1948 Cleveland Browns season, Preseason game summaries, Week 2: vs. Baltimore Colts
Cleveland lost its second preseason game, played against the Baltimore Colts in 100-degree heat in Toledo, Ohio. Browns placekicker Lou Groza opened the scoring with an 18-yard field goal in the first quarter, and a touchdown by fullback Ollie Cline later in the period put the Browns up 10–0. Baltimore responded in the second quarter with a touchdown pass by quarterback Y. A. Tittle to receiver Jake Leicht. Cline ran for another touchdown soon thereafter, however, once more giving the Browns a 10-point lead. Colts receiver Lamar Davis caught a 25-yard touchdown pass at the end of the second quarter.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Preseason game summaries, Week 2: vs. Baltimore Colts
Cleveland led 17–14 at halftime. Neither team scored again until the fourth quarter, when Baltimore's Bus Mertes ran for a 38-yard touchdown and secured the 21–17 win. A number of Cleveland players suffered injuries during the game. Graham hurt his hand, Motley strained his back and end Dante Lavelli suffered a broken leg. Lavelli's injury sidelined him for the first seven games of the regular season. During the game, Baltimore players Hub Bechtol and Lew Mayne, a former Brown, tapped a phone line that went from Cleveland's press box to its sideline. This allowed the Colts to listen in on coaches' conversations and anticipate the Browns' play-calling.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 1: vs. Los Angeles Dons
The Browns opened the regular season with a win at home against the Los Angeles Dons. The Dons had beaten the Chicago Rockets in their season opener the week before, but they struggled against the Browns. Cleveland built a 19–0 lead after the first three quarters on touchdowns by Ara Parseghian and Bill Boedeker, a Lou Groza field goal and a safety. The Dons, however, almost pulled off a comeback with just 30 seconds remaining in the game.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 1: vs. Los Angeles Dons
Los Angeles fullback John Kimbrough scored a touchdown on a short run with time ticking down, and the Dons recovered an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff. Dons quarterback Glenn Dobbs then threw a long pass to end Joe Aguirre. It fell incomplete, but Cleveland was called for pass interference, and the ball was placed on the Browns' nine-yard line. Dobbs then threw a completion to Aguirre for a second touchdown with five seconds left to play. Time expired on the ensuing kickoff, however, and Cleveland won 19–14. Groza's 51-yard field goal matched a professional football record he set two years earlier.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 2: vs. Buffalo Bills
The Browns beat the Bills in the second game of the regular season. Cleveland dominated the game from beginning to end, scoring 42 points and amassing 504 total yards on offense. The scoring began with touchdowns in the first quarter by halfback Bob Cowan and Marion Motley. End Mac Speedie caught another touchdown in the second quarter, giving the Browns three scores in a span of just 18 minutes. Buffalo scored two touchdowns of its own in the second period, however, and the score stood at 21–13 at halftime.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 2: vs. Buffalo Bills
The Browns pulled away in the second half, scoring three more unanswered touchdowns. Otto Graham ran for a score in the third period, but was taken out of the game when the Browns' lead widened. Motley ran for 136 yards on 17 carries, and Speedie matched an AAFC single-game record by recording 10 receptions for 151 yards. Despite the loss, Bills backs Vic Kulbitski and Julie Rykovich ran for 187 yards combined. The final score was 42–13.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 3: vs. Chicago Rockets
The Browns beat the Chicago Rockets in Chicago for their third straight victory. The matchup was a messy one, marked by turnovers and rough play by both sides. The teams combined for eight fumbles and four interceptions, and play was stopped several times to break up fights. Chicago was penalized 30 yards for unnecessary roughness, while Cleveland was penalized 15 yards. Despite the interruptions and frequent turnovers, Cleveland quarterback Otto Graham had his best game of the season, throwing three touchdowns and rushing for a fourth. Bob Cowan caught two of the touchdowns. Chicago, meanwhile, scored just one touchdown – a short pass to Elroy Hirsch from quarterback Angelo Bertelli in the second quarter. Chicago successfully contained Marion Motley, Cleveland's most productive back, who finished the game with 49 yards on 14 carries. The final score was 28–7.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 4: vs. Chicago Rockets
The Browns next played the Rockets for a second time in as many weeks, this time in Cleveland. The Rockets opened the scoring with a 74-yard pass from quarterback Jesse Freitas to receiver Eddie Prokop in the first four minutes of the game, and added a field goal by Jim McCarthy near the end of the second quarter. The Browns did not score in the first half, but came back to win the game in the second. Rockets defenders were double-teaming Cleveland's ends, and the Browns adjusted by sending halfbacks out to receive deep passes.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 4: vs. Chicago Rockets
Cleveland halfbacks Dub Jones and Bill Boedeker both caught long touchdown passes from Graham in the third quarter. Boedeker ran in for another touchdown in the fourth quarter to make the final score 21–10. As in the previous game, there were several cases of rough play: tackle Lou Rymkus was ejected from the game for hitting Jim Pearcy of the Rockets. A Rockets player picked up a handful of sand from the stadium's baseball infield and threw it in Mac Speedie's face during the game, temporarily blinding him. Hirsch was accidentally kicked by a Browns player and suffered a skull fracture.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 5: vs. Baltimore Colts
The Browns won their fifth game of the season against the Baltimore Colts on a muddy field during a rainstorm. Led by quarterback Y. A. Tittle, the Colts began the scoring on the fourth play of the game with a 78-yard touchdown pass to Billy Hillenbrand. A few minutes later, the Browns evened the score after a pass from Graham set up a short touchdown run by Edgar Jones. The Colts retook the lead in the second quarter with a field goal by Rex Grossman and led 10–7 at the half.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 5: vs. Baltimore Colts
Focusing on the running game because of the muddy conditions, the Browns scored a touchdown in the third quarter that put them in the lead for good. Jones, who was returning from a rib injury, finished the day with 61 yards and two touchdowns, while Motley ran for 130 yards. The slippery and windy conditions caused miscues on both sides. Tittle and Motley had fumbles, and Cleveland botched a fake field goal attempt in the second quarter. The final score was 14–10. While the Browns had won their first five games, the San Francisco 49ers were at the top of the AAFC's eastern division standings, having won all six of their games.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 6: vs. Brooklyn Dodgers
The Browns beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in the sixth game of the season. While the Dodgers had not won a game all season, they started off strong against Cleveland. The Browns took a 10–0 lead in the first quarter, but the Dodgers answered with 10 points of their own in the second quarter to tie the score at halftime. Edgar Jones ran for Cleveland's first touchdown, which Groza followed with a 53-yard field goal, the longest of his career at the time. Brooklyn's Mickey Colmer ran in the team's second-quarter touchdown after a 66-yard drive.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 6: vs. Brooklyn Dodgers
The Browns came back with another touchdown in the third quarter, aided by two long Horace Gillom receptions, but the Dodgers again evened the score after a Groza field goal was blocked and returned by Hank Foldberg for a touchdown. Cleveland pulled away in the fourth quarter, however, with a fumble recovery for a touchdown by George Young and a short run by Motley. The Browns had 23 first downs in the game, setting a team record. Groza missed an extra point after one of Cleveland's touchdowns, breaking a long streak. He also narrowly missed a 57-yard field goal attempt that would have set a professional football record if it were good.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 7: vs. Buffalo Bills
The Browns won their seventh game in a row against the Bills in Cleveland. Edgar Jones scored the Browns' first touchdown on the team's third offensive play on a 35-yard pass from Graham. Motley fumbled on the Browns' next possession, however, and the Bills capitalized on the mistake. After several running plays brought the ball to the Browns' 22-yard line, quarterback Jim Still threw to Al Baldwin for a touchdown that evened the score. A Groza field goal and a short touchdown run by Motley later in the first quarter put the Browns up by 10 points at halftime.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 7: vs. Buffalo Bills
Cleveland retained the lead for the rest of the game as end Mac Speedie caught touchdown passes in the third and fourth quarters. Graham ended the game with 11 completions for 189 yards and two touchdowns. Speedie, who was leading the league in receiving, added seven receptions for 140 yards. While the Bills lost, second-string quarterback George Ratterman, who came in for Still in the second quarter, put in a strong performance, completing 13 passes for 174 yards. His totals included a touchdown throw to Lou Tomasetti in the fourth quarter, when the game was out of reach.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 8: vs. New York Yankees
End Dante Lavelli returned to the lineup for the Browns' week-eight game against the New York Yankees after recovering from a broken leg sustained in the preseason. Lavelli's return had an immediate impact. He caught a 29-yard pass from Graham for the Browns' first touchdown in the first quarter. Graham then threw two more touchdowns in the second quarter to Bob Cowan and Mac Speedie. Cowan scored after catching Graham's pass behind New York's defenders and running 35 yards for the end zone. Receptions by Cowan and Lavelli set up Speedie's 9-yard touchdown.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 8: vs. New York Yankees
Lavelli caught another touchdown at the beginning of the third quarter to give the Browns a 28–0 lead. Graham ran 22 yards for a fifth Browns touchdown in the fourth quarter after a pass play broke down. The Yankees avoided a shutout in the final minute of the game, when end Buddy Young got behind Cleveland's defenders and caught a 34-yard touchdown pass from Pete Layden. The Browns had 486 total yards in the game, including 337 yards of passing. While Cleveland remained undefeated, the San Francisco 49ers continued to hold the best record in the AAFC with nine straight wins to begin the season.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 9: vs. Baltimore Colts
Cleveland beat Baltimore for the second time during the regular season for its ninth straight victory. A Baltimore turnover on downs early in the game set up the Browns' first score, a short touchdown run by Edgar Jones in the first quarter. Baltimore's Y. A. Tittle drove deep into Cleveland territory early in the second quarter, but another turnover on downs gave the ball back to the Browns. Passes from Graham to Lavelli and Speedie took the Browns to the Colts' 22-yard line, and Motley ran from there for a touchdown to make the score 14–0 at halftime.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 9: vs. Baltimore Colts
Jones scored Cleveland's third touchdown to cap an 85-yard drive at the start of the third quarter. Ara Parseghian ran for another touchdown in the fourth quarter. The Colts avoided a shutout later in the period when Tittle threw a screen pass to Billy Hillenbrand, who ran 69 yards for a touchdown. The final score was 28–7. The win gave the Browns 12 victories in a row extending to the previous season, setting a new AAFC record. Lou Groza missed two field goals during the game.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 10: vs. San Francisco 49ers
A victory over San Francisco gave the Browns 10 wins in a row to start the regular season. The game was eagerly anticipated by both sides: San Francisco had started the season with 10 victories, while the Browns had won their first nine games. The 49ers relied heavily on their offense, which featured quarterback Frankie Albert and end Alyn Beals. The team came into the matchup with the Browns averaging 35.9 points per game.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 10: vs. San Francisco 49ers
The Browns, meanwhile, were more proficient than the 49ers on defense and in placekicking: the team ranked first in the AAFC in fewest points allowed, and Groza held the league record for the longest field goal. The game began with a San Francisco fumble of Cleveland's opening kickoff that was recovered by Lou Saban. Several plays later, Graham ran 14 yards for a touchdown, giving the Browns their first points. San Francisco responded later in the period with a rushing touchdown by Joe Perry to tie the score.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 10: vs. San Francisco 49ers
