Year 1948 Fun Facts, Trivia, and History Events

This quick read presents a collection of fun facts, trivia, and historical events from the year 1948. Discover the year’s top news stories, most influential people, sports facts, historic firsts, entertainment news, and much more.

Take a journey through history in just minutes.

1. President of the United States: Harry S. Truman
2. Average annual household income: $2,950
3. Average cost of a new car: $1,250
4. Average cost of a new house: $7,700
5. Average monthly rent: $50
6. Average retail price for a gallon of gas: 16 cents
7. Inflation rate: 7.74%
8. Unemployment peaked at 4.0% in December.
9. Companies and brands established in 1948 included American Signature, Atlas Van Lines, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Dillard's, In-N-Out Burgers, Marie Callender’s, Miracle-Ear, Rural Metro Fire, Shurfine, Tom Thumb Food & Pharmacy, the True Value Company, and Wham-O.
10. Consumer products launched during the year included Cheetos, Dial soap, the Frisbee, L’Air du Temps perfume, LP records, Mentos, Nesquik, the Polaroid camera, Reddi-Wip, Ruffles potato chips, and Tupperware.
11. On January 7, President Truman raised federal income taxes to finance the Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, supplied aid to Western Europe following the devastation of World War II. The plan “provided more than $15 billion to help finance rebuilding efforts on the continent and to reconstruct cities, industries, and infrastructure heavily damaged during the war.”
12. On January 12, the London Co-operative Society opened the UK’s first fully self-service grocery store in Manor Park, London.
13. On January 27, the electronics company Ampex began marketing the first audio tape recorder—the Ampex Model 200.
14. On January 30, the Winter Olympics opened in St. Moritz, Switzerland. A total of 69 athletes (59 men and 10 women) participated in nine sporting events. (By the way, it had been 12 years since the last Winter Games in 1936.)
15. On February 2, in his “Special Message to Congress on Civil Rights,” President Truman recommended “the establishment of a permanent Commission on Civil Rights; federal protection against lynching; protection of the right to vote; settling claims of Japanese Americans who had been relocated after the attack on Pearl Harbor; statehood for Alaska and Hawaii; suffrage and self-government for the District of Columbia; and ‘prohibiting discrimination in interstate transportation facilities.’”
16. On February 21, NASCAR, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, was founded by Bill France Sr. in Daytona Beach, Florida.
17. On February 25, a nearly bloodless coup established Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Up until 1948, Czechoslovakia had been the last democracy in Eastern Europe.
18. On March 4, the first American TV ratings were released by C. E. Hooper. DuMont’s The Original Amateur Hour topped the list. (Please note that the Nielsen ratings for television did not begin until 1950.)
19. On March 8, in McCollum v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that religious instruction in public schools is unconstitutional.
20. On March 12, the temperature plunged to -5°F in Cleveland, the lowest temperature ever recorded in Ohio’s largest city during March.
21. On March 20, at the 20th Academy Awards, which honored the best films of 1947, Gentlemen’s Agreement won an Oscar for Best Picture, and Elia Kazan (Gentlemen’s Agreement) won an Oscar for Best Director. Ronald Colman (A Double Life) won an Oscar for Best Actor, and Loretta Young (The Farmer’s Daughter) won an Oscar for Best Actress.
22. On April 7, the United Nations established the World Health Organization (WHO).
23. On April 19, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) began broadcasting on its first primary affiliate, WFIL-TV in Philadelphia.
24. On June 3, the 200” Hale telescope was dedicated at the Palomar Observatory near San Diego.
25. On June 18, Columbia Records unveiled the 12-inch, 33⅓ LP (long playing) record album at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. The LP allowed listeners “to enjoy an unprecedented 25 minutes of music per side, compared to the four minutes per side for a standard 78 rpm record.”
26. On June 19, the first NASCAR race was held at the Charlotte Speedway in North Carolina before a crowd of 13,000.
27. On June 24, the Soviet Union blockaded West Berlin. Johndclare.net tells us that “The main cause of the Berlin Blockade was the Cold War, which was just getting started. Stalin was taking over Eastern Europe with salami tactics, and Czechoslovakia had just turned Communist (March 1948). Stalin wanted to destroy Germany, and the USSR had been stripping East Germany of its wealth and machinery.”
28. On June 26, the United States and Great Britain began a “massive airlift of food, water, and medicine . . . to the citizens of West Berlin following the Soviet Blockade.”
29. On August 16, MLB legend Babe Ruth died of cancer at the Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. History.com tells us that "For two days following, his body lay in state at the main entrance to Yankee Stadium, and tens of thousands of people stood in line to pay their last respects. He was buried in Hawthorne, New York."
30. On August 27, the thermometer soared to 102°F in Cleveland, the highest temperature ever recorded there during August.
31. On September 24, the Honda Motor Company was founded in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan.
32. On November 2, President Truman was re-elected as the president of the United States by defeating Thomas E. Dewey, the Republican candidate.
33. By the end of 1948, there were two million television sets in American homes, including an estimated 720,000 in New York City alone.
34. Best-selling fiction book: The Big Fisherman by Lloyd C. Douglas
35. Most popular films: Hamlet, The Snake Pit, and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
36. Beloved music artists and groups included the Andrews Sisters, Nat King Cole, Perry Como, Bing Crosby, and Vic Damone.
37. Popular songs: Buttons & Bows (Dinah Shore), Nature Boy (Nat King Cole), and I’m Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover (Art Mooney)
38. America’s favorite television shows: Candid Camera, The Ed Sullivan Show, Mary Kay and Johnny, The Milton Berle Show, and Studio One
39. In 1948, Al Gore, Bernadette Peters, Billy Crystal, Donna Summer, Grace Jones, Kathy Bates, Olivia Newton-John, Prince Charles, Rhea Perlman, Richard Simmons, and Terry Bradshaw were all born.
40. In 1948 as well, the words "analog computer," "aviator glasses," "bumper sticker," "canasta," "chili dog," "crew sock," "fixer-upper," "fringe benefit," "launderette," "LPN," "nacho," "peachy keen," "stocking stuffer," "two-way street," and "vodka martini" all appeared in print for the first time.

References:

1. https://www.yourdictionary.com/articles/1940s-slang
2. https://www.foodreference.com/html/html/food-history-1946.html
3. https://popculturemadness.com/1948-fun-facts-trivia-information/
4. https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/1948
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_in_the_United_States
6. https://www.infoplease.com/year/1948
7. https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1948
8. https://www.mclib.info/Research/Local-History-Genealogy/Historic-Prices
9. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/year/1948.html
10. https://www.history.com/articles/us-economic-recessions-timeline

© 2026 Gregory DeVictor