Casimir force was first
measured in 1997 and can be seen in a gecko's ability to stick to a
surface with just one toe.
(AFP, 8/6/07)(www.du.edu/~jcalvert/phys/casimir.htm)
1948 Theoretical physicists,
taking into account the rate of expansion of the universe, predicted
that 15 billion years after the Big Bang the universe should have
cooled off to a temperature just 3 degrees above absolute zero. George
Gamow and Ralph Alpher predicted that radiation from the very hot early
stages of the universe should still be around today. It was this
radiation that Penzias and Wilson found in 1965. George Gamow first
described the Big Bang.
(BHT, Hawking, p.118)(NH, 12/96, p.76)(WSJ, 10/4/06,
p.A14)
1948 The steady-state theory of
the universe was first proposed by Hermann Bondi, Thomas Gold (d.2004)
and Fred Hoyle. The theory holds that the universe is expanding and
that matter is continuously being created to keep the mean density of
matter in space constant. Sir Fred Hoyle, English astronomer-author:
"There is a coherent plan in the universe, though I don't know what
it's a plan for."
(Wired, 2/98, p.174)(AP, 2/3/99)(Econ, 7/3/04,
p.73)
1948 Robert Herman (1915-1997)
predicted the existence of residual, cosmic, blackbody radiation left
over from the Big Bang.
(SFC, 2/24/96, p.A17)
1948 Albert Baez (1912-2007),
Mexican-American physicist, and Paul Kirkpatrick co-invented the X-ray
reflection microscope for the study of living cells.
(SSFC, 3/25/07, p.B3)
1948 Claude Shannon, the father of
coding theory, published a paper which showed the maximum theoretical
rate at which information can be transmitted without error. By 2004
real codes began approaching Shannon’s theoretical limit.
(Econ, 7/3/04, p.65)
1948 The Pap test for cervical
cancer was invented by George Papanicolaou.
(WSJ, 8/13/98, p.A1)
1948 The US government launched a
heart study in Framingham, Mass., amid an epidemic of heart disease, to
compile reams of health data on a group of people in their 30s, 40s and
50s, and hope that over time links would emerge between their
lifestyles and heart health. Discoveries by the long term study
included: Cigarette smoking, high blood pressure and high cholesterol
and diabetes raise the risk of heart disease, and physical exercise
lowers the risk.
(AP, 11/30/07)
1948 The U of M Survey Research
Center, later the Institute for Social Research (ISR), began its
National Election Studies, a biennial survey and analysis of voter
behavior.
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.4)
1948 The 1st Law School Admissions
Test (LSAT) was administered in the US.
(WSJ, 3/29/01, p.B1)
1948 Dwight D. Eisenhower, WW II
general, became president of Columbia Univ.
(SSFC, 8/15/04, p.D11)
1948 Oral history was founded as
an academic field at Columbia Univ.
(SFC, 10/28/08, p.B5)
1948 Archeologists found ears of
popcorn 5,600 years old in the Bat Cave in New Mexico.
(HFA, ‘96, p.66)
1948 James Houston, Canadian
author, flew into the Arctic Circle and spent 14 years with Inuit
people. In 1996 he published "Confessions of an Igloo Dweller, Memories
of the Old Arctic."
(SFC, 9/1/96, BR p.4)
1948 A blues guitarist was
murdered in Pittsburgh. This incident formed the setting for the play
"Seven Guitars" by August Wilson, which won the 1995-96 best play award
by the New York Drama Critics’ Circle.
(SFC, 5/14/96, E-4)
1948 Al Gard (b.1900), American
caricature artist, died. 24 of his caricatures of Broadway stars were
kept at Sardi’s restaurant in NYC.
(WSJ, 8/21/01, p.A17)
1948 Aldo Leopold, American
naturalist, died. "Land then is not merely soil; it is a fountain of
energy flowing through a circuit of soils, plants, and animals."
