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Events of 1948

January

January
wk	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
1				1	2	3	4
2	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
3	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
4	19	20	21	22	23	24	25
5	26	27	28	29	30	31

• 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 secretary Bevin proposes the formation of a Western Union between Britain, France and the Benelux countries to stand up against the Soviet Union. The Treaty of Brussels 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.

February

February
wk	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
5							1
6	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
7	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
8	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
9	23	24	25	26	27	28	29

• 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.
• 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 25 - The Communist Party seizes control of Czechoslovakia. This day was celebrated by the regime as the "Victorious February" (Czech:"Vítězný únor"; Slovak:"Víťazný Február") until November 1989.

March

March
wk	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
10	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
11	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
12	15	16	17	18	19	20	21
13	22	23	24	25	26	27	28
14	29	30	31

• March 8 - The United States Supreme Court rules that religious instruction in public schools did not violate the U.S. 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.
  • Renowned Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini makes his television debut, conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in an all-Wagner program.

April

April
wk	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
14				1	2	3	4
15	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
16	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
17	19	20	21	22	23	24	25
18	26	27	28	29	30

• April 1 - Scientists Ralph Alpher and George Gamow publish the Alpher-Bethe-Gamow theory about the big bang.
• April 3
  • President Harry Truman signs the Marshall Plan which authorizes $5 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 (conductor).
• April 7
  • The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.
  • 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).
  • The Deir Yassin massacre takes place in Palestine.
• April 24 - End of the Costa Rican Civil War

May

May
wk	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
18						1	2
19	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
20	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
21	17	18	19	20	21	22	23
22	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
23	31

• 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 Independence of Israel.
  • 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.

June

June
wk	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
23		1	2	3	4	5	6
24	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
25	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
26	21	22	23	24	25	26	27
27	28	29	30

• June 3 - Palomar Observatory telescope finished in California.
• June 16
  • Communist guerillas kill three rubber planters in Malaya.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • The first World Health Assembly of World Health Organisation was held in Geneva.
• June 25 - 3 US-Code Titles (USC 3;18;28) were "fraudulently" claimed to have passed CONGRESS - Truman signed at 12:23 PM with Senate President pro tempore (stand-in) and House Speaker Public law Nr 772 et al, while CONGRESS was in recess for 5 days. These ACTS, invalid at best, keep supplying unjustified powers to the U.S. government for 59 years. Legal challenges are blocked by activist Federal Judges firmly instructed at Fed.Judge-School to deny any factual review of this fraud in a Court of law.
• June 26 - William Shockley filed the original patent for the grown junction transistor, the first bipolar junction transistor.
• June 28
  • Cominform Resolution marks the beginning of the Informbiro period in Yugoslavia and Soviet/Yugoslav split.
  • David Lean's Oliver Twist, based on Charles Dickens's famous novel, premieres in the UK. It will be banned for 3 years in the U.S. because of alleged anti-Semitism in depicting master criminal Fagin, played by Alec Guinness.
  • Earthquake hits Fukui, Japan killing 3,895.

• June - The 57th Street Art Fair, the oldest juried art fair in the American midwest, is founded.

July

July
wk	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
27				1	2	3	4
28	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
29	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
30	19	20	21	22	23	24	25
31	26	27	28	29	30	31

• 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.
  • First London 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 Martian makes his debut in the Bugs Bunny cartoon Haredevil Hare.
• July 26 - U.S. President signs Executive Order 9981, ending racial segregation in the United States Armed Forces.
• July 28 - Around 200 die in explosion at a chemical plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany.
• July 29 - 1948 Summer Olympics begin in London, the first Summer Olympics since World War II.
• July 31 - At Idlewild Field in New York, New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated.

