Top News Stories from 1948

World Events

World Statistics

Population: 4.378 billion
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U.S. Events

U.S. Statistics

President: Harry S. Truman
Vice President: none
Population: 146,631,302
Life expectancy: 67.2 years
Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 5.9
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Economics

US GDP (1998 dollars): $269.7 billion
Federal spending: $29.76 billion
Federal debt $252.0 billion
Consumer Price Index: $24.1
Unemployment: 3.9%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.03

Sports

World Series
Cleveland d. Boston Braves
NBA Championship
Baltimore Bullets d. Philadelphia Warriors
Stanley Cup
Toronto d. Detroit
Wimbledon
Women: Louise Brough d. D. Hart (6-3 8-6)
Men: Bob Falkenburg d. J. Bromwich (7-5 0-6 6-2 3-6 7-5)
Kentucky Derby Champion
Citation
NCAA Basketball Championship
Kentucky d. Baylor
NCAA Football Champions
Michigan (9-0-0) 1948 Summer Olympics

Entertainment

Entertainment Awards

Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: Tales of the South Pacific, James A. Michener
Music: Symphony No. 3, Walter Piston
Drama: A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams
Academy Award, Best Picture: Gentleman's Agreement (Twentieth Century-Fox)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Thomas Stearns Eliot (UK)
Miss America: BeBe Shopp (MN)
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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

Science

Nobel Prizes in Science

Chemistry: Arne Tiselius (Sweden), for biochemical discoveries and isolation of mouse paralysis virus
Physics: Patrick M. S. Blackett (UK), for improvement on Wilson chamber and discoveries in cosmic radiation
Physiology or Medicine: Paul Mueller (Switzerland), for discovery of insect-killing properties of DDT
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Death

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