MAJOR EVENTS:
- Winston Churchill warns of an "iron curtain" falling over Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe
- UN General Assembly meets for the first time; John D. Rockefeller donates money for a UN headquarters in New York
- Nuremburg war crimes trial returns death sentences for 12 Nazis, including Ribbentrop and Goering; 2 life sentences; and 2 acquittals. Goering commits suicide before his scheduled execution.
- U.S. industry idled by widespread labor strikes; federal government takes control of railroads
- Most wartime price controls eliminated
BUSINESS & ECONOMY:
- Atomic Energy Commission created
- Xerographic photocopying process invented
- U.S. Navy tests atomic bomb at Bikini in the South Pacific
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY:
- World Series:St. Louis over Boston, 4-3
- Joe Louis defends heavyweight title for 23rd time
- "Assault" wins Belmont, Preakness and Kentucky Derby
SPORTS:
- Movies: The Best Years of Our Lives, Notorious, Great Expectations
- Songs: Tenderly, Come Rain or Come Shine, Zip-a-dee-doo-dah
- TV Shows: Gillette Cavalcade of Sports, Esso Newsreel (programming limited to approximately 12 hours per week on two networks)
- Books: Hiroshima, John Hersey; Baby and Child Care, Dr. Benjamin Spock; All the King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT:
- Dr. Benjamin Spock’s Baby and Child Care influences millions of new and expectant parents throughout the U.S.
- Strapless bras become popular, ushering in a trend toward bare-shouldered women’s fashions
- "Tide", the first detergent designed for automatic clothes washing machines, introduced
- First electric clothes dryers
- Suntan lotions, developed for troops during World War II, marketed to consumers for the first time
EVERYDAY LIFE:
- Shortest recorded boxing match ever; Couture defeats Walton in 10.5 seconds with one punch
- Americans eat a record 714 million gallons of ice cream
FUN FACTS:
