April 3, 1948

1948Arlette Cousture, Canadian author and screenwriter^[†]

Arlette Cousture, is a Canadian writer. She writes historical fiction, often depicting the lives of women in Quebec. Many of her novels have become best-sellers in the French language.

1948Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Dutch academic, politician, and diplomat, 11th Secretary General of NATO^[†]

Jakob Gijsbert "Jaap" de Hoop Scheffer is a Dutch retired politician, jurist and diplomat who served as the eleventh Secretary General of NATO from January 2004 to August 2009. A member of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), which he led from March 1997 to October 2001, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from July 2002 until December 2003 under Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende.

1948Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck, German footballer^[†]

Hans-Georg "Katsche" Schwarzenbeck is a German former professional footballer who played as a defender. He played in the Bundesliga from 1966 to 1981, appearing in 416 matches for Bayern Munich. He won six German league championships, three German Cups, one European Cup Winners' Cup, and three consecutive European Cups.

1948Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Mexican economist and politician, 53rd President of Mexico^[†]

Carlos Salinas de Gortari is a Mexican economist, historian and former politician who served as the 60th president of Mexico from 1988 to 1994. He is considered the frontman of Mexican Neoliberalism, responsible for formulating, promoting, signing and implementing the North American Free Trade Agreement. Affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), earlier in his career he worked in the Secretariat of Programming and Budget, eventually becoming Secretary. He secured the party's nomination for the 1988 general election and was elected amid widespread accusations of electoral fraud.

1948Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the Marshall Plan, authorizing $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.^[†]

The Cold War was a period of global geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which began in the aftermath of the Second World War and ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The term cold war is used because there was no direct fighting between the two superpowers, though each supported opposing sides in regional conflicts known as proxy wars. In addition to the struggle for ideological and economic influence and an arms race in both conventional and nuclear weapons, the Cold War was expressed through technological rivalries such as the Space Race, espionage, propaganda campaigns, embargoes, and sports diplomacy.

1948In Jeju Province, South Korea, a civil-war-like period of violence and human rights abuses known as the Jeju uprising begins.^[†]

Jeju Province, officially Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, is the southernmost province of South Korea, consisting of eight inhabited and 55 uninhabited islands, including Marado, Udo, the Chuja Archipelago, and the country's largest island, Jeju Island. The province is located in the Korea Strait, with the Korean Peninsula to the northwest, Japan to the east, and China to the west. The province has two cities: the capital Jeju City, on the northern half of the island, and Seogwipo, on the southern half of the island. The island is home to the shield volcano Hallasan, the highest point in South Korea. Jeju and Korean are the official languages of the province, and the vast majority of residents are bilingual.