Directory

1947 CE

The Partition of India creates India and Pakistan, sparking mass migrations, violence, and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948 over Kashmir; the Roswell incident and the 1947 flying disc craze fuel UFO speculation; the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine escalates after the UN Partition Plan for Palestine; the February 28 incident in Taiwan is violently suppressed, killing 18,000–28,000 and leading to decades of martial law; the Marshall Plan offers U.S. aid to rebuild Europe and counter Soviet influence; the Truman Doctrine commits the U.S. to support nations threatened by communism, marking the start of the Cold War; the Texas City disaster kills at least 581 people in a massive explosion; the Hachikō Line derailment kills 184 in Japan; and Jackie Robinson breaks Major League Baseball’s color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • February 12 – In Burma, the Panglong Agreement is reached between the Burmese government under its leader, General Aung San, and the Shan, Kachin, and Chin ethnic peoples at the Panglong Conference. U Aung Zan Wai, Pe Khin, Major Aung, Sir Maung Gyi, Sein Mya Maung and Myoma U Than Kywe are among the negotiators.source
  • February 25 – The German state of Prussia is officially abolished, by the Allied Control Council.source
  • April 7 – The Arab Ba'ath Party is established by merger in Damascus.source
  • May 11 – The Kingdom of Laos is officially formed, but is still a French protectorate.source
  • May 22 – To fight the spread of Communism, President Harry S. Truman signs an Act of Congress that implements the Truman Doctrine. This Act grants $400 million in military and economic aid to Turkey and Greece.source
  • May 31 – Alcide de Gasperi forms a new government in Italy, the first postwar Italian government not to include members of the Italian Communist Party.source
  • June 21 – The Parliament of Canada votes unanimously to pass several laws regarding displaced foreign refugees.source
  • June 23 – The United States Senate follows the House of Representatives, in overriding President Harry S. Truman's veto of the Taft–Hartley Act.source
  • July 6 – 1947 Sylhet referendum: A referendum is held in Sylhet to decide its fate in the Partition of India.source
  • July 18 – President Harry S. Truman signs the Presidential Succession Act into law, which places the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate next in the line of succession, after the vice president.source
  • July 26 – Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act of 1947 into law to create the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council.source
  • August 14 – The Muslim majority regions formed by the Partition of India gain independence from the British Empire as the Dominion of Pakistan. While the transition is officially at midnight on this day, Pakistan celebrates its independence on August 14, compared with India on the 15th, because the Pakistan Standard Time is 30 minutes behind the standard time of India.source
  • August 14 – Muhammad Ali Jinnah becomes the first governor-general of Pakistan. Liaquat Ali Khan takes office as the first prime minister of Pakistan.source
  • August 15 – The greater Indian subcontinent, with a mixed population of Hindu, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Zoroasters, Jews, Christians, Muslims and others formed by the Partition of India, gains independence from the British Empire, as the Dominion of India. 190 years British rule (1757–1947) in India comes to an end.source
  • August 15 – Jawaharlal Nehru takes office as the first prime minister of India, taking his oath from Louis Mountbatten, Viscount Mountbatten of Burma, Governor-General of India (but no longer viceroy).source
  • August 31 – In Hungary, communists fail to gain a majority in the 1947 Hungarian parliamentary election (despite widespread fraud) and turn to direct action as part of the country's transition to Communism (1944–1949).source
  • September 30 – Pakistan and Yemen join the United Nations.source
  • October 20 – A war begins in Kashmir, along the border between India and Pakistan, initiating the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948. Also, Pakistan establishes diplomatic relations with the United States of America.source
  • October 24 – The first Azad Kashmir Government is established within Pakistan, headed by Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan as its first President supported by the government of Pakistan.source