Cleveland struck back with an Edgar Jones touchdown in the third quarter, however, and held on to win the game 14–7. Ara Parseghian was a standout on both offense and defense, batting down several of Albert's passes. The crowd of 82,769 set a professional football record. While Cleveland won, several key players suffered injuries. Speedie had a separated shoulder, while linebacker Bill Willis was kicked in the face and Tommy James hurt his ankle. Graham had his hand stepped on, and guard Weldon Humble suffered a chin injury.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 11: vs. New York Yankees
The Browns beat the Yankees in the eleventh game of the season. It was the first of three road games the Browns were scheduled to play in a span of eight days. The Browns opened the scoring early in the first quarter with a screen pass from Graham to Motley, who ran 78 yards for a touchdown. An interception by Parseghian on the Yankees' next possession set up another Browns touchdown, a one-yard run by Edgar Jones. The Yankees responded with two touchdowns of their own in the second quarter.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 11: vs. New York Yankees
The first was a long pass from Pete Layden to Bruce Alford early in the period. On Cleveland's next possession, Graham threw a pass to John Yonakor, but as Yonakor was waiting for the ball to arrive, New York's Otto Schnellbacher jumped in front of him and made an interception. Schnellbacher had a clear shot at Cleveland's end zone and ran it in for a touchdown that tied the game at 14 points.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 11: vs. New York Yankees
An interception by Yonakor later in the quarter set up a Groza field goal, and the Browns pulled away as halfback Bob Cowan ran for a touchdown and Groza added another field goal before halftime. Another touchdown by Motley in the third quarter put the Browns ahead by 20 points. The Yankees scored a final touchdown in the fourth quarter to cap a 45-yard drive, but the Browns won the game 34–21. Lavelli was hit in the eye early in the game and had to sit out. Tackle Chubby Grigg and Edgar Jones were also hurt in the game, adding to Cleveland's long list of injured players.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 12: vs. Los Angeles Dons
A victory against Los Angeles in the twelfth week of the season preserved Cleveland's undefeated record. The Dons began the scoring in the first quarter with a 75-yard drive engineered by quarterback Glenn Dobbs. The series ended with a short touchdown run by halfback Walt Clay. The Browns came back to tie the game in the second quarter after a 71-yard drive that features several completions from Graham to Lavelli. Lavelli caught a 49-yard pass from Graham for the score.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 12: vs. Los Angeles Dons
On the next possession, Los Angeles converted a fourth down deep in their own territory, extending a long drive that ended with another touchdown by Clay. Cleveland again evened the score with under two minutes left in the first half on a touchdown pass to Edgar Jones. The Browns pulled away in the third quarter, when Graham ran a quarterback sneak for a touchdown. Groza later kicked a 36-yard field goal, and an interception by Cliff Lewis set up a run by Tony Adamle for a final touchdown. The final score was 31–14. Graham twisted his knee in the fourth quarter, and Edgar Jones, Parseghian and Bob Gaudio also had injuries. The Browns planned to stay at the hot springs in Boyes, California to recover as they prepared to face the 49ers for a second time in San Francisco three days later.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 13: vs. San Francisco 49ers
Three days after beating the Dons, the Browns played the 49ers in San Francisco. While the Browns had won their first 12 games, the rematch against the 49ers was significant because the 49ers held an 11–1 record, their only loss coming against the Browns two weeks earlier. The teams were both in the AAFC's Western Division, and a loss would have put the Browns in a tie with the 49ers for the lead. The teams' combined 23–1 record was the best ever for two professional squads in one game, and as of 2007, has not been surpassed.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 13: vs. San Francisco 49ers
Graham was initially considered doubtful for the game because of the knee injury he suffered against the Dons, but team trainer Wally Bock cleared him to play. The game began with a 49ers fumble on their first play from scrimmage. Tony Adamle recovered the ball, and Graham threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to Lavelli on the Browns' first play. A field goal by Groza later in the first quarter put the Browns up 10–0, but the 49ers came back in the second period and scored two touchdowns.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 13: vs. San Francisco 49ers
The first was a short run by halfback Joe Perry and the second was a pass from Albert to Beals. San Francisco widened its lead in the third quarter with another touchdown catch by Beals. Graham, however, engineered three drives in the space of eight minutes that gave the browns three touchdowns and a 10-point advantage. Motley ran in the first score, while Dub Jones and Edgar Jones caught Graham passes for the other two. The 49ers scored a touchdown in the final quarter, but the Browns won the game 31–28. After the game, Paul Brown called it "Otto's greatest performance" given his injury.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 14: vs. Brooklyn Dodgers
The Browns ended their regular season with a win over the Dodgers and an undefeated record. The Browns began the game by scoring 31 unanswered points. The first score came on a short Dub Jones run that followed an 80-yard drive in the first quarter. The next score came on a 76-yard drive in the second quarter. After a pair of passes and a 14-yard run by Edgar Jones, Graham completed a long touchdown pass to Lavelli, who sped away from defender Monk Gafford on the right sideline.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 14: vs. Brooklyn Dodgers
Graham engineered another long drive just before the end of the first half, completing 18- and 20-yard passes to Speedie. The 90-yard march ended with a short touchdown run by Graham, giving Cleveland a 21–0 advantage at the half. Groza kicked a field goal at the beginning of the third quarter, and a fumble by Gafford on the ensuing kickoff led to a touchdown pass from Graham to Gillom, putting the Browns up by 31 points. With a comfortable lead, Brown took out his starters and substituted third-string players.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Game summaries, Week 14: vs. Brooklyn Dodgers
The Dodgers proceeded to score three touchdowns, two of which came on long passes from Bob Chappuis, but the Browns won the game 31–21. The win left the Browns on top of the standings in the AAFC's Western Division ahead of San Francisco, which had lost only two games, both to the Browns. The perfect regular season record was the first in professional football since 1942, when the National Football League's Chicago Bears won all of their games. Chicago, however, lost the NFL championship that year.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, AAFC championship game
The Browns won the AAFC's Western Division with their perfect record and faced the Buffalo Bills, the winners of the Eastern Division, in the AAFC championship game. The Bills had tied with the Colts for the lead in the Eastern, forcing a playoff that the Buffalo won on December 12 in Baltimore. The championship game took place in Cleveland in 35-degree weather and was sparsely attended. The Browns were expected to win the game, having beaten the Bills twice in the regular season and possessing a significantly better record than the 7–7 Bills.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, AAFC championship game
The scoring began with a late-first-quarter Edgar Jones touchdown run, followed by a fumble return for a touchdown by George Young in the second period that put the Browns ahead 14–0 at halftime. Cleveland scored two more touchdowns in the third quarter on runs by Jones and Motley before Buffalo scored its first points. Aided by a roughing the kicker penalty on the Browns, the Bills capped an 80-yard drive with a short touchdown pass from Jim Still to Al Baldwin.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, AAFC championship game
Motley scored two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter, however, and Lou Saban ran back an interception for a third to make the final score 49–7. Motley and Edgar Jones led the Browns offense in the game, accounting for a large share of the team's offensive production. Graham had an uncharacteristically quiet day, passing for just 118 yards on 11 completions. The victory made the Browns the first professional team to win three league championships in a row, following AAFC titles they won in 1946 and 1947.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, AAFC championship game
It was also the first time a professional football team finished a full season unbeaten and untied since a championship game was instituted in the NFL in 1933. The Chicago Bears had finished with perfect records in 1934 and 1942, but lost the NFL championship both times. The Browns had won 18 consecutive games stretching to the 1947 season, a professional record that stood until 2004.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, AAFC championship game
In the NFL, the Philadelphia Eagles won the championship 7–0 during a blizzard in Philadelphia's Shibe Park. Following the win, Eagles owner Alexis Thompson advocated a championship game between the top teams in the NFL and the AAFC, in part because he was losing money and felt an inter-league championship would draw large crowds. Thompson was also a leading proponent among NFL owners of negotiation with the AAFC over a deal to ease the leagues' competition for talent, which had driven up salaries and was eating into owners' profits.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, AAFC championship game
Thompson met with Browns owner Mickey McBride and agreed to a playoff – either one game in Yankee Stadium or a best-of-three series with games in Philadelphia, Cleveland and possibly New York. Thompson's proposal was shot down by other NFL owners, however, and he was given a reprimand by commissioner Bert Bell for suggesting the NFL-AAFC championship. Frustrated with his financial losses and lack of support among the owners, Thompson sold the Eagles shortly after the season ended.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Season leaders and postseason
Graham finished the season with the most passing yards in the AAFC and was named the league's Most Valuable Player, sharing the honor with Frankie Albert of the 49ers. Motley led the league in rushing, and Groza scored the most field goals in the league for the second year in a row. Speedie, meanwhile, had the most overall receptions and receptions per game of all receivers in the AAFC and NFL for the second year running.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Season leaders and postseason
The Associated Press named Graham, Speedie and Motley to the first team of its combined AAFC-NFL All-Pro team, while Lou Rymkus and Bill Willis made the second team. The magazine Sporting News put Motley and Speedie on its first-team All-Pro list and put Graham and Willis on its second team. Cleveland's top players also made All-Pro teams assembled by the New York Daily News, United Press International and the AAFC itself.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Season leaders and postseason
The Browns' perfect season and third championship victory came during a strong year for Cleveland sports teams. That April, the Cleveland Barons, the city's American Hockey League team, won the Calder Cup championship. The Cleveland Indians, the city's Major League Baseball club, set an all-time season attendance record and won the World Series. The Browns' success was also a major draw for fans: the team led professional football in attendance in 1948 with an average of 45,517 people per game, although that was still 10,000 lower than the year before.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Season leaders and postseason
The distribution of talent and fortune among AAFC's teams was unbalanced, however, and while the Browns, the 49ers and the Dons were successes at the gate, teams including the Rockets and Colts languished financially. The NFL was also facing major financial trouble – nine of its ten teams lost money that year – and the two leagues' competition for talent led to talks about a merger.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Season leaders and postseason
Discussions centered around how many AAFC teams the NFL would absorb; most owners favored four teams, but the talks broke down when powerful owners George Preston Marshall of the Washington Redskins and Tim Mara of the New York Giants intervened and suggested only Cleveland and San Francisco should be absorbed. The AAFC continued play in 1949, but was disbanded after that season. The Browns, 49ers and Colts were merged into the NFL starting in 1950.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Perfect season controversy
In winning all of their regular season games and the AAFC championship, the Browns recorded the first perfect season in professional football since the advent of NFL championships in 1933. The feat has been duplicated only once since, by the Miami Dolphins in 1972. When the AAFC faltered and dissolved after the 1949 season and the NFL absorbed the Browns, their new league did not recognize AAFC statistics, including the perfect season. The Pro Football Hall of Fame, however, recognizes it as a perfect season.


