Historical Events in 1954

Events 1 - 200 of 563

• Jan 1 KSLA TV channel 12 in Shreveport, LA (CBS) begins broadcasting
• Jan 1 Rose & Cotton Bowl are 1st sport colorcasts
• Jan 1 WWTV TV channel 9 in Cadillac-Traverse City, MI (CBS) 1st broadcast
• Jan 1 Yugoslav parliament chairman/VP Milovan Djilas criticize communism
• Jan 1 40th Rose Bowl: #3 Michigan State beats #5 UCLA, 28-20
• Jan 1 20th Sugar Bowl: #8 Georgia Tech beats #10 West Virginia, 42-19
• Jan 1 20th Orange Bowl: #4 Oklahoma beats #1 Maryland, 7-0
• Jan 2 Herman Wouks "Caine Mutiny," premieres in NYC

• Jan 4 Soap Opera "The Brighter Day" premieres
• Jan 7 Georgetown-IBM experiment, 1st public demonstration of a machine translation system, is held at IBM's head office in New York
• Jan 8 Elvis Presley pays $4 to a Memphis studio & records his 1st two songs, "Casual Love" & "I'll Never Stand in Your Way"
• Jan 9 -87°F (-66°C), Northice Station, Greenland (Greenland record)
• Jan 9 Bert Olmstead of the Montreal Canadiens, ties NHL record of 8 points in game
• Jan 9 Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to Louise Bogan & Leonie Adams
• Jan 10 Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to W H Auden


• Jan 10 A Comet jet airliner crashes in the Mediterranea; 35 people are missing
• Jan 11 2 ton locomotive swept into ravine by avalanche 10 die (Austria)
• Jan 12 Austria's worst avalanche-kills 200; 9hrs later 2nd one-kills 115

• Jan 13 Military rule in Egypt; 318 Muslim Brotherhood members arrested
• Jan 13 WEAR TV channel 3 in Pensacola-Mobile, FL (ABC) begins broadcasting
• Jan 14 Sandy Wilson's musical "Boyfriend" premieres in London
• Jan 14 The Hudson Motor Car Company merges with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation forming the American Motors Corporation.
• Jan 16 "South Pacific" closes at Majestic Theater NYC after 1928 performances

• Jan 17 4th NFL Pro Bowl, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum: Eastern Conference beats Western Conference, 20-9; MVP: Chuck Bednarik, Philadelphia Eagles, LB
• Jan 18 Amintore Fanfani forms Italian government
• Jan 20 -70°F (-57°C), Rogers Pass, Montana (US 48 state record)

• Jan 20 The National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations.
• Jan 21 1st gas turbine automobile exhibited (NYC)
• Jan 21 USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, launched on the Thames River in Connecticut

• Jan 21 First time in All-Star history, an overtime period is needed to decide a winner; Boston Celtics' guard Bob Cousy's 10-point OT scoring burst gave the East a 98-93 win; Cousy wins All-Star MVP honours

• Jan 23 Harry van Thorn chosen chairman of Dutch KVP
• Jan 23 Equal longest undefeated streak in Toronto Maple Leaf history ends - 18 games, 16 wins, 2 ties
• Jan 24 BPAA All-Star Tournament won by Don Carter
• Jan 26 Groundbreaking begins on Disneyland

• Jan 28 1954 NFL Draft: Bobby Garrett from University of Stanford first pick by Cleveland Browns

• Jan 30 Belgium ends trade agreement with USSR
• Jan 30 Fanfani government of Italy resigns
• Feb 1 1st TV soap opera "Secret Storm" premieres
• Feb 1 Scapino Ballet Studio in Amsterdam destroyed by fire
• Feb 1 Dutch soccer club De Graafschap "The County" forms in Doetinchem, Netherlands
• Feb 1 Australian Championships Women's Tennis: In an all-Australian final Thelma Coyne Long beats Jenny Staley 6-3, 6-4 for the 2nd of her 2 Australian singles titles
• Feb 1 Australian Championships Men's Tennis: Mervyn Rose wins his first Grand Slam title; beats fellow Australian Rex Hartwig 6-2, 0-6, 6-4, 6-2
• Feb 2 Bevo Francis, Rio Grande College, scores 113 pts in basketball game

