1953 in History

Events in History

Events 1 - 100 of 250

• Jan 1 Ernest Blochs "Suite Hebraique," premieres
• Jan 1 The Bantu Education Act (later renamed the Black Education Act) commenced, providing the legal underpinning of several aspects of the apartheid system, most importantly in education

• Jan 3 Frances Bolton and her son, Oliver from Ohio, become the first mother and son to serve simultaneously in the U.S. Congress.
• Jan 5 -6] Passenger ships Willem Ruys & Orange collide in the Red Sea

• Jan 6 The first Asian Socialist Conference opens in Burma

• Jan 8 Indians bar night games with Browns (who refuse to share TV receipts)
• Jan 8 René Mayer forms French government
• Jan 9 Korean ferryboat "Chang Tyong-Ho" sank off Pusan killing 249
• Jan 10 "My Darlin' Aida" closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 89 performances
• Jan 10 Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to Archibald MacLeish
• Jan 12 9 "Jewish" physicians arrested for "terrorist activities" in Moscow
• Jan 13 Gas explosion in Belgium coal mine kills 14

• Jan 14 Vaughan William's "Sinfonia Antartica" premieres in Manchester


• Jan 14 Yugoslavia elects its 1st president (Marshal Tito)
• Jan 15 16 car Federal Express train loses brakes & crashes in Washington, D.C. station
• Jan 15 East Germany's first Minister of Foreign Affairs, Georg Dertingen arrested for "espionage", beginning a purge of senior officials, accused of spying for 'imperialistic powers' and plotting against the state
• Jan 16 Egyptian Premier General Naguib disbands all political parties
• Jan 20 1st US telecast transmitted to Canada from Buffalo, New York

• Jan 25 Yuri Sergejev skates world record 500m in 40.9 sec
• Jan 27 Netherlands end Marshall aid
• Jan 28 19-year old Derek Bentley is hanged in Wandsworth Prison, London, controversially convicted of the murder of a police officer. He was pardoned on 30th July 1998.
• Jan 31 "Princess Victoria" capsized off Stanraer Scotland; 133 die
• Jan 31 Hurricane-like winds flood Netherlands drowning 1,835
• Feb 1 Dr A de Waal appointed as Netherlands' first female assistant secretary of state
• Feb 1 Flooding in Netherlands kills 1,835
• Feb 5 Sweet rationing imposed in WWII ends in Britain
• Feb 6 US controls on wages & some consumer goods lifted
• Feb 9 General Walter Bedell Smith ends term as 4th Director of Central Intelligence Agency; Allen Dulles becomes Acting Director
• Feb 10 Ice Pairs Championship at Davos won by Jennifer & John Nicks of GRB
• Feb 10 Men's Figure Skating Champion in Davos won by Hayes Alan Jenkins USA


• Feb 11 J Styne and Bob Hilliard's musical "Hazel Flagg" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 190 performances
• Feb 11 President Eisenhower refuses clemency appeal for Rosenberg couple
• Feb 11 USSR breaks diplomatic relations with Israel
• Feb 12 USSR breaks relations with Israel
• Feb 13 A's change name of Shibe Park to Connie Mack Stadium
• Feb 18 "Maggie" opens at National Theater NYC for 5 performances
• Feb 19 Georgia approves US 1st literature censorship board
• Feb 19 William Inge's "Picnic" premieres in NYC
• Feb 20 August A Busch buys the St Louis Cards for $3.75 million
• Feb 21 "Maggie" closes at National Theater NYC after 5 performances
• Feb 26 Allen Dulles officially promoted from deputy director to become the 5th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

• Mar 3 Canadian Comet crashes at Karachi, 11 killed

• Mar 7 Jackie McGlew scores 255* for South Africa v NZ at Wellington
• Mar 8 Census indicates 239,000 farmers gave up farming in last 2 years

• Mar 11 1st woman army doctor commissioned (FM Adams)
• Mar 17 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• Mar 18 7.5 magnitude earthquake strikes Yenice–Gönen in western Turkey, 1070 die