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A3)(Ind, 6/27/00,12A)
1948 The Int’l. Whaling Commission
(IWC) was founded by 7 countries with large whaling fleets. It included
America, Australia, Britain, France, Norway, South Africa and the USSR.
(Econ, 6/17/06, p.15)
1948 Albanian Communist Party
leaders voted to merge Albanian and Yugoslav economies and militaries.
(www, Albania, 1998)
1948 In the months preceding the
war between Israel and the Arab states some 10,000 Arab homes in West
Jerusalem were looted and seized.
(SSFC, 5/18/03, p.D6)
1948 Composer Benjamin Britten
(1913-1976) co-founded the Aldeburgh Festival with Sir Peter Pears and
writer Eric Crozier.
(WSJ, 7/26/99, p.A21)(Econ, 6/6/09, p.84)
1948 Britain nationalized the
London Underground.
(Econ, 1/22/05, p.81)
1948 British carmaker Rover
developed the Jeep-like Land Rover.
(WSJ, 9/16/05, p.W12)
1948 Trevor Wilkinson incorporated
TVR Engineering, a small British carmaker. He left the company in 1962
and in 1965 it was sold to Martin Lilly.
(SFC, 6/16/08, p.B3)
1948 In Burma a conflict for power
began that involved the Karen, a group of people from eastern and
southern Burma.
(WSJ, 7/11/96, p.A10)(WUD, 1994, p.779)
1948 Ceylon became a member of the
British Commonwealth.
(SFC, 6/20/96, p.A8)
1948 Congolese musician Antoine
Kolosay, aka Papa Wendo, wrote his song "Marie-Louise," a eulogy to the
sister of his guitarist.
(Econ, 12/20/03, p.66)
1948 Jaroslav Skala (1916-2007), a
psychiatrist, established the first Czech center for treatment of
people addicted to alcohol as part of a clinic in Prague. He headed the
institution until his retirement in 1982.
(AP, 11/26/07)
1948 Marie Provaznikova, Czech
athlete, became the first to defect from a Communist country during the
Olympics in London.
(WSJ, 4/12/08,
p.R2)(www.sokolnewyork.org/history002.htm)
1948 A 10-nation Western European
Union defense alliance was formed.
(SFC, 6/4/99, p.A14)
1948 Longchamp, a French
leather-goods company, began operations.
(Econ, 2/10/07, SR p.12)
1948 In Germany at the Nuremberg
War Trials deputy chief prosecutor Robert Kempner wrote in a letter
that 15 tons of Nazi gold were rushed out of Berlin before the fall of
the capital in 1945. He said 6 ½ tons were sent to von
Ribbentrop’s castle in Fuschl, Austria, where it was allegedly turned
over to American troops. Two tons were sent to Schleswig-Holstein and
allegedly handed over to British troops. No record of either shipment
was found by researchers of the World Jewish Congress (WJC). Three tons
were sent to the German side of Lake Constantine and then to
Switzerland. The rest was sent to other countries.
(SFC, 8/22/96, p.E4)
1948 In Germany Henri Nannen
(1914-1996) founded the weekly illustrated Zickzack Magazine that later
was renamed Stern.
(SFC, 10/15/96, p.A19)
1948 In India electricity laws
were passed that limited private involvement.
(WSJ, 8/27/96, p.A10)
1948 India established an Atomic
Energy Commission.
(SFC, 5/28/98, p.A9)
1948 Arshad al-Umari served as
prime minister of Iraq.
(WSJ, 12/12/03, p.A1)
1948 In Israel Chaim Herzog
(1918-1997) founded Israel’s military intelligence service.
(SFC, 4/18/97, p.E2)
1948 Soon after independence
Israel began to evacuate Jews from Yemen and other middle Eastern
countries to Israel.
(SFC, 8/28/97, p.C2)
1948 The UN Truce Supervision
Organization (UNTSO) was established to observe the cease-fire
following the war that followed Israel's creation.
