Baby Boomers - What Happened in 1948?

If you are a baby boomer born in 1948, you will find this information extremely interesting. Hope you enjoy learning more about the year you were born! If you have a friend or a family member born in 1948, send them a link to this page. They will appreciate it!

Major Events

• President Harry Truman re-elected in upset over Thomas E. Dewey
• President Truman integrates the U.S. military
• U.S. Congress ratifies Marshall Plan, approving $17 billion to help aid European countries rebuild
• The World Health Organization (WHO) is established under UN auspices
• Soviet Union seals off land routes to Berlin - West responds with massive airlift of provisions
• Alger Hiss is indicted of perjury after he denies passing secret documents to a Communist spy ring
• Communists seize power in Czechoslovakia
• Mahatma Gandhi assassinated in India by a Hindu militant
• State of Israel created
• Israel admits over 200,000 European war refugees
• Margaret Sanger founds the International Planned Parenthood Federation
• Selective Service inaugurated. Provided a continuous peacetime military draft until repealed in 1973
• New York's Idlewild Airport opens (renamed JFK Airport in 1963)

Business and Economy

• U.S. GDP (1998 dollars): $269.7 billion
• Federal spending: $29.76 billion
• Federal debt: $252.0 billion
• Consumer Price Index: 24.1
• Unemployment: 3.9%
• U.S. continues to cope with severe postwar inflation while rocked by labor unrest
• United Auto Workers succeed in linking wage increases to cost-of-living index in contract with General Motors
• Congress enacts federal rent controls

Science and Technology

• Alfred Kinsey's Sexual Behavior in the Human Male is the first large-scale study of individuals' sexual habits including infidelity, homosexuality, and other issues
• U.S. government conducts extensive missile tests in New Mexico desert
• 200-inch telescope at Mount Palomar begins operation
• Cortisone introduced as an arthritis treatment
• George A. Gamow puts forth the "Big Bang" theory of the universe's origin postulated
• Orville Wright dies

Sports

• Cleveland Indians defeated the Boston Braves to win the World Series (4-2)
• Baltimore Bullets defeated the Philadelphia Warriors to win the NBA Championship (4-2)
• Philadelphia Eagles win the NFL championship
• Professional wrestling premieres on prime-time television
• Babe Ruth dies
• Olympics held in London
• Citation wins Preakness, Belmont, and Kentucky Derby
• Boxer Joe Louis retires
• Rocky Marciano becomes world heavyweight champion after knocking out Jersey Joe Walcott

Famous Baby Boomers Born in 1948

• Al Gore
• Alice Cooper
• Barbara Mandrell
• Bernadette Peters
• Billy Crystal
• Clarence Thomas
• John Ritter
• Kathy Bates
• Olivia Newton-John
• Peggy Gale Fleming
• Prince Charles

Arts and Entertainment

• Books: The Big Fisherman, The Naked and the Dead, Dinner at Antoine's, The Bishop's Mantle, Tomorrow Will Be Better, The Golden Hawk, Raintree County, Shannon's Way, Pilgrim's Inn, The Young Lions
• Movies: The Red Shoes, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Red River, Hamlet, Macbeth, The Naked City, Oliver Twist, The Fallen Idol, I Remember Mama, Johnny Belinda, The Snake Pit
• Songs: Good Rockin' Tonight, It's Too Soon To Know, Boogie Chillen', Nature Boy, Tomorrow Night, Chicken Shack Boogie, A Little Bird Told Me, Manteca, Honky Tonkin', Sweet Georgia Brown
• Popular Musicians: Wynonie Harris, Orioles, John Lee Hooker, King Cole Trio, Lonnie Johnson, Amos Milburn, Evelyn Knight, Paula Watson, Dizzy Gillespie, Hank Williams, Brother Bones
• TV Shows: Howdy Doody, Philco TV Playhouse, Toast of the Town, Kraft Television Theatre, Meet the Press
• Warner Brothers shows the first color newsreel
• Columbia Records introduces the long-playing (33-1/3 RPM) record
• Wrestling and boxing are TV's prime attractions
• Candid Camera makes its television debut after being on radio for a year as Candid Microphone

Everyday Life

• U.S. Population: 146,631,302
• Life expectancy: 67.2 years
• Average yearly income: $3,187
• Federal hourly minimum wage: $.40
• Cost of a new home: $7,700
• Cost of a new car: $1,250
• Cost of a first-class stamp: $ .03

Popular Culture

• Popcorn sold on a mass scale for the first time
• Scrabble introduced
• George de Mestral, a Swiss outdoorsman, invents Velcro
• Edwin Land invents the Polaroid Land camera
• Duncan Hines, a noted food critic, founds a company to make prepackaged cake mixes
• Fashions were becoming more daring with the bikini gaining in popularity
• First prefab post war housing to solve housing shortages were starting to appear in Europe and the United States
• Televisions start appearing in more homes - 1 million households own televisions