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

• 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.