The Korean People's Committee in the Soviet-controlled northern zone of Korea announced the establishment of a "People's Republic", claiming jurisdiction over all of Korea and adopting a Soviet-style constitution. US Lieutenant General John R. Hodge, commander of the southern zone of Korea, immediately issued a message indicating that he did not recognize the People's Committee as a legitimate government and did not intend to negotiate with it.[1]
The Ein al-Zeitun massacre occurred at the Palestinian Arab village of Ein al-Zeitun when the Palmach destroyed the village and killed between 23 and 70 Arab prisoners.
Greek Justice Minister Christos Ladas was assassinated in Athens by a man who hurled a grenade from a car window. The assassin, who was shot and captured by police, was identified as a member of the Organization for the Protection of the People's Struggle (OPLA), a Communist-affiliated paramilitary group.[2]
Pope Pius XII promulgated Auspicia quaedam, an encyclical on worldwide public prayers for peace and a solution to the Palestine problem.
The U.S. Supreme Court decided United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc., ruling that the existing movie distribution scheme was in violation of antitrust laws, as well as Shelley v. Kraemer, which struck down racially restrictive housing covenants.
Soviet-licensed press in Berlin published new postal regulations prohibiting the mailing of food, liquor and precious metals from Berlin to western Germany.[8]
Four-power talks in London on an Austrian peace treaty were adjourned indefinitely after delegates reached an impasse over Yugoslavia's claim for territory in Carinthia and Styria in addition to reparations.[9]
The Hague Congress met in the Congress of Europe in The Hague, bringing together about 600 delegates representing a broad political spectrum. Winston Churchill delivered a speech appealing to Europeans to forget "the hatreds of the past" and create a united Europe centered on "the idea of a Charter of Human Rights, guarded by freedom and sustained by law."[11][12]
The United States, Britain and France told the UN Atomic Energy Commission to abandon its efforts to devise an international control plan, blaming the Soviet Union for the impasse.[13]
US President Harry S. Truman thwarted an imminent nationwide railroad strike by issuing an executive order taking over the country's railroads and directing the Secretary of the Army to operate them in the name of the US government. "It is essential to the public health and to the public welfare generally that every possible step be taken by the Government to assure to the fullest possible extent continuous and uninterrupted transportation service," Truman explained in a statement. "A strike on our railroads would be a nationwide tragedy, with worldwide repercussions."[14]
The Golani Brigade of the Haganah launched Operation Gideon with the objective of capturing Beisan, clearing the surrounding area and blocking one of the possible entry routes for Transjordanian forces.
Third-party presidential candidate Henry A. Wallace gave a speech before 19,000 people at Madison Square Garden that was also broadcast over radio and television. Wallace used the speech to publicize an open letter to Joseph Stalin featuring a six-point plan to end the Cold War: A general reduction of armaments, stopping all foreign exports of weapons, unrestricted trade between the two countries, freedom of movement between the two countries, free exchange of scientific information and the establishment of an UN agency for international relief.[16][17]
The Kfar Etzion massacre took place after a two-day battle in which Jewish Kibbutz residents and Haganah militia defended Kfar Etzion from Arab forces. 129 Jews were killed and the kibbutz was looted and razed to the ground.
Eleven minutes after Israel declared independence, President Truman issued a memo that concisely read: "This Government has been informed that a Jewish state has been proclaimed in Palestine, and recognition has been requested by the provisional government thereof. The United States recognizes the provisional government as the de facto authority of the new State of Israel."[19]
The 37-member Israeli State Council met for the first time and elected Chaim Weizmann provisional president, while Israel applied for membership in the United Nations.[21]
Moscow radio read a message from Joseph Stalin replying to Henry Wallace's open letter, welcoming it as a good basis "for peaceful settlement of the differences between the USSR and the United States."[23]
The Soviet Union diplomatically recognized Israel.[24]
At the United Nations, US Ambassador Warren Austin presented a resolution to the Security Council ordering Jews and Arabs to observe a truce in Palestine within 36 hours.[25]
By a 4–4 tie, the US Supreme Court refused to review the cases of 74 Germans for a massacre of unarmed American prisoners during the Battle of the Bulge. The four judges who opposed reviewing the case argued that the court had no jurisdiction over decisions of the international tribunal.[26]
US Secretary of State George Marshall said during a press conference that Stalin's sincerity in promoting understanding between Russia and the United States would be demonstrated by showing co-operation on outstanding world issues before the United Nations and other international agencies.[27] Henry A. Wallace fired back in a speech that night, calling Marshall's answer "not satisfactory. It is an answer calculated to continue the cold war, when we need peace."[28]
By a vote of 319-58 the US House of Representatives passed the Mundt-NixonCommunist Control Bill, which proposed regulating Communist organizations as well as providing stiff jail terms and fines for subversive activities.[29]
Another instance of Czech nationals defecting by plane occurred when eight former members of the Czech Air Force landed at Manston RAF Station in Kent, England in a "borrowed" plane.[30]
The Making of an Insurgent, an autobiography of Fiorello H. La Guardia covering the early years of his life, was posthumously published.[31]
The al-Kabri incident occurred when the Arab town of al-Kabri was captured by the Israeli army in retaliation for the ambush of the Yehiam convoy and almost immediately depopulated.
