World Health Organization Established

The World Health Organization, also known as WHO, was established April 7 News Events when the 26th member state ratified the organization’s constitution. The date it was founded became a worldwide day of awareness known as World Health Day. The organization is an agency of the United Nations with the primary objective of researching health issues, eradicating disease, and promoting healthy practices worldwide. Since its establishment, the World Health Organization has expanded with more than 150 offices around the globe to help monitor the spread of disease and provide support in times of crisis.

North Korea Established

The founding of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) took place during September. The nation was proclaimed in the capital Pyongyang by supreme leader Kim Il-sung as a communist dictatorship which tightly controls all aspects of citizens’ lives. Earlier in the same year the Republic of Korea (South Korea) was proclaimed in its capital, Seoul, under Syngman Rhee. By 1950 the Korean War broke out after Kim Il-sung attempted to unite the Koreas under his rule using military force. Reunification failed and Kim Il-sung ruled an increasingly isolated and secretive North Korea until his death in 1994.

Western European Treaty

Western European Treaty is signed.

More Information for the Treaty of Brussels/Western European Treaty.

The Treaty of Brussels, also known as the Western European Treaty, was signed by five European Nations during March . The signatories included Belgium, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, France, and the Netherlands. The treaty established military, social, and cultural cooperation between the five nations in an attempt to bolster defense and solidify their alliance for Western Europe against the growing threat of Communism in Eastern Europe. The treaty was important in the development of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Western European Union.

London Summer Olympics

The Summer Olympics, also known as the Games of the XIV Olympiad, come to an end in August. The games were held in London, England and were the first games in twelve years due to World War II. A total of 4,104 athletes from 59 countries participated in 136 athletic events. These were the first games to be shown on television and the first to feature a covered pool. The United States won the most medals with 84 total, followed by Sweden with 44, and France with 29. Great Britain placed twelfth on the table with 23 total, three of them gold.

Czechoslovakia becomes Communist

Czechoslovakia becomes Communist after coup.

More Information for Czechoslovakia becomes Communist

During February Communist rule was established in Czechoslovakia after a nearly bloodless coup took place. President Eduard Benes announced that the nation would transition to a Communist system after being pressured by the newly influential Czechoslovakian Communist Party. Western powers viewed the coup as an expansion of power by the Soviet Union and feared the ease at which the Soviet Union was able to gain influence in parts of Eastern and Southern Europe. Despite the country's previously democratic traditions, Czechoslovakia remained Communist until the Velvet Revolution in 1989.

Mary Douglas Leakey

Mary Leakey discovers the fossilized skull of Proconsul Africanus at Rusinga Island.

More Information for Mary Leakey.

Archaeologist Mary Douglas Leakey made her very first important fossil discovery in October . While digging on Rusinga Island in Kenya with her husband Louis Leakey, Mary discovered the jaws and skull of a possible human ancestor, Proconsul Africanus. The fossil was determined to be between 18 and 25 million years old and was more closely related to modern monkeys and apes than to modern humans.

World -- U.N. Declaration of Human Rights

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10th in Paris. The document, while not legally binding, laid the foundation of basic human rights upon which subsequent treaties and declarations were based. The UDHR is thirty articles long and was conceived as a reaction to the atrocities committed during World War II and the Holocaust. The document enumerated that all humans should be entitled to fair treatment, dignity, and equal freedoms regardless of their personal characteristics or affiliations.

Other News and Events

British Railways

Nationalisation of UK railways to form British Railways

The Marshall Plan

The Foreign Assistance Act ( The Marshall Plan ) is agreed to provide more than $13 billion in aid to war torn Europe between 1948 and 1951

United Nations

The UN creates the WHO World Health Organization

The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration on Human Rights

India attacks Pakistan

India attacks the Pakistan City of Hyderabad

Polio

Instances of Polio ( Infantile Paralysis ) increase around the world.

Soviet Blockade West Berlin

The United States and Great Britain begins a massive airlift of food, water, and medicine on June 26th to the citizens of West Berlin following the Soviet Blockade.

Burma

Burma Gains Independence

Holden cars

Holden cars starts manufacture in Australian

NASCAR

NASCAR holds its first race for modified stock cars at Daytona Beach

Earthquake in Turkmenistan

Earthquake in Turkmenistan USSR Kills 110,000

Earthquake Ecuador

6.7 magnitude earthquake hits Ecuador in the Andes creating landslides burying 100,000 homes

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka Gains Independence From Great Britain

apartheid begins in South Africa

The National Party of the Dutch Afrikaners begins the policy of apartheid in South Africa

Summer Olympics

The Summer Olympics are held in London, England

Winter Olympic Games

The Winter Olympic Games are held in St. Moritz, Switzerland

Calendar For The Year 1948