• Mar 22 Antonín Zápotocký chosen as President of Czechoslovakia
• Mar 24 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

• Mar 27 21 die in a train crash in Conneaut, Ohio
• Mar 28 "Stock exchanges open, dikes closed" raises 5,200,000 guilders
• Mar 28 US Men's Figure Skating championship won by Hayes A Jenkins

• Mar 31 US Department of Health, Education & Welfare established

• Apr 1 J van Bale appointed governor of New Guinea
• Apr 2 Raab forms his 1st government in Austria
• Apr 7 1st west-to-east jet transatlantic nonstop flight
• Apr 7 UN General Assembly begins session that will elect Dag Hammarskjöld of Sweden as Secretary-General

• Apr 10 Dag Hammarskjöld becomes the 2nd Secretary-General of the United Nations
• Apr 11 Oveta Culp Hobby becomes 1st at Health, Education, & Welfare
• Apr 11 US Department of Health, Education and Welfare created
• Apr 12 Keizo Yamada runs fastest marathon to date, at Boston
• Apr 14 Viet-Minh offensive in Laos
• Apr 15 Malans National Party wins South African elections

• Apr 23 General Charles P. Cabell, USAF, becomes deputy director of CIA

• Apr 25 Francis Crick and James Watson's discovery of the double helix structure of DNA is published in "Nature" magazine
• Apr 27 1st general elections in British Guiana, won by the People's Progressive Party with Cheddi Jagan first person of Indian descent to be elected head of government outside South Asia
• Apr 30 Little-Bigger League changes its name to Babe Ruth League
• May 2 Feisal II installed as King of Iraq
• May 2 Hussein I installed as King of Jordan
• May 3 Westchester conference of American Library Association proclaims "Freedom to Read"

• May 7 "Can Can" opens at Shubert Theater NYC for 892 performances
• May 7 Record 537-kg swordfish is caught by LE Marron, in Chile
• May 11 Tornado kills 114 in Waco Texas ($39M damage)
• May 11 Winston Churchill criticizes US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles' domino theory
• May 15 Osip Zadkine's monument to "The destroyed city" unveiled in Rotterdam
• May 18 1st woman to break sound barrier (Jacqueline Cochran, USA)
• May 19 Nuclear explosion in Nevada (fall-out in St George, Utah)
• May 21 French government of Mayer resigns
• May 22 US President Eisenhower signs Offshore Oil Bill

• May 25 1st atomic cannon electronically fired at Frenchman Flat, Nevada
• May 26 Dutch Convair crashes at Schipholweg, 2 die
• May 27 Dutch social democratic/Dutch Liberal Party win municipal elections

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Birthdays in History

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 208

• Jan 1 Gary Johnson, American businessman, politician and Libertarian Party nominee for President in 2016, born in Minot, North Dakota
• Jan 5 Mike Rann, Australian politician, born in Sidcup, United Kingdom
• Jan 5 George Tenet, American CIA director, born in NYC, New York
• Jan 9 Morris Gleitzman, British-Australian children's author, born in Sleaford, United Kingdom
• Jan 11 Anna Marchesini, Italian entertainer
• Jan 15 Kent Hovind, American evangelist
• Jan 16 Robert Jay Mathews, American neo-Nazi, born in Marfa, Texas (d. 1984)
• Jan 22 Jim Jarmusch, American director (Only Lovers Left Alive), born in Akron, Ohio
• Jan 23 Antonio Villaraigosa [Villar], Hispanic-American politician (Mayor of Los Angeles, 2005-13; California Assemblyman, 1994-2000), born in East Los Angeles, California

