Eighty years ago this week Britain's formal celebration of victory in the Second World War marred by the cold war

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22,000 servicemen and women and 500 military vehicles participated in the London Victory day parade which stretched for four miles.  There was a fly-past of 300 aircraft. Practically Britain's allies except for the Soviet Union were represented although the Polish involvement was held at a minimal level to appease Stalin. 

The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem fled from France where he was being  kept under  surveillance. He was a leading opponent of Jewish settlement in Palestine and had been based in Germany throughout the war where he was highly paid to broadcast propaganda. He gave support to the Nazi recruitment of Muslims into the SS. He met Himmler and encouraged the killing of Jews. The British had requested his extradition from France as he was notionally a British subject but France had refused. He left France with the connivance of the government which hoped to curry favour with Arab nations.

The young King of Thailand was shot dead. To this day the death is mysterious. The British coroner who examined the corpse did not believe it could have been suicide. It is possible that the King and his brother, who succeeded him as King Bhumibol, were playing with the fatal pistol and fired it by accident, but this possibility was never studied in Thailand. Bhumibol refused clemency to three palace personalities sentenced to death for the killing after irregular trials.

President Truman vetoed the Case labor bill which would have imposed stringent restrictions on industrial disputes, notably mandatory cooling off periods. This had been introduced by conservative legislators  in response to the wave of huge strikes in the US which began in November 1945. Having used government and legislative tools to suppress potentially crippling  strikes in the coal and railroad industries, Truman did not want to alienate further his allies in the unions. 

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