1947

Years :	1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950
Centuries:	19th century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades:	1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
Years:	1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950

1947 by topic:
Arts
Architecture - Art - Film - Literature - Music - Television
Science and technology
Archaeology - Aviation - Meteorology - Rail transport - Radio - Science
By country
Australia - Canada - India - Ireland - Mexico - South Africa
Other topics
Awards - Sport - Law - State leaders - Religious leaders
Birth and death categories
Births - Deaths

1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar).

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Events

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January

January 1 - British mines nationalized
January 1 - Nigeria gains limited autonomy
January 1 - The Canadian Citizenship Act went into effect
January 3 - Proceedings of the U.S. Congress are televised for the first time
January 10 - United Nations takes control of the free city of Trieste
January 15 - Elizabeth Short (the "Black Dahlia") is found murdered
January 16 - Inauguration of Vincent Auriol as a president of France
January 24 - Demetrios Maximos founds monarchist government in Athens
January 25 - Philippinean plane crashes in Hong Kong with $5 million worth of gold and money
January 30 - February 8 - heavy blizzard in Canada buries towns from Winnipeg to Calgary

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February

February 3 - In Snag, Yukon Territory, -63 degrees Celsius, lowest recorded temperature in North America.
February 3 - Percival Prattis becomes the first black news correspondent allowed in the United States House of Representatives and Senate press gallery.
February 5 - Boleslaw Bierut becomes president of Poland
February 10 - Paris peace treaties signed between the World War II Allies and Italy, Hungary, Romaniam Bulgaria and Finland: Italy cedes most of Istria to Yugoslavia
February 12 - A meteor creates a crater into Sikhote-Alin, Soviet Union
February 17 - Propaganda: The Voice of America begins to transmit radio broadcasts into the Soviet Union.
February 20 - State of Prussia ceases to exist
February 20 - Explosion at the O'Connor Electro-Plating Co in Los Angeles, California - 17 dead, 100 buildings damaged, 22-foot crater
February 21 - In New York City, Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.
February 23 - International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is founded.
February 28 - USA gives France a military base in Casablanca
February 28 - In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with large loss of civilian lives.

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March

March 1 - The International Monetary Fund begins to operate.
March 1 - Wernher von Braun marries his first cousin, 18-year-old Maria von Quirstorp.
March 1 - Japanese city Tsushima, Aichi is founded
March 6 - USS Newport News, the first air-conditioned naval ship, is launched from Newport News, Virginia.
March 12 - The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism.
March 15 - Hindus and Muslims clash in Punjab
March 21 - Homer Collyer of the Collyer brothers is found dead in their house in Harlem, New York City. His brother is found April 8
March 25 - A coalmine explosion in Centralia, Illinois kills 111.
March 28 - WW2 Japanese booby trap explodes in Corregidor - 28 dead
March 29 - Rebellion against French rule erupts in Madagascar

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April

April 16 - The Texas City Disaster - Ammonium nitrate cargo of SS Grandcap explodes in Texas City, Texas - 552 dead, 3000 injured, 200 lost, 20 city blocks destroyed

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May

May 1 - Gang of Salvatore Giuliano opens fire on a labor parade near Portella Della Ginestra, Sicily; Eleven killed, thirty wounded
May 3 - New post-war Japanese constitution goes into effect.
May 22 - Cold War: In an effort to fight the spread of Communism, President Harry S. Truman signs an act implementing the Truman Doctrine. The act granted $400 million in military and economic aid to Turkey and Greece.

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June

June 5 - Secretary of State Gen George Marshall outlines the Marshall Plan for U.S. aid to Europe.
June 10 - Saab produces its first automobile.
June 15 - Portuguese government orders 11 military officers and 19 university professors to resign accused of revolutionary activity
June 20 - Bugsy Siegel found shot in the Beverly Hills mansion of Virginia Hill
June 21 - A Seaman named Harold Dahl claims to have seen six UFOs near Maury Island. The next morning Dahl reports the first modern Men in Black encounter.
June 23 - 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.