August

August
wk	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
31							1
32	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
33	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
34	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
35	23	24	25	26	27	28	29
36	30	31

• August 1 - The U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations is founded.
• August 2 - Dennis Prager is born.
• August 14 - Independence Day of Pakistan.
• August 10 - August 23 - Herrenchiemsee Convent prepares the draft for the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany.
• August 15 - Establishment of the Republic of Korea.Independence Day Of India.
• August 16 - Babe Ruth Passed Away
• August 19 - Soviet troops fire at German demonstrators that protest against the Berlin Blockade.^{[citation needed]}
• August 23 - World Council of Churches established.

September

September
wk	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
36			1	2	3	4	5
37	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
38	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
39	20	21	22	23	24	25	26
40	27	28	29	30

• 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 assist damage control. Operation Polo led to the deaths of an estimated tens of thousands of Hyderabadi Muslims.
• September 17 - Stern Gang assassinates count Folke Bernadotte.
• September 29 - Laurence Olivier's Hamlet opens in the United States. It will become the first, and through 2007, 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.

October

October
wk	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
40					1	2	3
41	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
42	11	12	13	14	15	16	17
43	18	19	20	21	22	23	24
44	25	26	27	28	29	30	31

• October 11 - Cleveland Indians defeat the Boston Braves to win the World Series, four games to two.
• October 26 - Killer smog settles into Donora, Pennsylvania.

November

November
wk	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
45	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
46	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
47	15	16	17	18	19	20	21
48	22	23	24	25	26	27	28
49	29	30

• November 2 - United States 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.

December

December
wk	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
49			1	2	3	4	5
50	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
51	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
52	20	21	22	23	24	25	26
53	27	28	29	30	31

• 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.

Undated

• Brandeis University is founded.
• Casimir effect discovered by Dutch physicist Hendrik Casimir.
• Fresh Kills, world's largest landfill, opens in Staten Island, New York.
• 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.
• The law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom is founded.
• Miranda, the innermost moon of Uranus, is discovered by Gerard Kuiper.
• Oakridge Transit Centre opened in Vancouver, British Columbia.
• The Slovak city Gúta was renamed to Kolárovo.
• Tunnel of Vielha is opened in Val d'Aran, Spanish Pyrenees.
• The Caspian Tiger became extinct in Kazakhstan by this date.

Ongoing

• First Indochina War

Births

1948 in other calendars

Gregorian calendar	1948 MCMXLVIII
Ab urbe condita	2701
Armenian calendar	1397 ԹՎ ՌՅՂԷ
Bahá'í calendar	104 – 105
Buddhist calendar	2492
Chinese calendar	4584/4644-11-21 (丁亥年十一月廿一日) — to — 4585/4645-12-2 (戊子年十二月初二日)
Coptic calendar	1664 – 1665
Ethiopian calendar	1940 – 1941
Hebrew calendar	5708 – 5709
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2003 – 2004
- Shaka Samvat	1870 – 1871
- Kali Yuga	5049 – 5050
Holocene calendar	11948
Iranian calendar	1326 – 1327
Islamic calendar	1367 – 1368
Japanese calendar	Shōwa 23 (昭?年)
- Imperial Year	Kōki 2608 (皇?年)
Julian calendar	1993
Korean calendar	4281
Thai solar calendar	2491
v • d • e

January-February

• January 2
  • Mary Archer, British scientist
  • Deborah Watling, British actress
• January 5 - Wally Foreman, Australian media icon (d. 2006)
• January 7 - Kenny Loggins, American singer
• January 10
  • Donald Fagen, American keyboardist
  • Mischa Maisky, Latvian cellist
• January 12 - Kenny Allen, English footballer
  
• January 14
  • Alan Henry DeBoer, American discjockey WIMA (AM)
  • T-Bone Burnett, American record producer and musician
  • 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
  • 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
• February 1
  • Elisabeth Sladen, British actress
  • Rick James, American musician (d. 2004)
• February 3 - Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo, East Timorean Catholic bishop, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
• February 4
  • Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier), American hard rock singer and musician
  • Roedy Green, Canadian programmer and LGBT activist
• February 5
  • Sven-Göran Eriksson, Swedish football manager
  • Christopher Guest, American actor, writer, director, and composer
• February 6 - Jack Conway, musician, composer, arranger, guitarist
• February 7 - Tony Iommi, English guitarist (Black Sabbath)
• February 12 - Raymond Kurzweil, American inventor and author
• February 14
  • Teller, American magician
  • Jackie Martling, American comedian and radio personality
• February 17 - José José, Mexican singer and actor
• February 24
  • J. Jayalalithaa, Indian politician
  • Walter Smith, Scottish football manager
• February 25 - Danny Denzongpa, Indian actor
• February 28
  • Steven Chu, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • Mike Figgis, American director, writer, and composer
  • Bernadette Peters, American actress and singer
  • Mercedes Ruehl, American actress

March-April

• March 1 - Burning Spear, Jamaican singer and musician
• March 2
  • R. T. Crowley, pioneer of electronic commerce
  • Rory Gallagher, Irish musician
  • Jeff Kennett, Australian politician
• March 4
  • Lindy Chamberlain, Australian author
  • James Ellroy, American writer
  • Tom Grieve, American baseball player
  • Leron Lee, American baseball player
  • Chris Squire, British bassist
• Shakin' Stevens, Welsh singer
• 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
  • Bobby Orr, Canadian hockey player
• March 22
  • Wolf Blitzer, American television journalist
  • 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
  • Rhea Perlman, American actress
• April 1 - Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican musician
• April 4 - Derek Thompson, Northern Irish actor
• April 12 - Jeremy Beadle, TV presenter
• 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 27 - Kate Pierson, American singer (The B-52's)
• April 29 - Michael Karoli, German musician (d. 2001)

May-June

• May 6 - Richard Bryant, African American pastor
• May 8
  • Felicity Lott, English soprano
  • Stephen Stohn, Canadian television producer (Degrassi)
• May 11 - Shigeru Izumiya, Japanese musician
• May 12
  • Steve Winwood, English singer
  • Bob Carolgees, British comedy entertainer
• 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)
• June 2 - Jerry Mathers, American actor
• June 13 - Garnet Bailey, Canadian hockey player and scout (d. 2001)
• June 15 - Paul Michiels, Belgian singer-songwriter
• June 17 - Dave Concepcion, Venezuelan baseball player
• June 19
  • Phylicia Rashad, American actress
  • Nick Drake, English musician (d. 1974)
• June 20 - Ludwig Scotty, President of Nauru
• June 21
  • Lionel Rose, Australian boxer
  • Andrzej Sapkowski, Polish writer
  • Don Airey, English musician (Deep Purple)
• June 22 - Todd Rundgren, American singer and record producer
• June 29 - Ian Paice, English drummer (Deep Purple, Whitesnake)
• June 30 - Vladimir Yakunin, Russian official, head of state-run Russian Railways company

July-August

• July 3 - Tarmo Koivisto, Finnish comics artist
• July 8 - Raffi, Egyptian-born children's entertainer
• July 12 - Richard Simmons, American television personality and fitness expert
• July 15 - Richard Franklin, Australian film director (d. 2007)
• July 16 - Pinchas Zukerman, Israeli violinist
• July 18 - Hartmut Michel, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• July 20 - Muse Watson, American actor
• July 21
  • Ed Hinton, American sportswriter
  • Cat Stevens, English musician
  • Garry Trudeau, American cartoonist
  • Mikhail Zadornov, Russian stand-up comedian and writer
• July 22
  • Neil Hardwick, British-born Finnish director and writer
  • Susan Eloise Hinton, American author
  • Don Henley, American musician
• July 23 - John Cushnahan, Northern Irish politician
• July 25 - Steve Goodman, a Grammy Award-winning folk music singer and songwriter from Chicago, United States. (d. 1984)
• 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
• August 2
  • Dennis Prager, American radio talk show host and author
  • Bob Rae, Canadian politician
• 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

