1947

Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

Contents:

Events of 1947

January 1 - British mines are nationalized.
January 1 - Nigeria gains limited autonomy.
January 1 - The Canadian Citizenship Act goes into effect.
January 3 - Proceedings of the U.S. Congress are televised for the first time.
January 10 - The United Nations takes control of the free city of Trieste.
January 16 - Vincent Auriol is inaugurated as president of France.
January 19 - A shipwreck near Athens, Greece kills 392.
January 24 - Dimitrios Maximos founds a monarchist government in Athens.
January 25 - A Philippine plane crashes in Hong Kong, with $5 million worth of gold and money.
January 30 - February 8 - A heavy blizzard in Canada buries towns from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Calgary.
January 31 - Communists take power in Poland.

February 3 - The lowest temperature in North America (-63 degrees Celsiusis) is recorded in Snag, Yukon Territory.
February 3 - Percival Prattis becomes the first African-American news correspondent allowed in the United States House of Representatives and Senate press gallery.
February 5 - Bolesław Bierut becomes president of Poland.
February 8 - A dance hall fire in Berlin kills over 80.
February 10 - Paris peace treaties are signed between the World War II Allies and Italy, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Finland: Italy cedes most of Istria to Yugoslavia.
February 12 - A meteor creates a crater in Sikhote-Alin, Soviet Union.
February 17 - Cold War: The Voice of America begins to transmit radio broadcasts into the Soviet Union.
February 20 - An explosion at the O'Connor Electro-Plating Co in Los Angeles, California leaves 17 dead, 100 buildings damaged, and a 22-foot crater.
February 21 - In New York City, Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.
February 23 - The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is founded.
February 25 - The state of Prussia ceases to exist.
February 25 - The worst-ever train crash in Japan kills 184.
February 28 - The U.S. gives France a military base in Casablanca.
February 28 - In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with large loss of civilian lives.

March 1 - The International Monetary Fund begins to operate.
March 1 - Wernher von Braun marries his first cousin, 18-year-old Maria von Quirstorp.
March 6 - The USS Newport News, the first air-conditioned naval ship, is launched from Newport News, Virginia.
March 12 - The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism.
March 14 - The River Thames bursts its banks.
March 15 - Hindus and Muslims clash in Punjab.
March 19 - The 19th Academy Awards ceremony is held.
March 25 - A coal mine explosion in Centralia, Illinois kills 111.
March 28 - A WW2 Japanese booby trap explodes in Corregidor, killing 28.
March 29 - A rebellion against French rule erupts in Madagascar.
March 31 - The leaders of the People's Republic of Mahabad, the second Kurdish state in the history of Iran, are hanged at the Chuwarchira Square in Mahabad after the country is conquered by Iranian forces.

April 1 - Jackie Robinson, the first African American baseball professional, signs a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
April 1 - King George II of Greece is succeeded by his brother King Paul I.
April 9 - Multiple tornadoes strike Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas killing 181 and injuring 970.
April 15 - Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to play Major League Baseball.
April 16 - Texas City Disaster: An Ammonium nitrate cargo of the SS Grandcamp explodes in Texas City, Texas, kiling 552, injuring 3,000, causing 200 lost, and destroying 20 city blocks.
April 18 - The British Royal Navy detonates 6,800 tonnes of explosives in a concerted attempt to destroy the small island of Heligoland, Germany, creating the biggest non-nuclear explosion in history.

May 1 - The Salvatore Giuliano Gang opens fire on a labor parade near Portella Della Ginestra, Sicily, killing 11 and wounding 30.
May 2 - Miracle on 34th Street, the timeless Christmas classic, is released in theaters.
May 3 - The new post-war Japanese constitution goes into effect.
May 12 - The cartoon Rabbit Transit, directed by Friz Freleng, is released.
May 22 - Cold War: In an effort to fight the spread of Communism, President Harry S. Truman signs an act implementing the Truman Doctrine. The act grants $400 million in military and economic aid to Turkey and Greece.
May 22 - David Lean's film Great Expectations, based on the novel by Charles Dickens, opens in the United States. Critics call it the finest film ever made from a Dickens novel.