  • November 25 – The New Zealand Parliament ratifies the Statute of Westminster, and thus becomes independent of legislative control by the Parliament of the United Kingdom.source
  • November 29 – The United Nations General Assembly votes for the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine which will partition Mandatory Palestine between Arab and Jewish regions, resulting in the creation of the State of Israel.source
  • December 9 – French labor unions call off the general strike, and re-commence negotiations with the French government.source
  • December 22 – The Italian Constituent Assembly votes to accept the new Constitution of Italy.source
  • December 30 – King Michael I of Romania is forced to abdicate and the Romanian monarchy is abolished.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 11 – The Afghan tribal revolts of 1944–1947 conclude with the Surrender at Datta Khel.source
  • February 28 – In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down, with large loss of civilian lives.source
  • March 12 – The Cold War begins: The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed, to help stem the spread of Communism.source
  • March 15 – Hindus and Muslims clash in Punjab.source
  • March 29 – A rebellion against French rule erupts in Madagascar.source
  • April 1 – The 1947 Royal New Zealand Navy mutinies begin.source
  • May 1 – Portella della Ginestra massacre: The Salvatore Giuliano gang of Sicilian separatists opens fire on a Labour Day parade at Portella della Ginestra, Sicily, killing 11 people and wounding 27.source
  • June 15 – The Estado Novo in Portugal orders 11 military officers and 19 university professors, who are accused of revolutionary activity, to resign.source
  • July 18 – Following wide media and UNSCOP coverage, the Exodus is captured by British troops, and refused entry into Palestine at the port of Haifa.source
  • July 19 – Burmese nationalist Aung San, and six members of his newly formed cabinet, are assassinated during a cabinet meeting.source
  • August 5 – The Netherlands ends Operation Product, the first of its major military Police Actions in Indonesia.source
  • September 18 – In the United States:source
  • The Department of War becomes the Department of the Army, a branch of the new Department of Defense.source
  • November 9 – Junagadh is invaded by the Indian army.source
  • November 10 – The arrest of four steel workers in Marseille begins a French communist riot, that also spreads to Paris.source
  • November 16 – Great Britain begins withdrawing its troops from Palestine.source
  • November 20 – Paul Ramadier resigns as Prime Minister of France. He is succeeded by Robert Schuman, who calls in 80,000 army reservists to quell rioting miners in France.source
  • November 24 – McCarthyism: The United States House of Representatives votes 346–17 to approve citations of Contempt of Congress against the "Hollywood Ten", after the screenwriters and directors refuse to co-operate with the House Un-American Activities Committee concerning allegations of communist influences in the movie business. The ten men are blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studios on the following day.source
  • December 4 – French Interior Minister Jules S. Moch takes emergency measures against his country's rioters, after six days of violent arguments in the National Assembly.source
  • December 12 – The Iranian Royal Army takes back power in the Azerbaijan province.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • February 5 – The Government of the United Kingdom announces the £25 million Tanganyika groundnut scheme, for cultivation of peanuts in the Tanganyika Territory.source
  • April 18 – 'Mrs. Ples', an Australopithecus africanus skull, is discovered in the Sterkfontein area in Transvaal, South Africa.source
  • April – The previous discovery of the 'Dead Sea Scrolls' in the Qumran Caves (above the northwest shore of the Dead Sea) by Bedouin shepherds, becomes known.source
  • August 7 – Thor Heyerdahl's balsa wood raft, the Kon-Tiki, smashes into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands, after a 101-day, 4,300 mile, voyage across the Eastern Pacific Ocean, demonstrating that prehistoric peoples could have traveled to the Central Pacific islands from South America.source
  • September 13 – Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru suggests the exchange of four million Hindus and Muslims between India and Pakistan.source

