Events from the year 1948 in the United States.
Incumbents
Federal government President: Harry S. Truman (D–Missouri) Vice President: vacant Chief Justice: Fred M. Vinson (Kentucky) Speaker of the House of Representatives: Joseph William Martin Jr. (R–Massachusetts) Senate Majority Leader: Wallace H. White Jr. (R–Maine) Congress: 80th
State governments Governors and lieutenant governors Governors
Lieutenant governors
Events
January January 17 – The latest New Jersey State Constitution goes into effect. January 29 – Plane crash at Los Gatos Creek, California kills 4 US citizens and 28 deportees, commemorated in a song by Woody Guthrie.
February February 1 – The Soviet Union begins to jam Voice of America broadcasts. February 21 – The stock car racing organization NASCAR is founded by Bill France Sr. with other drivers meeting at the Streamline Hotel, Daytona Beach, Florida.
March March 8 – McCollum v. Board of Education: The United States Supreme Court rules that religious instruction in public schools violates the U.S. Constitution. March 17 – The Hells Angels motorcycle gang is founded in California. March 20: Renowned Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini makes his television debut, conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in an all-Wagner program. The 20th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Agnes Moorehead and Dick Powell, is held at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Elia Kazan's Gentleman's Agreement receives the most nominations with eight and ties with George Seaton's Miracle on 34th Street in winning the most awards with three, including Best Motion Picture and Best Director for Kazan.
April
April 3: President Harry S. Truman signs the Marshall Plan, which authorizes $15 billion in aid for 16 countries. 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. April 19 – The ABC television network begins broadcasting. April 22 – WTVR begins television services. WTVR is the first TV station south of Washington D.C., giving it the nickname "The South's First Television station". April 30 – 21 American countries sign the Charter of the Organization of American States establishing the Organization of American States (in effect December 1, 1951).
May May 14 – The United States recognizes Israel as a country. May 17 – The Dewey–Stassen debate, the first audio-recorded presidential primary debate, is broadcast on the radio. May 19 – Mundt–Nixon Bill of 1948 passes the House (but soon after fails to reach a Senate vote. In 1950, the Mundt–Ferguson Communist Registration Bill also fails to pass both chambers–but many parts go into the McCarran Internal Security Act, which passed in 1950) 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 27 – Walt Disney Productions' tenth feature film, Melody Time, is released. It is Disney's fifth of six package films to be released through the 1940s. May 30 – A dike along the Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon within minutes: 15 people die and tens of thousands are left homeless.
June
June 3 – The Palomar Observatory telescope is finished in California. June 11 – The first monkey astronaut, Albert I, is launched into space from White Sands, New Mexico. June 12: MCWR renamed Women Marines. Women in the Air Force (WAF) created. June 17 – A Douglas DC-6 carrying United Air Lines Flight 624 crashes near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, killing all 43 people on board. June 20 – The U.S. Congress recesses for the remainder of 1948, after an overtime session closes at 7:00 a.m. D.C. time (to be shortly interrupted by Truman's recall from Congressional recess for July 20, 1948). June 21–25 – 1948 Republican National Convention (Philadelphia) June 24 – The Berlin Blockade begins; in response, the U.S. orders the launch of Operation Vittles, the U.S. action of the Berlin Airlift. June 26 – Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" is published in The New Yorker magazine. June 28 – David Lean's Oliver Twist, based on Charles Dickens's famous novel, premieres in the UK. It is banned for 3 years in the U.S. because of alleged anti-Semitism in depicting master criminal Fagin, played by Alec Guinness.
July
July 12–14 – 1948 Democratic National Convention (Philadelphia) July 17 – Dixiecrat National Convention (Birmingham) 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 23–25 – 1948 Progressive National Convention (Philadelphia) July 26: U.S. President Truman signs Executive Order 9981, ending racial segregation in the United States Armed Forces. Turnip Day Session – Truman exhorts 80th United States Congress to pass legislation July 31: At Idlewild Field in New York City, New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated. Elizabeth Bentley testifies before HUAC
August
August 1 – The U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations is founded. August 3 – In an appearance before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), Whittaker Chambers, a senior editor at Time magazine and a former Communist, accuses Alger Hiss of having been a member of "an underground organization of the United States Communist Party". August 25 – The House Un-American Activities Committee holds its first-ever televised congressional hearing, featuring "Confrontation Day" between Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss.
September September 13 – Margaret Chase Smith of Maine is elected to the U.S. Senate, becoming the first woman to serve in both chambers of the U.S. Congress. September 29 – Laurence Olivier's Hamlet opens in the United States.
October October 1 – National Guard Bureau made a Bureau of the Department of the United States Army and an Agency of the Dept. of the Air Force. October 8 – WMAQ-TV first airs in Chicago. October 11 – The Cleveland Indians defeat the Boston Braves to win the World Series in baseball, 4 games to 2. October 16 – The 57th Street Art Fair, the oldest juried art fair in the American Midwest, is founded in Chicago. October 26 – Killer smog settles into Donora, Pennsylvania.