1948 Cleveland Browns season, Perfect season controversy
In 2008, United States Senator Sherrod Brown, who represents Ohio in the United States Congress, sent a letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell asking the league to recognize AAFC championships and team records including the perfect season. At the time, the New England Patriots were undefeated as they prepared for the Super Bowl against the New York Giants, a game they went on to lose. Dante Lavelli also advocated for the NFL to adopt AAFC records.


1948 Cleveland Indians season
The 1948 Cleveland Indians season was the 48th in franchise history. When the regular season resulted in a first place tie, the Indians won a one-game playoff against the Boston Red Sox to advance to the World Series. Cleveland won the championship by defeating the Boston Braves 4 games to 2 for their first World Series win in 28 years. The Sporting News ranked the 1948 Indians the 9th-best team ever.


1948 Cleveland Indians season
It was reported years later that  teammates Bob Feller and Bob Lemon devised a plan in August to help relay signs to Indian batters that involved a telescope mounted on a tripod (which Feller brought from the war) that was hidden on the scoreboard of Municipal Stadium.


1948 Cleveland Indians season
As of 2021, this is the Cleveland Indians' most recent World Series championship. With the Chicago Cubs' 2016 World Series championship being their first since 1908, the Indians now own the longest active world championship drought in Major League Baseball and the second-longest of any of the big four American sports leagues. Only the National Football League's Arizona Cardinals franchise owns a longer active world championship drought of the big four American sports leagues, having not won a world championship since 1947.


1948 Cleveland Indians season
This memorable season was the first to be broadcast on television in the Cleveland area on WEWS-TV.


1948 Cleveland Indians season, Off-season
In the 1947–48 off-season, owner Bill Veeck signed recent St. Louis Browns manager Muddy Ruel as a coach to join player-manager Lou Boudreau and coach Bill McKechnie, the latter who was also a long-time manager.


1948 Cleveland Indians season, Regular season
Boudreau became the first shortstop in the history of the American League to win the MVP Award.


1948 Cleveland Indians season, Regular season, Satchel Paige
The Indians made baseball history on July 9. In a game against the St. Louis Browns, with the Browns leading the Indians, 4–1, in the bottom of the fourth inning, Boudreau pulled his starting pitcher, Bob Lemon and brought Negro leagues legend Satchel Paige into the game.


1948 Cleveland Indians season, Regular season, Satchel Paige
The first batter Paige faced was Browns first baseman Chuck Stevens. Paige did not yet know the signs, and Stevens lined a single into left field. Jerry Priddy bunted Stevens over to second. Next was Whitey Platt, and Paige threw an overhand server for a strike and one sidearm for another strike. Paige then threw his "Hesitation Pitch", which puzzled Platt and led him to throw his bat forty feet up the third base line. Browns manager Zack Taylor bolted from the dugout to talk to umpire Bill McGowan about the pitch.


1948 Cleveland Indians season, Regular season, Satchel Paige
Taylor argued that it was a balk, but McGowan let it stand as a strike. Paige got Al Zarilla to fly out and the inning was over. In the next inning, Paige gave up a leadoff single to Dick Kokos. His catcher simplified his signals, and Paige got Roy Partee to hit into a double play. Larry Doby, the player who broke the American League's color barrier, pinch hit for Paige the following inning.


1948 Cleveland Indians season, Regular season, Satchel Paige
Paige got his first big league victory on July 15. This was accomplished the night after he pitched in an exhibition game against the Brooklyn Dodgers in front of 65,000 people in Cleveland's Municipal Stadium. The victory came against the Philadelphia Athletics at Shibe Park. The Indians were up 5–3 with the bases loaded in the sixth inning of the second game of a double header. Paige got Eddie Joost to fly out to end the inning. Unfortunately, he gave up two runs the next inning when Ferris Fain doubled and Hank Majeski hit a home run. Paige buckled down and gave up only one more hit the rest of the game, getting five of the next six outs on fly balls. Doby and Ken Keltner would hit home runs in the ninth to give the Indians an 8–5 victory.


1948 Cleveland Indians season, Regular season, Satchel Paige
On August 3, the Indians were one game behind the Athletics. Boudreau started Paige against the Washington Senators in Cleveland. The 72,562 people that saw the game set a new attendance record for a major league night game. Paige showed his nervousness as he walked two of the first three batters and then gave up a triple to Bud Stewart to fall behind 2–0. By the seventh, the Indians were up 4–2 and held on to give Paige his second victory.


1948 Cleveland Indians season, Regular season, Satchel Paige
Paige's next start was against the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park. 51,013 people paid to see the game, but many thousands more stormed the turnstiles and crashed into the park, overwhelming the few dozen ticket-takers. Paige pitched a complete game shutout, beating the White Sox 5–0.


1948 Cleveland Indians season, Regular season, Satchel Paige
By August 20, the Indians were in a heated pennant race. Coming into the game against the White Sox, Bob Lemon, Gene Bearden and Sam Zoldak had thrown consecutive shutouts to run up a thirty-inning scoreless streak, eleven shy of the big league record. For this game, played in Cleveland, 78,382 people came to see Paige. This was a full 6,000 more people than the last time that the night attendance record was set. Paige went the distance again, giving up two singles and one double for his second consecutive three-hit shutout. Paige now had a 5–1 record and a low 1.33 ERA.


1948 Cleveland Indians season, Regular season, American League Playoff
At the end of the season, Cleveland and the Boston Red Sox were tied for first place. This led to the first-ever one-game playoff in the American League. The Indians defeated the Red Sox 8–3 in the 1948 playoff game. Knuckleballer Gene Bearden was given the start for the Indians. Red Sox manager Joe McCarthy picked pitcher Denny Galehouse, who had an 8–7 pitching record.


1948 Cleveland Indians season, Regular season, American League Playoff
Ken Keltner contributed to the victory with his single, double, and 3-run homer over the Green Monster in Fenway Park in the 4th inning. The Indians moved on to the 1948 World Series against the Boston Braves. Later, McCarthy said he had no rested arms and that there was no else who could pitch. Mel Parnell and Ellis Kinder claimed that they were both ready to pitch.


1948 Cleveland Indians season, Player stats, Batting, Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in


1948 Cleveland Indians season, Player stats, Batting, Other batters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in


1948 Cleveland Indians season, Player stats, Pitching, Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1948 Cleveland Indians season, Player stats, Pitching, Other pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1948 Cleveland Indians season, Player stats, Pitching, Relief pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1948 Cleveland Indians season, 1948 World Series
On October 9, 1948, a new World Series single game attendance record was set during Game 4. 81,897 fans packed Cleveland Stadium but one day later, that record was broken during Game 5. 86,288 fans attended the game.


1948 Cleveland Indians season, 1948 World Series
Satchel Paige appeared in Game 5 for the Indians, becoming the first black pitcher to pitch a game in World Series history. He pitched for two-thirds of an inning in Game Two while the Indians were trailing the Boston Braves, giving up a sacrifice fly to Warren Spahn, got called for a balk and struck out Tommy Holmes.


