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January 1 - Nationalisation of UK railways to form British Railways. Arab militants lay siege to the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. First day of the Italian republican constitution, first day of the New Jersey State Constitution.

January 4 - Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom.

January 5 - Warner Brothers shows the first color newsreel (Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl).

January 17 - Truce between nationalist Indonesian and Dutch troops in Java

January 22 - British foreign secretaryBevin - helds a speach proposing the formation of a Western Union between Britain, France and the Benelux countries to stand up against The Soviet Union. The Treaty of Bruxells is signed March 17 as a consequence, a predecessor to NATO.

January 26 - Teigin poison case - A man masquerading as a doctor poisons 12 of 15 bank employees of the Tokyo branch of Imperial Bank and takes the money; artist Sadamichi Hirasawa is later sentenced for the crime.

January 30 - Indian pacifist and leader Mahatma Gandhi is murdered by Nathuram Godse.

January 30 - 1948 Winter Olympics open in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

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February 1 - Soviet Union begins to jam Voice of America broadcasts.

February 4 - Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth. King George VI becomes King of Ceylon; Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier), hard rock singer and musician born.

February 18 - Eamon de Valera, head of government since 1932, loses power to an opposition coalition. John A. Costello is appointed Taoiseach of Éire (formerly called the Irish Free State) by President O'Kelly.

February 24 - The Communist Party seizes control of Czechoslovakia.

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March 8 - The United States Supreme Court rules that religious instruction in public schools violated the Constitution.

March 10 - Czech foreign minister Jan Masaryk killed in fall from a window of his apartment in Prague. Later communist government rules it "suicide".

March 17 - Hells Angels founded in California

March 20 - First elections in Singapore

March 20 - Renowned Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini makes his television debut, conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in an all-Wagner program.

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April 3 - President Harry Truman signs the Marshall Plan which authorizes $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.

April 3 - Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is played on television in its entirety for the first time, in a concert featuring Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra. The chorus is conducted by Robert Shaw (conductor).

April 7 - The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.

April 7 - Buddhist monastery burns in Shanghai - 20 monks dead

April 9 - Jorge Eliécer Gaitán's assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá (the Bogotazo), and a further ten years of violence in all of Colombia (La violencia).

April 9 - The Deir Yassin massacre takes place in Palestine.

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May 1 - 213 communists executed in Greece.

May 2 - Hour of Charm's last broadcast.

May 4 - Laurence Olivier's film version of Hamlet receives its world premiere in London.

May 11 - Luigi Einaudi becomes President of the Italian Republic.

May 14 - Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel

May 14 - The murder of a three-year-old girl in Blackburn, England leads to the fingerprinting of more than 40,000 men in the city in an attempt to find the murderer.

May 15 - 1948 Arab-Israeli War: Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia attack Israel.

May 16 - Chaim Weizmann is elected as the first President of Israel.

May 18 - The First Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convenes in Nanking.

May 26 - The U.S. Congress passes Public Law 557 which permanently establishes the Civil Air Patrol as the auxiliary of the United States Air Force.

May 30 - A dike along the Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon within minutes. 15 people die and tens of thousands are left homeless.

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June 3 - Palomar Observatory telescope finished in California.

June 16 - Communist guerillas kill three rubber planters in Malaya.

June 16 - Three armed men hijack Cathay Pacific passenger plane Miss Macao and shoot the pilot. The plane crashes - one of 27 survives

June 17 - A Douglas DC-6 carrying United Air Lines Flight 624 crashes near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, killing all 43 people on board.

June 18 - State of Emergency declared in Malaysia for communist insurgency - Malayan Emergency begins.

June 18 - First democratic general election with universal suffrage in Italy

June 20 - U.S.Congress: Commencement of Congressional Recess for the remainder of 1948 after an overtime session closed on this Saturday at 0700 D.C. time (to be shortly interrupted by Truman's recall from Congressional recess for July 20, 1948).