• Feb 2 Snow falls on Gibraltar

• Feb 3 Jeen van den Berg wins Dutch Eleven Cities Skating race (7:32)
• Feb 5 WCDC TV channel 19 in Adams, MA (ABC) begins broadcasting
• Feb 9 Mario Scelba forms new government in Italy
• Feb 10 Eisenhower warns against US intervention in Vietnam
• Feb 10 Ice Dance Championship at Oslo won by Jean Westwood/Lawrence Demmy GRB
• Feb 10 Ice Pairs Championship at Oslo won by Frances Dafoe and Norris Bowden of Canada
• Feb 10 Ladies' Figure Skating Championship in Oslo won by Gundi Busch GER
• Feb 10 Men's Figure Skating Championship in Oslo won by Hayes Alan Jenkins US
• Feb 11 6th Emmy Awards: I Love Lucy, Donald O'Connor & Eve Arden win
• Feb 12 The UK government establishes an organisation to control atomic energy in the country under The Atomic Energy Authority Bill
• Feb 13 Frank Selvey scores 100 points for Furman beating Newberry 149-95

• Feb 14 WTOC TV channel 11 in Savannah, GA (CBS) begins broadcasting
• Feb 15 1st Bevatron particle accelerator in operation at Berkeley, California
• Feb 15 WRDW TV channel 12 in Augusta, GA (CBS) begins broadcasting
• Feb 16 WNEM TV channel 5 in Bay City, MI (NBC) begins broadcasting
• Feb 17 WAST (now WNYT) TV channel 13 in Albany-Troy, NY (NBC) 1st broadcast
• Feb 18 The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles, California
• Feb 20 General Zahedi wins election in Persia

• Feb 23 Syrian army drives out president Adib el-Shishakli
• Feb 25 Abdul Nasser appointed Egyptian premier
• Feb 26 1st typesetting machine (photo engraving) used, Quincy Mass
• Feb 26 Michigan rep Ruth Thompson (R) introduces legislation to ban mailing "obscene, lewd, lascivious or filthy" phonograph (rock & roll) records
• Feb 28 Patty Berg and Pete Cooper wins LPGA Orlando Mixed Golf Tournament
• Feb 28 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Bikini Island
• Mar 1 4 Puerto Ricans open fire in US House of Representatives injuring 5 members

• Mar 1 Rebellion in Egypt during visit of president Naguib to Khartoum, Sudan, 30 die
• Mar 1 US explodes Castle Bravo, 15 megaton hydrogen bomb at Bikini Atoll, the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated by the US
• Mar 4 James E. Wilkins appointed 1st black US sub-cabinet member
• Mar 4 Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, announces the first successful kidney transplant.
• Mar 5 "Girl in Pink Tights" opens at Mark Hellinger NYC for 115 performances
• Mar 6 1st ACC Men's Basketball Tournament: NC State beats Wake Forest, 82-80 (OT)
• Mar 7 Russia wins title in their 1st international ice hockey competition
• Mar 8 Herb McKinley sets quarter mile record of 0:46.8 in Melbourne, Australia
• Mar 9 1st local color TV commercial WNBT-TV (WNBC-TV) NYC (Castro Decorators)

• Mar 9 WMUR TV channel 9 in Manchester, NH (ABC) begins broadcasting
• Mar 11 US Army charges Senator Joseph McCarthy used undue pressure tactics
• Mar 12 1st performance of Arnold Schoenberg's "Moses und Aaron"
• Mar 13 Braves' Bobby Thomson breaks his ankle, he is replaced by Hank Aaron
• Mar 13 Viet Minh General Giap opens assault on That Bien Phu
• Mar 14 Braves Henry Aaron homers in his 1st exhibition game
• Mar 14 KDAL (now KDLH) TV channel 3 in Duluth-Superior, MN (CBS) begins
• Mar 14 Louise Suggs wins LPGA Titleholders Golf Championship
• Mar 14 NBA Baltimore Bullets end a 32 game road losing streak

