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List of events
Events from the year 1947 in the United States .
President Truman on opening day of the baseball season, 1947
Incumbents
Governors and Lieutenant Governors
Governors
Governor of Alabama : Chauncey Sparks (Democratic ) (until January 20), Jim Folsom (Democratic ) (starting January 20)
Governor of Arizona : Sidney Preston Osborn (Democratic )
Governor of Arkansas : Benjamin Travis Laney (Democratic )
Governor of California : Earl Warren (Republican )
Governor of Colorado : John Charles Vivian (Republican ) (until January 14), William Lee Knous (Democratic ) (starting January 14)
Governor of Connecticut : Charles W. Snow (Democratic ) (until January 8), James L. McConaughy (Republican ) (starting January 8)
Governor of Delaware : Walter W. Bacon (Republican )
Governor of Florida : Millard F. Caldwell (Democratic )
Governor of Georgia :
Governor of Idaho : Arnold Williams (Democratic ) (until January 6), C. A. Robins (Republican ) (starting January 6)
Governor of Illinois : Dwight H. Green (Republican )
Governor of Indiana : Ralph F. Gates (Republican )
Governor of Iowa : Robert D. Blue (Republican )
Governor of Kansas : Andrew F. Schoeppel (Republican ) (until January 13), Frank Carlson (Republican ) (starting January 13)
Governor of Kentucky : Simeon S. Willis (Republican ) (until December 9), Earle C. Clements (Democratic ) (starting December 9)
Governor of Louisiana : Jimmie H. Davis (Democratic )
Governor of Maine : Horace A. Hildreth (Republican )
Governor of Maryland : Herbert R. O'Conor (Democratic ) (until January 3), William Preston Lane, Jr. (Democratic ) (starting January 3)
Governor of Massachusetts : Maurice J. Tobin (Democratic ) (until January 2), Robert F. Bradford (Republican ) (starting January 2)
Governor of Michigan : Harry Kelly (Republican ) (until January 1), Kim Sigler (Republican ) (starting January 1)
Governor of Minnesota : Edward John Thye (Republican ) (until January 8), Luther W. Youngdahl (Republican ) (starting January 8)
Governor of Mississippi : Fielding L. Wright (Democratic )
Governor of Missouri : Phil M. Donnelly (Democratic )
Governor of Montana : Sam C. Ford (Republican )
Governor of Nebraska : Dwight Griswold (Republican ) (until January 9), Val Peterson (Republican ) (starting January 9)
Governor of Nevada : Vail M. Pittman (Democratic )
Governor of New Hampshire : Charles M. Dale (Republican )
Governor of New Jersey : Walter Evans Edge (Republican ) (until January 21), Alfred E. Driscoll (Republican ) (starting January 21)
Governor of New Mexico : John J. Dempsey (Democratic ) (until January 1), Thomas J. Mabry (Democratic ) (starting January 1)
Governor of New York : Thomas Dewey (Republican )
Governor of North Carolina : R. Gregg Cherry (Democratic )
Governor of North Dakota : Fred G. Aandahl (Republican )
Governor of Ohio : Frank J. Lausche (Democratic ) (until January 13), Thomas J. Herbert (Republican ) (starting January 13)
Governor of Oklahoma : Robert S. Kerr (Democratic ) (until January 13), Roy J. Turner (Democratic ) (starting January 13)
Governor of Oregon : Earl Snell (Republican ) (until October 30), John H. Hall (Republican ) (starting October 30)
Governor of Pennsylvania :
Governor of Rhode Island : John Orlando Pastore (Democratic )
Governor of South Carolina : Ransome Judson Williams (Democratic ) (until January 21), Strom Thurmond (Democratic ) (starting January 21)
Governor of South Dakota : Merrill Q. Sharpe (Republican ) (until January 7), George T. Mickelson (Republican ) (starting January 7)
Governor of Tennessee : Jim Nance McCord (Democratic )
Governor of Texas : Coke R. Stevenson (Democratic ) (until January 21), Beauford H. Jester (Democratic ) (starting January 21)
Governor of Utah : Herbert B. Maw (Democratic )
Governor of Vermont : Mortimer R. Proctor (Republican ) (until January 9), Ernest W. Gibson, Jr. (Republican ) (starting January 9)
Governor of Virginia : William M. Tuck (Democratic )
Governor of Washington : Monrad C. Wallgren (Democratic )
Governor of West Virginia : Clarence W. Meadows (Democratic )
Governor of Wisconsin : Walter S. Goodland (Republican ) (until March 12), Oscar Rennebohm (Republican ) (starting March 12)
Governor of Wyoming : Lester C. Hunt (Democratic )
Lieutenant Governors
Lieutenant Governor of Alabama : Leven H. Ellis (Democratic ) (until January 20), James C. Inzer (Democratic ) (starting January 20)
Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas : James Lavesque Shaver (political party unknown) (until month and day unknown), Nathan Green Gordon (Democratic ) (starting month and day unknown)
Lieutenant Governor of California : Frederick F. Houser (Republican ) (until January 7), Goodwin Knight (Republican ) (starting January 7)
Lieutenant Governor of Colorado : William Eugene Higby (Republican ) (until January 14), Homer L. Pearson (Republican ) (starting January 14)
Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut : vacant (until January 8), James C. Shannon (Republican ) (starting January 8)
Lieutenant Governor of Delaware : Elbert N. Carvel (Democratic )
Lieutenant Governor of Georgia : Melvin E. Thompson (Democratic ) (starting January 14 and ending March 18), vacant (starting March 18)
Lieutenant Governor of Idaho : A. R. McCabe (Democratic ) (until January 6), Donald S. Whitehead (Democratic ) (starting January 6)
Lieutenant Governor of Illinois : Hugh W. Cross (Republican )
Lieutenant Governor of Indiana : Richard T. James (Republican )
Lieutenant Governor of Iowa : Kenneth A. Evans (Republican )
Lieutenant Governor of Kansas : Jess C. Denious, Sr. (Republican ) (until January 13), Frank L. Hagaman (Republican ) (starting January 13)
Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky : Kenneth H. Tuggle (Republican ) (until December 9), Lawrence Wetherby (Democratic ) (starting December 9)
Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana : J. Emile Verret (Democratic )
Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts : vacant (starting January 2), Arthur W. Coolidge (Republican ) (starting January 2)
Lieutenant Governor of Michigan : Vernon J. Brown (Republican ) (until January 1), Eugene C. Keyes (Republican ) (starting January 1)
Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota : C. Elmer Anderson (Republican )
Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi : vacant
Lieutenant Governor of Missouri : Walter Naylor Davis (Democratic )
Lieutenant Governor of Montana : Ernest T. Eaton (Republican )
Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska : Roy W. Johnson (Republican ) (until January 9), Robert B. Crosby (Republican ) (starting January 9)
Lieutenant Governor of Nevada : vacant (until January), Clifford A. Jones (Democratic ) (starting January)
Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico : James B. Jones (Democratic ) (until January 1), Joseph Montoya (Democratic ) (starting January 1)
Lieutenant Governor of New York : Joseph R. Hanley (Republican )
Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina : Lynton Y. Ballentine (Democratic )
Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota : Clarence P. Dahl (Republican )
Lieutenant Governor of Ohio : George D. Nye (Democratic ) (until January 13), Paul M. Herbert (Republican ) (starting January 13)
Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma : James E. Berry (Democratic )
Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania : John C. Bell, Jr. (Republican ) (until January 21), Daniel B. Strickler (Republican ) (starting January 21)
Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island : vacant (until month and day unknown), John S. McKiernan (Democratic ) (starting month and day unknown)
Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina : vacant (until January 21), George Bell Timmerman, Jr. (Democratic ) (starting January 21)
Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota : Sioux K. Grigsby (Republican )
Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee : Larry Morgan (Democratic ) (until month and day unknown), George Oliver Benton (Democratic ) (starting month and day unknown)
Lieutenant Governor of Texas : John Lee Smith (Democratic ) (until January 21), Allan Shivers (Democratic ) (starting January 21)
Lieutenant Governor of Vermont : Lee E. Emerson (Republican )
Lieutenant Governor of Virginia : Lewis Preston Collins II (Democratic )
Lieutenant Governor of Washington : Victor A. Meyers (Democratic )
Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin : Oscar Rennebohm (Republican )
Events
January–March
January 15 – Elizabeth Short, an aspiring actress nicknamed the "Black Dahlia ", is found brutally murdered in a vacant lot in Los Angeles . The case remains unsolved to this day.
February 3 – Percival Prattis becomes the first African-American news correspondent allowed in the United States House of Representatives and Senate press galleries.
February 17 – Cold War : The Voice of America begins to transmit radio broadcasts into Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union .
February 20
February 21 – In New York City , Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", his Polaroid Land Camera , to a meeting of the Optical Society of America .
February 28 – The United States grants France a military base in Casablanca .
March 6 – The USS Newport News , the first completely air-conditioned warship, is launched in Newport News, Virginia .
March 19 – The 19th Academy Awards ceremony is held. The movie Best Years of Our Lives wins the Academy Award for Best Picture , along with several other Academy Awards.
March 25 – A coal mine explosion in Centralia, Illinois , kills 111 miners.
April–June
April 1 – Jackie Robinson , the first African American baseball professional since the 1880s, signs a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers .
April 6 – The 1st Tony Awards , recognizing achievement in American theater, are awarded at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.
April 9
April 15 – Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to play Major League Baseball since the 1880s.
April 16
April 26 – Academy award-winning Tom and Jerry cartoon, The Cat Concerto , is released to theatres.
May 6 – The Wisconsin earthquake affected Alaska with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (Strong ), causing a destructive basin wide tsunami, leaving 165–173 dead.
May 22
June – Langer's Deli opens in Los Angeles.
June 5 – Secretary of State George Marshall outlines the Marshall Plan for American reconstruction and relief aid to Europe.
June 21 – Seaman Harold Dahl claims to have seen six UFOs near Maury Island in Puget Sound , Washington . On the next morning, Dahl reports the first modern so-called "Men in Black " encounter.
June 23 – The United States Senate follows the House of Representatives in overriding President Harry S. Truman 's veto of the Taft-Hartley Act .
June 24 – Kenneth Arnold makes the first widely reported UFO sighting near Mount Rainier , Washington .
July–September
July 7 – A supposedly downed extraterrestrial spacecraft is reportedly found in the Roswell UFO incident , near Roswell, New Mexico , which has been written about by Stanton T. Friedman and many others.
July 18 – President Harry S. Truman signs the Presidential Succession Act into law, which places the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate next in the line of succession after the United States Vice President .
July 26 – Cold War : U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act of 1947 into law, creating the Central Intelligence Agency , the Department of Defense , the Joint Chiefs of Staff , and the National Security Council .
August – Fernwood Park race riot in Chicago.
August 29 – US announces the discovery of plutonium fission , suitable for nuclear power generation.
September 17–21 – The 1947 Fort Lauderdale Hurricane in southeastern Florida , and also in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, causes widespread damage and kills 51 people.
September 17 – Office of Indian Affairs renamed Bureau of Indian Affairs .
September 18 – Most provisions of the National Security Act go into effect, reorganizing the military to form the National Military Establishment (later the Department of Defense ) with subordinate Departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force; creating the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council ; and establishing the Secretary of Defense .
September 26 – U.S. Air Force is made a separate branch of the military.
