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1954

Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s - 1950s - 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s

Years: 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 - 1954 - 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959

Events

January 14 - The Hudson Motor Car Company[?] merges with Nash-Kelvinator[?] forming the American Motors Corporation[?]
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.
February 10 - President Dwight Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam
February 23 - The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
February 25 - Gamal Abdul Nasser is made premier of Egypt.
March 1 - Nuclear testing: Officials announce that an American hydrogen bomb test had been conducted on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
March 1 - Puerto Rican nationalists attack the United States Capitol building, injuring five Representatives.
March 4 - Peter Bent Brigham Hospital[?] in Boston announces the first successful kidney transplant.
March 9 - McCarthyism: CBS broadcasts the See It Now[?] episode, "A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy," produced by Edward R. Murrow.
March 13 - Battle of Dien Bien Phu: Viet Minh forces attack French
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 gold market reopens (it was closed in 1939).
April 1 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.
April 7 - Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his"domino theory[?]" speech during a news conference.
April 22 - Senator Joseph McCarthy begins hearings investigating the United States Army for being "soft" on Communism.
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 17 - US Supreme Court hands down decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka 347 US 483 1954
May 20 - Chiang Kai-shek becomes president of Nationalist China
July 28 - Foundation of the Situationist International
December 24 - Laos becomes independent

First flight of a B-52 Stratofortress
Battle of Dien Bien Phu between French and Viet Minh forces in Indochina
Boy Scouts of America desegregates on the basis of race

Art, Culture & Fashion

1954 in film
- On the Waterfront
- Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
- Sabrina starring Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn and William Holden
- Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, starring Jimmy Stewart
1954 in literature
1954 in music
- "Mr. Sandman" - Chordettes[?]
- "That's All Right" - Elvis Presley
1954 in sports
1954 in television
- January 1 - NBC broadcasts the Rose Parade[?] in color on 21 stations.
- September - The Tonight Show begins airing on the NBC network.

Births

January 6 - Anthony Minghella[?], director
January 12 - Howard Stern, "shock-jock" radio host
January 29 - Oprah Winfrey, actress, talk show host, producer, publisher
February 1 - Bill Mumy, actor, musician
February 2 - Christie Brinkley[?], model
February 6 - Argusto Emfazie, occultist, author
February 12 - Philip Zimmermann, American cryptographer
February 15 - Matt Groening, cartoonist
February 18 - John Travolta, actor
February 19 - Socrates, football player
February 20 - Patty Hearst, socialite
February 20 - Anthony Stewart Head, actor
February 25 - John Doe[?], musician
February 26 - Michael Bolton[?], singer
March 1 - Ron Howard, actor, director, producer
March 16 - Nancy Wilson[?], guitarist, singer, actress
March 17 - Lesley-Anne Down[?], actress
April 7 - Jackie Chan, actor
April 7 - Tony Dorsett[?], American football star
April 17 - Riccardo Patrese, Italian racing driver
May 7 - Amy Heckerling[?], director
May 8 - David Keith[?], actor
June 22 - Freddie Prinze, actor/comedian
August 11 - Joe Jackson, British singer
October 1 - Martin Strel, Slovene ultra marathon swimmer
October 9 - Scott Bakula, American television actor

Deaths

January 18 - Sydney Greenstreet, actor
February 12 - Dziga Vertov, filmmaker
May 19 - Charles Ives, American composer
July 13 - Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter
July 29 - Coen de Koning, Dutch speed skater
September 21 - Kokichi Mikimoto, pearl farm pioneer
November 3 - Henri Matisse, painter
November 29 - Enrico Fermi, physicist
November 30 - Wilhelm Furtwängler, conductor

Nobel Prizes

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

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