May 1948


The following events occurred in May 1948:

[May 1], 1948 (Saturday)

[May 2], 1948 (Sunday)

[May 3], 1948 (Monday)

[May 4], 1948 (Tuesday)

[May 5], 1948 (Wednesday)

[May 6], 1948 (Thursday)

  • Four-power talks in London on an Austrian peace treaty were adjourned indefinitely after delegates reached an impasse over Yugoslavia's claim for territory in Carinthia and Styria in addition to reparations.
  • The novel The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer was published.

[May 7], 1948 (Friday)

  • The Hague Congress met in the Congress of Europe in The Hague, bringing together about 600 delegates representing a broad political spectrum. Winston Churchill delivered a speech appealing to Europeans to forget "the hatreds of the past" and create a united Europe centered on "the idea of a Charter of Human Rights, guarded by freedom and sustained by law."
  • The United States, Britain and France told the UN Atomic Energy Commission to abandon its efforts to devise an international control plan, blaming the Soviet Union for the impasse.

[May 8], 1948 (Saturday)

[May 9], 1948 (Sunday)

[May 10], 1948 (Monday)

  • Constituent Assembly elections were held in the US-occupied southern zone of Korea with supervision from the United Nations. The National Association for the Rapid Realisation of Korean Independence achieved a plurality by winning 55 of 200 seats.
  • US President Harry S. Truman thwarted an imminent nationwide railroad strike by issuing an executive order taking over the country's railroads and directing the Secretary of the Army to operate them in the name of the US government. "It is essential to the public health and to the public welfare generally that every possible step be taken by the Government to assure to the fullest possible extent continuous and uninterrupted transportation service," Truman explained in a statement. "A strike on our railroads would be a nationwide tragedy, with worldwide repercussions."
  • The Golani Brigade of the Haganah launched Operation Gideon with the objective of capturing Beisan, clearing the surrounding area and blocking one of the possible entry routes for Transjordanian forces.

[May 11], 1948 (Tuesday)

  • Luigi Einaudi was elected President of Italy in a joint session of parliament.
  • Third-party presidential candidate Henry A. Wallace gave a speech before 19,000 people at Madison Square Garden that was also broadcast over radio and television. Wallace used the speech to publicize an open letter to Joseph Stalin featuring a six-point plan to end the Cold War: A general reduction of armaments, stopping all foreign exports of weapons, unrestricted trade between the two countries, freedom of movement between the two countries, free exchange of scientific information and the establishment of an UN agency for international relief.
  • Born: Shigeru Izumiya, poet, folk singer and actor, in Aomori, Japan

[May 12], 1948 (Wednesday)

[May 13], 1948 (Thursday)

[May 14], 1948 (Friday)

[May 15], 1948 (Saturday)

[May 16], 1948 (Sunday)

[May 17], 1948 (Monday)

  • The Dewey–Stassen debate became the first audio-recorded presidential debate to ever take place in the United States.
  • Moscow radio read a message from Joseph Stalin replying to Henry Wallace's open letter, welcoming it as a good basis "for peaceful settlement of the differences between the USSR and the United States."
  • The Soviet Union diplomatically recognized Israel.
  • At the United Nations, US Ambassador Warren Austin presented a resolution to the Security Council ordering Jews and Arabs to observe a truce in Palestine within 36 hours.

[May 18], 1948 (Tuesday)

  • By a 4–4 tie, the US Supreme Court refused to review the cases of 74 Germans for a massacre of unarmed American prisoners during the Battle of the Bulge. The four judges who opposed reviewing the case argued that the court had no jurisdiction over decisions of the international tribunal.
  • The Linfen Campaign ended in Communist victory.
  • Aquila Airways was founded.
  • Born: Mikko Heiniö, composer and musicologist, in Tampere, Finland

[May 19], 1948 (Wednesday)