October–December
October 14: Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier in the Bell X-1
Girls sunbathing at Cabrillo Beach , California, Dec. 28, 1947
October–November – Great Fires of 1947 : Forest fires in Maine consume more than 200,000 acres of wooded land statewide, including over 17,000 acres on Mount Desert Island alone. 16 persons are killed and more than 1,000 homes destroyed in the blazes, with total property damage exceeding $23 million.
October – The House Un-American Activities Committee begins its investigations into communism in Hollywood .
October 6 – World Series games are broadcast on television for the first time.
October 14 – The United States Air Force test pilot Captain Chuck Yeager flies a Bell X-1 rocket plane faster than the speed of sound , the first time that this has been accomplished in level flight, or climbing.
October 20 – Pakistan establishes diplomatic relations with the United States .
November 1 – U.S. Caribbean Command designated.
November 2 – In California , the designer and airplane pilot Howard Hughes performs the maiden flight of the Spruce Goose , the largest fixed-wing aircraft ever built. (The flight lasts only eight minutes, and the "Spruce Goose" is never flown again.)
November 6 – The program Meet the Press makes its television debut on the NBC -TV network in the United States.
November 24 – Red Scare : The U.S. House of Representatives votes 346–17 to approve citations of Contempt of Congress against the so-called Hollywood 10 , after the ten men refuse to co-operate with the House Un-American Activities Committee concerning allegations of communist influences in the movie business. (The ten men are blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studios on the following day).
December 3 – The Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire opens in a Broadway theater .
December 6 – Arturo Toscanini conducts a concert performance of the first half of Giuseppe Verdi 's opera Otello , which was based on William Shakespeare 's play Othello , for a broadcast on NBC Radio. The second half of the opera is broadcast a week later.
December 22 – The first practical electronic transistor is demonstrated by John Bardeen and Walter Brattain working under William Shockley at AT&T 's Bell Labs .
Ongoing
Births
January
Andrea Martin
Jonathan Banks
Nolan Ryan
Glynn Turman
January 1
January 2 – Jack Hanna , American zoologist
January 5
January 8
January 9 – Ronnie Landfield , American artist
January 15 – Andrea Martin , Canadian-American actress (Second City Television )
January 16 – Laura Schlessinger , American radio, TV talk show host
January 19
January 21 – Jill Eikenberry , American actress
January 23
January 24
January 25 – Marjorie Scardino , American-born business executive
January 26 – Mark Dayton , American politician
January 27 – Cal Schenkel , American illustrator
January 28 – Jeanne Shaheen , American politician
January 29
January 31
February
Farrah Fawcett
Dan Quayle
Edward James Olmos
February 1 – Jessica Savitch , American journalist (d. 1983 )
February 2 – Farrah Fawcett , American actress (Charlie's Angels ) (d. 2009 )
February 3
February 4
February 5 – Darrell Waltrip , American race car driver, broadcaster
February 7 – Wayne Allwine , American voice actor (d. 2009 )
February 9 – Erik Olin Wright , American sociologist (d. 2019 )
February 11 – Roy Moore , American politician
February 13 – Mike Krzyzewski , American basketball coach
February 15
February 18 – Dennis DeYoung , American rock musician (Styx )
February 20 – Peter Strauss , American actor
February 24 – Edward James Olmos , Hispanic-American actor, director, producer and activist
February 25
March
Rob Reiner
Mitt Romney
Glenn Close
April
Tom Clancy
David Letterman
James Woods
April 2
April 6 – John Ratzenberger , American actor (Cheers )
April 8
April 9 – Ken Lewis , American CEO, president and chairman of Bank of America
