Click on the link here for Audio Player: News for Dec. 13, 1947
News for this day was predominated by the goings on in Europe. Primarily over the Foreign Ministers Conference in London, which wasn’t going as well as expected. But also, news of civil unrest throughout all of Europe brought on by strikes, shortages and corruption.
News of Strikes in France, threatening to topple the government. News of the explosion in Black Market goods throughout England and the crackdowns taking place in France, Italy and elsewhere.
The big perceived threat was just how much this strife would play into the growing Communist influence throughout Europe. Would these shaky-ground governments give way to Communist takeovers as strikes and shortages continued? No one knew for sure. There were signs of pessimism permeating the Conference. The question of Germany and re-unification was once again brought up, but considered a non-starter to the Soviets. The question of reparations from Germany was of more importance to Moscow. How was the Marshall Plan impacting on European recovery, and was this yet another element in the growing Cold War status between East and West?
A fascinating group of reports from the European Capitols and speculations over the future by NBC correspondents via this European Roundup for December 13, 1947 (a Saturday that year).
Related articles
- On This Day In 1918, President Wilson Makes First Presidential Trip To Europe (rememberinghistory.wordpress.com)