Count Folke Bernadotte was unanimously selected as the United Nations mediator for the Palestine conflict.[32]
The 67-day-old strike of CIO United Packinghouse Workers was called off against every major meat-packing company except one after the workers accepted the raise of 9 cents an hour which had been offered to them at the beginning of the strike.[34]
Speaking before a congress of the International College of Surgeons in Rome, Pope Pius XII condemned sterilization, birth control and childbirth operations to save the mother's life at the expense of the child.[35]
By a vote of 8–0, the United Nations Security Council ordered a ceasefire in Palestine within 36 hours from midnight, New York time.[36]
Swedish President Juho Kusti Paasikivi dismissed Yrjö Leino as Interior Minister three days after Swedish Parliament passed a vote of censure on Leino, ostensibly for handing over ten Finnish subjects and ten stateless persons over to the Soviets in 1945. Leino had refrained from resigning his post even though he was constitutionally required to do so.[37]
Died:Georgios Tsolakoglou, 62, Greek military officer and Prime Minister of the Greek collaborationist government during World War II
In a pastoral letter read in Hungarian Catholic churches, Primate József Mindszenty condemned the proposed nationalization of the country's schools.[38]
The Soviet Union vetoed a UN resolution to establish a Security Council subcommittee to hear Czech refugees testify on the Czechoslovak coup d'état.[39]
General Motors averted a strike of its auto workers by agreeing to raise the wages of 225,000 employees by 11 cents an hour in a contract tying pay raises to increases in the cost of living, the first provision of its kind in the auto industry.[40]
The Arab League rejected the UN's appeal for a ceasefire and gave the Council 48 hours to submit a proposal for a settlement of the entire Palestine problem.[41]
US President Harry S. Truman ordered an investigation of the Voice of America program after congressmen complained about several things that had been said about US states during the broadcasts. The controversy was over a Spanish-language program produced by NBC and broadcast to Latin America called "Know North America". In one case, the narrator described Nevada as "a land of cowboys, and its two principal cities are in competition. In Las Vegas people get married and in Reno they get divorced." Of Wyoming it was said that "the important thing isn't the people, but the cattle," while a profile of Texas included the remark, "an American writer has made the statement New England was founded by hypocrisy and Texas by sin." NBC said that the script writer had been fired.[42][43]
Chrysler workers in the United States ended a 17-day strike after accepting a wage increase of 13 cents an hour.[45]
Died:Unity Mitford, 33, British socialite and fascist (meningitis caused by the cerebral swelling around a bullet from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1939)
The United Nations Security Council called for a four-week ceasefire in Palestine and threatened to apply sanctions if the parties did not comply within 72 hours.[46]
An explosion of camphor oil aboard a train in Taiwan killed over 60 people, about 40 of whom burned to death although others drowned jumping from the train into a river below.[47][48]
Israeli forces commenced Operation Pleshet, aimed at capturing Isdud and stopping the northward Egyptian advance.
A referendum was held in Australia on a proposed alteration to the Australian Constitution to increase the power of the Commonwealth to make laws with respect to rents and prices. 59.34% rejected the proposal.
Henry A. Wallace appeared before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee to testify against the Mundt-Nixon Communist control bill, blasting its sponsors as "warmongers, fearmongers and hatemongers" who would stand in history as "American counterparts of Mussolini and Hitler." Wallace maintained that existing laws were adequate to deal with acts of subversion and swore that his third party would refuse to comply with the measure if it passed.[49]
Oklahoma! closed on Broadway after a record 2,202 performances.[50]
Born:Michael Berkeley, composer and broadcaster, in London, England
Died:May Whitty, 82, English stage and film actress
Pope Pius XII made a radio address appealing to the Hungarian people to continue opposing the anti-clerical measures of their Communist government.[51]
The town of Vanport, Oregon was permanently destroyed when a section of the dike holding back the Columbia River collapsed during a flood, killing 15.
Died:József Klekl, 73, Slovene Catholic priest and political activist
At a conference in London, representatives of the United States, Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg reached an agreement on setting up a west German state early in 1949.[54][55]
^Johnston, Richard J. H. (June 1, 1948). "Rhee Claims Rule for All Korea, But Wants U. S. Troops to Remain". The New York Times: 1.
^Schnabel, James F. (1990). United States Army in the Korean War, Policy and Direction: The First Year. Washington: Center of Military History. pp. 26–27. ISBN9780160882340.
^Matthews, Herbert L. (June 1, 1948). "Six Powers Agree on West Germany". The New York Times: 1.
^Yust, Walter, ed. (1949). 1949 Britannica Book of the Year. Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. p. 8.
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