1948 Cleveland Indians season, 1948 World Series, Game 4
October 9, 1948, at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio


1948 Cleveland Indians season, 1948 World Series, Game 5
October 10, 1948, at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio


1948 Colgate Red Raiders football team
The 1948 Colgate Red Raiders football team was an American football team that represented Colgate University as an independent during the 1948 college football season. In its second season under head coach Paul Bixler, the team compiled a 3–6 record and was outscored by a total of 196 to 133. Thomas Zetkov was the team captain. The team played its home games at Colgate Athletic Field in Hamilton, New York.


1948 College Baseball All-America Team
An All-American team is an honorary sports team composed of the best amateur players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply "All-Americans". Although the honorees generally do not compete together as a unit, the term is used in U.S. team sports to refer to players who are selected by members of the national media. Walter Camp selected the first All-America team in the early days of American football in 1889.


1948 College Baseball All-America Team
From 1947-1980, the American Baseball Coaches Association was the only All-American selector recognized by the NCAA.


1948 College Football All-America Team
The 1948 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations and writers that chose College Football All-America Teams in 1948. The seven selectors recognized by the NCAA as "official" for the 1948 season are (1) the Associated Press, (2) the United Press, (3) the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), (4) the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), (5) the International News Service (INS), (6) the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) and (7) The Sporting News.


1948 College Football All-America Team
SMU quarterback Doak Walker and Penn center Chuck Bednarik were the only players unanimously named by all seven official selectors as first-team All-Americans. Walker also won the 1948 Heisman Trophy.


1948 College Football All-America Team, Competition among the All-American selectors
Collier's Weekly, which began picking All-American football teams in 1888, had employed Grantland Rice to select its All-American team for 22 years. After Rice wrote a feature story about college football for Look magazine, Collier's replaced Rice in 1948, hiring eight college coaches (paying them $500 each) and billing them as the "Supreme Court of Football." The eight coaches were Frank Leahy (Notre Dame), Matty Bell (Southern Methodist), Tuss McLaughry (Dartmouth), Bernie Bierman (Minnesota), Wally Butts (Georgia), Jeff Cravath (Southern California), Harvey Harman (Rutgers), and Lou Little (Columbia).


1948 College Football All-America Team, Competition among the All-American selectors
One of the innovations touted by Collier's for 1948 was the use of news reels provided by Warner Pathe and university athletic departments to study each player. Collier's circulated an initial round of ballots to members of the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), with their votes narrowing the selections to a group of 55 finalists. The panel of eight then studied the "motion pictures of the players in action" and selected the Collier's All-American team.


1948 College Football All-America Team, Competition among the All-American selectors
Collier's new affiliation with the AFCA ended the Saturday Evening Post's association with the group as its All-American selectors. The competition for All-American selectors led Time to write an article in September 1948 about the "scrimmage" between the magazines: "No college football star hoping to make All-America takes it more seriously than the magazines which pick them. To the magazines All-Americas are a deadly business, an important piece of promotion involving the prestige of the magazines as well as their hired experts."


1948 College Football All-America Team, Competition among the All-American selectors
The Associated Press based its selections on a poll of several hundred staff writers, newspaper sports editors and broadcasters. The AP reported that its voters overwhelming agreed on five of the first-team selections -- Dick Rifenberg of Michigan at end, Buddy Burris of Oklahoma at guard, Charlie Justice of North Carolina at back, Doak Walker at quarterback, and Bill Fischer of Notre Dame at tackle.


1948 College Football All-America Team, The first selection of separate offensive and defensive All-American squads
The biggest controversy in the 1948 All-American selection process concerned the widespread use of offensive and defensive specialists, resulting from the adoption of an unlimited substitution rule. The Associated Press considered selecting separate offensive and defensive teams, but opted to continue the tradition of picking a single squad of 11 All-Americans. The AP reported on its decision as follows:


1948 College Football All-America Team, The first selection of separate offensive and defensive All-American squads
"Sharpest argument this year over bestowing All-America honors centered on the merit of recognizing men who played only offense or defense under the spreading 'two platoon' system. Separate defensive and offensive All-America first teams were proposed. Should the present cleavage widen this could become a possibility."


1948 College Football All-America Team, The first selection of separate offensive and defensive All-American squads
In the end, the AP named only three platoon players to its All-American teams—offensive specialists, Rifenberg, Justice and Bobby Stuart.


1948 College Football All-America Team, The first selection of separate offensive and defensive All-American squads
The Central Press Association noted that its 1948 All-American eleven "is not necessarily a true All-American team because of the present-day system of using two teams, an offensive and a defensive unit."


1948 College Football All-America Team, The first selection of separate offensive and defensive All-American squads
It was the International News Service (the wire service operated by the Hearst newspapers) that in 1948 became the first to break with tradition by naming separate All-American teams on offense and defense. The INS described its decision in its article announcing the selections:


1948 College Football All-America Team, The first selection of separate offensive and defensive All-American squads
"The days of selecting 11 men on an All-American first team are over, until such time as the unlimited substitution rules are altered. INS thus picks its All-America as the game is now played with the 22 man squad divided into an offensive team and a defensive team."


1948 College Football All-America Team, The first selection of separate offensive and defensive All-American squads
INS sports editor, Lawton Carver, wrote that the "era of the iron man in football is rapidly passing," as an increasing number of players were being "tutored and geared to specialize for offense or defense and must be recognized for the part they play."


1948 College Football All-America Team, Consensus All-Americans
For the year 1948, the NCAA recognizes seven published All-American teams as "official" designations for purposes of its consensus determinations. The following chart identifies the NCAA-recognized consensus All-Americans and displays which first-team designations they received. The chart also reflects the published point total from the UP poll.


1948 Colorado A&M Aggies football team
The 1948 Colorado A&M Aggies football team represented Colorado State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in the Skyline Six Conference during the 1948 college football season. In their second season under head coach Bob Davis, the Aggies compiled an 8–3 record (4–1 against MSC opponents), lost to Occidental in the 1949 Raisin Bowl, and outscored all opponents by a total of 244 to 138.


1948 Colorado A&M Aggies football team
Eight Colorado Agricultural players received all-conference honors in 1948: fullback Don Mullison, fullback Thurman "Fum" McGraw, end George Jones, halfback Eddie Hana, guard Dale Dodrill, halfback Ollie Woods, quarterback Bob Hainlen, and tackle Don Hoch. Bob Davis was also named Skyline Conference Coach of the Year.


1948 Colorado Buffaloes football team
The 1948 Colorado Buffaloes football team was an American football team that represented the University of Colorado during the 1948 college football season. Head coach Dallas Ward led the team to a 2–3 mark in the "Big 7" and 3–6 overall.


1948 Colorado gubernatorial election
The 1948 Colorado gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 1948. Incumbent Democrat William Lee Knous defeated Republican nominee David A. Hamil with 66.33% of the vote.


1948 Columbia Lions football team
The 1948 Columbia Lions football team was an American football team that represented Columbia University as an independent during the 1948 college football season.


1948 Columbia Lions football team
In their 19th season under head coach Lou Little, the Lions compiled a 4–5 record, but outscored their opponents 194 to 177. Team captains were chosen on a game-by-game basis, and included, in schedule order, Gene Shekitka, Henry Briggs, Charles Klemovich, Lou Kusserow, Gene Rossides, John Nork, Joe Jaras, Bill Olson and Clyde Hampton.


1948 Columbia Lions football team
Columbia played its home games at Baker Field in Upper Manhattan, in New York City.


1948 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference
The 1948 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference was the third Meeting of the Heads of Government of the British Commonwealth. It was held in the United Kingdom in October 1948, and was hosted by that country's Prime Minister, Clement Attlee.


1948 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference
It was the first such meeting to be attended by prime ministers of recently independent Asian states:Ceylon, India and Pakistan. The growth in membership ended the previous 'intimacy' of the meeting. The issue of whether countries, specifically India, could remain Commonwealth members if they became republics was raised but was not resolved until the next conference in 1949.


1948 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference
Ireland was initially invited to attend the Conference. After Ireland announced the pending repeal of its last connection to the British king, this invitation was revoked. This was so even though at the time the British Commonwealth still regarded Ireland as one of its members. Ireland had not participated in any equivalent conferences since 1932. It had announced plans to adopt legislation severing all ties with the British crown, although at the time of the Conference, it had not yet brought that legislation into force. Irish Minister for External Affairs Sean MacBride and Minister for Finance Patrick McGilligan attended one day of the conference as observers.


1948 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference
The Final Communique issued by the leaders at the conclusion of the meeting saw a change in nomenclature. The terms 'Dominion' and 'Dominion Government' were superseded by 'Commonwealth country' and 'Commonwealth Government'. 'British' was omitted in front of 'Commonwealth of Nations' for the first time in the Communique.


1948 Connecticut Huskies football team
The 1948 Connecticut Huskies football team represented the University of Connecticut in the 1948 college football season. The Huskies were led by 14th-year head coach J. Orlean Christian and completed the season with a record of 3–5.


1948 Connecticut gubernatorial election
The 1948 Connecticut gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 1948. Democratic nominee Chester Bowles defeated incumbent Republican James C. Shannon with 49.31% of the vote.


1948 Constitution of Romania
The 1948 Constitution of Romania was the first adopted after the establishment of the Communist regime, which it enshrined into law. It was modelled on the 1936 Soviet Constitution and adopted by the Great National Assembly (MAN) on April 13, 1948, being published in Monitorul Oficial the same day. The Romanian People's Republic was defined as a “unitary and sovereign people's state” that “came into being through a struggle led by the people, the working class at their head, against fascism, reaction and imperialism”.


1948 Constitution of Romania
It proclaimed the principle of the sovereignty of the people, who “exercises its power through representative organs, elected by universal, equal, direct and secret vote”. In reality, because a single party, the Romanian Workers' Party, controlled all the levers of power, this principle was never put into practice. In a first for a constitutional act in Romania, provisions were introduced dealing with the socio-economic structure of society, indicating the existence of three categories of property: state-owned (“as goods of the entire citizenry”), cooperative and private.


