US PresidentHarry S. Truman made the first-ever televised address from the White House, urging Americans to voluntarily observe meatless Tuesdays and poultryless Thursdays in order to make more food available for hungry Europeans.[8][9]
The American flag was flown at half-mast as some 3,000 war dead arrived inSan Francisco aboard the military transportHonda Knot. The ship's arrival marked the tangible beginning of Operation Taps, a program to rebury over 250,000 known war dead from overseas on American soil.[14]
Municipal elections inRome resulted in the continued leadership of the Communist-led People's Bloc, which edged out the Christian Democrats by less than 1% of the vote.[15]
A special mission of the United Nations recommended establishment of a "government ofWestern Samoa" to give a larger measure of autonomy to the territory administered byNew Zealand.[16]
The New York State Court of Appeals ruled that a false charge of a person being a Communist or a communist sympathizer was basis for a libel action.[20]
Municipal elections were held in France. The Gaullist Reunion of the French people won with 40% of the popular vote, compared to 30% for the Communists.[21]
Czechoslovakia's Social Democrats announced that they had merged into one national party and would continue to resist any merger with the Communists.[22]
Brazil andChile severed diplomatic relations with the USSR.[8]
A new session of British Parliament was opened with a surprise announcement fromGeorge VI during theKing's Speech that legislation would be introduced to curb the powers of theHouse of Lords.[23]
Iranian Parliament voted 102-2 to reject an oil agreement signed with Russia that would have given the Soviet Union a 51 percent share in a Soviet-Iran oil company. Parliament then approved Prime MinisterAhmad Qavam's bill to initiate a five-year oil exploration program from which all foreign capital would be barred.[24]
Gary Cooper,Robert Montgomery andRonald Reagan were among the parade of witnesses who testified before the House Un-American Activities Commission in Washington. Cooper testified, "I've turned down quite a few scripts given to me because I thought they were tinged with communist propaganda."[25]
United Airlines Flight 608, aDouglas DC-6 airliner flying from Los Angeles to Chicago, crashed southeast ofBryce Canyon Airport inUtah. All 52 aboard were killed. This crash marked the first time a plane would be reconstructed from the wreckage to determine the cause of the disaster; a design flaw was found in the cabin heater system that caused a fire to break out on board.
The USSR began a purge of non-communist officials in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany.[10]
In Washington, the presidential committee oncivil rights delivered a 178-page report to the White House stating, "The American ideal still awaits complete realization." The document made thirty-five specific recommendations, including asking the President to create a permanent Federal commission on civil rights.[31] President Truman issued a statement declaring, "I am going to read and study this report with great care and I recommend to all my countrymen that they do the same thing."[32]
Former Romanian Prime MinisterIuliu Maniu confessed at hisshow trial that he'd told the American diplomatBurton Y. Berry that he intended to form a Romanian resistance government abroad.[33]
The Greek government announced emergency tax measures to raise an additional 600 million drachmas by June 30, 1948. The taxes were held to be necessary to meet increased military expenditures and to look after some 300,000 refugees from thecivil war.[34]
^Anderson, John; Passman, Richard (2014).X-15: The World's Fastest Rocket Plane and the Pilots Who Ushered in the Space Age. Zenith Press. p. 34.ISBN9781610589277.