• Jan 25 Mark Weil, Uzbekistani theatre director, born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (d. 2007)
• Jan 26 Andrée van Es [Andrée Christine of Es], Dutch politician (PSP), born in the Hague, Netherlands
• Jan 26 Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark, born in Ginnerup, Denmark
• Jan 29 Hwang Woo-Suk, South Korean biomedical scientist
• Jan 30 Fred Hembeck, American cartoonist, born in Yaphank, New York
• Feb 2 James Mndaweni, South African worker's union leader/president (NACTU)
• Feb 2 Duane Chapman, American bounty hunter
• Feb 3 Savvas Tsitouridis, Greek politician
• Feb 4 Svetlana Ulmasova, USSR, 3K (world title 1978)
• Feb 4 Jerome Powell, American Chair of the US Federal Reserve (2018-), born in Washington, D.C.
• Feb 8 Roger Clavet, Québécois politician
• Feb 9 Gary Franks, (Rep-R-Connecticut)
• Feb 10 John Shirley, American sci-fi author (Eclipse Penumbra, Eclipse Corona), born in Houston, Texas
• Feb 11 Stephen Thorne, American naval officer, born in Frankfurt, Germany

• Feb 15 Derek Conway, British MP
• Feb 16 Roberta Williams, video game designer (Mystery House, Sierra Entertainment), born in La Verne, California
• Feb 19 Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President of Argentina (2007-2015), born in La Plata, Buenos Aires
• Feb 20 Carol Cummins, Clintwood Va, 2nd of 5 siblings born on 2/20
• Feb 23 Sallie L Baliunas, astrophysicist
• Feb 25 José María Aznar, former Prime Minister of Spain

• Mar 3 Aleksandr Viktorovich Borodin, Russian cosmonaut
• Mar 4 Christopher H Smith, (Rep-R-NJ, 1981- )
• Mar 5 Russel D Feingold, (Sen-D Wisconsin)
• Mar 5 Valery Grigoriyevich Korzun, Russian colonel/cosmonaut (TM-24)
• Mar 6 Jan Kjærstad, Norwegian author
• Mar 12 Carl Hiaasen, American journalist and author
• Mar 12 Madhav Kumar Nepal, Nepalese politician
• Mar 15 Richard Bruton, Irish politician
• Mar 16 Richard Stallman, American free software activist
• Mar 17 Filemon Lagman, Filipino communist revolutionary (d. 2001)
• Mar 18 Helmer C Koetje, Dutch 2nd chamber member (CDA)
• Mar 18 Margaret L. Augustine, project manager (Biosphere 2), born in Buffalo, New York
• Mar 22 Thomas H Andrews, American politician (Rep-D-Maine 1991-95), born in Brockton, Massachusetts
• Mar 23 Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, British MP
• Mar 26 Elaine Chao, American politician (U.S. Secretary of Transportaion, 2017-21; U.S. Secretary of Labor, 2001-2009) born in Taipei, Taiwan
• Mar 26 Lincoln Chafee, American politician (Governor of Rhode Island, 2011-15; US Senator (R) - Rhode Island, 1999-2007), born in Providence, Rhode Island
• Mar 26 Youssouf Togoïmi, Chadian rebel (d. 2002)
• Mar 28 Nydia M Velazquez, Puerto Rican politician, U.S. House of Representatives from New York, born in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico
• Mar 28 Melchior Ndadaye, 1st Hutu President of Burundi (1993), born in Nyabihanga, Burundi (d. 1993)
• Apr 1 Barry Sonnenfeld, director (Get Shorty, Men in Black), born in NYC, New York
• Apr 2 Jim Allister, Northern Irish politician, born in Listooder, Crossgar, Northern Ireland
• Apr 4 Robert Bertrand, Canadian politician (Liberal Party of Canada), born in Fort-Coulonge, Quebec, Canada
• Apr 11 Andrew Wiles, British mathematician (number theory), born in Cambridge, England
• Apr 11 Guy Verhofstadt, 47th Prime Minister of Belgium (1999-2008), born in Dendermonde, Belgium
• Apr 13 Stephen Byers, British politician (L), (MG Rover Group controversy), born in Wolverhampton
• Apr 13 Brigitte Macron, French teacher and wife of politician Emmanuel Macron, born in Amiens, France
• Apr 14 David Buss, American Evolutionary psychologist
• Apr 16 J. Neil Schulman, American writer (Alongside Night), born in Forest Hills, New York
• Apr 20 Sebastian Faulks, British novelist (The Girl at the Lion d'Or), born in Donnington, Berkshire
• Apr 23 Fred Upton, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan), born in St. Joseph, Michigan
• Apr 24 John P. Hiler, American politician, U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana (1981-91), born in Chicago, Illinois
• Apr 25 Ron Clements, American animation director (Moana), born in Sioux City, Iowa
• Apr 27 Ellen S. Baker, American physician and NASA astronaut (STS 34, 50, 71), born in Fayetteville, North Carolina
• Apr 28 Roberto Bolano, Latin American author and poet
• Apr 29 Nikolai Nikolayevich Budarin, Russian cosmonaut (STS 71, TM-27), born in Kirya, Russia

• May 6 Michelle Courchesne, Quebec politician
• May 7 Pat McInally, American National Football League player, born in Villa Park, California
• May 7 Ian McKay, British soldier (VC recipient), born in Wortley, South Yorkshire, England (d. 1982)
• May 9 Scott McInnis, (Rep-R-Colorado)
• May 10 John Diamond, English journalist, born in London, England (d. 2001)
• May 14 Norodom Sihamoni, King of Cambodia
• May 16 David Maclean, British minister of state
• May 17 Nicholas Bacon, premier baronet of England
• May 18 Helen Chadwick, artist
• May 19 Henry Lascelles, English grandson of princess Mary
• May 19 Dawud M. Mu'Min, American convicted murderer (d. 1997)
• May 20 Robert Doyle, Australian politician
• May 22 John Edward Stevens, American bank robber (FBI Most Wanted List), born in NYC, New York
• May 22 Doris Barnett, German politician, born in Ludwigshafen am Rhein, West Germany
• May 23 Agathe Uwilingiyimana, Prime Minister of Rwanda (1993-94) and one of the 1st female political figures in Africa, born in Nyaruhengeri, Rwanda (d. 1994)
• May 25 Jane Priest, Prince Charles' lover, born in Perth, Australia
• May 25 Eve Ensler, American playwright (The Vagina Monologues), born in NYC, New York
• May 25 Stan Sakai, Japanese-American cartoonist (Usagi Yojimbo), born in Kyoto, Japan
• May 26 Michael Portillo, British politician
• Jun 1 David Berkowitz, American serial killer (Son of Sam)
• Jun 4 Susumu Ojima, Japanese entrepreneur (Huser), born in Shikama, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan
• Jun 6 Ken Calvert, American politician (Rep-R-California 1993-), born in Corona, California
• Jun 6 Dimitris Avramopoulos, Greek politician
• Jun 10 John Edwards, American politician and lawyer
• Jun 12 Allan Weiner, American pirate radio station owner, born in Yonkers, New York
• Jun 14 Janet Mackey, New Zealand politician (Member of the New Zealand Parliament for East Coast), born in Auckland, New Zealand

• Jun 20 Brian J Duffy, Major USAF/astronaut (STS 45, 57, 72, sk:92), born in Boston, Massachusetts
• Jun 20 Willy Rampf, German F1 technical director (BMW Sauber)

• Jun 24 Ivo Lill, Estonian artist

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Weddings in History

• May 23 John F. Kennedy's sister Eunice Kennedy (31) weds activist and attorney Sargent Shriver at Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York City

• Aug 30 Future NYC mayor David Dinkins marries Joyce Burrows in NYC

Deaths in History

• Jan 2 Guccio Gucci, Italian founder of Gucci fashion house, dies at 71
• Jan 4 Prince Yasuhito Chichibu, brother of Emperor Showa, dies at 50
• Jan 8 Admiral Sir Hugh Binney, British naval commander and Governor of Tasmania (b. 1883)
• Jan 11 Hans Aanrud, Norwegian author (Storken), dies at 89
• Jan 11 Ernst Herman van Rappard, Dutch Nazi founder (NSNAP), dies at 53
• Jan 11 Marcel Canneel, Flemish painter (Reuzenstoet), dies at 58
• Jan 11 Noach Zjordanija, Georgian Premier (1918-21), dies at 84
• Jan 13 Paul Niggli, Swiss mineralogist (crystal structures), dies at 64

