1954

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Centuries:	19th century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades:	1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s
Years:	1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957

1954 by topic:

Arts

Architecture - Art - Film - Literature Music (Country, UK) - Television - Home video

Science and technology

Archaeology - Aviation Meteorology - Rail transport - Radio - Science

By country

Australia - Canada - France - Germany - India Ireland - Malaysia - Mexico - New Zealand - Pakistan Singapore - South Africa - UK - Wales - Zimbabwe

Other topics

Awards - Sport - Law - State leaders - Sovereign states - Religious leaders

Birth and death categories

Births - Deaths

Establishments and disestablishments categories

Establishments - Disestablishments

Works category

Works

1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar.

Contents 1 Events 1.1 January 1.2 February 1.3 March 1.4 April 1.5 May 1.6 June 1.7 July-August 1.8 September-October 1.9 November-December 1.10 unknown dates 2 Births 2.1 January 2.2 February 2.3 March-April 2.4 May-June 2.5 July-August 2.6 September-October 2.7 November-December 2.8 Unknown dates 3 Deaths 3.1 January-June 3.2 July-December 4 Nobel prizes 5 Ship events 6 Fields Medalists

Events

January

• January 1 - Soviet Union no longer demands war reparations from East Germany
• January 12 - Large-scale avalanches in Austria - over 20 dead
• January 14 - The Hudson Motor Car Company merges with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation forming the American Motors Corporation
• January 14 - Marilyn Monroe weds Joe DiMaggio.
• January 15 - Mau Mau leader Waruhiu Itote is captured in Kenya
• January 17 - In Yugoslavia, Milovan Djilas, Tito's second-in-command, is relieved of his duties
• January 20 - The National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations
• January 21 - The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut, by First Lady of the United States Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
• January 25 - The foreign ministers of the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union meet at the Berlin Conference.
• January 26 - Milpitas, California was incorporated as a city.

February

• February 3 - Queen Elizabeth II is the first reigning monarch to visit Australia
• February 10 - President Dwight Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam
• February 18 - The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles, California.
• February 23 - The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• February 25 - Lt. Col. Gamal Abdel Nasser is made premier of Egypt.

March

• March 1 - Nuclear testing: Officials announce that an American hydrogen bomb test had been conducted on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
• March 1 - Four Puerto Ricans open fire on United States House of Representatives and wound five. Security guards apprehend them.
• March 8 - PR Newswire founded in New York by Herb Muschel.
• March 9 - Edward Murrow and Fred W. Friendly produce a 30-minute See It Now special entitled "A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy".
• March 12 - Finland and Germany officially end the state of war.
• March 13 - French troops begin battle against Vietminh in Dien Bien Phu.
• March 19 - Joey Giardello knocks out Willie Tory in round seven at Madison Square Garden in the first televised prize boxing fight shown in color.
• March 22 - The London bullion market reopens (it was closed in 1939).
• March 23 - Viet Minh capture the main airstrip of Dien Bien Phu - French forces are partially isolated.
• March 25 - RCA manufactures first color TV set (12" screen; price: $1,000).
• March 25 - Soviet Union recognizes sovereignty of East Germany but Soviet troops remain in the country.
• March 29 - C-47 with Genevieve de Galard on board is incapacitated on Dien Bien Phu runway.
• March 30 - Canada's first subway opens in Toronto.

April

• April 1 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.
• April 3 - Vladimir Petrov defects from the Soviet Union and asks to seek political asylum in Australia.
• April 4 - Legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini experiences a lapse of memory during a concert. At concert's end, his retirement is announced, and Toscanini never conducts in public again.
• April 7 - Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his "domino theory" speech during a news conference.
• April 12 - Bill Haley & His Comets record "Rock Around the Clock" in New York City.
• April 14 - Aneurin Bevan resigns from the UK Labour shadow cabinet.
• April 22 - Senator Joseph McCarthy begins hearings investigating the United States Army for being "soft" on Communism.