1948 Constitution of Romania
The superior nature of state-owned property was spelled out, as was the duty of each citizen to help expand its scope. In order to provide a constitutional basis for the waves of nationalization that were to come, it was provided that “when the general interest demands it, the means of production, banks and insurance societies, which are the private property of physical or juridical persons, may become State property, that is a public good, under conditions provided by law”. The state was to defend “working people” against “exploitation” and to raise their standard of living. The principle of guiding and planning the national economy was introduced, while domestic and foreign trade was regulated and controlled by the state.


1948 Constitution of Romania
Regarding rights and freedoms, equality before the law was guaranteed for all citizens, who were also assured the right to vote and be elected, and to work and rest. Minorities were allowed to use their languages in education, and freedom of conscience and of religion were provided for within the framework of state-recognised religions, so long as these did not violate “public security and good morals”. Freedom of the press, of speech and of assembly and association were also included, though any association of a "fascist or antidemocratic character" was explicitly forbidden. In reality, all the rights proclaimed by the constitution were systematically and severely violated in the first years of the Communist regime, which saw the start of repression unprecedented in Romanian history. The ban on associations of "fascist or antidemocratic character" was broadly interpreted to suppress nearly all meaningful opposition.


1948 Constitution of Romania
The MAN became the supreme organ of state power, “elected” for a four-year term. Executive power was exercised by a government, answerable for its activities before the MAN and the MAN Presidium. The local organs of state power were the Popular Councils, also elected for four years. As for judicial power, people's associate judges (asesori populari) were granted the right to sit in judgment.


1948 Constitution of Romania
The subordination of the judicial system to the Communist authorities was provided for, inter alia, by granting the prosecutor’s office the role of punishing “crimes against the democratic order and liberty, the economic interests, the national independence and the sovereignty of the Romanian State”. The 1948 Constitution, which contained 105 articles in 10 titles, was amended once, in March 1952, and abrogated on September 24, 1952, when a new constitution came into force.


1948 Coogee state by-election
A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of Coogee on 8 May 1948 because of the death of Lou Cunningham (Labor). The Labor candidate was his widow Catherine.


1948 Copa del Generalísimo Final
The Copa del Generalísimo 1948 Final was the 46th final of the King's Cup. The final was played at Estadio Chamartín in Madrid, on 4 July 1948, being won by Sevilla CF, who beat RC Celta de Vigo 4-1.


1948 Cork Intermediate Hurling Championship
The 1948 Cork Intermediate Hurling Championship was the 39th staging of the Cork Intermediate Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Cork County Board in 1909.


1948 Cork Intermediate Hurling Championship
Midleton won the championship following a 6-04 to 1-01 defeat of Shanballymore in the final. This was their first ever championship title.


1948 Cork Senior Football Championship
The 1948 Cork Senior Football Championship was the 60th staging of the Cork Senior Football Championship since its establishment by the Cork County Board in 1887.


1948 Cork Senior Football Championship
On 31 October 1948, Millstreet won the championship following a 1-02 to 0-03 defeat of St. Vincent's in the final at the Cork Athletic Grounds. It remains their only championship title.


1948 Cork Senior Hurling Championship
The 1948 Cork Senior Hurling Championship was the 60th staging of the Cork Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Cork County Board in 1887. The draw for the opening round fixtures was made at the Cork Convention on 25 January 1949. The championship began on 4 April 1948 and ended on 17 October 1948.


1948 Cork Senior Hurling Championship
On 17 October 1948, Glen Rovers won the championship following a 5-7 to 3-2 defeat of Blackrock in the final. This was their 11th championship title overall and their first in three championships seasons.


1948 Cornell Big Red football team
The 1948 Cornell Big Red football team was an American football team that represented Cornell University during the 1948 college football season. In its second season under head coach George K. James, the team compiled a 8–1 record and outscored opponents 224 to 112.


1948 Cornell Big Red football team
Cornell played its home games in Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca, New York.


1948 Costa Rican Constituent Assembly election
Constituent Assembly elections were held in Costa Rica on 8 December 1948, following the Costa Rican Civil War. The result was a victory for the National Unity Party, which won 34 of the 45 seats. Voter turnout was 47.5%. The assembly drew up the 1949 constitution.


1948 Costa Rican general election
General elections were held in Costa Rica on 8 February 1948. Otilio Ulate Blanco of the National Union Party won the presidential election with 55.3% of the vote, although the elections were deemed fraudulent and annulled by Congress, leading to the Costa Rican Civil War later that year. Following the war, the results of the parliamentary election were also annulled. Voter turnout was 43.8% in the vice-presidential election and 49.2%.


1948 Costa Rican general election, Campaign
In 1944, four days after the elections were over while celebrating the triumph of Teodoro Picado, Calderón's candidacy was announced for the next elections.


1948 Costa Rican general election, Campaign
The main opposition parties; the Democratic Party, the National Union Party and the Social Democratic Party held a convention to choose a single candidate. The pre-candidates were Fernando Castro Cervantes (Democrat), Otilio Ulate Blanco (Unionist) and José Figueres Ferrer (Social-Democrat). Figueres is eliminated in the first round and with his support Ulate wins in the second. Figueres is named chief of action and Mario Echandi is secretary general of the coalition. While Calderón was named candidate on March 23, 1947 at the Republican Convention.


1948 Costa Rican general election, Campaign
The National Electoral Tribunal is created for the first time in charge of supervising the elections, this so that it is not the government (as it was until then) that regulated them and thus appease the moods that accused the government of interfering in favor of the official candidate. Even so, the work of the TNE was limited.


1948 Costa Rican general election, Campaign
The situation is tremendously tense between government and opposition. The youth of the National Opposition Coalition violently confronts the Communist Brigades during the debate on the budgets of the electoral bodies in the Congress.


1948 Costa Rican general election, Campaign
The opposition insists that it will not repeal the social reforms, while the "caldero-communists" affirm that they must win once more to consolidate them permanently and that the opposition will abolish them after winning.


1948 Costa Rican general election, Campaign
The tension increases and even groups of the opposition become subversive. The Cartago Province, one of the strongholds of the opposition, begins a general strike and a series of social uprisings that force Picado to remove the governor (who was appointed by the president) and other local rulers, although this does not calm the spirits. In addition, the government faces a large national strike known as the "arms-down strike" and the clashes leave many dead.


1948 Costa Rican general election, Aftermath
On February 28, 1948 the National Electoral Tribunal issued a ruling on the elections with two opinions, the majority signed by magistrates Gerardo Guzmán and José María Vargas, and the minority signed by magistrate Max Koberg. The majority found inconsistencies in the count and nullity of the padron: 14,000 votes exceeded the voters who had participated in theory and who gave the win to Ulate, inconsistency whereby the elections were canceled. The minority one does not. The Constitutional Congress heard both opinions generated an intense debate between the Calderonistas and communists deputies who advocated in favor of annulling the elections and the opposition deputies.


1948 Costa Rican general election, Aftermath
The Congress did not annul the parliamentary elections where the ruling coalition had been favored, even though the irregularities denounced in the presidential elections applied to both. In any case, this cancellation was the trigger for the Costa Rican Civil War or "48 War". After which the "Founding Junta of the Second Republic" presided over by Figueres would ruled de facto for 18 months, then giving the presidency to Otilio Ulate in 1949.


1948 Cotton Bowl Classic
The 1948 Cotton Bowl Classic was a post-season game between the SMU Mustangs and the Penn State Nittany Lions. The game was a struggle of yardage with the final score being decided on a missed extra point.


1948 Cotton Bowl Classic, Background
SMU was coached by Matty Bell and led by Doak Walker, who was named All-American. SMU went unbeaten and had won the Southwest Conference championship.


1948 Cotton Bowl Classic, Background
Penn State was coached by Bob Higgins, who would retire after next season. They also went unbeaten as an Independent. Coincidentally, Higgins was the coach who had handed SMU their first bowl loss back in 1925.


1948 Cotton Bowl Classic, Game summary
Doak Walker scored the first seven points of the game on a 53-yard touchdown pass to Paul Page. Later in the second quarter, Walker scored again, this time on a two-yard touchdown run as the extra point was missed. Penn State roared back with Larry Cooney's 38 yard touchdown catch from Elwood Petchel as the game was 13-7 at half time.


1948 Cotton Bowl Classic, Game summary
Wallace Triplett caught a touchdown pass from Petchel in the third quarter, but the extra point missed as the game was tied, 13-13. The game had no further points as Walker was limited to 75 yards combined and Penn State lost two fumbles.


1948 County Championship
The 1948 County Championship was the 49th officially organised running of the County Championship, and ran from 8 May to 31 August 1948. Glamorgan County Cricket Club claimed their first title.


1948 County Championship
In August 1948, Glamorgan's match against Gloucestershire at Eugene Cross Park, play was stopped due to mountain mist around the ground and a flock of sheep.


1948 County Championship, Table
NOTES: Essex and Nottinghamshire totals include six points each for a drawn match that ended with scores equal (no allowance made in Championship scoring at this stage for the fact that Essex were still batting). Surrey total includes eight points for a win on first innings in a match reduced to one day.


1948 Coupe de France Final
The 1948 Coupe de France Final was a football match held at Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes on May 10, 1948, that saw Lille OSC defeat RC Lens 3–2 thanks to goals by Roger Vandooren and Jean Baratte (2).


1948 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
The 1948 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré was the 2nd edition of the cycle race and was held from 1 June to 6 June 1948. The race started and finished in Grenoble. The race was won by Édouard Fachleitner of the La Perle team.