June 21 - The Deutsche Mark becomes official currency of the future Federal Republic of Germany.

June 22- The ship Empire Windrush brings the first group of several hundred black immigrants to Tilbury near London from the Caribbean countries. This would be the start of multiculturalism in Britain.

June 24 - Cold War: The Berlin Blockade begins.

June 24 - The first World Health Assembly of World Health Organisation was held in Geneva.

June 28 - Cominform Resolution marks the beginning of the Informbiro period in Yugoslavia and Soviet/Yugoslav split.

June 28 - David Lean's Oliver Twist (1948 film), based on Charles Dickens's famous novel, premieres in England. It will be banned for three years in the United States because of its alleged anti-Semitism in its depiction of master criminal Fagin, played by Alec Guinness.

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July 5 - British National Health Service Act enacted.

July 13 - The Coptic and Ethiopian Churches reach an agreement leading to the promotion of the Ethiopian church to the rank of an autocephalous Patriarchate. Five bishops are immediately consecrated by the Patriarch of Alexandria, and the successor to Abuna Qerellos IV is granted the power to consecrate new bishops, who are empowered to elect a new Patriarch for their church.

July 15 - Attempted assassination of Palmiro Togliatti, general secretary of the Italian Communist Party, incites number of strikes all over the country.

July 15 - First London, England chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous

July 20 - Cold War: President Harry S. Truman issues the second peacetime military draft in the United States amid increasing tensions with the Soviet Union (the first peacetime draft occurred in 1940 under President Roosevelt).

July 24 - Great oil fire in the harbor of Naantali,
Finland

July 24- Marvin The Martain makes his debut in haredevil Hare

July 26 - U.S. President signs Executive Order 9981, ending racial segregation in the United States Armed Forces.

July 29 - 1948 Summer Olympics begin in London.

July 31 - At Idlewild Field in New York, New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated.

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August 1 - The U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations is founded.

August 12 - USA recognizes the government of South Korea.

August 19 - Soviet troops fire at German demonstrators that protest against the Berlin Blockade.

August 23 - World Council of Churches established.

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September 4 - Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicates for health reasons.

September 5 - Robert Schuman becomes Prime Minister of France.

September 6 - Juliana becomes Queen of the Netherlands.

September 11 - Death of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Founder and first Governor General of Pakistan (b. 1876). Pakistan is in a state of shock as it mourns the departure of the father of the nation. The day is a public holiday nation-wide.

September 12 - Invasion of the State of Hyderabad by the Indian Army on the day after the Pakistani leader Jinnah's death to limit damage control. It lead to genocide of nearly 40,000 Hyderabadi Muslims by the Indian Army and Hindu mobs.

September 17 - Stern Gang assassinates count Folke Bernadotte.

September 29 - Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (1948 film) opens in the United States. It will become the first, and through 2006, the only film version of a Shakespeare play to win Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor. It will bring Olivier his only Best Actor Oscar, though he will receive an honorary one late in life.

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October 11 - Cleveland Indians defeat the Boston Braves to win the World Series, four games to two.

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November 2 - U.S. presidential election, 1948: Harry S. Truman defeats Thomas E. Dewey and Strom Thurmond for the US presidency.

November 12 - In Tokyo, an international war crimes tribunal sentences seven Japanese military and government officials to death, including General Hideki Tojo, for their roles in World War II.

November 15 - Louis Stephen St. Laurent becomes Canada's twelfth prime minister.

November 16 - Operation Magic Carpet to transport Jews from Yemen to Israel begins.

November 17 - Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi divorces his second wife, the former Princess Fawzia of Egypt.

November 20 - Geoffrey B. Orbell rediscovers the Takahē, last seen 50 years ago, near Lake Te Anau, New Zealand.

November 24 - In Venezuela, president Rómulo Betancourt is ousted by a military coup. A military junta takes over the government.

