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| 1948 |
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| Invention of the transistor, which would soon revolutionize computers and the entire electronics field. The U.S. Census Bureau purchased the first commercial computer system in 1951 (called the Universal Automatic Computer). | 1 |
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| March 14–31 |
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| Congress passed the Foreign Assistance Act (Marshall Plan) and authorized an initial $5.3 billion for European recovery. Paul G. Hoffman was appointed chief of the Economic Cooperation Administration (E.C.A.) on April 6. | 2 |
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| April–July |
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| Strikes in the coal, railway, and steel industries were stopped by government action, and a third round of wage increases was implemented to meet the constantly rising cost of living. | 3 |
| General Motors offered the United Automobile Workers a cost of living adjustment clause to protect workers against inflation. | 4 |
| United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America refused to purge Communists from their ranks and broke with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). | 5 |
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| June 19 |
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| Congress passed a peacetime Selective Service Bill for men between ages 19 and 25. | 6 |
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| July 26 |
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| The president issued an executive order to desegregate the military. | 7 |
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| Aug. 22 |
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| Jackie Robinson broke the color line in major league baseball. | 8 |
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| Aug. 25 |
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| The Soviet Union broke off all consular relations with the U.S. when the latter refused to surrender a Soviet citizen against her will. | 9 |
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| Nov. 2 |
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| Contrary to most predictions, HARRY S. TRUMAN WAS REELECTED president over Thomas E. Dewey (Republican) by 303 electoral votes to 189. Truman lost four southern states to “Dixiecrat” Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, but the increased number of black voters in the urban North helped to offset the loss. | 10 |
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