1948 Croydon North by-election
The Croydon North by-election, 1948 was a parliamentary by-election held in the British House of Commons constituency of Croydon North on 11 March 1948. The seat had become vacant when the Conservative Member of Parliament Henry Willink had resigned, having held the seat since a by-election in 1940.


1948 Croydon North by-election
The Conservative candidate Fred Harris held the seat for his party with a much increased majority. The seat had only been marginally Conservative in the 1945 election.


1948 Cuban general election
General elections were held in Cuba on 1 June 1948. Carlos Prío Socarrás won the presidential election running under the Auténtico-Republican Alliance banner, whilst the Partido Auténtico emerged as the largest party in the House of Representatives, winning 29 of the 70 seats. Voter turnout was 78.7%.


1948 Cuban general election
As of 2021, this is the last free election held in Cuba: elections were scheduled for 1952, but former president Fulgencio Batista seized power in a military coup three months before the elections.


1948 Cup of the Ukrainian SSR
The 1948 Ukrainian Cup was a football knockout competition conducting by the Football Federation of the Ukrainian SSR and was known as the Ukrainian Cup.


1948 Cup of the Ukrainian SSR, Competition schedule, First Elimination Round
All games of the round took place on 3 October 1948, and replay next day on 4 October 1948.


1948 Cup of the Ukrainian SSR, Competition schedule, Second Elimination Round
All games of the round took place on 10 October 1948, and replay next day on 11 October 1948.


1948 Cupa României Final
The 1948 Cupa României Final was the 11th final of Romania's most prestigious football cup competition. It was disputed between ITA Arad and CFR Timișoara, and was won by ITA Arad after a game with 5 goals. It was the first cup title in the history of ITA Arad.


1948 Cupa României Final
Also this final was the first Cupa României final after war and a break of 4 years, last final was disputed exactly 5 years ago on 15 August 1943. The cup was not played in those years because of World War II.


1948 Czechoslovak First League, Overview
It was contested by 14 teams, and SK Slavia Prague led the league after 13 matches. However the season was interrupted due to league reorganisation and no championship was awarded. Josef Bican was the league's top scorer with 21 goals.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état
In late February 1948, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, with Soviet backing, assumed undisputed control over the government of Czechoslovakia, marking the onset of four decades of communist rule in the country.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état
The coup's significance extended well beyond the state's boundaries as it was a clear marker along the already well-advanced road to full-fledged Cold War. The event alarmed Western countries and helped spur quick adoption of the Marshall Plan, the creation of a state in West Germany, paramilitary measures to keep communists out of power in France, Greece and especially Italy, and steps toward mutual security that would, in little over a year, result in the establishment of NATO and the definitive drawing of the Iron Curtain until the Revolutions of 1989.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Background
In the aftermath of World War II, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) was in a favourable position.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Background
Its powerful influence on Czechoslovak politics since the 1920s, its clean wartime record and cooperation with non-Communist parties, its identification with the Soviet Union, one of the country's liberators, and its determination to become the country's leading political force without alarming the West (a strategy also followed by Communist parties in Italy and France) dovetailed with popular opposition to Nazi rule, the longing for real change that followed it, and the new political realities of living within the Soviet orbit to produce a surge in membership from 40,000 in 1945 to 1.35 million in 1948. Moreover, the Soviets viewed the country as a strategic prize: it bordered West Germany and boasted uranium deposits around Jáchymov.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Background
Nonetheless, party leader Klement Gottwald said in 1945 that "in spite of the favourable situation, the next goal is not soviets and socialism, but rather carrying out a really thorough democratic national revolution", thereby linking his party to the Czechoslovak democratic tradition (he even claimed to be a disciple of Tomáš Masaryk) and to Czech nationalism by capitalizing on popular intense anti-German feelings. During the early postwar period, working with the other parties in a coalition called the National Front, the Communists kept up the appearance of being willing to work within the system.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Background
Thus, in the 1946 election, the KSČ won 38% of the vote. This was the best-ever performance by a European Communist party in a free election, and was far more than the 22% won by their Hungarian counterparts the following year in the only other free and fair postwar election in the Soviet area of influence. President Edvard Beneš, not himself a Communist but very amenable to cooperation with the Soviets, and who hoped for restraint by the Allied powers, thus invited Gottwald to be prime minister. Although the government still had a non-Communist majority (nine Communists and seventeen non-Communists), the KSČ had initial control over the police and armed forces, and came to dominate other key ministries such as those dealing with propaganda, education, social welfare and agriculture; they also soon dominated the civil service.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Background
However, by the summer of 1947 the KSČ had alienated whole blocs of potential voters. The activities of the police—headed by Interior Minister Václav Nosek, a Communist—were acutely offensive to many citizens; farmers objected to talk of collectivization, and some workers were angry at Communist demands that they increase output without being given higher wages. The general expectation was that the Communists would be soundly defeated in the May 1948 elections.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Background
That September, at the first Cominform meeting, Andrei Zhdanov observed that Soviet victory had helped achieve "the complete victory of the working class over the bourgeoisie in every East European land except Czechoslovakia, where the power contest still remains undecided." This clearly implied the KSČ should be accelerating its own efforts to take complete power. That notion would be reinforced during the Prague Spring, when party archives were opened and showed that Stalin gave up the whole idea of a parliamentary path for Czechoslovakia when the Communist parties of France and Italy failed to achieve power in 1947 and 1948.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Background
The KSČ's number-two leader, general secretary Rudolf Slánský, represented the KSČ at the meeting. He returned to Prague with a plan for the final seizure of power. Slánský remarked, "as in the international field, we have gone on the offensive on the domestic front as well." The KSČ pursued a two-pronged strategy. The party knew it had to maintain the façade of working within the electoral political system and was aware that a revolutionary coup would be unacceptable. It desired to gain an absolute majority at elections scheduled for 1948, but the fracturing of the left-wing coalition made this unrealistic. This pushed the party into extra-parliamentary action. The organization of "spontaneous" demonstrations to "express the will of the people" and continuous visits to parliament by workers' delegations were meant to ensure "mobilization of the masses".


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, The coup
During the winter of 1947–48, both in the cabinet and in parliament tension between the Communists and their opponents led to increasingly bitter conflict. Matters came to a head in February 1948, when Nosek illegally extended his powers by attempting to purge remaining non-Communist elements in the National Police Force. The security apparatus and police were being transformed into instruments of the KSČ, and consequently, according to John Grenville, endangering basic civic freedoms.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, The coup
On 12 February, the non-Communists in the cabinet demanded punishment for the offending Communists in the government and an end to their supposed subversion. Nosek, backed by Gottwald, refused to yield. He and his fellow Communists threatened to use force and, in order to avoid defeat in parliament, mobilised groups of their supporters in the country. On 21 February, twelve non-Communist ministers resigned in protest after Nosek refused to reinstate eight non-Communist senior police officers despite a majority vote of the cabinet in favour of doing so. Most of the ministers remained at their posts, with Social Democratic leader Zdeněk Fierlinger making no secret of his support for the Communists.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, The coup
The non-Communists assumed that Beneš would refuse to accept their resignations, keeping them in a caretaker government and in the process embarrassing the Communists enough to make them yield. Beneš initially insisted that no new government could be formed which did not include ministers from the non-Communist parties. However, an atmosphere of mounting tension, coupled with massive Communist-led demonstrations occurring throughout the country, convinced Beneš to remain neutral over the issue, for fear the KSČ foment an insurrection and give the Red Army a pretext to invade the country and restore order.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, The coup
In Grenville's opinion, had Beneš held his line, the Communists would not have been able to form a government. The historian believed there could have been only two non-violent means of resolving the crisis—give way to the non-Communists or risk defeat in early elections which the KSČ would not have had time to rig. The non-Communists saw this as a moment of opportunity, needing to act quickly before the Communists had total control over the police and threatened the electoral process.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, The coup
At the same time, the non-Communist ministers seemed to behave as if this was just an old-fashioned pre-1939 governmental crisis. They did not know that the Communists were mobilizing from below to take complete power. Soviet deputy foreign minister Valerian Zorin, who had been his country's ambassador to Czechoslovakia from 1945 to 1947, returned to Prague to help with the final arrangements for the coup. Armed militia and police took over Prague, Communist demonstrations were mounted and an anti-Communist student demonstration was broken up.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, The coup
The ministries of the non-Communist ministers were occupied, civil servants dismissed and the ministers prevented from entering their own ministries. The army, under the direction of Defence Minister Ludvík Svoboda, who was formally non-partisan but had facilitated Communist infiltration into the officer corps, was confined to barracks and did not interfere.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, The coup
Communist "Action Committees" and trade union militias were quickly set up, armed, and sent into the streets, as well as being prepared to carry through a purge of anti-Communists. In a speech before 100,000 of these people, Gottwald threatened a general strike unless Beneš agreed to form a new Communist-dominated government. Zorin at one point offered the services of the Red Army, camped on the country's borders. However, Gottwald declined the offer, believing that the threat of violence combined with heavy political pressure would be enough to force Beneš to surrender. As he said after the coup, Beneš "knows what strength is, and this led him to evaluate this [situation] realistically".


