Seeking to prevent further unrest in the wake of Gandhi's assassination, the Indian government banned all private armies and organizations preaching violence or communal hatred.[4]
Died:Johannes Blaskowitz, 64, German general (committed suicide by breaking away from his guards and throwing himself off the balcony of the Nuremberg court building during his trial for war crimes)
British Prime Minister Clement Attlee made a radio broadcast encouraging the people to support the government's wage stabilization program, warning that failure of the drive to increase production and exports would mean mass unemployment and "real, desperate hunger."[7]
Former British Union of Fascists leader Oswald Mosley announced the creation of the Union Movement, a merger of fifty-one different organizations. Speaking at a rally in a London school building before about 300 supporters, Mosley distanced his new public image from the Fascist movement by wearing a grey suit instead of the old black shirt, although the old BUF logo of a lightning bolt in a circle was retained.[9][10]
In a speech on the floor of Congress, Mississippi Senator James Eastland blasted President Truman's civil rights program and proposed that Southern Democrats nominate an independent candidate to run against him. "We find the national Democratic leadership today attempting to barter the South's social institutions for the political favors of mongrel Northern minority groups in politically doubtful states," Eastland said. "We are expected to remain docile while the pure blood of the South is mongrelized by the barter of our heritage by Northern politicians in order to secure political favors from Red mongrels in the slums of the cities of the East and Middle West."[13]
The border between France and Spain was formally reopened after France gave up on its two-year attempt to impose an economic blockade that other nations refused to participate in.[14]
In St. John's, Newfoundland, a building being used as an infirmary caught fire. 33 patients died in the blaze.[15]
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union issued a decree criticizing the composers Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev and Aram Katchaturian for failing to heed warnings and instructions for the elimination of "bourgeois" influences in their music. A new program was outlined for everyone in the Soviet music world to follow, "the foundation of which is recognition of the huge, progressive role of the classic heritage and especially of the traditions of the Russian musical school."[16]
The ashes of Mahatma Gandhi were cast upon the sacred Ganges River at Allahabad. The crowd that packed the banks of the river and the ancient city was estimated at 2 to 3 million.[17]
4,000 Democrats meeting in Jackson, Mississippi unanimously adopted a resolution calling upon "all true white Jeffersonian Democrats" to assemble for a nationwide conference to unite against President Truman's civil rights program.[18]
A London policeman was slain for the first time in twenty-eight years when Constable Nathaniel Edgar was shot by a suspect he was questioning about a recent spate of burglaries in the Southgate area.[19][20] The murder inspired the 1950 police drama film The Blue Lamp.[21]
The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee authorized $5.3 billion to cover the first twelve months of the Marshall Plan from April 1.[22]
The United States and Britain agreed to permit German manufacturers to produce virgin aluminum, which had been prohibited under the Potsdam Agreement.[23]
Juan Natalicio González was elected President of Paraguay, running as the only candidate on the ballot. Non-voters were subjected to fines and any attempt to write in a different candidate automatically voided the ballot.[24]
The Royal Navy cruiser HMS Nigeria was sent to the Falkland Islands after Argentina and Chile rejected British protests against setting up posts and naval bases on territories that the British considered theirs.[25]
The United Nations Palestine Commission told the Security Council that the plan to partition Palestine could not be carried out unless the Commission received "military forces in adequate strength."[27]
Éamon de Valera's 16-year premiership of Ireland came to a stunning end when he was voted out of office by the Dáil, 75–70. A new vote was immediately taken and John A. Costello was elected Taoiseach by a vote of 75–68, making him the leader of Ireland's first coalition government.[29][30]
In Moscow, the Soviet Union and Hungary signed a 20-year mutual assistance and co-operation pact.[31]
The Hostages Trial ended in Nuremberg, in which German generals of the Balkan Campaign stood trial for war crimes. Eight defendants received prison sentences ranging from seven years to life, while two were acquitted.
A governmental crisis began in Czechoslovakia when three of the five parties in Prime Minister Klement Gottwald's cabinet withdrew their ministers over the appointment of eight Communists to head the eight police districts in and around Prague.[32]
The 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état began. President Edvard Beneš issued a statement regarded as recognizing the Communists' right to head the government but barring them from establishing a totalitarian regime. His letter explained that any new government would still be led by Klement Gottwald, but that Beneš' duty as president was "to convince the political parties not to separate but to work together."[33]
Ben Yehuda Street bombings: Palestinian Arabs planted two truckloads of explosives in the Jewish sector of Jerusalem, destroying a three-block area resulting in about 54 deaths and 200 injuries.[36]
In Vienna, US and British diplomats walked out on a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Red Army at the Musikverein when Russian High Commissioner in Austria L. V. Kurasov accused "imperialistic" powers of helping Germany launch World War II and of plotting a new war against the Soviet Union.[37]
Czechoslovakia's Communist Minister of the Interior and Minister of War claimed that groups within the National Social Party, the second-largest in the country, were conspiring for an armed revolt against the state. An order from the Interior Ministry forbade Czechoslovak citizens from leaving the country without a special passport stamp, while Police occupied and thoroughly searched the National Social party's headquarters in Prague and confiscated a number of documents. A statement was issued that same day on behalf of President Beneš asking "all citizens to maintain calm and order and to continue to work. He assures everyone that he acts in accord with the principles of parliamentary democracy and that he works to the end that all parties of the National Front seek to find unity to renew the collaboration of the whole National Front."[38]
Idaho Senator Glen H. Taylor announced in a radio address that he was quitting the Democrats and joining the new Progressive Party. "I am not leaving the Democratic Party," Taylor declared. "It left me. Wall Street and the military have taken over."[39]
In Czechoslovakia, Communist action committees took over all offices and departments headed by non-Communists as well as opposition newspapers and political headquarters.[40]
The Czechoslovak coup d'état ended when President Beneš capitulated to the Communists and agreed to approve a new cabinet composed of Communists and their supporters.[40]
The United States, Great Britain and France issued a joint statement condemning the Czechoslovak coup, calling it engineered "by means of a crisis artificially and deliberately instigated."[41]
The Argentine foreign ministry said that Argentina would refuse to negotiate with Britain over the Falkland Islands, which it claimed to be unquestionably Argentine territory.[40]
The House Foreign Affairs subcommittee published a report titled Strategy and Tactics of World Communism which concluded that world revolution was the goal of communism.[40]
The first of the two Cairo–Haifa train bombings were carried out by the Jewish militant group Lehi, killing 28 British soldiers.
^Egan, Charles E. (February 7, 1948). "Attlee Asks Curbs to Avert Collapse". The New York Times: 4.
^Hinton, Harold B. (February 8, 1948). "Eisenhower Ends Command, Warns of Lag in Recruiting". The New York Times: 1.
^"Mosley Announces New Organization". The New York Times: 35. February 8, 1948.
^Poole, Anne. "Oswald Mosley and the Union Movement: Success or Failure?" The Failure of British Fascism: The Far Right and the Fight for Political Recognition. Ed. Mike Cronin. Palgrave MacMillan, 1996. p. 62. ISBN9781349247585.
^Morris, John D. (February 28, 1948). "Congress Adopts $2,500,000,000 Cut in Truman Budget". The New York Times: 1.
^Cioroianu, Adrian (2002). Focul ascuns în piatră [The Fire Hidden in the Stone] (in Romanian). Bucharest: Editura Polirom. p. 310. ISBN978-973-68-1076-3.