Those We Lost in 1948 Quiz | Mixed People

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The greatest baseball player of all time? Plenty would argue with that, but this player's name has got to be the most recognized baseball name ever. Who was this Red Sox, turned Yankee and pitcher, turned slugger who passed away on 16 August, 1948?

Answer: Babe Ruth

Also known as the "The Sultan of Swat" and "The Bambino", George Herman Ruth terrorized pitchers for over 20 years, breaking in with the Red Sox in '14 and playing his last season with the Boston Braves in '35. Best known for his Yankee years between 1920 and 1934 and with whom he won four World Series; before being traded from Boston, he also helped the Red Sox win three World Series crowns.

He led the American League in home runs 12 times.

2. One of the shortest lives in our quiz belonged to the Soviet Union's greatest film director. Ranked at # 7 on "MovieMaker Magazine's" 2007 list of the 25 Most Influential Directors of All Time, this Latvian-born director won both two Stalin Prizes and the Order of Lenin. Who was this master of montage who directed "The Battleship Potemkin" and died at age 50 in February of 1948?

Answer: Sergei Eisenstein

Eisenstein's father was of German Jewish descent and his mother was Russian. He had traveled extensively in Europe and began several unsuccessful projects in the U.S. and Mexico before returning to the Soviet Union. Other notable silent films he directed include "Strike", "October", "Alexander Nevsky", and "Ivan the Terrible."

Kurosawa was a great Japanese director, noted for the classic "Seven Samurai." Sokurov is a Russian filmmaker who was born in 1951. Kieslowski was a noted Polish director who died in 1996.

3. The longest-surviving person on this quiz earned the nickname "Black Jack" leading the 10th Cavalry Regiment in the Spanish-American War. He was also noted for chasing Pancho Villa in Mexico and leading the AEF (American Expeditionary Force) in World War I. Who was this authentic American hero who died at age 87 in 1948?

Answer: John J. Pershing

Pershing had also fought in the Indian Wars and in the Philippine Insurrection. His Indian Wars action included engagements against Sioux and Apaches. The 10th Cavalry Regiment were also known as Buffalo Soldiers and consisted of a segregated unit of Blacks who served under Pershing in the American West, in Cuba, and in the Philippines.

Following his World War I service, President Wilson promoted Pershing to General of the Armies, a position only held previously by George Washington.

4. The next honoree on our list of 1948 deaths was the wife of a famous novelist who called her "the first American Flapper." Ultimately a tragic figure, she was only 48 years old at her death. Who was this celebrated Jazz Age figure whose adult life was plagued by mental illness and whose husband wrote "This Side of Paradise"?

Answer: Zelda Fitzgerald

In 1930, at the age of 30, Zelda was diagnosed with schizophrenia in a clinic in France. In 1931 she was released from a Swiss psychiatric facility and she and her husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald, returned to the U.S. In 1932 she spent eight months in another psychiatric facility in Maryland.

In 1938, while living in another hospital in North Carolina, Zelda saw her husband for the last time. He died in 1940. She was unable to attend his funeral and their daughter's wedding in 1943. In 1948 she died in a fire in the North Carolina hospital she'd spent much time in during the last decade of her life.

5. One of the leaders of the Indian subcontinent's independence from Britain, our next subject passed away at age 71. Often referred to as the "Father of Pakistan", he earned a law degree in England at age 19. Who was this leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913-1947, and then Governor General of Pakistan until his death in 1948?

Answer: Muhammad Ali Jinnah

As independence from Britain neared in India, Jinnah was the leader of the movement to partition India into a Muslim state and a Hindu state, an event which in fact did occur. His term of Governor General of Pakistan was just a year and a month, running from Pakistan's independence to his death. Jinnah's birthday of 25 December is a national holiday in Pakistan.

6. On March 10, 1948, Czechoslovakia's Foreign Minister was found dead on the pavement below the bathroom window of his third-floor apartment. The government said it was suicide. It remains a Cold War mystery. Who was this diplomat and statesman who was also the son of the first President of Czechoslovakia?

Answer: Jan Masaryk

The talk about the incident in Czechoslovakia in following years described Masaryk as "... a very tidy man. He was such a tidy man that when he jumped he shut the window after himself." A government investigation in the 1990s came to the conclusion that Masaryk was murdered. In 2006 a Russian journalist claimed that his mother knew the Soviet agent who threw Masaryk out of the window.

Thomas Masaryk, Jan's father, was Czechoslovakia's first president.

7. The second lady on our quiz of 1948 deaths was a former First Lady of the United States as well as a former First Lady of New York. Her maternal grandfather was a Union general in the Civil War. Who was this distinguished lady who campaigned for Herbert Hoover in 1932?

Answer: Edith Roosevelt

As a child, Edith Kermit Carow grew up as a next-door neighbor to her future husband, Theodore Roosevelt. She was TR's second wife, marrying him in 1886 after the death of his first wife, Alice, in 1884. Their wedding ceremony took place in London, England.

8. Another famous death in 1948 was the 36th Governor of New York, the 44th Secretary of State, and the 11th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Who was this giant figure who was also the 1916 Republican candidate for President, who lost to Wilson?

Answer: Charles Evans Hughes

Hughes came within four thousand votes of winning California in the Election of 1916, which would have given him the presidency. Prior to running for the presidency he was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court from 1910 to 1916. His term as Chief Justice began in 1930 and ran until 1941. He was also a judge on the World Court from 1927 to 1930.

9. Millions of deaths occurred between 1939 and 1945 as the result of World War II. One death in 1948 that resulted from World War II was the December 23 hanging of a convicted war criminal who had been a member of an Axis government during the war. Which of these was it?

Answer: Hideki Tojo

A general of the Imperial Japanese Army, Hideki Tojo served as Japan's Prime Minister during most of the war. He was executed as a result of the International Military Tribunal of the Far East, which was conducted from 29 April 1946 to 12 November 1948.

The Nuremberg War Trials for members of the German government ended in 1946. Karl D�nitz was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison. After serving his sentence, he lived near Hamburg and died in 1980. Hermann G�ring committed suicide the night before his execution.

Mussolini was captured by Communist partisans in April of 1945 and shot dead.

10. The final subject of our quiz was the inspiration of many leaders of America's civil rights movement. He is known in the country of his birth as the "father of the nation." A symbol of nonviolence, he was murdered by a fellow Hindu on 30 January, 1948. Who was this man whom "Time" magazine recognized as the "Man of the Year" for 1930?

Answer: Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi never won the Nobel Peace Prize, although he was nominated five times. In 1999 "Time" named Gandhi runner-up to Albert Einstein for their "Man of the Century."

Source: Author shvdotr

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Those We Lost in 1948 Trivia Quiz

I've written several quizzes about people born in my birth year of 1948. Here is one honoring those who passed away that same year.

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