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December 7 - Gary Morris, singer and actor

December 7 - Mads Vinding, Danish bassist

December 10 - United Nations General Assembly adopts Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

December 26 - Last Soviet troops withdraw from North Korea.

December 28 - Member of Muslim Brotherhood assassinates Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmud Fahmi Nokrashi.

December 30 - The play Kiss Me, Kate opens for the first of 1,077 performances.

December 31 - 1948 Arab-Israeli War: Israeli troops drive Egyptians from Negev.

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Literature In the spring, playwright Arthur Miller writes "Death of a Salesman." He completes Act I in less than a day. Act II and the Requiem are completed in the next six weeks. He writes his new play in a small, freshly built studio that he constructed himself on his property in Roxbury, CT.

Empire Windrush immigrant ship arrives in Britain

Civil war in Costa Rica

Civil war in Colombia

Rope (film) released

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Miranda, the innermost moon of Uranus, is discovered by Gerard Kuiper.

Casimir effect discovered by Dutch physicist Hendrik Casimir.

Tunnel of Vielha is opened in Val d'Aran, Spanish Pyrenees.

Fresh Kills, world's largest landfill, opens in Staten Island, New York.

The law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom is founded.

Brandeis University is founded.

Oakridge Transit Centre opened in Vancouver, British Columbia.

a Slovak city's name was changed from Gúta to Kolárovo

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January 2 - Mary Archer, British scientist

January 2 - Deborah Watling, British actress

January 7 - Kenny Loggins, American singer

January 10 - Donald Fagen, American keyboardist

January 10 - Mischa Maisky, Latvian cellist

January 12 - Kenny Allen, English footballer

January 14 - T-Bone Burnett, American record producer and musician

January 14 - Carl Weathers, American football player and actor

January 15 - Ronnie Van Zant, American musician (d. 1977)

January 16 - John Carpenter, American film director and composer

January 16 - Cliff Thorburn, Canadian snooker player

January 17 - Davíð Oddsson, Prime Minister of Iceland

January 19 - Frank McKenna, Premier of New Brunswick and Canadian Ambassador

January 27 - Mikhail Baryshnikov, Russian-born dancer

January 28 - Charles Taylor, Liberian president

January 29 - Marc Singer, Canadian actor

January 31 - Muneo Suzuki, Japanese politician

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February 1 - Elisabeth Sladen, British actress

February 1 - Rick James, American Musician

February 3 - Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo, East Timorean Catholic bishop, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize

February 4 - Alice Cooper, American musician

February 4 - Roedy Green, Canadian programmer and LGBT activist

February 5 - Sven-Göran Eriksson, Swedish Football Manager

February 5 - Christopher Guest, American actor, writer, director, and composer

February 6 - Jack Conway, musician, composer, arranger, guitarist

February 14 - Teller, American magician

February 14 - Jackie Martling, American comedian and radio personality

February 17 - José José, Mexican singer and actor

February 24 - J. Jayalalithaa, Indian politician

February 25 - Danny Denzongpa, Indian actor

February 28 - Steven Chu, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

February 28 - Mike Figgis, American director, writer, and composer

February 28 - Bernadette Peters, American actress and singer

February 28 - Mercedes Ruehl, American actress

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March 1 - Burning Spear, Jamaican singer and musician

March 2 - R. T. Crowley, pioneer of electronic commerce

March 2 - Jeff Kennett, Australian politician

March 2 - Rory Gallagher, Irish Musician

March 9 - Jeffrey Osborne, American singer

March 11 - Dominique Sanda, French actress

March 12 - James Taylor, American musician

March 15 - Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian diplomat (d. 2003)

March 17 - William Gibson, American writer

March 20 - John de Lancie, American actor

March 20 - Bobby Orr, Canadian hockey player

March 22 - Wolf Blitzer, American television journalist

March 22 - Andrew Lloyd Webber, English composer

March 26 - Steven Tyler, American singer (Aerosmith)

March 28 - Dianne Wiest, American actress

March 31 - Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States

March 31 - Rhea Perlman, American actress

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April 1 - Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican musician

