Top News Stories from 1948

World Events

• Gandhi assassinated in New Delhi by a Hindu militant (Jan. 30).
• Communists seize power in Czechoslovakia (Feb. 23-25). Background: The Cold War
• Organization of American States (OAS) Charter signed at Bogotá, Colombia (April 30).
• Nation of Israel proclaimed; British end Mandate at midnight; Arab armies attack (May 14). Background: Arab-Israeli Wars
• Berlin Airlift begins (June 21); ends May 12, 1949.
• Stalin and Tito break (June 28).
• United States of Indonesia established as Dutch and Indonesians settle conflict (Dec. 27).

U.S. Events

• Truman ends racial segregation in the U.S. military.
• Margaret Sanger founds the International Planned Parenthood Federation.
• Alfred Kinsey publishes Sexual Behavior in the Human Male.

Economics

Sports

World Series

NBA Championship

Stanley Cup

Wimbledon

Kentucky Derby Champion

NCAA Basketball Championship

NCAA Football Champions

Entertainment

Events

• The Hollywood Ten, a group of writers, producers and directors called as witnesses in the House Committee's Investigation of Un-American Activities, are jailed for contempt of Congress when they refuse to disclose if they were or were not Communists.
• Columbia Records introduces the 33 1/3 LP ("long playing") record at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. It allows listeners to enjoy an unprecedented 25 minutes of music per side, compared to the four minutes per side of the standard 78 rpm record.

Movies

• The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Hamlet, I Remember Mama, Johnny Belinda, The Snake Pit

Books

• Albert Camus, The Plague
• Truman Capote, Other Voices, Other Rooms
• A. C. Kinsey, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male
• Norman Mailer, The Naked and the Dead
• Ezra Pound, The Pisan Cantos
• Theodore Roethke, The Lost Sun and Other Poems
• Gore Vidal, The City and the Pillar
• William Carlos Williams, Paterson, Part Two

Science

• George A. Gamow (US) puts forth the "Big Bang" theory to explain the origin of the universe. Background: Astronomy
• Dennis Gabors of England develops the theoretical basis for holography.
• Edwin Land (US) invents the Polaroid Land camera.
• Physicist Richard Feynman and Julian Schwinger (US) develop a theory of quantum electrodynamics.
• Norbert Wiener of MIT coins the term cybernetics.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) is established under UN auspices.

Death

• D.W. Griffith
• Babe Ruth
• Orville Wright

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