January 1947

January 14, 1947 (Tuesday)

• The USSR and Norway signed a two-year renewable trade treaty as Moscow denounced the 1920
  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 Western film California starring Ray Milland, Barbara Stanwyck and Barry Fitzgerald premiered in New York City.
• Born: Stuart Baird, film editor and director, in England; Bill Werbeniuk, professional snooker player, in Winnipeg, Canada (d. 2003)
• Died: Bill Hewitt, 37, American football player (car accident)

January 15, 1947 (Wednesday)

• 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.
• Born:
  • Andrea Martin, actress, singer, author and comedian, in Portland, Maine
  • Michael Schanze, television presenter, actor and singer, in Tutzing, Germany
• Died: Jimmy Sheckard, 68, American baseball player

January 16, 1947 (Thursday)

• Vincent Auriol became President of France.
• The London transportation strike was settled.^[8] The strikers' demands were to be considered by an adjustment board.^[18]
• Born: Apasra Hongsakula, model and Miss Universe 1965, in Bangkok, Thailand; Laura Schlessinger, talk radio host and commentator, in Brooklyn, New York
• Died: Helmuth von Pannwitz, 48, German general (executed in Moscow for war crimes)

January 17, 1947 (Friday)

• 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]
• Born:
  Hiroshima Carp), played in a world record 2,215 consecutive professional baseball games from 1970 to 1987, in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto (d. 2018)^{[citation needed}
  ]

January 18, 1947 (Saturday)

• The Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team purchased the contract of veteran slugger Hank Greenberg from the Detroit Tigers for $75,000.^[21]
• Born: Takeshi Kitano, comedian, television personality and filmmaker, in Adachi, Tokyo, Japan
• Died: K. L. Saigal, 42, Indian singer and actor

January 19, 1947 (Sunday)

• Parliamentary elections were held in Poland, the first since World War II. According to official results, the Democratic Bloc headed by Communist leader Bolesław Bierut
  gained 80.1% of the vote.
• The Greek ferry ship Chimarra struck a mine and sank off Kavalliani with the loss of about 300 lives.^[22]
• Born: Paula Deen, celebrity chef and cooking show television host, in Albany, Georgia; Rod Evans, original lead singer of the rock band Deep Purple, in Eton, Berkshire, England
• Died:
  Manuel Machado
  , 72, Spanish poet and playwright

January 20, 1947 (Monday)

• 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]
• Died: Josh Gibson, 35, American Negro league baseball player and 1972 inductee to the Hall of Fame (stroke); Andrew Volstead, 86, American politician associated with the Volstead Act which established prohibition in the United States

January 21, 1947 (Tuesday)

• The first of several severe cold spells began in the United Kingdom, bringing large drifts of snow to the country that blocked roads and railways.
• George Marshall became 50th United States Secretary of State
  .
• Strom Thurmond became 103rd Governor of South Carolina.
• Mickey Cochrane, Frankie Frisch, Lefty Grove and Carl Hubbell were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.^[25]
• Born: Jill Eikenberry, actress, in New Haven, Connecticut

January 22, 1947 (Wednesday)

• Paul Ramadier became Prime Minister of France.
• KTLA-TV went on the air in Los Angeles, the first television station west of the Mississippi River. It broadcast a 30-minute variety show from the Paramount TV theatre starring Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, William Bendix and Jerry Colonna.^[26]
• Born: Senichi Hoshino, former Japanese professional baseball pitcher and coach, Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture (d. 2018)^{[citation needed]}
• Died: Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot, 58, English governess and writer

January 23, 1947 (Thursday)

• The International Olympic Committee announced that Germany and Japan would not be taking part in the 1948 Olympic Games.^[27]
• Former president Herbert Hoover accepted an assignment from President Truman to undertake a mission to central Europe to study the food situation and other problems.^[19]
• Born: Tom Carper, politician, in Beckley, West Virginia; Megawati Sukarnoputri, 5th President of Indonesia, in Yogyakarta, Indonesia
• Died: Pierre Bonnard, 79, French Post-Impressionist painter and printmaker^[28]

January 24, 1947 (Friday)

• The prosecution rested in the war crimes trial of Hideki Tojo and 24 other Japanese wartime leaders.^[1]
• Born: Michio Kaku, Japanese-American futurist and theoretical physicist, in San Jose, California;^[29] Masashi Ozaki, Japanese golfer, in Kaifu District, Tokushima, Japan; Warren Zevon, American singer-songwriter, in Los Angeles, California (d. 2003)^[30]

January 25, 1947 (Saturday)

• The 1947 Croydon Dakota accident killed 12 people at Croydon Airport, London.
• Dimitrios Maximos became Prime Minister of Greece.
• Born: Tostão, footballer, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil^[31]
• Died: Al Capone, 48, American gangster (cardiac arrest)^[32]

January 26, 1947 (Sunday)

• The
  1947 KLM Douglas DC-3 Copenhagen accident killed all 22 passengers and crew of a Douglas DC-3 that crashed after takeoff from Kastrup
  , Denmark.
• Died: Grace Moore, 48, American operatic soprano and actress; Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten, 40, Swedish prince (killed in the KLM Douglas DC-3 Copenhagen accident)

January 27, 1947 (Monday)

• 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]
• Born:
  Philip Sugden, historian, in Hull, England
  (d. 2014)
• Died: Vassily Balabanov, 73, Russian politician

January 28, 1947 (Tuesday)

• 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 short story collection Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener was published.

January 29, 1947 (Wednesday)

• Harry S. Truman became the first president to address the
  National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.^[34]
• The Arthur Miller stage play All My Sons premiered at the Coronet Theatre on Broadway.
• Born: Linda B. Buck, biologist, in Seattle, Washington; David Byron, lead singer of the rock band Uriah Heep, as David Garrick in Epping, Essex, England (d. 1985)
• Died: Del Gainer, 60, American baseball player

January 30, 1947 (Thursday)

• 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]
• Born: Ileana Jacket, German-born Venezuelan actress, in Leverkusen; Steve Marriott, rock musician, in Manor Park, London, England (d. 1991)
• Died: Frederick Blackman, 80, British plant physiologist

January 31, 1947 (Friday)

• 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]
• Aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CV-4) is sold for scrap
• Born: Nolan Ryan, baseball player, in Refugio, Texas

References