May

• May 1 - Taku (city in Japan) founded
• May 6 - Roger Bannister runs the first four minute mile
• May 7 - Construction started on Michigan's Mackinac Bridge.
• May 7 - Vietnam War: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat (the battle began on March 13).
• May 14 - Boeing 707 released after about two years of development.
• May 17 - United States Supreme Court hands down its decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas 347 US 483 1954
• May 17 - Petrov Royal Commission in Australia begins its inqury
• May 20 - Chiang Kai-shek is reelected president of the Republic of China by the National Assembly.
• May 20 - Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty launches Belarusian language programming (see also Piotra Sych).
• May 29 - Robert Menzies Government re-elected for 4th term in Australia.

June

• June 1 - Radio station Sender Freies Berlin begins broadcasting
• June 7 - Mathematician Alan Turing commits suicide.
• June 9 - McCarthyism: Joseph Welch, special counsel for the United States Army, lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy during hearings on whether Communism has infiltrated the Army
• June 14 - On United States Flag Day, the words "under God" added to the Pledge of Allegiance
• June 15 - UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations) is formed in Basel, Switzerland
• June 17 - Military coup in Guatemala
• June 18 - Pierre Mendès-France becomes prime minister of France
• June 19 - The last regular-service streetcar operated by Twin City Rapid Transit runs in Minneapolis.
• June 27 - Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán steps down in a CIA-sponsored military coup–Operation PBSUCCESS–triggering a bloody civil war that would continue for more than 35 years.
• June 27 - The world's first atomic power station opened at Obninsk, near Moscow.

July-August

• July 3 - Food rationing ends in Britain
• July 4 - End of rationing of meat ends all the food rationing in Britain
• July 4 - West Germany beat Hungary 3-2 to win the 1954 FIFA World Cup
• July 5 - Andhra Pradesh High Court is established.
• July 7 - In Memphis, Tennessee, WHBQ becomes the first radio station to air an Elvis Presley record
• July 15 - Maiden flight of Boeing 707
• July 21 - First Indochina War: The Geneva Conference partitions Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam
• July 28 - Foundation of the Situationist International.
• July 31 - First ascent of K2, by an Italian expedition. Which is celebrated in both Pakistan and Italia as the 50th anniversary of the official day of K2 since 2004.
• August - First flight of a B-52 Stratofortress.
• August 6 - Emilie Dionne, one of the Dionne Quintuplets, dies of asphyxiation

following an epileptic seizure at Sainte Agathe, Quebec.

• August 16 - Volume 1, Issue 1 of Sports Illustrated is published
• August 24 - President of Brazil, Getulio Vargas, commits suicide; he's been accused of conspiracy to murder an air force officer.

September-October

• September 3 - The last new episode of The Lone Ranger is aired on radio after 2,956 episodes over a period of 21 years
• September 6 - SEATO treaty signed in Manila, Philippines KOVR went on the air.
• September 8 - The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) is established in Bangkok, Thailand
• September 9 - An earthquake centered on the city of Oleansville in Algeria - 1500 dead and thousands homeless
• September 11 - First Miss America Pageant broadcast on television
• September 14 - USSR tests nuclear weapon
• September 25 - Footscray Football Club wins their first Grand Final
• September 30 - USS Nautilus, 1st atomic-powered vessel (submarine), commissioned by the US Navy
• October 11 - Vietnam War: The Viet Minh takes control of North Vietnam.
• October 11 - Hurricane Hazel crosses over Haiti, killing 1,000 people.
• October 15 - Hurricane Hazel makes U.S. landfall - it is the only recorded Category 4 hurricane to strike as far north as North Carolina.
• October 18 - Texas Instruments announces the worldwide first Transistor radio.
• October 20 - Dock workers' strike expands in England
• October 23 - West Germany joins NATO
• October 26 - Member of Muslim Brotherhood Abdul Munim Abdul Rauf tries to kill Gamal Abdal Nasser
• October 31 - Algerian War of Independence: The Algerian National Liberation Front begins a revolt against French rule.

