US President Harry S. Truman vetoed a $4.8 billion tax reduction bill arguing that it would cause a federal deficit and increase inflation, but Congress overturned the veto just four hours later in one of Truman's worst legislative defeats.[2]
The TV talk show Author Meets the Critics first aired on NBC. In each episode, two critics would debate a recently published book and then be joined by the author.
Finland and the Soviet Union signed a ten-year military pact that would obligate Finland to resist an armed attack made against Russia by Germany, but allowing Soviet troops to enter Finland "only in case of necessity and only on such terms as may be agreed on between the two countries."[4]
On Budget Day in the United Kingdom, Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Stafford Cripps submitted a budget showing estimated revenue of £3.754 billion against an expenditure of £2.976 billion, with a projected surplus of £330 million once all government expenditures were taken into account.[5] The budget added a graduated tax on investment income and raised taxes on alcohol and gambling, but increased tax allowances on earned income.[6]
A Czech Airlines commercial plane en route from Prague to Bratislava was hijacked and flown to the US-controlled zone of Germany near Munich. Three of the crew and most of the 26 passengers aboard were in on the plot and were seeking political asylum. All but five passengers and one crew member told the American authorities that they wanted to stay in Germany rather than go back to Czechoslovakia.[7]
The US Golf Association barred Babe Zaharias from playing in the US Open by amending its rules to restrict applicants to men. "As the championship has always been intended to be for men, the eligibility rules have been rephrased to confirm that condition," a communication from the USGA explained.[8]
The Deir Yassin massacre took place when around 120 fighters from Zionist military groups attacked the Palestinian Arab village of Deir Yassin, killing at least 107 Palestinians.
US Secretary of Defense James Forrestal told a Senate committee that Russia knew how to make an atomic bomb, but thus far lacked the industrial capacity for their manufacture. When members of the committee asked him when Russia might attain this capacity, Forrestal replied that he did not know.[11]
A controversy began in Britain when the Daily Herald published a telegram apparently signed by thirty-seven Labour Party MPs wishing success to Pietro Nenni, an Italian socialist politician whose party was in an alliance with the Communists for the upcoming election.[18] When reached for comment, fifteen of the MPs in question would either say that they did not sign the telegram, claim that they only did so through a misunderstanding, or withdraw their support.[19][20]
A Munich denazification court convicted Fritz Julius Kuhnin absentia as a Nazi offender and sentenced him to 10 years in a labor camp and confiscation of property.[24]
Labor union leader Walter Reuther survived an assassination attempt when a shotgun blast was fired through the kitchen window of his Detroit home, with one slug entering his right arm and a second in his right chest cavity. Reuther was rushed to hospital where he received a blood transfusion.[25]
The Battle of Haifa began as Haganah forces launched an attack on the Arab neighborhoods of Haifa.
The United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 47 on the Kashmir conflict, recommending a three-step progress for the resolution of the dispute.
The controversial "Nenni Telegram" dogged the Labour Government in the House of Commons, with Herbert Morrison and Winston Churchill sparring over the question of whether the matter was an internal problem for the Labour Party or one that concerned the entire House.[29]
The UN Security Council voted 8-0 to set up a three-power commission consisting of Belgium, France and the United States to supervise the implementation of a truce in Palestine.[30]
Former Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa El-Nahas survived an assassination attempt when three men dressed in police uniforms blew up a car packed with explosives at his home and escaped in a second car. El-Nahas was not hurt although his wife was injured slightly by flying glass.[33]
Czechoslovakia's Constituent Assembly passed six nationalization bills that left only about 8% of the country's trade and industry in private hands.[38]
John Platts-Mills was expelled from the UK Labour Party for being the primary organizer of the Nenni Telegram.[39]
^"Fritz Kuhn Gets 10 Years, Property Is Confiscated". The New York Times: 7. April 21, 1948.
^"Reuther Shot and Wounded Through Window of Home". The New York Times: 1. April 21, 1948.
^Endsley, Brian M. (2009). Bums No More: The 1959 Los Angeles Dodgers, World Champions of Baseball. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 40. ISBN9780786455676.