What Happened in 1947 — Events, Births & Deaths

Proceedings of the U.S. Congress are televised for the first time.

Pan American Airlines becomes the first commercial airline to offer a round-the-world ticket.

The Black Dahlia murder: The dismembered corpse of Elizabeth Short is found in Los Angeles.

KTLA, the first commercial television station west of the Mississippi River, begins operation in Hollywood.

Thomas Goldsmith Jr. files a patent for a "Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device", the first ever electronic game.

The Paris Peace Treaties are signed by Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland and the Allies of World War II.

The largest observed iron meteorite until that time creates an impact crater in Sikhote-Alin, in the Soviet Union.

Christian Dior unveils a "New Look", helping Paris regain its position as the capital of the fashion world.

The act abolishing all noble ranks and related styles comes into force in Hungary.

First Indochina War: The French gain complete control of Hanoi after forcing the Viet Minh to withdraw to the mountains.

In New York City, Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.

International Organization for Standardization is founded.

The formal abolition of Prussia is proclaimed by the Allied Control Council, the Prussian government having already been abolished by the Preußenschlag of 1932.

Soviet NKVD forces in Hungary abduct Béla Kovács—secretary-general of the majority Independent Smallholders' Party—and deport him to the USSR in defiance of Parliament. His arrest is an important turning point in the Communist takeover of Hungary.

February 28 incident: In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the death of an estimated 18,000 - 28,000 civilians.

The International Monetary Fund begins financial operations.

Cold War: The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism.

An explosion in a coal mine in Centralia, Illinois kills 111.

The Malagasy Uprising against French colonial rule begins in Madagascar.

The only mutiny in the history of the Royal New Zealand Navy begins.

The first Tony Awards are presented for theatrical achievement.

The Glazier–Higgins–Woodward tornadoes kill 181 and injure 970 in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

The Journey of Reconciliation, the first interracial Freedom Ride begins through the upper South in violation of Jim Crow laws. The riders wanted enforcement of the United States Supreme Court's 1946 Irene Morgan decision that banned racial segregation in interstate travel.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 22 relating to Corfu Channel incident is adopted.

Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball's color line.

An explosion on board a freighter in port causes Texas City in the state of Texas, United States, to catch fire, killing almost 600 people.

Bernard Baruch first applies the term "Cold War" to describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.

The Operation Big Bang, the largest non-nuclear man-made explosion to that time, destroys bunkers and military installations on the North Sea island of Heligoland, Germany.

Thor Heyerdahl and five crew mates set out from Peru on the Kon-Tiki to demonstrate that Peruvian natives could have settled Polynesia.

In Nevada, Boulder Dam is renamed Hoover Dam.

Portella della Ginestra massacre against May Day celebrations in Sicily by the bandit and separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano where 11 persons are killed and 33 wounded.

New post-war Japanese constitution goes into effect.

Cold War: The Truman Doctrine goes into effect, aiding Turkey and Greece.

United Airlines Flight 521 crashes at LaGuardia Airport, killing 43.

Ferenc Nagy, the democratically elected Prime Minister of Hungary, resigns from office after blackmail from the Hungarian Communist Party accusing him of being part of a plot against the state. This grants the Communists effective control of the Hungarian government.

Cold War: Marshall Plan: In a speech at Harvard University, the United States Secretary of State George Marshall calls for economic aid to war-torn Europe.

Saab produces its first automobile.

Pan Am Flight 121 crashes in the Syrian Desert near Mayadin, Syria, killing 15 and injuring 21.

The United States Senate follows the United States House of Representatives in overriding U.S. President Harry S. Truman's veto of the Taft–Hartley Act.

Kenneth Arnold makes the first widely reported UFO sighting near Mount Rainier, Washington.

The Diary of a Young Girl (better known as The Diary of Anne Frank) is published.

The "Indian Independence Bill" is presented before the British House of Commons, proposing the independence of the Provinces of British India into two sovereign countries: India and Pakistan.

Referendum held in Sylhet to decide its fate in the Partition of India.

The AK-47 goes into production in the Soviet Union.

Reports are broadcast that a UFO crash-landed in Roswell, New Mexico in what became known as the Roswell UFO incident.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah is recommended as the first Governor-General of Pakistan by the British Prime Minister, Clement Attlee.

