The Year 1954

MAJOR EVENTS:
  • Supreme Court rules that race-based segregation in schools is unconstitutional
  • Sen. Joseph McCarthy conducts nationally televised inquiries into communist infiltration of the Army; his activities inspire a backlash and a condemnation by the Senate
  • Soviet Union rejects proposals to reunify Germany
  • CIA intervenes in Guatemala, helping to overthrow government
  • U.S. Southeast Asian and Pacific nations form the Southeast Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO)
  • Radical Puerto Rican nationalists attack House of Representatives, shooting five congressmen
  • U.S. and Canada begin construction of an early-warning radar system in northern Canada
  • U.S. Navy launches first nuclear-powered submarine, the Nautilus
  • Communist troops force the French out of Vietnam (their colony for 87 years
  • Historic Supreme Court decision: Separate but equal facilities are inherently unequal (Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas)

    • BUSINESS & ECONOMY:
  • New York Stock Exchange prices reach their highest level since 1929
  • The number of millionaires is reported to be 154
  • A gallop poll shows that a family of four can live on $60 a week

    • SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY:
  • Increasing global concern about nuclear fallout and radioactive waste disposal
  • Dr. Jonas Salk begins inoculating schoolchildren with his polio vaccine
  • Physicist and nuclear pioneer J. Robert Oppenheimer dismissed from government projects due to his political beliefs
  • First successful kidney transplant
  • The silicon transistor is developed by texas Instruments
  • The Tobacco Industry research Committee issues a report stating there is no proof...that cigarette smoking is a cause of lung cancer

    • SPORTS:
  • World Series: New York Giants over Cleveland, 4-0
  • Philadelphia Athletics move to Kansas City
  • Sports Illustrated debuts
  • Roger Bannister breaks the 4-minute mile barrier in track

    • ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT:
  • Movies: On the Waterfront, Rear Window, The Seven Samauri
  • Songs: Hernando's Hideaway, Three Coins in a Fountain, Mister Sandman, Young at Heart
  • TV Shows: Jack Benny Show, Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, George Gobel Show, Mr. Wizard, Disneyland, Caesar's Hour, Father Knows Best, Lassie, Tonight Show (Steve Allen)
  • Books: A Stillness at Appomattox, Bruce Catton; The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien; Lord of the Flies, William Golding
  • First annual Newport Jazz Festival held
  • Elvis releases first commercial recording, That's All Right and Blue Moon of Kentucky on Sun Records
  • The Miss America Pageant is first televised (Lee Ann Merriwether, 19, is winner)
  • Best Picture: On the Waterfront starring Marlon Brando
  • Best Actor: Marlon Brandon in On the Waterfront
  • Best Actress: Grace Kelly in The Country Girl

    EVERYDAY LIFE:
  • 29 million U.S. households have television sets, double the number in service three years before
  • Billy Graham leads an increasing interest in Christian revival meetings
  • Davy Crockett becomes a national fad; sales of "coonskin" caps soar
  • New Products: Swanson frozen TV dinners; Matchbox miniature cars; and, Con-tact paper

    • FUN FACTS:
  • Sales of comic books reach 20 million copies a month
  • The phrase "under God" added to the Pledge of Allegiance