November-December

• November - The main immigration port-of-entry in New York Harbor at Ellis Island closes.
• November 1 - The FLN attacks Representative and public buildings of the France colonial power.
• November 2 - Dock workers' strike in England ends
• November 3 - The first in the Godzilla series of films is released in Japan.
• November 10 - US President Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicates the USMC War Memorial (Iwo Jima memorial) in Arlington National Cemetery
• November 13 - Don Estes invents the disrupter (a part to help combines work)
• November 14 - Egyptian president Mohammed Naguib is deposed - Gamal Abdel Nasser replaces him
• November 14 - Leonard Bernstein makes his first appearance on television, lecturing on the first movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. It is the first of many television music lectures by Mr. Bernstein.
• November 23 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at an all-time high of 382.74. More significantly, this is the first time the Dow has surpassed its 1929 peak level reached just before that year's crash.
• November 30 - In Sylacauga, Alabama, a 4 kg meteorite crashes through the roof of a house and hits Ann Hodges, badly bruising her, in the first documented case of an object from outer space hitting a person.
• December 2 - Red Scare: The United States Senate votes 67 to 22 to condemn Joseph McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute."
• December 24 - Laos becomes independent.

unknown dates

• The first organ transplants are done in Boston and Paris.
• The Boy Scouts of America desegregates on the basis of race.
• Stop signs are changed from black-on-yellow to white-on-red
• Gerbils (Meriones Unguiculatus), brought to the United States by Dr. Victor Schwentker.
• Unification Church founded.
• Case of Lothar Malskat, who had admitted that he had painted the frescoes in Marienkirche himself, goes into trial
• The TV Dinner is introduced by American, Gerry Thomas.
• Foundation of Université de Sherbrooke
• The first complete recordings of all three of Tchaikovsky's ballets, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker are released on LP by Mercury Records, with Antal Dorati conducting the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra.

Births

January

• January 2 - Henry Bonilla, American politician
• January 3 - Jim Ross, WWE Commentator
• January 4 - Dave "The Devilfish" Ulliott, English professional poker player
• January 6 - Anthony Minghella, British film director
• January 12 - Howard Stern, American radio host
• January 14 - Tom Cheney, American cartoonist
• January 17 - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., son of Robert F Kennedy
• January 22 - Peter Pilz, Austrian politician
• January 23 - Franco De Vita, Venezuelan singer and songwriter
• January 29 - Oprah Winfrey, American actress, talk show hostess, producer, and publisher
• January 29 - Yukinobu Hoshino, Japanese cartoonist

February

• February 1 - Bill Mumy, American actor and musician
• February 2 - Christie Brinkley, American model
• February 12 - Philip Zimmermann, American cryptographer
• February 13 - Donnie Moore, baseball player (d. 1989)
• February 15 - Matt Groening, American cartoonist
• February 18 - John Travolta, American actor
• February 19 - Socrates, Brazilian footballer
• February 20 - Anthony Stewart Head, English actor
• February 20 - Patty Hearst, American heiress and kidnapping victim
• February 23 - Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine
• February 25 - John Doe, American musician

March-April

• March 1 - Ron Howard, American actor, director, producer
• March 4 - Catherine O'Hara, Canadian actress
• March 8 - David Wilkie, Scottish swimmer
• March 9 - Bobby Sands, Irish Republican, Long Kesh hunger striker
• March 13 - The Baroness Amos, British politician
• March 15 - Craig Wasson, American actor
• March 16 - Nancy Wilson, American singer, musician, and actress
• March 17 - Lesley-Anne Down, British actress
• March 24 - Robert Carradine, American actor
• March 26 - Kazuhiko Inoue, Japanese seiyu (voice actor)
• March 29 - Karen Ann Quinlan, American right-to-die cause célèbre (d. 1985)
• April 7 - Jackie Chan, Hong Kong-born actor
• April 7 - Tony Dorsett, American football player
• April 8 - John Schneider, American actor ("Dukes of Hazzard")
• April 9 - Dennis Quaid, American actor
• April 10 - Anacani, Mexican-born American singer The Lawrence Welk Show
• April 10 - Peter MacNicol, American actor
• April 15 - Seka, American actress
• April 16 - Ellen Barkin, American Actress
• April 17 - Riccardo Patrese, Italian race car driver
• April 18 - Rick Moranis, Canadian actor and comedian
• April 28 - Robert Sargent Shriver III, son of Eunice Kennedy Shriver
• April 29 - Jerry Seinfeld, American comedian

May-June

• May 1 - Archie Norman, British politician and businessman
• May 5 - Dave Spector, American television personality and commentator
• May 7 - Philippe Geluck, Belgian cartoonist
• May 7 - Amy Heckerling, American film director
• May 8 - David Keith, American actor
• May 19 - Phil Rudd, Australian drummer (AC/DC)
• June 9 - John Hagelin, American physicist and U.S. Presidential candidate
• June 9 - Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party of Canada
• June 15 - James Belushi, American actor
• June 20 - Michael Anthony, American Bassist and Founding member of the hard rock group Van Halen
• June 20 - Ilan Ramon, Israeli Air Force, Israel first astronaut (d. 2003)
• June 22 - Freddie Prinze, American actor and comedian (d. 1977)
• June 26 - Steve Barton, American actor (d. 2001)
• June 27 - Ron Kirk, Mayor of Dallas, Texas
• June 28 - Ava Barber, country singer The Lawrence Welk Show
• June 30 - Pierre Charles, Prime Minister of Dominica (d. 2004)

July-August

• July 5 - John Wright, New Zealand cricket captains
• July 10 - Neil Tennant, British musician
• July 13 - Sezen Aksu, Popular Turkish female singer
• July 16 - Jeanette Mott Oxford, American politician
• July 17 - Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
• July 25 - Walter Payton, American football player (d. 1999)
• July 27 - Philippe Alliot, French Formula One driver
• August 1 - Michael J. Badnarik, software engineer and U.S. Presidential candidate
• August 2 - Sammy McIlroy, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
• August 4 - Uwe Wittwer, Swiss artist
• August 11 - Joe Jackson, British singer
• August 12 - Sam J. Jones, American actor
• August 13 - Nico Assumpção, Brazilian bass player
• August 14 - Mark Fidrych, baseball player
• August 15 - Mary Jo Salter, American poet
• August 16 - James Cameron, Canadian-born film director
• August 20 - Al Roker, American television broadcaster
• August 21 - Ivan Stang, American author and publisher
• August 23 - Charles Busch, American director, writer, actor and drag queen
• August 25 - Elvis Costello, British singer
• August 26 - Pauline Hanson, Australian politician

September-October

• September 13 - Steve Kilbey, Australian musician
• September 17 - Joël-François Durand, French composer
• September 21 - Shinzo Abe, Japanese politician
• September 23 - Charlie Barnett, American actor (d. 1996)
• September 26 - Kevin Kennedy, baseball manager and television host
• September 30 - Barry Williams, American actor
• October 1 - Martin Strel, Slovenian swimmer
• October 3 - Dennis Eckersley, Major League Baseball player
• October 3 - Stevie Ray Vaughan, American musician (d. 1990)
• October 3 - Al Sharpton, American politician and minister
• October 9 - Scott Bakula, American television actor
• October 10 - David Lee Roth, American singer
• October 13 - Mordechai Vanunu, Israeli nuclear technician
• October 15 - Peter Bakowski, Australian poet
• October 23 - Ang Lee, Taiwanese film director
• October 24 - Mike Rounds, Governor of South Dakota