Religion & Belief

  • November 20 – Wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh: Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth II), the daughter of George VI of the United Kingdom, marries The Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey in London.source

Economy & Finance

  • February 23 – The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is founded.source
  • April 16 – American financier and presidential adviser Bernard Baruch describes the post–World War II tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States as a "Cold War".source
  • August 27 – The French government lowers the daily bread ration to 200 grams, causing riots in Verdun and Le Mans.source
  • October 30 – The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the foundation of the World Trade Organization (WTO), is established.source
  • November 21 – The United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment begins in Havana, Cuba. This conference ends in 1948, when its members complete the Havana Charter.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • January–February — Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in the 20th century causes extensive disruption of travel. Given the low ratio of private vehicle ownership at the time, it is mainly remembered in terms of its effects on the railway network.source
  • February 3 – P.L. Prattis becomes the first African American news correspondent allowed in the United States House of Representatives and Senate press galleries.source
  • February 17 – Cold War: The Voice of America begins to transmit radio broadcasts into Eastern Europe and the Soviet Unionsource
  • February 25 – John C. Hennessy Jr. brings the first Volkswagen Beetle to the United States. He purchased the 1946 automobile from the U.S. Army Post Exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, while serving in the U.S. Army. The Beetle is shipped from Bremerhaven, arriving in New York this day.source
  • March 1 – The International Monetary Fund begins to operate.source
  • April 4 – The International Civil Aviation Organization begins operations.source
  • April 16 – The first public demonstration of a TV camera zoom lens, the Jerry Fairbanks Zoomar, is held at NBC studios in New York.source
  • May 25 – Hyundai Togun, the initial name of the Hyundai Group, is founded by Chung Ju-young.source
  • June 10 – SAAB in Sweden produces its first automobile.source
  • July 6 – The first prototype AK-47 assault rifles are built to the design of Mikhail Kalashnikov.source
  • July 27–28 – English endurance swimmer Tom Blower becomes the first person to swim the North Channel, from Donaghadee in Northern Ireland to Portpatrick in Scotland.source
  • July 29 – After being shut down on November 9, 1946, for a refurbishment, the ENIAC computer in the United States is turned back on again, and remains in continuous operation until October 2, 1955.source
  • August 1 – Indonesian airline Garuda Indonesia is established.source
  • August 7 – The Bombay Municipal Corporation formally takes over the Bombay Electric Supply and Transport (BEST).source
  • September 9 – A moth lodged in a relay is found to be the cause of a malfunction in the Harvard Mark II electromechanical computer, logged as the "First actual case of bug being found."source
  • The National Security Act of 1947 becomes effective on this day, creating the United States Air Force, National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency.source
  • October 1 – The North American F-86 Sabre jet fighter aircraft makes its first flight.source
  • October 5 – President Harry S. Truman delivers the first televised White House address, speaking on the world food crises.source
  • October 14 – United States Air Force test pilot Captain Chuck Yeager flies a Bell X-1 rocket plane faster than the speed of sound, the first time it has been accomplished.source
  • October – First recorded use of the word computer in its modern sense, referring to an electronic digital machine.source
  • November 15 – The International Telecommunication Union becomes a specialized agency of the United Nations.source
  • November 17–December 23 – John Bardeen and Walter Brattain working under William Shockley at AT&T's Bell Labs in the United States demonstrate the transistor effect, a key element for the electronics revolution of the 20th century.source
  • December 3 – The Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire, starring Marlon Brando in his first great role, opens at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway in New York City; Jessica Tandy also stars as Blanche Du Bois.source
  • December 30 – The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 jet fighter aircraft (NATO reporting name Fagot) makes its first flight in the Soviet Union.source

Science & Discovery

  • February 20 – The U.S. Army Ordnance Corps Hermes program V-2 rocket Blossom I is launched into space, carrying plant material and fruitflies, the first living things to enter space.source
  • February 21 – Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", his Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America in New York City.source
  • April 7 – The largest recorded sunspot group appears on the solar surface.source
  • April 18 – The British Royal Navy detonates 6,800 tons of explosives, in an attempt to demolish the fortified island of Heligoland, Germany, in another of the largest man-made non-nuclear explosions in history.source
  • June 24 – Kenneth Arnold makes the first widely reported UFO sighting near Mount Rainier, Washington. Over 800 copycat sightings are reported throughout the US in the coming following weeks.source
  • June – The Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is introduced.source
  • July 8 – Roswell UFO incident: A supposedly downed extraterrestrial spacecraft is reportedly found near Roswell, New Mexico.source
  • July 9 – 'Flying disc' photographs published in Phoenixsource
  • July 11 – The ship Exodus leaves France for Palestine, with 4,500 Jewish Holocaust survivor refugees on board.source
  • November 2 – In Long Beach, California, United States, designer and airplane pilot Howard Hughes carries out the one and only flight of the Hughes H-4 Hercules ("Spruce Goose"), the largest fixed-wing aircraft ever built and flown. This flight only lasts 8 minutes.source

Health & Medicine

  • January 13 – The last of hundreds of concentration camps in Francoist Spain, Miranda de Ebro, shuts down.source
  • April 1 – Jackie Robinson, the first African American in Major League Baseball since the 1880s, signs a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers.source
  • April 15 – Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to play Major League Baseball since the 1880s.source
  • July 1 – The United States begins the National Malaria Eradication Program, successfully eradicating malaria in 1951.source
  • December 21 – During the mass migration of Hindus and Muslims between the new states of India and Pakistan, 400,000 are slaughtered.source