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July

July 1 - The Australian real estate franchise L. J. Hooker lists on the Australian Stock Exchange
July 5 - Downed UFO allegedly found in the Roswell UFO incident, written about by Stanton T. Friedman.
July 10 - Princess Elizabeth announces engagement to Philip Mountbatten
July 11 - Exodus (ship) departs France to Palestine with 4500 Jewish Holocaust survivor refugees
July 18 - Following wide media and UNSCOP coverage, Exodus (ship) is captured by British troops and refused entry to Palestine in the port of Haifa
July 18 - President Harry S. Truman signs the Presidential Succession Act into law which places the Speaker of the House and the Senate President Pro Tempore next in the line of succession after the United States Vice President.
July 19 - Murder of Burmese nationalist Aung San
July 24 - 100 year anniversary of Brigham Young leading 148 Mormon pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley, resulting in the establishment of Salt Lake City.
July 26 - Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act into United States law creating the Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council.
July 29 - After being shut off on November 9, 1946 for a refurbishment, ENIAC, one of the world's first digital computers, is turned on after a memory upgrade. It will remain in continuous operation until October 2, 1955.
July 30 - Thor Heyerdahl sails with Kon-Tiki

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August

August 5 - Netherlands stops political actions in Indonesia
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 journey across the Pacific Ocean proving that pre-historic peoples could have traveled from South America.
August 7 - The Bombay Municipal Corporation formally takes over the Bombay Electric Supply and Transport (BEST).
August 9 - Beginning the 6 Scout World Jamboree - see Jamboree Scout 1947 (in French)
August 14 - Pakistan gains independence from the British Empire under the leadership of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. While the transition is officially at midnight on this day, Pakistan celebrates its independence on August 14 compared to India on the 15th. Muhammad Ali Jinnah became the first Governor General of Pakistan.
August 15 - Following decades of nonviolent resistance and periodic civil unrest from 1919, India gains independence from the British Empire. Pakistan splits from India. Jawaharlal Nehru takes office as first Prime Minister of India.
August 15 - The Khan of Baluchistan declares independence (acceeds to Pakistan in 1948)
August 16 - In Greece, General Markos Vafiadis takes over
August 23 - Prime Minister of Greece Dimitrios Maximos resigns.
August 27 - When the French government lowers the bread ration to 200 grams, it causes riots in Verdun and Le Mans

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September

September 4-September 21 - Hurricane in southeast Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama - 51 killed
September 9 - "First actual case of (a computer) bug being found" - a moth lodged in a relay of a Mark II computer at Harvard.
September 13 - Nehru suggests transfer of 4 million Hindus and Muslims between India and Pakistan.
September 18 - The United States Army Air Forces, along with some components of the United States Navy's air arm, becomes the United States Air Force.

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October

October 14 - American test pilot, Captain Chuck Yeager flies a Bell X-1 faster than the speed of sound, the first man to do so in level flight.
October 20 - The Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 begins
October 30 - The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which is the foundation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is founded.

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November

November 2 - In California, Designer Howard Hughes performs the maiden flight of the Spruce Goose; the largest fixed-wing aircraft ever built (flight lasted only eight minutes).
November 2 - Earthquake in Chilean Andes - 233 dead
November 10 - Arrest of four steel workers in Marseille begins a communist rioting that spreads to Paris
November 16 - 15.000 demonstrate in Brussels against the relatively short sentences of Nazis.
November 16 - British begin to withdraw their troops from Palestine.
November 20- Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth marries the Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey, London.
November 20 - Paul Ramadier resigns as Prime Minister of France - he is succeeded by Robert Schuman. Schuman calls 80.000 reservists to quell the rioting miners
November 24 - Red Scare: The United States House of Representatives votes 346 to 17 to approve citations of contempt of U.S. Congress against the so-called Hollywood 10 after the 10 had refused to co-operate with the House Un-American Activities Committee concerning allegations of Communist influence in the movie industry, (the 10 were blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios the next day).
November 25 - New Zealand ratifies the Statute of Westminster and thus becomes independent of legislative control by the United Kingdom.
November 27 - In Paris, police occupy editorial offices of communist newspapers.
November 29 - The United Nations General Assembly votes to partition Palestine between Arabs and Jews.

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December

December 3 - French communist strikers derail Paris-Tourcoing Express train because of false rumors that it was transporting soldiers - 21 dead
December 3 - Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire opens on Broadway.
December 4 - French interior minister Jules Moch secures emergency measures against riots after six days of violent arguments in the national assembly
December 9 - French labour unions calls off the general strike and begin negotiations with the French government
December 23 - the Transistor is invented.
December 30 - King Michael of Romania abdicates