The Exodus 1947 heads to Palestine from France.

Prime Minister of the shadow Burmese government, Bogyoke Aung San and eight others are assassinated.

Korean politician Lyuh Woon-hyung is assassinated.

Cold War: U.S. president Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act of 1947 into United States law creating the Central Intelligence Agency, United States Department of Defense, United States Air Force, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the United States National Security Council.

In Vatican City, Rome, canonization of Catherine Labouré, the saint whose apparitions of the Virgin Mary originated the worldwide distribution of the Miraculous Medal.

A gas explosion in Harrisonburg, Virginia kills 11 and injures 30.

A British South American Airways Avro Lancastrian airliner crashes into a mountain during a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Santiago, Chile. The wreckage would not be found until 1998.

The Supreme Court of Japan is established.

Thor Heyerdahl's balsa wood raft, the Kon-Tiki, smashes into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands after a 101-day, 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi) journey across the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to prove that pre-historic peoples could have traveled from South America.

The Bombay Municipal Corporation formally takes over the Bombay Electric Supply and Transport (BEST).

Pakistan gains independence from the British Empire as the Dominion of Pakistan, due to the partition of India.

India gains independence from British rule after nearly 190 years of British company and crown rule and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.

Founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah is sworn in as first Governor-General of Pakistan in Karachi.

The Radcliffe Line, the border between the Dominions of India and Pakistan, is revealed.

Typhoon Kathleen hits the Kantō region, in Japan killing around 1,000-2,000 people.

The National Security Act reorganizes the United States government's military and intelligence services.

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake strikes South Khorasan in Iran, killing over 500 people.

The 1947 World Series begins. It is the first to be televised, to include an African-American player, to exceed $2 million in receipts, to see a pinch-hit home run, and to have six umpires on the field.

Pakistan joins the United Nations.

President Truman makes the first televised Oval Office address.

Flying the Bell X-1 over Muroc Army Air Field in California, Captain Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier in level flight, reaching Mach 1.05.

The Philippines takes over the administration of the Turtle Islands and the Mangsee Islands from the United Kingdom.

Cold War: The House Un-American Activities Committee begins its investigation into Communist infiltration of the Hollywood film industry, resulting in a blacklist that prevents some from working in the industry for years.

The first Kashmir war begins after Pakistani forces invade Kashmir, allegedly to suppress a tribal rebellion.

Famed animator Walt Disney testifies before the House Un-American Activities Committee, naming Disney employees he believes to be communists.

United Air Lines Flight 608 crashes in the Bryce Canyon National Park in Garfield County, Utah, while attempting an emergency landing at Bryce Canyon Airport, killing 52 people.

Partition of India: The Maharaja of Kashmir and Jammu signs the Instrument of Accession with India, beginning the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948 and the Kashmir conflict.

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the foundation of the World Trade Organization (WTO), is founded.

In California, designer Howard Hughes performs the maiden (and only) flight of the Hughes H-4 Hercules (also known as the "Spruce Goose"), the largest fixed-wing aircraft ever built until Scaled Composites rolled out their Stratolaunch in May 2017.

Meet the Press, the longest running television program in history, makes its debut on NBC Television.

The Soviet Union completes development of the AK-47, one of the first proper assault rifles.

The Screen Actors Guild implements an anti-Communist loyalty oath.

American scientists John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brattain observe the basic principles of the transistor, a key element for the electronics revolution of the 20th century.

The Ballantyne's Department Store fire in Christchurch, New Zealand, kills 41; it is the worst fire disaster in the history of New Zealand.

The Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen) marries Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, who becomes the Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey in London.

Red Scare: The "Hollywood Ten" are blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios.

New Zealand ratifies the Statute of Westminster and thus becomes independent of legislative control by the United Kingdom.

The United Nations General Assembly approve the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine.

French forces carry out a massacre at Mỹ Trạch, Vietnam during the First Indochina War.

Civil War in Mandatory Palestine begins, leading up to the creation of the State of Israel and the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

Jerusalem Riots of 1947: Arabs riot in Jerusalem in response to the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine.

First flight of the Boeing B-47 Stratojet strategic bomber.

The transistor is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories.

Cold War: King Michael I of Romania is forced to abdicate by the Soviet Union-backed Communist government of Romania.