1947 Events & Facts
MAJOR EVENTS:
- President Truman formulates "Truman Doctrine" of providing aid to countries whose governments are threatened with overthrow
- U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall calls for a European recovery effort, popularly called the "Marshall Plan."
- India and Pakistan proclaimed independent nations
- Britain nationalizes its coal industry
- Britain’s Princess Elizabeth marries Phillip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh
BUSINESS & ECONOMY:
- Congress passes Taft-Hartley Act, restricting labor unions
- Henry Ford dies, leaving behind a fortune of over $600 million
- Americans are able to purchase the first new cars manufactured since the beginning of World War II
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY:
- First airplane to break the speed of sound
- Thor Heyerdahl sails from Peru to Polynesia on a raft to prove theory of human migration
- Transistor invented at Bell Laboratories
- Holography invented
- "Broad spectrum" antibiotic introduced to fight typhus
SPORTS:
- World Series:New York Yankees over Brooklyn, 4-3 (first televised World Series)
- Jackie Robinson becomes the first African-American player in a major league baseball team (Brooklyn Dodgers)
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT:
- Movies: Gentleman’s Agreement
- TV Shows: Kraft Television Theatre, Small Fry Club (programming limited to approximately 18 hours per week)
- Books:Doktur Faustus, Thomas Mann; The Diary of Anne Frank; I, the Jury, Mickey Spillaine
- House Un-American Activities Committee begins investigating alleged Hollywood ties to communism
- Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire wins Pulitzer Prize
EVERYDAY LIFE:
- The "New Look" of long, full skirts becomes the rage of female fashion
- Over 1 million veterans enroll in college through the G.I. Bill
- First food processors
- Inventor Earl Tupper invents Tupperware, and with it the "Tupperware party," a unique way of marketing the products directly to homemakers
FUN FACTS:
- North America and Europe both experience severe winters. New York is hit with 28 inches of snow (Dec. 17), while Britain has its harshest winter in over 50 years
- First documented sightings of "flying saucers"
- Drive-in theatres become a booming industry