November-December

• November 2 - Pat Croce, American entrepreneur
• November 3 - Brigitte Lin, Actress
• November 3 - Adam Ant, English singer
• November 3 - Kathy Kinney, American actress and comedienne
• November 6 - Catherine Crier, American television journalist
• November 7 - Kamal Haasan, Indian actor
• November 8 - Michael D. Brown, U.S. Undersecretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response
• November 8 - Kazuo Ishiguro, Japanese-born British author
• November 13 - Chris Noth, American actor
• November 14 - Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Secretary of State
• November 14 - Yanni, Greek musician
• November 14 - Willie Hernández, Puerto Rican Major League Baseball player
• November 15 - Aleksander Kwaśniewski, President of Poland
• November 16 - Andrea Barrett, American author
• November 16 - Bruce Edwards, golf caddy (d. 2004)
• November 23 - Bruce Hornsby, American singer
• November 27 - Patricia McPherson, American actress
• December 1 - Bob Goen, American television personality and game show host
• December 2 - Dan Butler, American actor
• December 2 - Stone Phillips, American television journalist
• December 7 - Mark Hofmann, American forger and murderer
• December 11 - Jermaine Jackson, American singer
• December 14 - Ib Andersen, Danish dancer
• December 14 - Alan Kulwicki, American race car driver (d. 1993)
• December 20 - Michael Badalucco, American actor
• December 21 - Chris Evert, American tennis player
• December 24 - José María Figueres, Costa Rican politician, President 1994-1998
• December 25 - Annie Lennox, British singer
• December 26 - Susan Butcher, American dog-sled racer
• December 28 - Denzel Washington, American actor

Unknown dates

• Nenad Prokic, Serbian playwright
• Sid Meier, American computer game designer

Deaths

January-June

• January 18 - Sydney Greenstreet, English actor (b. 1879)
• January 31 - Edwin Armstrong, Electrical Engineer (b. 1890)
• February 12 - Dziga Vertov, Russian filmmaker (b. 1896)
• March 7 - Otto Diels, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
• May 6 - B.C. Forbes, Scottish-born publisher (b. 1880)
• May 19 - Charles Ives, American composer (b. 1874)
• May 25 - Robert Capa, Hungarian-born photojournalist (b. 1913)
• April 10 - Auguste Lumière, French inventor (b. 1862)
• April 28 - Léon Jouhaux, French labor leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1879)
• June 7 - Alan Turing, British mathematician (b. 1912)

July-December

• July 11 - Henry Valentine Knaggs, English physician and author (b. 1859)
• July 13 - Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter (b. 1907)
• July 13 - Grantland Rice, American sportswriter (b. 1880)
• July 14 - Jacinto Benavente, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1866)
• July 29 - Coen de Koning, Dutch speed skater (b. 1879)
• August 24 - Getúlio Vargas, President of Brazil (b. 1882)
• September 21 - Kokichi Mikimoto, Japanese pearl farm pioneer (b. 1858)
• November 3 - Henri Matisse, French painter (b. 1869)
• November 16 - Albert Francis Blakeslee, American botanist (b. 1874)
• November 28 - Enrico Fermi, Italian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
• November 29 - Dink Johnson, American musician (b. 1892)
• November 30 - Wilhelm Furtwängler, German conductor (b. 1886)
• December 8 - Claude Cahun, French photographer and writer (b. 1894)
• December 23 - René Iché, French sculptor (b. 1897)
• December 30 - Archduke Eugen of Austria, Austrian field marshal (b. 1863)

Nobel prizes

• Physics - Max Born, Walther Bothe
• Chemistry - Linus Carl Pauling
• Medicine - John Franklin Enders, Thomas Huckle Weller, Frederick Chapman Robbins
• Literature - Ernest Hemingway
• Peace - The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Ship events

• List of ship commissionings in 1954
• List of ship decommissionings in 1954

Fields Medalists

• Kunihiko Kodaira, Jean-Pierre Serre