• Mar 15 WSJV TV channel 28 in Elkhart-South Bend, IN (ABC) begins broadcasting
• Mar 19 1st color telecast of a prize fight, Giardello vs Troy in Madison Square Garden, NYC
• Mar 19 1st rocket-driven sled on rails tested in Alamogordo, NM
• Mar 19 US Ladies' Figure Skating championship won by Tenley Albright
• Mar 19 US Men's Figure Skating championship won by Hayes A Jenkins
• Mar 19 Weekes, Worrell & Walcott complete centuries in innings for the West Indies v England
• Mar 20 "King & I" closes at St James Theater NYC after 1246 performances
• Mar 20 16th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: La Salle beats Bradley 92-76
• Mar 20 1st newspaper vending machine used (Columbia Pennsylvania)


• Mar 21 KFBB TV channel 5 in Great Falls, MT (ABC/CBS/NBC) begins broadcasting
• Mar 22 Northland Center, the world's largest shopping mall of the time, opens in Oakpark, Michigan
• Mar 22 Closed since 1939, the London bullion market reopens
• Mar 25 26th Academy Awards: "From Here to Eternity" best film, William Holden & Audrey Hepburn best actor, actress
• Mar 25 Pope Pius XII encyclical "Sacra virginitas" (On consecrated virginity)
• Mar 25 RCA manufactures 1st color TV set (12½" screen at $1,000)
• Mar 26 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Bikini Island
• Mar 28 8th Tony Awards: Teahouse of the August Moon & Kismet win
• Mar 28 WKAQ TV channel 2 in San Juan, PR (TM) begins broadcasting
• Mar 30 Test Cricket debut of Garry Sobers v England at Kingston
• Mar 31 USSR offers to join NATO
• Apr 1 US Air Force Academy established
• Apr 1 1st Dutch motorway, Amsterdam-Utrecht, opens
• Apr 1 1st US Army helicopter battalion forms, Fort Bragg, NC
• Apr 1 Earthquake/tsunami ravage Aleutians, 200 killed
• Apr 1 WQED TV channel 13 in Pittsburgh, PA (PBS) begins broadcasting
• Apr 2 Plans to build Disneyland 1st announced [see Jan 26]
• Apr 3 "Me & Juliet" closes at Majestic Theater NYC after 358 performances
• Apr 3 Don Perry climbs a 20' rope in under 2.8 seconds (AAU record)
• Apr 5 Elvis Presley records his debut single "That's All Right"
• Apr 6 Montreal Canadiens score 3 goals in 56 sec in playoff game against Det
• Apr 6 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Bikini Island
• Apr 7 German government refuses to recognize DDR
• Apr 7 US President Dwight D. Eisenhower in news conference is first to voice fear of a "domino-effect" of communism in Indo-China
• Apr 7 WALB TV channel 10 in Albany, GA (NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting
• Apr 8 "By the Beautiful Sea" opens at Majestic Theater NYC for 270 performances
• Apr 9 WECT TV channel 6 in Wilmington, NC (NBC/CBS) begins broadcasting
• Apr 9 7th Cannes Film Festival: "Gate of Hell" directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa wins the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film
• Apr 10 KRGV TV channel 5 in Weslaco, TX (ABC) begins broadcasting
• Apr 10 108th Grand National: Bryan Marshall wins aboard Royal Tan at 8/1; second consecutive GN victory for both Marshall and trainer Vincent O'Brien
• Apr 10 Wales beats Scotland, 15-3 at the St. Helen's Ground, Swansea to share Five Nations Rugby Championship with France and England; France's first title