April 11
April 12
April 15
April 16
April 18
April 19 – Murray Perahia , American pianist
April 20 – Andrew Tobias , American journalist and author
April 21 – Iggy Pop , American rock musician
April 22 – Norma Harris , American sprinter
April 25 – Jeffrey DeMunn , American actor
April 28 – Ken St. Andre , American game designer, author
April 29 – Tommy James , American rock singer, producer
May
Richard Jenkins
Ken Westerfield
May 3 – Richard Jenkins , American actor
May 4 – Theda Skocpol , American sociologist
May 6 – Martha Nussbaum , American philosopher
May 8
May 10 – Jay Ferguson , American singer-songwriter, keyboard player (Spirit and Jo Jo Gunne )
May 11 – Butch Trucks , American drummer (The Allman Brothers Band ) (d. 2017 )
May 13 – Stephen R. Donaldson , American novelist
May 14 – Tamara Dobson , African-American actress, fashion model (d. 2006 )
May 16 – Buddy Roberts , American professional wrestler (d. 2012 )
May 23 – Ken Westerfield , American disc sports (Frisbee) pioneer, athlete, showman and promoter
May 27 – Peter DeFazio , American politician
June
Robert Englund
Jimmie Walker
Richard Lewis
June 3 – Dave Alexander , American musician (d. 1975 )
June 5 – Laurie Anderson , American experimental performance artist, composer and musician
June 6 – Robert Englund , American actor, director and singer
June 7
June 8 – Eric F. Wieschaus , American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
June 14 – Barry Melton , American rock musician (Country Joe and the Fish )
June 15 – John Hoagland , American war photographer (d. 1984 )
June 19 – Linda Myers , American archer
June 20 – Candy Clark , American actress
June 21
June 22
June 24
June 25
June 26 – Edd Hargett , American football quarterback
June 28 – Mark Helprin , American writer
June 29 – Richard Lewis , American comedian, actor (Robin Hood: Men in Tights , Curb Your Enthusiasm )
July
Larry David
O. J. Simpson
Albert Brooks
Arnold Schwarzenegger
July 1 – Marc Benno , American singer, songwriter and guitarist
July 2 – Larry David , American actor, writer, producer and director (Curb Your Enthusiasm )
July 3
July 5
July 6
July 7
July 8 – Bobby Sowell , American pianist, composer
July 9 – O. J. Simpson , American football player, sportscaster, actor and author, convicted of causing wrongful death and felony
July 10 – Arlo Guthrie , American folk singer (Alice's Restaurant )
July 12 – Loren Coleman , American cryptozoologist, author
July 15 – Roky Erickson , American singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2019 )
July 16
July 19 – Bernie Leadon , American musician, songwriter
July 22
July 23 – Spencer Christian , American television personality
July 24 – Peter Serkin , American pianist (d. 2020 )
July 27 – Bob Klein , American football player
July 30
July 31 – Joe Wilson , American politician
August
Cindy Williams
Barbara Bach
September
Stephen King
Meat Loaf
September 1 – Al Green , American politician
September 5 – Buddy Miles , African-American drummer, singer and composer (d. 2008 )
September 6
September 8 – Benjamin Orr , American singer-songwriter (d. 2000 )
September 9 – Freddy Weller , American singer-songwriter
September 19 – Steve Bartlett , American politician
September 21
September 22 – Norma McCorvey , abortion plaintiff (Roe v. Wade ) (d. 2017 )
September 23
September 25
September 26 – Lynn Anderson , American country-music singer (d. 2015 )
September 27 – Meat Loaf , American rock singer, actor
October
Hillary Clinton
Richard Dreyfuss
October 1 – Stephen Collins , American actor
October 2 – Ward Churchill , American author and activist
October 3
October 6 – Gail Farrell , American singer
October 8 – Stephen Shore , American photographer
October 13 – Sammy Hagar , American rock musician (Van Halen )
October 16 – Bob Weir , American rock guitarist
October 17
October 18 – James H. Fallon , American neuroscientist