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, The coup
On 25 February 1948, Beneš, fearful of civil war and Soviet intervention, capitulated. He accepted the resignations of the non-Communist ministers and appointed a new government in accordance with KSČ demands. Gottwald continued as prime minister of a government dominated by Communists and pro-Moscow Social Democrats. The Social Democrats' leader, Fierlinger, had been a proponent of closer ties with the Communists for some time; as mentioned above, he openly sided with the Communists during the dispute. Members of the People's, Czech National Social Party and Slovak Democratic parties still figured, so the government was still nominally a coalition.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, The coup
However, the other parties had been taken over by Communist sympathizers, and ministers using these labels were fellow travellers handpicked by the Communists. The only senior minister who was neither a Communist nor a fellow traveller was Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk, who was however found dead two weeks later outside a third-floor window. Some friends and admirers believed Masaryk committed suicide out of despair. However, a longstanding Western suspicion was that he had actually been thrown to his death, a hypothesis which, according to Lawrence S. Kaplan, was later confirmed by Soviet archives.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, The coup
Following the coup, the Communists moved quickly to consolidate their power. Thousands were fired and hundreds were arrested. Thousands fled the country to avoid living under Communism. The National Assembly, freely elected two years earlier, quickly fell into line and gave Gottwald's revamped government a vote of confidence in March. The 230-0 result was unanimous, although nine MPs had resigned following the coup.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, The coup
On 9 May, a new constitution was approved by parliament, which declared Czechoslovakia a "people's democratic state." Although it was not a completely Communist document (indeed, the KSČ was not even mentioned), it was close enough to the Soviet model that Beneš refused to sign it. At the 30 May elections, voters were presented with a single list from the National Front, which officially won 89.2% of the vote; within the National Front list, the Communists had an absolute majority of 214 seats (160 for the main party and 54 for the Slovak branch).


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, The coup
This majority grew even larger when the Social Democrats merged with the Communists later in the year. Practically all non-Communist parties that had participated in the 1946 election were also represented within the National Front list and thus received parliamentary seats. However, by this time they had all transformed themselves into loyal partners of the Communists, and the few independent-minded members of those parties were either in prison or in exile. The National Front was converted into a broad patriotic organisation dominated by the Communists, and no political group outside it was allowed to exist.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, The coup
Consumed by these events, Beneš resigned on 2 June and was succeeded by Gottwald twelve days later. Beneš died in September, bringing a symbolic close to the sequence of events, and was buried before an enormous and silent throng come to mourn the passing of a popular leader and of the democracy he had come to represent.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact
Czechoslovakia was ruled by a Communist regime until the Velvet Revolution of 1989. More immediately, the coup became synonymous with the Cold War. The loss of the last remaining democracy in Eastern Europe came as a profound shock to millions. For the second time in a decade, Western eyes saw Czechoslovak independence and democracy snuffed out by a foreign totalitarian dictatorship intent on dominating the small country (though unlike in 1938–39, the KSČ did most of the "dirty work").


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact
The USSR seemed to have completed the formation of a monolithic Soviet bloc and concluded the partition of Europe, which appeared to vindicate and certainly crystallized the pessimistic appraisals of Soviet power in the West by people who felt certain that it was folly to try to do business with Moscow. Because its impact was equally profound in Western Europe as in the United States, it helped unify Western countries against the Communist bloc. It gave an air of prescience to the French and Italian governments for having forced their local Communists out of their governments a year earlier.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact
Additionally, it finally discredited Soviet moves to prevent the formation of a West German state and accelerated the construction of a West European alliance, the Treaty of Brussels, the following month; mutual security was the new watchword. Until early 1948, Western and Soviet representatives had communicated in regular meetings at the foreign minister level; the Czech coup constituted a final rupture in relations between the two superpowers, with the West now signaling its determination to commit itself to collective self-defence. By early March, even a previously wavering France was demanding a concrete military alliance with definite promises to help in certain circumstances.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact
From Moscow's point of view, the coup could not have come at a worse time. The government crisis in Prague lasted from 20 to 27 February, just when Western foreign ministers were meeting in London. From the West's perspective, the coup was an example of Communism in its most unacceptable form; Moscow seemed to the West bent on ruthless expansion and the suppression of freedom.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact, United States
The coup's impact in the United States was immediate. Opposition towards the Marshall Plan had developed in the United States Congress, but a shocked and aroused public opinion overwhelmed this, and Congress promptly approved over US$5 billion for the first year of the European Recovery Program.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact, United States
Until the Czech coup, the emphasis in Washington had been on economic containment of Communism, primarily through the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan and a heavy reliance on atomic power as a shield to support it. President Harry S. Truman understood that in 1946 and 1947 the American people were not prepared for a massive conventional arms buildup or a confrontation with the Soviet Union. He was reluctant to increase the military budget dramatically and instead chose a gradual and balanced buildup. Expecting to spend large amounts on the Marshall Plan, he sought to keep the annual defence budget below $15 billion.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact, United States
However, the coup served to expose the limitations of U.S. conventional forces and its over-reliance on atomic power. At the time of the Prague crisis, roughly ten ill-equipped and poorly trained U.S. and West European divisions faced over thirty Soviet divisions. When taking into account Defense Department complaints that the U.S. atomic arsenal and the air power to use it were starkly inadequate, it became clear that the U.S. lacked a credible military deterrent in Europe.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact, United States
The Czech coup changed the whole tone of the debate on the U.S. military budget. It helped spark a new round of Pentagon lobbying for a substantial rise in the military budget, while the NSC called for "a worldwide counter-offensive" against the Soviet bloc, including U.S. military aid to the Western European Union. Truman responded to the crisis with a grim nationwide radio address on 17 March calling for a renewal of selective service, which had been allowed to lapse the previous year. He also sought congressional approval for a programme of Universal Military Training (UMT).


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact, United States
He aimed to send a signal of determination to the Soviet Union that U.S. military posture was strong and that the country with this expansion of military preparedness was also prepared in the future to rearm massively if necessary. Congress rejected UMT, but did vote to resume selective service, and voted the money for a seventy-group air force, 25% larger than the official request.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact, United States
Nevertheless, the change in American foreign policy in response to the crisis-like atmosphere of early 1948 was more symbolic than real. American willingness to consult on new security arrangements for Europe was the product of neither a changed estimate of Soviet intentions nor a readiness to take on a larger share of the burden of defending Western Europe. Rather, it was a tactical maneuver intended to mitigate the effect of the coup in Czechoslovakia and the brief but intense war scare that followed.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact, United States
As a result, a series of quick fixes followed to ensure that American forces would not be caught completely off guard in the event of war. More important was the sensitivity with which American officials now treated the nervousness of their European counterparts; the Americans now became more willing to take steps to boost morale in Europe and ease the now-widespread anxieties there. The coup and the Berlin Blockade that June made clear that constant reassurance was needed to bind the Europeans to the U.S. system; hence, the remobilization of U.S. armed forces began.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact, United States
Indeed, the fear of war between the Soviets and the West reached a high point after the coup. On 5 March, General Lucius D. Clay sent an alarming telegram from Berlin that advised of its likelihood: "Within the last few weeks, I have felt a subtle change in Soviet attitude which I cannot define but which now gives me a feeling that it may come with dramatic suddenness".


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact, United States
General Omar Bradley later wrote that when he read Clay's "lugubrious assessment" in Washington he was "lifted right out of [his] chair", and George F. Kennan wrote that the coup and the telegram had combined to create "a real war scare" where "the military and the intelligence fraternity" had "overreacted in the most deplorable way". Only a week later, the Joint Chiefs of Staff recommended rearmament and a restoration of the draft.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact, United States
In fact, Clay's warning had more to do with a request by Army director of intelligence Lt. Gen. Stephen Chamberlain for material that would persuade Congress to spend more on military readiness than with any hard evidence of Soviet intent to launch a war in Europe.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact, United States
Still, in Europe too in February and March "war was being commonly, even calmly discussed in streets and cafes on the Continent", a fear exacerbated by reports on 27 February that Stalin had invited Finland to sign a treaty of mutual assistance, contributing to expectations it would be the next domino to fall; pressure for a treaty was placed on Norway too.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact, United States
Amidst the general alarm, more sanguine voices were also raised. The Truman Administration had months earlier written off Czechoslovakia as little more than a Soviet satellite; in November 1947 U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall told a cabinet meeting that the Soviets would probably soon consolidate their hold on Eastern Europe by clamping down on Czechoslovakia as a "purely defensive move", and Kennan cabled from Manila that the Soviets seemed to be consolidating their defences, not preparing for aggression.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact, United States
He later wrote that the Prague coup and the Berlin Blockade were "defensive reactions" to the Marshall Plan's initial successes and to the Western decision to press for an independent West German state. This view of the event sees Truman's reaction as him seizing on a necessary crisis to sell the Marshall Plan and the rearmament programme the Pentagon had long been pushing.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact, United States
Marshall's own reaction was that "in so far as international affairs are concerned, a seizure of power by the Communist Party in Czechoslovakia would not materially alter...the situation which has existed in the last three years". Even as he was holding a press conference to push his economic aid plan on 10 March, the CIA reported that "We do not believe...that this event reflects any sudden increase in Soviet capabilities, more aggressive intentions, or any change in current Soviet policy or tactics... The Czech coup and the demands on Finland...do not preclude the possibility of Soviet efforts to effect a rapprochement with the West", but the administration chose a different course.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact, United States
On 2 March, CIA director Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter had also written to Truman that "the timing of the coup in Czechoslovakia was forced upon the Kremlin when the non-Communists took action endangering Communist control of the police. A Communist victory in the May elections would have been impossible without such control".


