Historical Events in February 1948

Feb 1 Nine Malay sultanates and two British Straits Settlements (Penang and Malacca) form the Federation of Malaya

Feb 1 Important South African anti-apartheid novel "Cry the Beloved Country" by Alan Paton is published in the US

Feb 2 President Harry Truman urges congress to adopt a civil rights program
Feb 4 Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) declares independence from UK
Feb 4 After winning the men’s downhill, French alpine skier Henri Oreiller takes the combined gold medal at the St. Moritz Winter Olympics; becomes most successful athlete at these Games with a slalom bronze
Feb 5 "Nature of Things" science show premieres on NBC prime time
Feb 5 18 year old Dick Button becomes first American men's figure skating Olympic gold medallist at the St. Moritz Winter Games; first to complete a double axel in competition; retains title in 1952
Feb 5 Gretchen Fraser becomes 1st US woman Olympic slalom champion
Feb 6 1st radio-controlled airplane flown

Feb 6 Bradman retires hurt, 57 in his last Test Cricket innings in Australia

Feb 6 KNXT (now KCBS) TV channel 2 in Los Angeles, CA (CBS) 1st broadcast
Feb 6 World & European champion Barbara Ann Scott becomes the first Canadian to win a women's figure skating Olympic gold medal at the St. Moritz Winter Games
Feb 6 Nils Karlsson wins the 50k cross country gold medal at the St. Moritz Winter Olympics; Swedish skiers win all 3 cross-country events at the Games

Feb 7 Omar Bradley succeeds Dwight Eisenhower as US Army Chief of Staff

Feb 7 After winning Lake Placid (1932) and Garmisch-Partenkirchen (1936) Olympic ski jumping gold medals, Birger Ruud comes out of retirement to win silver in St. Moritz in a Norwegian medal sweep
Feb 8 V Winter Olympic Games close at St Moritz, Switzerland
Feb 8 Canada beats Switzerland 3-0, to regain the Olympic ice hockey title at the St. Moritz Winter Games; forward Walter Halder top scores with 29 points in Canada’s 5th Olympic title
Feb 9 WLWT TV channel 5 in Cincinnati, OH (NBC) begins broadcasting
Feb 10 Greek Gen Markos' guerrilla army bombs Saloniki
Feb 11 Billy Griffith scores cricket century on debut Eng v WI, out for 140
Feb 11 John Costello follows Eamon Da Valera as premier of Ireland
Feb 11 Test cricket debut of Frank Worrell for the West Indies vs. England at Port-of-Spain
Feb 12 1st Lt Nancy Leftenant becomes 1st African American in army nursing corps
Feb 13 West Indian batsman Andy Ganteaume scores 112 for W Indies in his only Test Cricket innings
Feb 13 Ice Pairs Championship at Davos won by Lannoy & Baugniet of BEL
Feb 13 Men's Figure Skating Championship in Davos won by Richard Button USA
Feb 13 Wright Flyer, 1st plane to fly, returns to US from England

Feb 15 Mao Zedong's army occupies Yenan

Feb 16 1st newsreel telecast, "20th Century Fox-Movietone News", shown on NBC
Feb 16 Miranda, famous moon of Uranus, photographed for 1st time
Feb 20 Czechoslovakia's non-communist minister resigns
Feb 21 NASCAR is incorporated.
Feb 22 Arabs bomb attack in Jerusalem, 50 die
Feb 24 Communist Party seizes complete control of Czechoslovakia
Feb 25 Communists seize Czechoslovakia and C Gottwald becomes premier
Feb 29 Stern-group bomb on Cairo-Haifa train kills 27 British soldiers
Feb 29 Lawson Little earns his first tournament victory since his US Navy discharge capturing the St. Petersburg Open by 3 strokes over Bobby Locke; last golfer to win a PGA Tour event on Leap Year Day