September 17, 1948

1948Kemal Monteno, Bosnian singer-songwriter (died 2015)^[†]

Kemal Monteno was a Bosnian recording artist and singer-songwriter whose career stretched from the 1960s to the 2010s. He is widely considered one of the greatest songwriters of the former Yugoslavia.

1948John Ritter, American actor and producer (died 2003)^[†]

Johnathan Southworth Ritter was an American actor. He was a son of the singing cowboy star Tex Ritter and the father of actors Jason and Tyler Ritter. He played Jack Tripper on the popular ABC sitcom Three's Company (1977–1984), and received a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for the role in 1984. Ritter briefly reprised the role on the spin-off Three's a Crowd, which aired for one season, producing 22 episodes before its cancellation in 1985.

1948Ruth Benedict, American anthropologist and academic (born 1887)^[†]

Ruth Fulton Benedict was an American anthropologist and folklorist.

1948Folke Bernadotte, Swedish soldier and diplomat (born 1895)^[†]

Folke Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg was a Swedish nobleman and diplomat. In World War II, he negotiated the release of about 450 Danish Jews and 30,550 non-Jewish prisoners of many nations from the Nazi German Theresienstadt concentration camp. They were released on 14 April 1945. In 1945 he received a German surrender offer from Heinrich Himmler, though the offer was ultimately rejected by the allies.

1948The Lehi (also known as the Stern gang) assassinates Count Folke Bernadotte, who was appointed by the United Nations to mediate between the Arab nations and Israel.^[†]

Lehi, officially the Fighters for the Freedom of Israel and often known pejoratively as the Stern Gang, was a Zionist paramilitary militant organization founded by Avraham ("Yair") Stern in Mandatory Palestine. Its avowed aim was to evict the British authorities from Palestine by use of violence, allowing unrestricted immigration of Jews and the formation of a Jewish state. It was initially called the National Military Organization in Israel, upon being founded in August 1940, but was renamed Lehi one month later. The group referred to its members as terrorists and admitted to having carried out acts of terrorism.

1948The Nizam of Hyderabad surrenders his sovereignty over the Hyderabad State and joins the Indian Union.^[†]

Nizam of Hyderabad was the title of the ruler of Hyderabad State. Nizam is a shortened form of Niẓām ul-Mulk, and was the title bestowed upon Asaf Jah I when he was appointed Viceroy of the Deccan by the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar. In addition to being the Mughal viceroy (Naib) of the Deccan, Asaf Jah I was also the premier courtier of the Mughal Empire until 1724, when he established an independent realm based in Hyderabad, but in practice, continued to recognise the nominal authority of emperor.