Important Events in 1948
- Jan 12 Mahatma Gandhi begins his final fast
- Jan 30 Mahatma Gandhi assassinated by Hindu extremist Nathuram Godse
- Mar 8 US Supreme Court rules in McCollum v. Board of Education that religious instruction in public schools is unconstitutional
- Apr 3 US President Harry Truman signs Marshall Plan ($5B aid to 16 European countries)
- Apr 7 World Health Organization formed by the United Nations
- Apr 16 Organization for European Economic Cooperation (EEC) forms in Paris
- May 14 Israel declares independence from British administration
- May 26 South Africa elects a nationalist government under D. F. Malan with an apartheid policy
- Jun 21 Lord Mountbatten resigns as Governor General of India (formerly the last Viceroy)
- Jul 8 500th anniversary of the Russian Orthodox Church celebrated in Moscow
- Oct 6 The 1948 Ashgabat earthquake kills 100,000 in the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic
- Oct 6 Paleoanthropologist Mary Leakey finds the first partial fossil skull of Proconsul africanus, an ancestor of apes and humans on Rusinga Island, Kenya
- Oct 21 UN rejects Russian proposal to destroy atomic weapons
- Nov 15 Mackenzie King retires after 22 years as Prime Minister of Canada
More Historical Events
1948 in Film & TV
- Jul 30 Professional wrestling premieres on prime-time network TV (DuMont)
- Aug 10 ABC enters network TV at 7 PM (WJZ, NY)
- Sep 29 "Hamlet" directed by and starring Laurence Olivier's opens at Park Avenue Cinema (Best Picture 1949)
1948 in Music
- Mar 27 Just 11 days after being released from prison, Billie Holiday plays in front of a sold-out crowd at Carnegie Hall
1948 in Sport
- May 16 First chess world championship since WWII; Russian player Mikhail Botvinnik wins a 5-player tournament to begin 20-year Russian domination
- Aug 6 Dutch super athlete Fanny Blankers-Koen wins London Olympics 200m in 24.4 to become 1st women to claim 3 individual track & field gold at a Games, having already won 100m & 80m hurdles
Did You Know?
Alice Cooper
Johnny Ramone
Kate Jackson
Ozzy Osbourne
Phil Hartman
Robert Allen LitchfieldFamous People in 1948
Harry Truman
Time Person
of the Year- Jane Wyman
Oscar for Best Actress - Laurence Olivier
Oscar for Best Actor
Harry Truman
Jane Wyman
Laurence OlivierWorld Leaders in 1948
- Clement Attlee
British Prime Minister - Harry Truman
33rd US President - Joseph Stalin
Soviet General Secretary
Clement Attlee
Joseph StalinFamous Weddings in 1948
- Feb 16 Baseball player and manager Leo Durocher (41) weds actress Laraine Day (27) in Santa Monica, California
- Mar 5 Actor Eli Wallach marries actress Anne Jackson
- Mar 28 Musician Nat King Cole (29) weds jazz singer Maria Hawkins (25) at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York
Famous Divorces in 1948
- Mar 22 Musician Nat King Cole (29) divorces dancer Nadine Robinson after 11 years of marriage
More Weddings & Divorces
Babe Ruth
Hideki Tojo
Mahatma Gandhi
Manuel Roxas
Mohammed Ali Jinnah
Witold Pilecki1948 in Articles and Photos
Israeli Declaration of Independence
David Ben-Gurion, who became Israel's first prime minister shortly after, declares independence beneath a picture of Theodor Herzl
May 14, 1948Ship that Changed the Face of Britain
Britain was on its knees after the Second World War, its economy and infrastructure in tatters. For help the Mother Country turned to the Commonwealth.
May 27, 1948The Berlin Candy Bombers
Children in Berlin await US aircraft dropping candy over the city during the Berlin Airlift in 1948
June 24, 1948