November November 2 – 1948 United States presidential election: Democratic incumbent Harry S. Truman defeats Republican Thomas E. Dewey and 'Dixiecrat' Strom Thurmond.
December December 4 – The 6.3 Desert Hot Springs earthquake affected Southern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong), causing minor damage and several injuries. December 10 – The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is adopted by the United Nations General Assembly at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris. December 15 – The United States Department of Justice indicts Alger Hiss on two counts of perjury.
Undated The Fresh Kills Landfill, the world's largest, opens in Staten Island, New York. The first of the Kinsey Reports, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, is published. Charles Lazarus starts Children's Supermart, the predecessor of Toys "R" Us, in Washington, D.C. as a baby-furniture retailer.
Ongoing Cold War (1947–1991) Second Red Scare (1947–1957) Marshall Plan (1948–1951)
Births
January
January 1 – Joe Petagno, American illustrator January 2 Joyce Wadler, American journalist and author Judith Miller, American journalist and author January 5 – Ted Lange, African-American actor, director (The Love Boat) January 7 – Kenny Loggins, American rock singer January 10 Donald Fagen, American rock keyboardist (Steely Dan) Teresa Graves, African-American actress and comedian (Get Christie Love) (d. 2002) January 11 – Larry Harvey, American co-founder of Burning Man (d. 2018) January 12 – Khalid Muhammad, black supremacist (d. 2001) January 14 T Bone Burnett, American record producer, musician John Lescroart, American author and screenwriter Carl Weathers, African-American actor, football player (Rocky IV, Action Jackson) (d. 2024) January 15 – Ronnie Van Zant, American rock musician (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (d. 1977) January 16 – John Carpenter, American film director, producer, screenwriter and composer January 18 – M. C. Gainey, American actor January 20 – Jerry L. Ross, United States Air Force officer, engineer and NASA astronaut January 22 – Gilbert Levine, American conductor January 23 Katharine Holabird, American writer Anita Pointer, American singer-songwriter (The Pointer Sisters) (d. 2022) January 24 – Elliott Abrams, American attorney and conservative policy analyst January 28 – Charles Strum, American journalist and author (d. 2021) January 31 – Paul Jabara, American actor, singer and songwriter (d. 1992)
February
February 1 – Rick James, African-American urban singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer (d. 2004) February 2 – Ina Garten, American cooking author February 4 Alice Cooper, American hard rock singer and musician Rod Grams, American politician (d. 2013) February 5 Christopher Guest, American actor, screenwriter, director and composer Herbie Herbert, American music manager (d. 2021) Barbara Hershey, American actress (Beaches) February 7 – Jimmy Greenspoon, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player (Three Dog Night) (d. 2015) February 8 – Dan Seals, American musician (d. 2009) February 9 – Greg Stafford, American game designer, publisher (d. 2018) February 10 – John Gamble, American baseball player (d. 2022) February 12 – Raymond Kurzweil, American inventor, author February 13 – Kitten Natividad, Mexican-American film actress (d. 2022) February 14 Jackie Martling, American comedian, radio personality Raymond Teller, American illusionist and magician, one half of the duo Penn & Teller February 15 Ron Cey, American baseball player and sportscaster Larry DiTillio, American film and TV series writer (d. 2019) Tino Insana, American actor, producer, writer, voice artist, and comedian (d. 2017) February 17 – Rick Majerus, basketball player and coach (d. 2012) February 19 – Raúl Grijalva, American politician (d. 2025) February 20 – Jennifer O'Neill, American model, actress February 22 John Ashton, American actor Leslie H. Sabo Jr., American Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1970) February 28 Steven Chu, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate Mike Figgis, American director, screenwriter and composer Bernadette Peters, American actress, singer Mercedes Ruehl, American actress February 29 Ken Foree, American actor Henry Small, American-born Canadian singer
March
March 2 – R. T. Crowley, American pioneer of electronic commerce March 3 – Steve Wilhite, American computer scientist (d. 2022) March 4 James Ellroy, American writer Tom Grieve, American baseball player Leron Lee, American baseball player Brian Cummings, American voice actor March 5 – Leslie Marmon Silko, American author of Laguna Pueblo descent March 6 – Anna Maria Horsford, African-American actress March 9 – Jeffrey Osborne, African-American singer ("On the Wings of Love") March 12 Kent Conrad, American politician James Taylor, American singer, songwriter ("Fire and Rain") March 14 Tom Coburn, American politician Billy Crystal, American actor, comedian March 17 – William Gibson, American/Canadian writer March 20 – John de Lancie, American actor March 22 – Wolf Blitzer, American television journalist (CNN) March 25 Michael F. Adams, American political staffer and academic administrator (d. 2026) Bonnie Bedelia, American actress March 26 – Steven Tyler, American rock singer, songwriter (Aerosmith) March 28 Jayne Ann Krentz, American novelist Dianne Wiest, American actress March 29