(AP, 7/28/06)
1948 Charles Winters, a Miami
businessman, broke US law to supply B-17 bombers to Jews fighting in
Israel’s war of independence. In 1949 he was convicted for violating
the Neutrality Act, for which he was fined $5,000 and sentenced to 18
months in prison. In 2008 Pres. Bush granted Winters a posthumous
pardon.
(SFC, 12/24/08, p.A3)
1948 Italy’s new constitution
outlawed the Fascist Party.
(WSJ, 6/17/04, p.A15)
1948 Japan enacted a Eugenics
Protection Law to "avoid the birth of defective offspring." The law was
rescinded in 1996 after some 844,939 people were sterilized.
(SFC,12/27/97, p.A12)
1948 Occupation authorities gave
Japan's financial markets a Glass-Steagall act, in the form of Article
65 of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1948. Article 65 prohibited
banks from participating in the domestic securities industry, from
holding more than five percent of a securities company, and from
selling equity or underwriting securities.
(www.ny.frb.org/newsevents/speeches/1998/ep980427.html)
1948 Momofuku Ando (1910-2007)
founded Nissin Food Products. In 1958 the company introduced Chicken
Ramen, the first instant noodle.
(SSFC, 1/7/07, p.B6)
1948 Constantine Jurgela (b.1904),
Lithuania-born historian, authored “History of the Lithuanian Nation.”
(http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1635910)
1948 Nepal established diplomatic
relations with the US.
(www.russojapanesewar.com/lewis-3.html)
1948 Alfredo Stroessner was exiled
by Paraguay dictator Higinio Morinigo, who was soon toppled by other
military officers. Stroessner returned.
(SFC, 8/17/06, p.A10)
1948 Russia took over
Czechoslovakia.
(TMC, 1994, p.1948)
1948 In Russia Stalin began
anti-Jewish purges. Jewish activities were put on par with criminal
activities.
(WSJ, 7/18/96, p.E6)
1948 In Russia the Mayak plant in
the southern Urals began processing weapons grade plutonium. By 1997 it
had released more than 5 times the radioactivity of all above-ground
atomic tests put together. Substances such as strontium-90 and
cesium-137 had seeped into waterways and ground water and traces were
detected in the Arctic Ocean over 600 miles away.
(SFC,12/27/97, p.A15)
1948 In South Korea some 14,000
people were killed during a government crackdown on a leftist uprising.
Fighting between leftist guerrillas and government forces took place on
the southern island of Jeju and estimates of those killed ranged from
several to 50 thousand.
(SFC, 8/29/01, p.A9)
1948 The Western European Union
(WEU) was founded as a defensive arm for postwar Europe. It led to the
formation of NATO. In 1992 its tasks were re-defined to cover
humanitarian and rescue missions, peacekeeping and crisis management.
(SFC, 2/17/99, p.A8)
1948-1949 In Costa Rica Jose Figueres Ferrer fought
for democracy. The war arose in a dispute between dictator Rafael Angel
Calderon, who had stolen an election, and the social democratic
partisans of Figueres
(WSJ, 12/12/97, p.A19)
1948-1949 Jordan seized the West Bank and Egypt
occupied the Gaza Strip.
(SFC, 6/24/96, p.A19)(SFC, 1/22/98, p.B12)
1948-1949 Iraqi troops participated in the Arab
League invasion of the new state of Israel. Iraq joined Transjordan and
other Arab states to fight Israel. Most of Iraq’s 120,000 Jews fled to
Israel or the West.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A10)
1948-1957 Louis St. Laurent of the Liberal Party
became the 12th Prime Minister of Canada.
(CFA, ‘96, p.81)
1948-1968 The old city of East Jerusalem was under
Jordanian control. Transjordan was given to a client Arab family, the
Hashenites (led by King Hussein’s grandfather), and was run out of
Mecca by the Saudis.
(WSJ, 4/9/97, p.A14)
1948-1980 Jean Huston (1914-1998) served as a curator
and later chief of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
Ms. Huston was the 2nd woman to graduate from Barnard College (1935)
after writer Zora Neale Hurston.
(SFC, 2/7/98, p.21)
Go to 1949