Crime & Justice

  • January 15 – Elizabeth Short, an aspiring actress nicknamed the "Black Dahlia", is found brutally murdered in a vacant lot in Los Angeles; the mysterious case is never solved.source
  • March 31 – The leaders of the Kurdish People's Republic of Mahabad, the second Kurdish state in the history of Iran, are hanged at Chuwarchira Square in Mahabad, after the state has been overrun by the Iranian army.source
  • November 16 – In Brussels, 15,000 people demonstrate against the relatively short prison sentences of Belgian Nazi criminals.source
  • November 17 – The Screen Actors Guild implements an anti-Communist loyalty oath.source
  • November 27 – In Paris, France, police occupy the editorial offices of the communist newspapers.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • January 19 – Ferry sinks in the South Euboean Gulf of Greece killing 392.source
  • January 26 – A KLM Douglas DC-3 aircraft crashes soon after taking off from Kastrup Airport, Copenhagen, killing all 22 people on board, including Prince Gustaf Adolf, second in line to the Swedish throne, and American opera singer Grace Moore.source
  • February 8 – The Karlslust dance hall fire in Berlin, Germany, kills over 80 people.source
  • February 20 – An explosion at the O'Connor Electro-Plating Company in Los Angeles leaves 17 dead, 100 buildings damaged, and a 22 ft m crater in the ground.source
  • February 25 – Hachikō Line derailment: The worst-ever train accident in Japan kills 184 people.source
  • March 25 – A coal mine explosion in Centralia, Illinois, United States; 111 miners are killed.source
  • March 28 – A World War II Japanese booby trap explodes on Corregidor Island, killing 28 people.source
  • April 16 – Texas City disaster: The ammonium nitrate cargo of French-registered Liberty ship explodes in Texas City, Texas in one of the largest man-made non-nuclear explosions in history, killing at least 581, including all but one member of the city fire department, injuring at least 5,000 and destroying 20 city blocks. Of the dead, remains of 113 are never found, and 62 are unidentifiable.source
  • May 29 – A United States Army Air Forces Douglas C-54 Skymaster crashes on approach to Naval Air Station Atsugi, Japan, killing all 41 on board in the worst aviation accident in Japanese history up to this time.source
  • May 29 – An Air Iceland Douglas C-47 on a domestic flight in Iceland crashes into a mountainside killing all 25 people on board.source
  • May 30 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 605: A Douglas C-54 Skymaster crashes near Bainbridge, Maryland, killing all 53 aboard (49 passengers, 4 crew), in America's worst commercial aviation disaster to this date.source
  • July 17 – Indian passenger ship is capsized by a cyclone at Mumbai, India, with 625 people killed.source
  • August 2 – 1947 BSAA Avro Lancastrian Star Dust accident: A British South American Airways Avro Lancastrian airliner crashes into a mountain during a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Santiago, Chile (the wreckage will not be found until 1998).source
  • August 30 – A fire at a movie theater in Rueil, a suburb of Paris, France, kills 83 people.source
  • November 18 – Ballantyne's fire: A fire in Ballantynes department store in Christchurch, New Zealand, kills 41 people.source
  • December 3 – 16 are killed and about 30 injured in a train derailment in Arras, France. Authorities report that the disaster is an act of sabotage and accuse communists of being responsible in the midst of the country's ongoing labor strife.source

Climate & Environment

  • February 3 – The lowest air temperature in North America (−63 degrees Celsius) was recorded in Snag, in the Yukon Territory.source
  • February 12 – The fragments of a meteorite create a number of impact craters up to 36 metres wide in Sikhote-Alin, in the Soviet Union.source
  • March 14 – The Thames flood and other widespread flooding occurs, as the exceptionally harsh British winter of 1946–1947 ends in a thaw.source
  • April 9 – Multiple tornadoes strike Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, killing 184 and injuring 970.source
  • September 15–16 – Typhoon Kathleen strikes the Bōsō Peninsula and the entire Kantō region in Japan. Heavy rains cause the Arakawa and Tone Rivers to overflow and embankment collapse. The resulting floods and debris flow kill between 1,077 and 1,920 people, injuring 1,547 and leaving 853 missing.source
  • September 17–21 – The 1947 Fort Lauderdale hurricane in southeastern Florida, and also in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana causes widespread damage, and kills 50 people.source

