The Year 1954 From The People History

1954 following more wives moving back into the workforce the economy continued to grow and consumer goods and television programmes included the popular "Father Knows Best" Marlin Brando starred in two of the most popular movies " On The Waterfront" and "The Wild One" The Movie " Blackboard Jungle" also featured the song " Rock Around The Clock" from Bill Haley and the Comets, and Elvis Presley cut his first commercial record. A new trend also started called DIY Do It Yourself projects as families wanted to improve their homes and do their own maintenance . car engines continued to get bigger and more powerful and gas cost 29 cents. Following the discovery of a vaccine against Polio, the first mass vaccination of children against begins.

What Events Happened in 1954

• First sub 4 minute mile run by Roger Bannister

• Hydrogen bomb test conducted on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

• Sports Illustrated first issue

• Armistice Day is renamed Veteran’s Day to honor vets from the Civil War, WWI and WWII, and the Korean conflict

• Segregation Brown v Board of Education makes segregation in US Public Schools Unconstitutional

• Rosa Parks arrest in Montgomery Alabama sets the American Civil Rights Movement in Motion

• President Eisenhower signs into law the new social security bill funded by employers and employees.

• President Dwight D. Eisenhower performs the dedication ceremony forthe Iwo Jima statue at the USMC War Memorial

• James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick announce discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA

• Senator Joseph R McCarthy continues his witch hunt for communist sympathizers in the US

• US "Operation Wetback" is started on 17th July to send back to Mexico almost 4 million illegal immigrants

• President Dwight D. Eisenhower coins the Cold War phrase " Domino Effect" on the spread of Communism

• President Eisenhower signed the Communist Control Act outlawing Communist Party in the US

• America does a large scale nationwide civil defense drill simulating Over 12 million Americans die in a mock nuclear attack.

• Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at an all-time high of 382.74

• The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) backed Castillo Armas takes over as leader of Guatemala

• The Indo-China war ends when France gives up North Vietnam to the Communists

• Earthquake strikes strikes Orleansville, Algeria killing 1,600

• The words "under God" are added to the United States Pledge of Allegiance .

• Ellis Island in New York closes

• Nash and Hudson merged to form the American Motors Corporation ( AMC ) The Nash Metropolitan built by the Austin Motor Company (by then part of British Motor Corporation ) went on sale for $1,445

• 10,000 Mau Mau Rebels Rounded Up in Kenya By British Forces

• Desert Locust Swarm Morocco destroying $14 million dollars of Citrus Fruits in 6 weeks

• BBC Television screens its famous, and controversial, adaptation of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.

• Rationing finally ends in Great Britain

• Three Hurricanes strike US in one year including Hurricane Hazel on October 14th one of the worst hurricanes of the 20th century

• Hurricane Carol strikes New England killing 70

• West Germany wins the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland defeating Hungary

Popular Culture

• Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and the Comets



• Marilyn Monroe marries Joe DeMaggio



• Elvis Presley begins his music career

Popular Films

• White Christmas
• The Caine Mutiny
• The Glenn Miller Story
• On the Waterfront
• Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Popular Books

• Live and Let Die - Ian Fleming
• Lord of the Flies - William Golding
• The Lord of the Rings : The Fellowship of the Ring - J. R. R. Tolkien
• The Lord of the Rings : The Two Towers - J. R. R. Tolkien
• The Magicians - J.B. Priestley

What do you remember ? was this the year you graduated ?, what music was being played the year you were born?

Technology 1954

• First Nuclear Powered Submarine commissioned by US Navy Nautilus

• The world's first atomic power station opened at Obninsk, near Moscow.

• Mercedes introduced the 300SL coupe, with its gull-wing doors

• Boeing 707 ( America's First Jet Airliner ) takes it's Maiden Flight

• The first automatic toll collection machine in New Jersey

• The rosebowl parade is broadcast in color on TV

• Swanson introduces TV Dinners

• General Motors produces it's 50 millionth car



• The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins



• The first organ transplants are done in Boston and Paris.



• The First all Electronic Color television goes on sale from RCA the CT-100 selling for $1,000

Inventions Invented by Inventors and Country ( or attributed to First Use )
Solar Cell USA also called photo voltaic cells
Robot USA by George C Devol Jr

Major World Political Leaders 1954

Australia Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies

Brazil President Getúlio Vargas Till 24 August
Brazil President Café Filho From 24 August

Canada Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent

China Chairman of the People's Republic of China Mao Zedong

France President Vincent Auriol Till 16 January
France President René Coty From 16 January

Germany Chancellor Konrad Adenauer

India Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru

Italy Prime Minister Giuseppe Pella Till 12 January
Italy Prime Minister Amintore Fanfani From 18 January
Italy Prime Minister Amintore Fanfani Till 8 February
Italy Prime Minister Mario Scelba From 10 February

Japan Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida Till 10 December
Japan Prime Minister Ichiro Hatoyama From 10 December

Mexico President Adolfo Ruiz Cortines

Russia / Soviet Union
First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev

South Africa Prime Minister Daniel François Malan Till 30 November
South Africa Prime Minister Johannes Gerhardus Strijdom From 30 November

United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower

United Kingdom Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill



The Information above is taken from our new page that gives world leaders from 1920 to current.
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