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact, Italy and France
In Italy, elections were scheduled for 18 April and the Communist-dominated Popular Democratic Front stood a realistic chance of victory. In the hysteria and foreboding that gripped Western circles following the Czech coup, it was concluded that similar tactics could be employed in Italy, whose citizens might not even have a chance to vote. British Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin and the British Cabinet saw the cooperation between the two leading parties of the Italian left in almost apocalyptic terms, believing that once the Italian Communist Party (PCI) won power it would marginalise any moderating influence from the socialists. Bevin immediately concluded that the "forces of democratic Socialism" must be strengthened in Italy, and that Britain must support the Christian Democrats, despite all of their faults.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact, Italy and France
Bevin was especially alarmed by the ability of the PCI, through the use of its dominant position in the trade union movement, to organise industrial disturbances not only to sabotage the success of the Marshall Plan, but also to subvert the Italian government through factory committees of action as in Czechoslovakia. The Italian foreign minister, despite his alarm over the coup's timing, remained optimistic, assuring Bevin (who saw Italy as "the immediate danger spot") that the army and police were in excellent shape and that the coup would have an adverse effect, turning swing voters away from the socialists.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact, Italy and France
This was observed when Communist and socialist leaders in Italy defended the Czech coup as a victory for democracy, rationalizing that the violation of civil rights was a necessary and just response to a reactionary threat posed by Western imperialist (i.e., American) interests; such discourse probably damaged the Front's credibility and undercut its promises of moderation. Kennan cabled to suggest the PCI should be outlawed and the U.S. should intervene militarily in the likely event of a civil war, but he quickly softened his line.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact, Italy and France
The American Ambassador in Rome worried that the coup would push self-interested voters to side with what they considered the winning side, and that events in Prague probably increased the PCI's prestige, "direct[ing] the politics of the generally opportunistic Italian toward the Communist bandwagon". However, the coup was one of several factors that led a strong plurality of voters to vote for Christian Democracy and defeat the left. Stalin, satisfied that America had not moved militarily after the Czech coup and unwilling to provoke war, respected the result, considering Italy a Western country.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact, Italy and France
In France, interesting political currents were also set in motion. The United States was still pushing the French government to support German rehabilitation. In the aftermath of the coup, foreign minister Georges Bidault was afraid of stoking anti-German sentiment that the French Communist Party (PCF) could exploit and harness to instigate a coup of its own. At the same time, the coup had forced the hand of PCF leader Maurice Thorez, whose public remarks suggested that in the wake of a Soviet invasion, he would support the Red Army.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact, Italy and France
The Czech coup, the PCF's failed policy of sabotage and the Marshall Plan's likely passage were all beginning to sway French public opinion. 70% of French people now believed the U.S. would do more than any other country to help France, compared to 7% who thought the USSR would do more. Despite French concern about Germany, it was becoming increasingly clear that the Soviet threat was greater than the German. France would still seek an advantageous power position vis-à-vis Germany, but it was becoming reconciled to the prospect of a rehabilitated Germany as part of postwar Europe.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact, Italy and France
Along with passage of the Marshall Plan, the other far-reaching implication of the Czech coup for U.S. foreign policy was to heed Bevin's call for a Western defence association. He had found the Truman Administration reluctant to accept an unambiguous and binding alliance with Western Europe even after the irretrievable breakdown of the Council of Foreign Ministers conference in London in December 1947; Marshall was not prepared to accept the idea in discussions with Bevin that 17 December.


1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, Impact, Italy and France
On 26 February Bevin again reiterated that the best way to prevent another Czechoslovakia was to evolve a joint Western military strategy, and this time he got a more receptive hearing, especially considering American anxiety over Italy. That spring, European leaders quietly met with U.S. defence, military and diplomatic officials at the Pentagon, under Marshall's orders, exploring a framework for a new and unprecedented association for mutual defence. The following year, NATO would ultimately be born out of these talks.


1948 Czechoslovak parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Czechoslovakia on 30 May 1948. They were the first elections held after the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'etat in which the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) had seized complete power of the state.


1948 Czechoslovak parliamentary election
The Communists had become deeply unpopular, and all indications were that they would be voted out of office in the elections due in May. The endgame began on 13 February, when a majority of the cabinet demanded that Communist Interior Minister Václav Nosek stop packing the police with Communists. Nosek refused, and was supported by Prime Minister and Communist Party leader Klement Gottwald.


1948 Czechoslovak parliamentary election
On 21 February, 12 non-Communist ministers (out of a total of 27 members of government) resigned, believing that President Edvard Beneš would side with them and force Gottwald to either back down, resign, or call early elections that the Communists would not have time to rig. Beneš initially supported their position, and refused to accept their resignations. By this time, however, Gottwald had dropped all pretense of liberal democracy. He not only refused to resign, but demanded the appointment of a Communist-dominated government under threat of a general strike. His Communist colleagues occupied the offices of the non-Communist ministers.


1948 Czechoslovak parliamentary election
Fearing Red Army intervention, Beneš gave way on 25 February and appointed a new government in accordance with Gottwald's demands. Communists and pro-Moscow Social Democrats held most of the key posts. Members of the other parties still figured, so it was still technically a coalition. However, all except Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk were fellow travellers handpicked by the Communists. On 9 May, a new constitution was approved by the now-subservient Constituent National Assembly. While it was not a completely Communist document, its Communist imprint was strong enough that Beneš refused to sign it.


1948 Czechoslovak parliamentary election
The reconfigured government scheduled elections in which voters were presented with a single list from the National Front, a postwar coalition that had been converted into a Communist-dominated patriotic organisation. Voters could only reject the list by requesting a blank ballot. The Front officially received 89.2 percent of the vote, with the Communists and their Slovak branch winning 214 of the 300 seats (160 for the main party and 54 for the Slovak branch), enough for a majority in their own right. Their majority grew even larger when the Social Democrats merged with the Communists later in the year.


1948 Czechoslovak parliamentary election
The non-socialist members of the Front were allowed to maintain their existence in order to keep up the appearance of pluralism. However, since no party could take part in the political process without KSČ approval, Communist control was now total. Representation was allocated in accordance with a set percentage. For the next four decades, voters would only have the option of approving or rejecting a single list from the National Front.


1948 Czechoslovak parliamentary election
Beneš resigned three days after the elections, and Gottwald took over most presidential duties until his formal election as president 12 days later.


1948 Czechoslovak parliamentary election
The 89.2 percent received by the Front would be the lowest vote share that it would claim during the 41 years of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. In subsequent elections, the Front would claim to win with 97 percent or more of the vote.


1948 Czechoslovak presidential election
The 1948 Czechoslovak presidential election took place on 14 June 1948. Klement Gottwald was elected the first Communist president of Czechoslovakia.


1948 Czechoslovak presidential election, Background
The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia finished first in the 1946 parliamentary election and formed a new government with party leader Klement Gottwald as Prime Minister. The party used its influence to take over the country in a 1948 coup d'etat. The incumbent president Edvard Beneš was unable to resist and resigned on 7 June 1948. In accordance with the 1920 Constitution, Gottwald took over most presidential duties pending the election of a permanent successor.


1948 Czechoslovak presidential election, Background
When negotiations began, two candidates were proposed–Gottwald and Culture Minister Zdeněk Nejedlý. It was eventually decided that Gottwald would be nominated in order to legitimate the Communist regime.


1948 Dartmouth Indians football team
The 1948 Dartmouth Indians football team was an American football team that represented Dartmouth College as an independent during the 1948 college football season. In their sixth season under head coach Tuss McLaughry, the Indians compiled a 6–2 record, and outscored their opponents 213 to 130. Dale Armstrong was the team captain.


1948 Dartmouth Indians football team
Dartmouth played its home games at Memorial Field on the college campus in Hanover, New Hampshire.


1948 Davis Cup
The 1948 Davis Cup was the 37th edition of the most important tournament between national teams in men's tennis. 25 teams entered the Europe Zone, and four teams entered the America Zone. Pakistan and Turkey made their first appearances in the competition.


1948 Davis Cup
Australia defeated Mexico in the America Zone final, and Czechoslovakia defeated Sweden in the Europe Zone final. Australia defeated Czechoslovakia in the Inter-Zonal play-off, but fell to defending champions the United States in the Challenge Round. The championship was played at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, New York, United States on 4–6 September.


1948 Davis Cup America Zone
The America Zone was one of the two regional zones of the 1948 Davis Cup.


1948 Davis Cup America Zone
4 teams entered the America Zone, with the winner going on to compete in the Inter-Zonal Final against the winner of the Europe Zone. Australia defeated Mexico in the final, and went on to face Czechoslovakia in the Inter-Zonal Final.


1948 Davis Cup Europe Zone
The Europe Zone was one of the two regional zones of the 1948 Davis Cup.


1948 Davis Cup Europe Zone
25 teams entered the Europe Zone, with the winner going on to compete in the Inter-Zonal Final against the winner of the America Zone. Czechoslovakia defeated Sweden in the final, and went on to face Australia in the Inter-Zonal Final.


1948 Dayton Flyers football team
The 1948 Dayton Flyers football team was an American football team that represented the University of Dayton as an independent during the 1948 college football season. In their second season under head coach Joe Gavin, the Flyers compiled a 7–2–1 record.


1948 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team
The 1948 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team was an American football team that represented the University of Delaware as an independent during the 1948 college football season. In its sixth season under head coach William D. Murray, the team compiled a 5–3 record and outscored opponents by a total of 107 to 95. Robert Campbell and Eugene Carrell were the team captains. The team played its home games at Wilmington Park in Wilmington, Delaware.


1948 Delaware State Hornets football team
The 1948 Delaware State Hornets football team represented Delaware State College—now known as Delaware State University—as a member of the Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) in the 1948 college football season. The Hornets compiled a 4–5 record under coach Tom Conrad. Of their five losses, three of them were by 40 points or more.


1948 Delaware gubernatorial election
The 1948 Delaware gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 1948.


1948 Delaware gubernatorial election
Incumbent Republican Governor Walter W. Bacon was term-limited, having served two consecutive terms.


1948 Delaware gubernatorial election
Democratic nominee Elbert N. Carvel defeated Republican nominee Hyland P. George with 53.69% of the vote.


1948 Delaware gubernatorial election, Nominations, Democratic nomination
The Democratic convention was held on August 24 at Dover.


1948 Delaware gubernatorial election, Nominations, Republican nomination
The Republican convention was held on August 11 at Dover.


1948 Delta Bowl
The 1948 Delta Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game between the Ole Miss Rebels and the TCU Horned Frogs. This was the first ever Delta Bowl.