Dashed left edge = started before July 1948 ·
Dashed right edge = ongoing beyond July 1948
Events in July 1948 7
1860 – 1948John J. Pershing (1860-1948)Died 15 July 1948, aged 87John J. Pershing, the American general who commanded United States forces in Europe during the First World War, died on July 15, 1948. He was the only American ever to hold the rank of General of the Armies during his lifetime. His command style and organizational reforms shaped the US Army for decades afterward.
1875 – 1948D. W. Griffith (1875-1948)Died 23 July 1948, aged 73D. W. Griffith, the American film director whose innovations helped establish the grammar of narrative cinema, died on July 23, 1948, largely forgotten by the industry he had helped build. His 1915 film "The Birth of a Nation" was both hugely influential and deeply controversial for its racist content. He spent his final years in relative obscurity in Hollywood.
1888 – 1948Georges Bernanos (1888-1948)Died 5 July 1948, aged 60Georges Bernanos, the French Catholic novelist known for "The Diary of a Country Priest," died on July 5, 1948. His fiction explored spiritual struggle and grace within ordinary lives, and his outspoken political writings condemned both fascism and complacent bourgeois Catholicism. His novels continued to influence Catholic literature and cinema after his death.
1904 – 1948Arshile Gorky (1904-1948)Died 21 July 1948, aged 44Arshile Gorky, the Armenian-American painter regarded as a key link between Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism, died by suicide on July 21, 1948, after a series of personal and physical setbacks. His fluid, biomorphic canvases influenced younger artists including Willem de Kooning. He is remembered as one of the founding figures of the New York School.
1948Wimbledon 1948Men: Bob Falkenburg · Women: Louise Brough
1948 – presentThe NHS FoundingUniversal HealthcareThe establishment of the National Health Service by Aneurin Bevan.