1947 Sydney hailstorm: Sydney, Australia was hit with the most severe storm since recorded observations began in 1792. About 1,000 people were injured and approximately GB£750,000 in damages were done.
The 80th United States Congress first met. Proceedings of Congress were televised for the first time when cameras were allowed into the House Chamber to broadcast the opening address of House Speaker Joe Martin.[2]
Died:Al Herpin, 84?, notable American insomniac known as "The Man Who Never Slept"
US President Harry S. Truman gave the State of the Union address, telling the new Republican-dominated Congress that they would have to work with him for the common good.[5] It was the first State of the Union address to be televised live.[6]
5,000 London truck drivers suddenly went out on strike, demanding a 44-hour work week and pay raises.[7] The number of strikers would rise to 50,000 over the next ten days as more transportation workers and sympathy strikers would join the work stoppage.[8]
British Army Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery arrived in Moscow for a five-day visit to the Soviet Union. Montgomery told Soviet radio that the purpose of his visit was to "establish friendly contact with the Soviet Army and I hope that from that friendly contact there may develop and grow a mutual understanding, a mutual confidence, a happy relationship between our two armies which will be for the mutual benefit of us all."[9]
British steel works closed down due to a lack of coal.[11]
Polish Peasant Party leader Stanisław Mikołajczyk announced that his party would field candidates in 42 of Poland's 52 electoral districts in the January 19 election, but threatened to boycott elections in the remaining 10 districts where the government had denied his party a list of candidates. Mikołajczyk's announcement had been anxiously awaited by the nation; a move to boycott all 52 districts might have pushed Poland toward civil war.[12]
Jan Malypetr, who served three stints as Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia from 1932 to 1935, was acquitted by the Prague national court of charges of supporting the Nazi and fascist movements.[13]
President Truman submitted to Congress the first balanced federal budget since 1930. In defiance of the challenge from the Republican Congress, Truman's budget did not include tax cuts.[14]
With the London transportation strike almost a week old, the British government called on the military to drive trucks supplying the city with food starting the next morning.[16]
The United States Supreme Court decided Louisiana ex rel. Francis v. Resweber. The 5–4 decision ruled that imposing capital punishment a second time, after the first attempt to execute 17-year old convicted murderer Willie Francis by electric chair failed, did not violate the Constitution.
The USSR and Norway signed a two-year renewable trade treaty as Moscow denounced the 1920 Svalbard Treaty giving Norway sovereignty over the Spitzbergen islands. TASS claimed that the Svalbard Treaty had been signed without Russia's knowledge and in disregard of Soviet interests.[15]
Over 2,000 London dock workers voted to walk off the job in sympathy with the striking transport workers.[17]
The U.S. State Department claimed that Norway and the USSR could not modify the 1920 pact over the Spitzbergen Islands without consulting the United States, which was also a signatory to the treaty.[15]
Black Dahlia: The mutilated body of 22-year-old aspiring actress Elizabeth Short was discovered in Leimert Park, Los Angeles. The murder became a media sensation but would never be solved.
The day after taking office, new French President Auriol selected Paul Ramadier to form the next government to replace Léon Blum, who was stepping down for health reasons.[19]
In Muiden, Netherlands, a truck loaded with 150-pound (68 kg) German shells exploded, killing 14 Dutch soldiers and two civilians.[20]
Britain's Labour Government issued a White Paper urging workers to increase production without demanding higher wages in return in order to spare Britain from an "extremely serious" economic situation.[23]
Alcide De Gasperi resigned as Prime Minister of Italy after admitting inability to handle the present political situation.[24]
British Prime Minister Clement Attlee announced that British troops would be withdrawn from Egypt.[1]
The new Greek Prime Minister Dimitrios Maximos announced that the government was prepared to offer general amnesty to all guerrilla bands willing to capitulate in order to end the Greek Civil War.[19]
Prime Minister Attlee presented a plan for Burmese independence to Parliament, calling for the election of a Constituent Assembly in April and an interim government "conducted generally in the same manner as the Interim Government of India at the present time."[33]
The US State Department accused the Polish government of failing to carry out free elections as required in the Yalta and Potsdam agreements.[19]
The month-long Battle of Guanzhong ended in victory for the Chinese Communist forces.
During a performance of William Shakespeare's play Macbeth in Oldham, England, actor Harold Norman, playing the title role, was wounded by a dagger during Macbeth's fight with Macduff. After two operations, Norman would die of his injury in February.[35]
Tornadoes in the southern United States killed 20 people.[36]
A ten-day blizzard began in the Canadian Prairies that would be remembered as one of Canada's worst winter storms of the 20th century. Towns and trains from Winnipeg to Calgary were buried under snow while some rural roads and railways in Saskatchewan would remain closed until spring.[37][38]
British High Commissioner for Palestine Lt. General Alan Cunningham ordered all "non-essential" British civilians to evacuate the province.[1][11] It was officially announced that all wives and children of officers in Palestine who were British subjects would be evacuated by February 4 "so military operations in Palestine will not be hampered."[39]
^Matthews, Herbert L. (January 29, 1947). "Attlee Announces Free Burma Set-Up". The New York Times: 1, 21.
^Hirschhorn, Bernard. "Civil Rights." Historical Dictionary of the 1940s. Ed. James Gilbert Ryan and Leonard Schlup. Routledge, 2006. p. 76. ISBN9781317468653.