  • US Secretary of State George Marshall said during a press conference that Stalin's sincerity in promoting understanding between Russia and the United States would be demonstrated by showing co-operation on outstanding world issues before the United Nations and other international agencies. Henry A. Wallace fired back in a speech that night, calling Marshall's answer "not satisfactory. It is an answer calculated to continue the cold war, when we need peace."
  • The Battle of Yad Mordechai began in the Arab-Israeli War.
  • By a vote of 319-58 the US House of Representatives passed the Mundt-Nixon Communist Control Bill, which proposed regulating Communist organizations as well as providing stiff jail terms and fines for subversive activities.
  • Another instance of Czech nationals defecting by plane occurred when eight former members of the Czech Air Force landed at Manston RAF Station in Kent, England in a "borrowed" plane.
  • The Making of an Insurgent, an autobiography of Fiorello H. La Guardia covering the early years of his life, was posthumously published.
  • Born: Grace Jones, musician, model and actress, in Spanish Town, Jamaica
  • Died: Maximilian Lenz, 87, Austrian artist

[May 20], 1948 (Thursday)

[May 21], 1948 (Friday)

[May 22], 1948 (Saturday)

  • By a vote of 8–0, the United Nations Security Council ordered a ceasefire in Palestine within 36 hours from midnight, New York time.
  • Swedish President Juho Kusti Paasikivi dismissed Yrjö Leino as Interior Minister three days after Swedish Parliament passed a vote of censure on Leino, ostensibly for handing over ten Finnish subjects and ten stateless persons over to the Soviets in 1945. Leino had refrained from resigning his post even though he was constitutionally required to do so.
  • Died: Georgios Tsolakoglou, 62, Greek military officer and Prime Minister of the Greek collaborationist government during World War II

[May 23], 1948 (Sunday)

[May 24], 1948 (Monday)

[May 25], 1948 (Tuesday)

[May 26], 1948 (Wednesday)

[May 27], 1948 (Thursday)

  • A general election was held in Panama, in which Domingo Díaz Arosemena was controversially elected president.
  • US President Harry S. Truman ordered an investigation of the Voice of America program after congressmen complained about several things that had been said about US states during the broadcasts. The controversy was over a Spanish-language program produced by NBC and broadcast to Latin America called "Know North America". In one case, the narrator described Nevada as "a land of cowboys, and its two principal cities are in competition. In Las Vegas people get married and in Reno they get divorced." Of Wyoming it was said that "the important thing isn't the people, but the cattle," while a profile of Texas included the remark, "an American writer has made the statement New England was founded by hypocrisy and Texas by sin." NBC said that the script writer had been fired.
  • The Walt Disney film Melody Time was released.

[May 28], 1948 (Friday)

[May 29], 1948 (Saturday)

  • The United Nations Security Council called for a four-week ceasefire in Palestine and threatened to apply sanctions if the parties did not comply within 72 hours.
  • The Yanzhou Campaign began during the Chinese Civil War.
  • An explosion of camphor oil aboard a train in Taiwan killed over 60 people, about 40 of whom burned to death although others drowned jumping from the train into a river below.
  • Israeli forces commenced Operation Pleshet, aimed at capturing Isdud and stopping the northward Egyptian advance.
  • A referendum was held in Australia on a proposed alteration to the Australian Constitution to increase the power of the Commonwealth to make laws with respect to rents and prices. 59.34% rejected the proposal.
  • Henry A. Wallace appeared before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee to testify against the Mundt-Nixon Communist control bill, blasting its sponsors as "warmongers, fearmongers and hatemongers" who would stand in history as "American counterparts of Mussolini and Hitler." Wallace maintained that existing laws were adequate to deal with acts of subversion and swore that his third party would refuse to comply with the measure if it passed.
  • Oklahoma! closed on Broadway after a record 2,202 performances.
  • Born: Michael Berkeley, composer and broadcaster, in London, England
  • Died: May Whitty, 82, English stage and film actress

[May 30], 1948 (Sunday)

  • Parliamentary elections were held in Czechoslovakia. The National Front fielded the only candidates on the ballot and claimed 89.2% of the vote.
  • Pope Pius XII made a radio address appealing to the Hungarian people to continue opposing the anti-clerical measures of their Communist government.
  • The town of Vanport, Oregon was permanently destroyed when a section of the dike holding back the Columbia River collapsed during a flood, killing 15.
  • Died: József Klekl, 73, Slovene Catholic priest and political activist

[May 31], 1948 (Monday)