Culture & Society

  • January 4 – First issue of weekly magazine Der Spiegel published in Hanover, Germany, edited by Rudolf Augstein.source
  • March 1 – German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun marries his first cousin, 18-year-old Maria von Quirstorp.source
  • March 19 – The 19th Academy Awards Ceremony is held. The movie The Best Years of Our Lives wins the Academy Award for Best Picture, along with several other Academy Awards.source
  • April 9 – The Journey of Reconciliation in the Southern United States begins, organized by the Congress of Racial Equality.source
  • April 20 – King Frederik IX succeeds his father, Christian X, on the throne of Denmark.source
  • May 2 – The movie Miracle on 34th Street, a Christmastime classic, is first shown in theaters.source
  • May 11 – The Ferrari 125 S, the first car to bear the Ferrari name, debuts.source
  • June 5 – U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall outlines the Marshall Plan for American reconstruction and relief aid to Europe, in a speech at Harvard University.source
  • June 7 – The Romanian Army founds the association football club CCA (Clubul Central al Armatei – The Army's Central Club), which will become the most successful Romanian football team during its time as CSA Steaua București.source
  • June 11–15 – The first Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod is held in Wales.source
  • June 25 – The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank is published for the first time as Het Achterhuis: Dagboekbrieven 14 juni 1942 – 1 augustus 1944 ("The Annex: Diary Notes from 14 June 1942 – 1 August 1944") in Amsterdam, two years after the writer's death in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.source
  • July 9 – King George VI of the United Kingdom announces the engagement of his daughter Princess Elizabeth to Lt. Philip Mountbatten.source
  • September 22 – The Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties (Cominform) is founded by the International Communist Movement.source
  • November 6 – The television program Meet the Press makes its debut, on the NBC-TV network in the United States.source
  • November 13 – Wataru Misaka makes the roster of the New York Knicks to become the first person of color to play in modern professional basketball, months after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Misaka has led the Utah Utes to the 1944 NCAA and 1947 NIT championships.source
  • December 6 – Arturo Toscanini conducts a concert performance of the first half of Giuseppe Verdi's opera Otello, for a broadcast on NBC Radio in the United States. The second half of the opera is broadcast a week later.source
  • December 14 – Santiago Bernabeu Stadium is officially inaugurated in Madrid, and hosts its first Association football match.source

Births

  • January 8 – David Bowie, English singer, songwriter, and actor (d. 2016)source
  • February 7 – Wayne Allwine, American voice actor (Mickey Mouse) (d. 2009)source
  • March 12 – Mitt Romney, American businessman, politician, Governor of Massachusetts, 2012 presidential candidate, and US Senator (R-UT)source
  • April 5 – Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, 14th President of the Philippines, daughter of president Diosdado Macapagalsource
  • April 16 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, African-American basketball player, actor (Airplane!)source
  • June 2 – Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Punjabi saint, Sikh theologian, military leader (d. 1984)source
  • July 9 – O. J. Simpson, African-American football player and actor (d. 2024)source
  • July 17 – Queen Camilla, Queen consort of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth realms since 2022 as the wife of Charles IIIsource
  • July 30 – Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian-American actor, bodybuilder and 38th Governor of Californiasource
  • September 21 – Stephen King, American writer and novelist, specializing in the horror genresource
  • September 28 – Sheikh Hasina, 10th Prime Minister of Bangladeshsource
  • October 26 – Hillary Clinton, American politician, First Lady, US Senator (D-Ny.), Secretary of State, and 2016 Democratic presidential candidatesource
  • November 10 – Greg Lake, English musician, producer (King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer) (d. 2016)source
  • December 14 – Dilma Rousseff, 36th President of Brazilsource

Deaths

  • January 20 – Josh Gibson, African-American baseball player, MLB Hall of Fame member (b. 1911)source
  • March 28 – Johnny Evers, American baseball player (Chicago Cubs), MLB Hall of Fame member (b. 1881)source
  • April 1 – Paul I becomes King of Greece, aged 45, following the death of his brother, King George II.source
  • April 16 – Rudolf Höss, German commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp (executed) (b. 1900)source
  • April 18 – Jozef Tiso, Slovak politician, Roman Catholic priest, 1st Prime Minister of Slovakia and President of Slovakia (executed) (b. 1887)source
  • May 17 – George Forbes, 22nd Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1869)source
  • May 20 – Philipp Lenard, Austrian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)source
  • September 1 – Frederick Russell Burnham, American Scout, father of the international Scouting movement (b. 1861)source
  • October 3 – Traian Brăileanu, Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian sociologist and politician (b. 1882)source
  • October 4 – Max Planck, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1858)source
  • October 29 – Frances Cleveland, First Lady of the United States (b. 1864)source
  • November 25 – The new Pakistan Army and Pashtun mercenaries overrun Mirpur in Kashmir, resulting in the death of 20,000 Hindus and Sikhs.source
  • December 7 – Nicholas Murray Butler, American president of Columbia University, Nobel Peace Prize recipient (b. 1862)source
  • December 30 – Alfred North Whitehead, British mathematician, philosopher (b. 1861)source