• Apr 12 8th NBA Championship: Min Lakers beat Syracuse Nationals, 4 games to 3
• Apr 12 Belgian Van Houtte government resigns

• Apr 12 Joe Turner releases "Shake, Rattle & Roll"
• Apr 13 Baltimore Orioles 1st game, loses to Tigers in Detroit 3-0

• Apr 14 Soviet diplomat Vladimir Petrov asks for politics asylum in Canberra


• Apr 15 KARK TV channel 4 in Little Rock, AR (NBC) begins broadcasting
• Apr 15 Orioles 1st game in Baltimore beat White Sox 3-1
• Apr 15 WHO TV channel 13 in Des Moines, IA (NBC) begins broadcasting
• Apr 15 Yankees dedicate a plaque to Edward Barrow
• Apr 16 KVAL TV channel 13 in Eugene, OR (CBS) begins broadcasting
• Apr 16 Stanley Cup: Detroit Red Wings beat Montreal Canadiens, 4 games to 3
• Apr 18 Colonel Gamal Abdal Nasser seizes power & becomes Prime Minister of Egypt
• Apr 19 58th Boston Marathon won by Veikko Karvonen of Finland in 2:20:39
• Apr 19 7-time winner of Boston Marathon, 65-year-old Clarence Demar, runs his last race at Boston finishing 78th
• Apr 20 "Golden Apple" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 125 performances
• Apr 21 Gregori Malenkov becomes premier of USSR
• Apr 21 USAF flies French battalion to Vietnam
• Apr 22 Achiel van Acker forms Belgian government
• Apr 22 NBA adopts 24-second shot clock & 6 team-foul rule
• Apr 22 US Senate Army-McCarthy televised hearings begin
• Apr 22 USSR joins UNESCO
• Apr 23 Hammerin' Hank Aaron hits 1st of his 755 homers
• Apr 24 1st American, civilian pilot, P.R. Holden, wounded in Indochina
• Apr 24 Australia & USSR break diplomatic relations
• Apr 24 WSEE TV channel 35 in Erie, PA (CBS) begins broadcasting

• Apr 25 British raid Nairobi, Kenya (25,000 Mau Mau suspects arrested)
• Apr 25 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Bikini Island atmospher
• Apr 25 WDEF TV channel 12 in Chattanooga, TN (CBS) begins broadcasting
• Apr 26 Far Eastern Affairs conference opens in Geneva
• Apr 26 Nationwide test of Salk anti-polio vaccine begins

• Apr 30 Darius Milhauds 4th Concert for piano and orchestra premieres in Haifa
• May 1 80th Kentucky Derby: Raymond York wins aboard Determine, his only Derby success
• May 1 Bishops publish Mandement (member socialist org forbidden)
• May 1 HSA-UWC Forms (Unification Church) (Moonies)
• May 1 WAPA TV channel 4 in San Juan, PR (NBC/SFN) begins broadcasting
• May 1 Preston North End defender Joe Marston becomes the first Australian to play in an FA Cup Final, a 3-2 loss to WBA

• May 3 KTEN TV channel 10 in Ada-Ardmore, OK (ABC) begins broadcasting

• May 3 WHA TV channel 21 in Madison, WI (PBS) begins broadcasting
• May 4 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Bikini Island
• May 5 Military coup in Paraguay led by general Alfredo Stroessner

• May 7 French surrender to Vietminh after 55-day siege at Dien Bien Phu
• May 7 US, Great Britain & France reject Russian membership of NATO
• May 8 1st shot-put over 60' (18.29 m)-Parry O'Brien, Los Angeles, CA
• May 10 Bolshoi Ballet does not appear in Paris
• May 13 "Pajama Game" opens at St James Theater NYC for 1063 performances
• May 13 Labour Party wins British municipal elections
• May 13 Robin Roberts gives up a HR then retires next 27 men in a row
• May 13 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak
• May 13 Chinese Middle School students in Singapore take part in anti-National Service riots

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