The Federation of American Scientists marked the second anniversary of V-J Day by issuing a statement that read in part: "A strong science will enable us to fight poverty, disease and ignorance. It will also enable us to fight a war effectively. It will not give us national security ... Other nations will soon have atomic bombs. There is no adequate defense against atomic bombs. There will be no defense. Inescapably then, national security lies in world security and that can be attained only by international action. As a nation, we have not learned this lesson."[1]
The London Evening Standard ran an editorial titled "It Is Not Too Late—Call Off the Games," expressing opposition to London hosting the 1948 Summer Olympics. "Sane opinion will marvel only at the colossal thickness of hide which permits its owners, at this time of crisis, to indulge in grandiose and luxurious schemes for an international weight-lifting and basketball jamboree," the editorial argued, going on to say that "a people which has had its housing program and food imports cut, and which is preparing for a winter battle of survival, may be forgiven for thinking that a full year of excessive preparations for the reception of an army of foreign athletes verges on the border of the excessive." An official from Britain's organizing committee for the Olympics replied that hundreds of thousands of Britons were looking forward to the games, and that preparations to insure their smooth running were limited to "the minimum arrangements necessary."[3]
A British military court in Hamburg sentenced 14 former Gestapo officials to death for killing 50 Allied airmen who attempted to escape from a Silesian prison camp in 1944.[4]
The US and UK agreed to joint control of the Ruhr mines in occupied Germany.[6]
Australian Prime Minister Ben Chifley announced the sale of all of Australia's gold production to the UK. The move would help cash-strapped Britain to obtain dollars immediately in the United States. The 150,000 ounces (representing two months of production) already sold under the agreement were worth about $5 million AUD.[7][8]
Operation Sandy: The US Navy successfully fired a German V-2 rocket from the aircraft carrier Midway, marking the first time a missile had been launched from a ship at sea.
The city of Moscow officially celebrated the 800th anniversary of its founding.[9]Joseph Stalin made a radio address for the occasion in which he called Moscow a "model for the capitals of the world."[10]
Ex-governor of MinnesotaHarold Stassen announced his candidacy for the 1948 Republican presidential nomination.[12]
The first software bug was recorded, in the Harvard Mark II electromechanical computer. The glitch was quite literally a "bug", as the error was traced to a moth trapped in a relay, which was carefully removed and taped to the log book.
During a trial run off the Copeland Islands, a crankcase explosion aboard the newly repaired passenger ship Reina del Pacifico killed 28 crew members and injured 23 others in one of the worst engineering disasters in maritime history.[14][15]
General Eisenhower seemingly ruled himself out of ever running for political office when he said during a visit to Columbia University that "any man who has spent most of his life in the military should not occupy any position in partisan politics, and I can only repeat what I have said many times before—I shall never seek any partisan political office." However, he did not specifically say he would refuse a nomination if drafted, only saying he would have no part in anything "artificial."[16]
Pittsburgh Pirates slugger Ralph Kiner became the first major league player to hit eight home runs in a span of four consecutive games when he hit two against the Boston Braves to go along with the four he hit during a doubleheader the previous day and the two he hit against the New York Giants on September 10. The record was previously held by Tony Lazzeri of the New York Yankees, who had hit seven homers in a four-game span in 1936.[17][18]
Greek Parliament voted in favor of an unconditional amnesty for guerrillas who surrendered within the next 30 days.[19]
NBC stations voted unanimously to ban radio broadcasts of crime and mystery shows before 9:30 p.m. EST, to minimize the possibility they would be heard by children.[20]
The Communist-dominated Polish government renounced the Concordat of 1925 between the Catholic Church and the Second Polish Republic.[19]
Kansas Senator Arthur Capper said during a radio broadcast that unless General Eisenhower "takes himself out of the picture by some unequivocal statement, he will be a factor in the Republican convention at Philadelphia whether or not he is an announced candidate."[21]
Born:Sam Neill, Northern Irish-born New Zealand actor, in Omagh
The British government decided not to wait any longer to hammer out an Austrian peace treaty with the other three great powers and formally ended its state of war with Austria to permit commercial dealings.[24]
The Fort Lauderdale hurricane made landfall near New Orleans, Louisiana. By the time it dissipated on September 20 the hurricane would cause 51 direct fatalities and $110 million worth of damage.