October 23 – Frank DiLeo , American actor and music industry executive (d. 2011 )
October 24 – Kevin Kline , American actor
October 26 – Hillary Clinton , First Lady of the United States, 67th Secretary of State
October 29 – Richard Dreyfuss , American actor
October 30 – Timothy B. Schmit , American musician
November
Joe Mantegna
Joe Walsh
Dwight Schultz
November 3 – Mazie Hirono , American politician
November 8
November 9 – Phil Driscoll , American Christian musician, trumpet player
November 10 – Glen Buxton , American rock guitarist (d. 1997 )
November 12 – Ron Bryant , American baseball player
November 13
November 14
November 15 – Steven G. Kellman , American author, critic
November 17 – Will Vinton , American animator, filmmaker (d. 2018 )
November 19
November 20 – Joe Walsh , American rock singer, songwriter and guitarist
November 24 – Dwight Schultz , American actor (The A-Team )
November 25 – John Larroquette , American actor (Night Court )
November 30
December
Gregg Allman
Vincent Matthews
Undated
Deaths
January–June
January 3 – Gus Wickie , singer and voice actor (b. 1885 )
January 10 – Arthur E. Andersen , accountant (b. 1885 )
January 14 – Bill Hewitt , football player (Chicago Bears ) and member of Pro Football Hall of Fame (b. 1909 )
January 16
January 20
January 25 – Al Capone , gangster (b. 1899 )
January 26 – Grace Moore , operatic soprano, in plane crash (b. 1898 )
February 12
March 8 – Victor Potel , character actor and comedian (b. 1889 )
March 9 – Carrie Chapman Catt , women's suffrage leader (b. 1859 )
March 12 – Winston Churchill , novelist (b. 1871 )
March 18 – William C. Durant , automobile pioneer (b. 1861 )
March 21 – Homer Lusk Collyer, one of the reclusive Collyer brothers (b. 1881 )
March 28 – Johnny Evers , baseball player (Chicago Cubs ) and member of MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1881 )
April 7 – Henry Ford , automobile manufacturer (b. 1863 )
April 8 – Langley Collyer, one of the reclusive Collyer brothers (b. 1885 )
April 10 – John Ince , actor (b. 1878 )
April 24 – Willa Cather , novelist (b. 1873 )
April 29 – Irving Fisher , economist (b. 1867 )
May 6 – Louise Homer , operatic contralto (b. 1871 )
May 8 – Harry Gordon Selfridge , department store magnate (b. 1858 )
May 14 – John R. Sinnock , eighth Chief Engraver of the United States Mint (b. 1888 )
May 18 – Lucile Gleason , actress (b. 1888 )
May 30 – Baron Georg von Trapp , Austrian naval officer, patriarch of the Von Trapp Family Singers (b. 1880 )
May 31 – Adrienne Ames , actress (b. 1907 )
June 9 – J. Warren Kerrigan , actor (b. 1879 )
June 11 – Richard Hönigswald , Hungarian-born philosopher (b. 1875 )
June 17 – Maxwell Perkins , literary editor (b. 1884 )
June 20 – Bugsy Siegel , gangster (b. 1906 )
June 22 – Jim Tully , vagabond, pugilist and writer (b. 1891 )
July–December
July 12 – Jimmie Lunceford , African-American jazz saxophonist and bandleader, of cardiac arrest (b. 1902 )
July 15
August 3 – Vic Willis , baseball player (Boston Braves ) and member of MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1876 )
September 1 – Frederick Russell Burnham , father of the international Scouting movement (b. 1861 )
September 18 – Bert Kalmar , lyricist (b. 1884 )
September 20
September 21 – Harry Carey , film actor (b. 1878 )
October 1
October 3 – Ernest L. Riebau , politician (b. 1895 )
October 17 – John Halliday , actor (b. 1880 )
October 29 – Frances Cleveland , First Lady , wife of President Grover Cleveland (b. 1864 )
November 3 – John Gilbert Winant , politician and diplomat, suicide (b. 1889 )
November 20 – Walter J. Mathews , California architect (b. 1850 )
November 28 – W. E. Lawrence , silent film actor (b. 1896 )
December 7 – Nicholas Murray Butler , polymath, president of Columbia University and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1862 )
See also
References
External links
1947 in North America
Sovereign states Dependencies and other territories