Find out what major world events 1947 had in store for the world through our collection of historic newspapers. Read about this fascinating year in history through first hand reports as they were documented at the time.
Historic Newspapers has the largest collection of authentic newspapers in the world, and they make wonderful presents for people with an interest in history or a special connection to any particular year.
You’ll find plenty of captivating stories in our range of 1947 newspapers. Find out which 1947 events caught the attention of the world and had reporters putting pen to paper. Things that happened in 1947 include the beginnings of the Cold War, India and Pakistan achieving independence, and the introduction of the first Polaroid camera.
It was also the year in which the Roswell UFO incident occurred, when an unknown object crashed into Roswell, Mexico, this resulted in the urban legend which suggests that the US military is responsible for covering up alien contact. Delve into these captivating stories and much more with an original newspaper from 1947.
January 25, 1947
Al Capone, American gangster (b. 1899) dies of syphilis.
February 10, 1947
The Paris Peace Treaties are signed between the Second World War Allies and Italy, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Finland. In the process, Italy cedes most of Istria to Yugoslavia.
February 21, 1947
In New York City, Edwin Land demonstrates the first “instant camera”, his Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.
February 28, 1947
The United States grant France a military base in Casablanca.
April 1, 1947
Jackie Robinson become the first African American to play Major League Baseball since the 1880s.
April 16, 1947
American financier and presidential adviser Bernard Baruch describes the post-World War II tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States as a “Cold War”.
April 18, 1947
The British Royal Navy detonates 6,800 tonnes of explosives in a concerted attempt to destroy the small island of Heligoland in Germany. This creates the biggest non-nuclear explosion to date.
April 26, 1947
Academy award-winning Tom and Jerry cartoon, The Cat Concerto, is released to theaters.
May 22, 1947
In an effort to prevent the spread of Communism, President Harry S. Truman signs an Act of Congress that implements the Truman Doctrine. The act grants $400 million in military and economic aid to Turkey and Greece to help their broken economies and stop them falling to Communism.
July 10, 1947
Princess Elizabeth of England announces her engagement to Philip Mountbatten.
July 11, 1947
The ‘Exodus’ ship leaves France for Palestine, carrying 4,500 Jewish Holocaust survivor refugees.
July 26, 1947
President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act of 1947, creating the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council.
July 29, 1947
ENIAC, one of the world’s first digital computers, is turned on after a memory upgrade. It had been shut-off for nearly one year and remains in continuous operation until 2nd October, 1955.
August 4, 1947
Betty Moore sails in her first Cowes Week. She is awarded the Skandia Cowes Week Ladies Day Trophy fifty-nine years later, after sailing her ’Why’ Solent Sunbeam for sixty consecutive regattas.
August 15, 1947
Following 150 years of British colonial rule, India gains independence from the British Empire and splits from Pakistan. Rajendra Prasad becomes the first President of India and Jawaharlal Nehru takes office as the first Prime Minister.
August 24, 1947
The first ever Edinburgh International Festival is held, with a post-war mission to ‘provide a platform for the flowering of the human spirit’.
September 26, 1947
U.S. Air Force is made a separate branch of the military.
October 6, 1947
World Series games are broadcast on television for the first time.
November 20, 1947
Princess Elizabeth of England, daughter of King George VI, marries the Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey.