December 1948 in History

Events in History

Dec 12 Malayan Emergency: Batang Kali Massacre - 14 members of the Scots Guards stationed in Malaysia allegedly massacre 24 unarmed civilians and set fire to the village.
Dec 15 Former state department official Alger Hiss indicted in NYC for perjury
Dec 18 Indonesia begins its 2nd political election
Dec 19 2nd political action of Java/Sumatra
Dec 19 8th largest snowfall in NYC history (15.3")
Dec 20 Second Chamber accept 2nd Police Action in Indonesia
Dec 21 O'Neil Place in the Bronx erroneously renamed O'Neill Place
Dec 21 State of Eire (formerly Irish Free State) declares its independence
Dec 24 First US completely solar heated house is occupied (Dover, Mass)
Dec 24 Greek government disbands due to state of war, press censorship
Dec 26 Hungarian cardinal József Mindszenty arrested
Dec 28 IDF crosses Egyptian border
Dec 28 Middel-Java as a whole in Dutch hands
Dec 28 US announced a study to launch an Earth satellite
Dec 28 The DC-3 airliner NC16002 disappears 50 miles south of Miami, Florida.
Dec 29 Canada recognizes Israel
Dec 29 US State Department announces work on placing objects into Earth orbit
Dec 31 Dutch police actions up Java gone on strike

Dec 1 Tom Wright, English bishop and theologian
Dec 2 T. C. Boyle, American novelist (World's End), born in Peekskill, New York
Dec 4 Lin Onus, Australian Aboriginal artist (Michael and I are just slipping down to the pub for a minute), born in Melbourne, Victoria (d. 1996)
Dec 6 Don Nickles, American politician (Sen-R-Okla, 1981-2005), born in Ponca City, Oklahoma

Dec 6 Yoshihide Suga, Japanese politician, Prime Minister of Japan (2020-), born in Yuzawa, Japan

Dec 8 Jimmy Lai [Lai Chee-Ying], Chinese businessman (founder of Giordano), born in Guangzhou, China

Dec 8 Roscoe Nance, American sportswriter (USA Today; Mississippi’s first African American sportswriter at mainstream newspaper), born in Enterprise, Alabama (d. 2020)
Dec 10 Abu Abbas [Muhammad Zaidan], Palestinian founder of the Palestine Liberation Front (PLO), born in Yarmouk Camp (d. 2004)
Dec 13 Brian Wilson, British Labour politician, born in Dunoon, Scotland
Dec 14 Kim Beazley, Australian politician (33rd Governor of Western Australia), born in Perth, Western Australia
Dec 18 Edmund "Ed" Kemper, American serial killer, born in Burbank, California
Dec 20 Abdulrazak Gurnah, Zanzibar born British writer (2021 Nobel Prize for Literature), born in Zanzibar
Dec 21 Willem AFG Vermeend, Dutch economist & politician, born in Zuilen, Netherlands
Dec 21 Thierry Mugler, French fashion designer, born in Strasbourg, France
Dec 25 Alia al Hussein, of Jordan (d. 1977)
Dec 31 Viktor Mikhailovich Afanasieyv, Russian cosmonaut (Soyuz TM-11, TM-18)

Dec 4 Karl Bonhoeffer, German psychiatrist/neurologist, dies
Dec 18 Janet Fay, American murder victim of the Lonely Hearts Killers (later filmed as "The Honeymoon Killers"), hammered to death at 66
Dec 21 Seishiro Itagaki, Japanese General/min of War, hanged

Dec 23 Hideki Tojo, Japanese Prime Minister during WW II (1941-44), hanged for war crimes at 64