April 4 - Derek Thompson, Northern Irish actor

April 13 - Nam Hae-il, 25th Chief of Naval Operations of the Republic of Korea Navy

April 15 - Michael Kamen, American composer (d. 2003)

April 29 - Michael Karoli, German musician (d. 2001)

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May 8 - Felicity Lott, English soprano

May 11 - Shigeru Izumiya, Japanese musician

May 12 - Steve Winwood, English singer

May 14 - Bob Woolmer, British cricket coach

May 15 - Brian Eno, English musician and record producer

May 19 - Grace Jones, Jamaican singer and actress

May 21 - Leo Sayer, English musician

May 26 - Stevie Nicks, American singer and songwriter (Fleetwood Mac)

May 27 - Wubbo de Boer, Dutch civil servant

May 29 - Michael Berkeley, British composer

May 31 - John Bonham, British drummer (Led Zeppelin) (d. 1980)

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June 13 - Garnet Bailey, Canadian hockey player and scout

June 15 - Paul Michiels, Belgian singer-songwriter

June 17 - Dave Concepcion, Venezuelan baseball player

June 19 - Phylicia Rashad, American actress

June 20 - Ludwig Scotty, President of Nauru

June 21 - Lionel Rose, Australian boxer

June 21 - Andrzej Sapkowski, Polish writer

June 22 - Todd Rundgren, American singer and record producer

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July 8 — Raffi, Egyptian-born children's entertainer

July 16 — Pinchas Zukerman, Israeli violinist

July 18 — Hartmut Michel, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

July 21 — Ed Hinton, American sportswriter

July 21 — Cat Stevens, English musician

July 21 — Garry Trudeau, American cartoonist

July 22 - Neil Hardwick, British-born Finnish director and writer

July 23 — John Cushnahan, Northern Irish politician

July 27 — Peggy Fleming, American figure skater

July 28 — Sally Struthers, American actress

July 30 — Jean Reno, French actor

July 31 — Jonathan Dollimore, famous author and professor

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August 2 - Dennis Prager, American radio talk show host and author

August 3 - Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Prime Minister of France

August 13 - Kathleen Battle, American soprano

August 15 - Uschi Digard, American erotic actress and figure model

August 20 - Robert Plant, English singer (Led Zeppelin)

August 24 - Kim Sung-Il, Chief of Staff of the Republic of Korea Air Force

August 30 - Lewis Black, American comedian

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September 4 - Samuel Hui, Hong Kong singer

September 5 - Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Austrian diplomat and politician

September 10 - Bob Lanier, American basketball player

September 10 - Margaret Trudeau, ex-wife of former Prime Minister of Canada

September 13 - Nell Carter, American singer and actress (d. 2003)

September 17 - John Ritter, American actor (d. 2003)

September 22 - Denis Burke, Australian politician

September 24 - Heinz Chur, German composer

September 26 - Olivia Newton-John Singer

September 27 - Michele Dotrice, English actor

September 29 - Bryant Gumbel, American television broadcaster

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October 1 - Sir Peter Blake New Zealand yachtsman (d. 2001)

October 2 - Avery Brooks, American television actor

October 2 - Chris LeDoux, American singer and rodeo star (d. 2005)

October 6 - Gerry Adams, Northern Irish politician

October 7 - Diane Ackerman, American poet and essayist

October 8 - Johnny Ramone, American guitarist (The Ramones) (d. 2004)

October 9 - Jackson Browne, American musician

October 13 - Ted Poe, American politician

October 13 - John Ford Coley, American musician

October 16 - Leo Mazzone, American baseball coach

October 17 - George Wendt, American television actor

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November 1 - Jim Steinman, American songwriter and producer

November 5 - William Daniel Phillips, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

November 10 - Vincent Schiavelli, American actor (d. 2005)