September-October

• September 1 - James Rebhorn, American actor
• September 4 - Samuel Hui, Hong Kong singer
• September 5 - Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Austrian diplomat and politician
• September 10
  • Bob Lanier, American basketball player
  • 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 19 - Nadezhda Tkachenko, former Soviet pentathlete
• September 22 - Denis Burke, Australian politician
• September 24
  • Heinz Chur, German composer
  • Phil Hartman, Canadian comedian (d. 1998)
• September 25 - Vladimir Yevtushenkov, a Russian oligarch
• September 26 - Olivia Newton-John, Australian singer and actress
• September 27 - Michele Dotrice, English actor
• September 29
  • Bryant Gumbel, American television broadcaster
  • Theo Jörgensmann, German jazz clarinetist
• October 1 - Sir Peter Blake, New Zealand yachtsman (d. 2001)
• October 2
  • Avery Brooks, American television actor
  • 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
  • Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Pakistani musician
  • Ted Poe, American politician
  • John Ford Coley, American musician
• October 16 - Leo Mazzone, American baseball coach
• October 17 - George Wendt, American television actor
• October 18 - Hans Köchler, Austrian philosopher

November-December

• November 3 - Lulu (singer), Scottish singer
• 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, Former U.S. Ambassador to the UN
  • Barbara Hendricks, American-born soprano
• December 2 - T. Coraghessan Boyle, American writer
• December 3 - Ozzy Osbourne, British singer
• December 6
  • Keke Rosberg, Finnish Formula One Champion
  • JoBeth Williams, American actress
• December 7
  • Gary Morris, singer and actor
  • Mads Vinding, Danish bassist
• December 10 - Abu Abbas, founder of the Palestine Liberation Front (d. 2004)
• December 14 - Lester Bangs, American music journalist
• December 18 - Bill Nelson, (born William Nelson) is a British guitarist, songwriter, painter and experimental musician.
• December 21
  • Samuel L. Jackson, American actor
  • Willi Resetarits, Austrian musician and cabaret artist
• December 22
  • Lynne Thigpen, American actress (d. 2003)
  • Noel Edmonds, British TV presenter
• December 27 - Gérard Depardieu, French actor
• December 28 - Dick Siegel, American songwriter
• date unknown
  • Ciarán Carson, Northern Irish poet and novelist
  • Maurizio Gucci, Italian businessman and murder victim (d. 1995)
  • Johnny Nicholas, American blues musician
  • Edward Rutherfurd, British novelist
  • Kenny Troutt, billionaire businessman

Deaths

January - March

• January 5 - Mary Dimmick Harrison, wife of President Benjamin Harrison (b. 1858)
• January 21 - Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Italian composer (b. 1876)
• January 30
  • Mahatma Gandhi, Indian independence movement leader (assassinated) (b. 1869)
  • 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 24 - Nikolai Berdyaev, Russian religious and political philosopher (b.1874)
• March 31 - Egon Erwin Kisch, Austrian journalist and author (b. 1885)

April - June

• April 9
  • George Carpenter, 5th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1872)
  • Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian politician (b. 1903)
• April 15 - Manuel Roxas, President of the Philippines (b. 1892)
• April 17 - Suzuki Kantaro, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1867)
• 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 - September

• July 2 - Baba Sawan Singh, Known as "The Great Master," was an Indian Saint (b. July 27, 1858)
• July 5 - Georges Bernanos, French writer (b. 1888)
• July 15 - John J. Pershing, American general (b. 1860)
• July 18 - May Moss, Australian women's rights activist (b. April 27, 1869)
• 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)
• 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 - December

• October 1 - Phraya Manopakorn Nititada (b. 1884)
• October 12- Susan Sutherland Isaacs, educational psychologist and psychoanalyst (b.1885).
• 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)

Nobel prizes

• Physics - Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett
• Chemistry - Arne Wilhelm Kaurin Tiselius
• Medicine - Paul Hermann Müller
• Literature - T. S. Eliot
• Peace - not awarded