August 23, 1948

1948Atef Bseiso, Palestinian intelligence officer (died 1992)^[†]

Atef Bseiso was the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) liaison officer with foreign intelligence agencies. He was assassinated in Paris in 1992. Several theories exist regarding the reason for his murder. According to one, alleging he played a role in the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, his execution was part of a Mossad assassination campaign. Others argue it was an Israeli operation aiming to disrupt relations of the PLO with Western intelligence agencies. The PLO denied Bseiso had any connection to the Munich operation.

1948Andrei Pleșu, Romanian journalist and politician, 95th Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs^[†]

Andrei Gabriel Pleșu is a Romanian philosopher, essayist, journalist, literary and art critic. He has been intermittently involved in politics, having been appointed Minister of Culture (1989–1991), Minister of Foreign Affairs (1997–1999) and presidential counsellor for external affairs (2004–2005).

1948Rudy Ruettiger, American football player^[†]

Daniel Eugene Ruettiger is an American motivational speaker and author who played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. His early life and career at Notre Dame were the inspiration for the 1993 film Rudy.

1948Lev Zeleny, Russian physicist and academic^[†]

Lev Matveevich Zelenyi is a Soviet and Russian physicist, an expert in the field of space plasma physics, the physics of solar-terrestrial relations, nonlinear dynamics and planetary research. Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor, Director of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (2002-2017), with whom his entire career is connected, now his scientific advisor. Vice-president of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2013–2017, member of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Foreign member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (2008), full member of the International Academy of Astronautics.

1948The World Council of Churches is formed by 147 churches from 44 countries.^[†]

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Union of Utrecht, the Lutheran World Federation, the Anglican Communion, the Mennonite churches, the World Methodist Council, the Baptist World Alliance, the World Communion of Reformed Churches, several Pentecostal churches, the Moravian Church, and the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church. Notably, the Catholic Church is not a full member, although it sends delegates who have observer status to meetings.