November 14 - Prince Charles of Edinburgh, now Prince of Wales

November 16 - Mutt Lange, Rhodesian-born record producer

November 17 - Howard Dean, American politician

November 20 - John R. Bolton, U.S. Ambassador to the UN

November 20 - Barbara Hendricks, American-born soprano

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December 3 - Ozzy Osbourne, British singer

December 6 - Keke Rosberg, Finnish Formula One Champion

December 6 - JoBeth Williams, American actress

December 10 - Abu Abbas, founder of the Palestine Liberation Front (d. 2004)

December 21 - Samuel L. Jackson, American actor

December 21 - Willi Resetarits, Austrian musician and cabaret artist

December 22 - Noel Edmonds, British TV presenter

December 27 - Gérard Depardieu, French actor

December 28 - Dick Siegel, American songwriter

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Ciaran Carson, Northern Irish poet and novelist

Maurizio Gucci, Italian business man and murder victim (d. 1995)

Edward Rutherfurd, British novelist

Wally Foreman, Australian media icon (d. 2006)

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January 5 - Mary Dimmick Harrison, wife of President Benjamin Harrison (b. 1858)

January 21 - Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Italian composer (b. 1876)

January 30 - Mohandas Gandhi, Indian independence movement leader (assassinated) (b. 1869)

January 30 - Orville Wright, American co-inventor of the airplane (b. 1871)

February 2 - Bevil Rudd, South African athlete (b. 1894)

February 11 - Sergy Eisenstein, Russian film director (b. 1898)

February 23 - John Robert Gregg, Irish-born inventor of shorthand (b. 1866)

March 4 - Antonin Artaud, Playwright, Actor and Director (b. 1896)

March 6 - Ross Lockridge, Jr., American novelist (suicide) (b. 1914)

March 10 - Jan Masaryk, Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia (b. 1886)

March 31 - Egon Erwin Kisch, Austrian journalist and author (b. 1885)

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April 9 - George Carpenter, the 5th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1872)

April 9 - Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian politician (b. 1903)

April 17 - Suzuki Kantaro, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1867)

May 13 - Jorge Del Torino-Cortez Mexican Poet and Luchador (b. 1884)

May 15 - Father Edward J. Flanagan, Irish-born priest and founder of Boys Town (b. 1886)

May 28 - Unity Mitford, British friend of Hitler (b. 1914)

June 25 - William C. Lee, American general (b. 1895)

July 5 - Georges Bernanos, French writer (b. 1888)

July 15 - John J. Pershing, American general (b. 1860)

July 21 - Arshile Gorky, Armenian-born painter (b. 1904)

July 23 - David Wark Griffith, American film director (b. 1875)

July 31 - Lucy Page Mercer Rutherfurd, Franklin Roosevelt's lover (b. 1891)

August 12 - Harry Brearley, English inventor of stainless steel (b. 1871)

August 16 - Babe Ruth, baseball player (b. 1895)

August 27 - Charles Evans Hughes, Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1862)

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September 2 - Sylvanus G. Morley, American scholar and World War I spy (b. 1883)

September 5 - Richard C. Tolman, American mathematical physicist (b. 1881)

September 11 - Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Founder and first Governor General of Pakistan (b. 1876)

September 30 - Edith Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States (b. 1861)

October 1 - Phraya Manopakorn Nititada (b. 1884)

October 24 - Franz Lehár, Hungarian composer (b. 1870)

November 28 - D.D. Sheehan, Irish politician (b. 1873)

December 23 - Japanese war leaders (hanged):

Kenji Doihara, spy (b. 1883)

Koki Hirota, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1878)

Iwane Matsui, general (b. 1878)

Itagaki Seishiro, military officer (b. 1885)

Hideki Tojo, general (b. 1884)

December 31 - Sir Malcolm Campbell, English land and water racer (b. 1885)

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Physics - Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett

Chemistry - Arne Wilhelm Kaurin Tiselius

Medicine - Paul Hermann Müller

Literature - T. S. Eliot

Peace - not awarded