Born:Tessa Jowell, politician, née Tessa Palmer in London, England (d. 2018)
Died:Maurice Fargues, 34, French underwater diver, while trying to set a new depth record[26]
The National Association of Broadcasters meeting in Atlantic City adopted a code which reduced broadcast advertising, banned dramatic presentation of "controversial issues" and set standards for treatment of certain topics including race, religion and marriage.[25]
A Pan-American Douglas DC-4 airliner flying from Bermuda to New York City developed engine trouble over the Atlantic Ocean, skimmed the waves for 60 miles and then crashed and burned at Floyd Bennett Field. All 36 passengers and 5 crew aboard survived.[28][29]
Palestine Arab Higher Committee spokesman Husayn al-Khalidi declared that a separate Arab state in a partitioned Palestine would not be economically or politically viable, predicting that partition would result in "border incidents everywhere" and could lead to a tragic "crusade between Jewry and Islam."[30]
Mohandas Gandhi wrote in his weekly paper Harijan that the Indian government should take action to "banish the English language as a cultural usurper as we successfully banished the political rule of the English usurper."[31]
Representatives of nine European Communist parties (mostly from the Soviet bloc but also including France and Italy) met in the Polish resort town of Szklarska Poręba for a conference aimed at coordinating their activities more closely.[32]
President of Argentina Juan Perón, on the balcony of the Presidential Palace before a cheering crowd of 100,000, signed a statute giving women the right to vote.[34]
The UN General Assembly overrode Soviet objections to include the Greek question, Korean independence and the Italian peace treaty on its agenda.[20]
Jackie Robinson of the Dodgers was honored with "Jackie Robinson Day" at Ebbets Field. He and his wife Rachel were presented with a new Cadillac, a gold wristwatch, a television, an interracial goodwill plaque and cash gifts.[35]
UK Colonial Secretary Arthur Creech Jones announced Britain's intention to abandon its mandate over Palestine and pull out of all its military and government personnel at an early date, whether or not the United Nations reached a settlement agreeable to both Arabs and Jews.[37][36]
The Communist conference in Szklarska Poręba concluded with the founding of Cominform, an official forum of the international communist movement succeeding the Comintern which had been dissolved in 1943.[39]
The Royal Navy intercepted the Jewish refugee ship Af Al Pi Chen which was sailing to Palestine from Italy with 434 passengers. 1 person was killed and 10 injured in the violent resistance during the boarding of the ship.[40][41]
B'nai B'rith sent a telegram to President Truman asking him to issue a statement in support of a United Nations committee majority recommendation that Palestine be partitioned into Jewish and Arab states.[42]
37-year old baseball pitcher-turned-broadcaster Dizzy Dean came out of retirement to pitch one last game for the St. Louis Browns on the final day of the regular season as a publicity stunt. 15,910 people came out to watch Dean pitch four shutout innings against the Chicago White Sox and hit a single in his only plate appearance.[43][44]
Coming off a disappointing third-place finish in 1947 after winning the pennant in 1946, the Boston Red Sox hired Joe McCarthy as the team's new manager. McCarthy had won seven championships as the manager of the New York Yankees.[45]
Game 1 of the 1947 World Series at Yankee Stadium was the first World Series game ever to be televised.[47] The Yankees defeated the Dodgers 5-3 before a record crowd of 73,365.[48]
^Daniel, Clifton (September 22, 1947). "Palestine State as Mapped in U. N. Is 'Impossible,' Says Arab Leader". The New York Times: 5.
^"Gandhi Urges India to Banish English Tongue". Chicago Daily Tribune. Chicago: 2. September 22, 1947.
^Paczkowski, Andrzej (1995). Spring Will Be Ours: Poland and the Poles from Occupation to Freedom. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. p. 198. ISBN9780271047539.
^"Dodgers Take Pennant as Cubs Beat Cards". Chicago Daily Tribune. Chicago: 29. September 23, 1947.
^"Vote Decree Cheered by Argentine Women". The New York Times: 8. September 24, 1947.