1954 - Definition and Overview

Events

January events

• January 14 - The Hudson Motor Car Company merges with Nash-Kelvinator forming the American Motors Corporation
• January 14 - Marilyn Monroe weds Joe DiMaggio.
• January 15 - Mau Mau leader Waruhiu Itote is captured in Kenya
• 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 Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
• January 25 - The foreign ministers of the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union meet at the Berlin Conference.

February events

• 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 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 events

• March 1 - Nuclear testing: Officials announce that an American hydrogen bomb test had been conducted on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
• March 8 - PR Newswire founded in New York by Herb Muschel.
• 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).
• March 23 - Vietminh capture the main airstrip of Dien Bien Phu - French forces are partially isolated
• 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 events

• 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 14 – Aneurin Bevan resigns from the Labour shadow cabinet
• April 22 - Senator Joseph McCarthy begins hearings investigating the United States Army for being "soft" on Communism.

May events

• 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 17 - US Supreme Court hands down its decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas 347 US 483 1954
• May 20 - Chiang Kai-shek is reelected president of the Republic of China by the National Assembly.

June events

• 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 15 - UEFA (the Union des Associations Européennes de Football) is formed in Basle, Switzerland.
• June 18 - Pierre Mendes-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 Obnisnsk, near Moscow.

July events

• July 3 - End of rationing of meat ends all the food rationing in Britain
• July 7 - In Memphis, Tennessee, WHBQ becomes the first radio station to air an Elvis Presley record
• 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.

August events

• August - First flight of a B-52 Stratofortress.
• August 6 - Emilie Dionne, one of the Dionne Quintuplets, dies of asphyxiation following a 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 events

• 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 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 30 - USS Nautilus, 1st atomic-powered vessel (submarine), commissioned by the US Navy

October events

• October 11 - Vietnam War: The Viet Minh takes control of North Vietnam.
• October 18 - Texas Instruments announces the worldwide first Transistor radio.
• 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 events

• November - The main immigration port-of-entry in New York Harbor at Ellis Island closes.
• 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 30 - In Sylacauga, Alabama, a 4 kg sulfide meteorite crashes through a roof and hits Ann Hodges in her living room after bouncing off her radio, giving her a bad bruise (this is the first known modern case of a human being hit by a space rock).

December events

• 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.

Undated

• Battle of Dien Bien Phu between French and Viet Minh forces in Indochina
• 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.

Births

January births

• January 2 - Henry Bonilla, American politician
• January 6 - Anthony Minghella, director
• January 12 - Howard Stern, "shock-jock" radio host
• January 22 - Peter Pilz, Austrian politician
• January 29 - Oprah Winfrey, actress, talk show host, producer, publisher
• January 29 - Yukinobu Hoshino, Japanese mangaka

February births

• 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 - Anthony Stewart Head, actor
• February 20 - Patty Hearst, socialite
• February 25 - John Doe, musician
• February 26 - Michael Bolton, singer

March births

• March 1 - Ron Howard, actor, director, producer
• March 4 - Catherine O'Hara, actress
• March 13 - The Baroness Amos, British politician, first black woman in the UK Cabinet
• March 16 - Nancy Wilson (guitarist), band founder, singer, actress
• March 17 - Lesley-Anne Down, actress
• March 24 - Robert Carradine, actor

April births

• April 7 - Jackie Chan, actor
• April 7 - Tony Dorsett, American football star
• April 9 - Dennis Quaid, actor
• April 10 - Peter MacNicol, actor
• April 17 - Riccardo Patrese, Italian racing driver
• April 18 - Rick Moranis, actor, comedian
• April 29 - Jerry Seinfeld, comedian

May births

• May 7 - Amy Heckerling, director
• May 8 - David Keith, actor

June births

• June 9 - John Hagelin, physicist and United States Natural Law Party Presidential candidate.
• June 22 - Freddie Prinze, actor/comedian (d. 1977)
• June 26 - Steve Barton, actor
• June 27 - Ron Kirk, former mayor of Dallas, Texas

July births

• July 10 - Neil Tennant, British musician

August births

• August 1 - Michael J. Badnarik, Software engineer and United States Libertarian Party Presidential candidate.
• August 11 - Joe Jackson, British singer
• August 14 - Mark Fidrych, baseball pitcher
• August 16 - James Cameron, film director
• August 20 - Al Roker, television broadcaster
• August 25 - Elvis Costello, singer
• August 26 - Pauline Hanson, politician

September births

• September 13 - Steve Kilbey, Australian musician
• September 23 - Cherie Booth QC, wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair
• September 26 - Kevin Kennedy, baseball manager, television host
• September 30 - Barry Williams, actor

October births

• October 1 - Martin Strel, Slovene ultra marathon swimmer
• October 3 - Dennis Eckersley, baseball pitcher
• October 9 - Scott Bakula, American television actor

November births

• November 14 - Condoleezza Rice, US National Security Advisor (2001-present)
• November 15 - Aleksander Kwasniewski, President of Poland

December births

• December 2 - Dan Butler, actor
  • December 14-* Ib Andersen, dancer
• December 14 - Alan Kulwicki, NASCAR driver (d. 1993)
• December 20 - Michael Badalucco, actor (The Practice)
• December 26 - Susan Butcher, American dog-sled racing champion

Deaths

January deaths

• January 18 - Sydney Greenstreet, actor

February deaths

• February 12 - Dziga Vertov, filmmaker

May deaths

• May 6 - B.C. Forbes, financial publisher
• May 19 - Charles Ives, American composer

June deaths

• June 7 - Alan Turing, mathematician

July deaths

• July 11 - Henry Valentine Knaggs, physician and author
• July 13 - Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter
• July 29 - Coen de Koning, Dutch speed skater

August deaths

• August 24 - Getúlio Vargas, Brazilian president

September deaths

• September 21 - Kokichi Mikimoto, pearl farm pioneer

October deaths

November deaths

• November 3 - Henri Matisse, painter
• November 29 - Enrico Fermi, physicist
• November 29 - Dink Johnson, jazz musician (b. 1892)
• November 30 - Wilhelm Furtwängler, conductor

December deaths

• December 8 - Claude Cahun, surrealist photographer and writer

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.

Heads of state in 1954

• President Dwight Eisenhower - United States
• Lt. Col. Gamal Abdel Nasser - Egypt
• Chiang Kai-shek - China
• President Getúlio Vargas - Brazil
• Prime Minister Louis Saint-Laurent - Canada