• Jan 26 Martinus Nijhoff, Dutch poet and linguistic (spelling), dies at 58
• Jan 26 Athanase David, French Canadian politician and businessman (b. 1882)
• Jan 28 James Scullin, Australian Labour Party politician and 9th Prime Minister of Australia, dies at 76
• Jan 28 Derek Bentley, Englishman controversially convicted for murder of a police officer (pardoned 1998), executed at 19
• Jan 30 Louis H N Bosch van Rosenthal, Dutch resistance fighter, dies at 68
• Feb 4 Alexander Loudon, Dutch diplomat (League of Nations), dies at 60

• Mar 10 Charles Gordon Curtis, American inventor (Curtis-steam turbine), dies at 92
• Mar 14 Klement Gottwald, premier/president of Czechoslovakia, dies at 56
• Mar 20 Graciliano Ramos, Brazilian author (Vidas Secas), dies at 60
• Mar 23 Raoul Dufy, painter, Forcalquier, France
• Mar 24 Mary of Teck, Queen of Great Britain and consort of George V, dies at 85
• Mar 24 Felix M Abel, French dominican/biblical scholar, dies at 74
• Apr 2 Jean Epstein, French director (Vive la Vie), dies at 56
• Apr 4 Carol II, King of Romania (1930-40), dies at 59
• Apr 4 Rachilde [Marguerite Vallette-Eymery], French author, dies at 93
• Apr 6 Idris Davies, Welsh poet (b. 1905)
• Apr 12 Lionel Logue, Australian speech therapist who treated King George VI (The Kings Speech), dies at 73
• Apr 14 Emmanuel de Bom, Flemish writer (Scheldelucht), dies at 84
• Apr 20 Erich Weinert, German communist writer, dies at 62
• Apr 22 Top Naeff [Anthonetta van Rhijn-N], Dutch writer, dies at 75
• Apr 29 Moïse Kisling, Polish-French painter (La souris boiteuse), dies at 62
• May 4 Edward Shanks, British poet and critic, dies at 60
• May 14 Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Japanese-American painter, etcher and lithographer, dies at 59
• May 19 Damaso Berenguer, Spanish soldier and politician (122nd Prime Minister of Spain), dies at 79
• May 28 Hori Tatsuo, Japanese writer (b. 1904)
• Jun 9 Ugo Betti, dramatist, dies
• Jun 16 Margaret Bondfield, English politician and 1st British female cabinet minister (Labour), dies at 80

• Jun 20 Hendrik de Man, sociologist (Belgian Working people Party), dies at 67
• Jun 30 Elsa Beskow, (Maartman), Swedish author (children's book), dies at 79
• Jun 30 Charles William Miller, father of football in Brazil (b. 1874)
• Jul 1 Azzedine Bey, Tunisian heir to the throne, murdered
• Jul 1 Jacob D du Toit [Totius], South African poet/theologist, dies
• Jul 14 Richard von Mises, Austrian scientist and mathematician (probability theory), dies at 70
• Jul 15 Servant of God Archbishop Mar Ivanios (b.1882)
• Jul 16 Hilaire Belloc, Anglo-French author (Path to Rome), dies at 82
• Jul 18 Lucy Booth, Daughter of William and Catherine Booth (b. 1868)
• Jul 19 Maurice J. Tobin, 56th Governor of Massachusetts, dies at 52
• Jul 20 Dumarsaid Estime, President of Haiti (b. 1900)
• Jul 20 Jan Struther, British author (b. 1901)
• Jul 26 Nikolaos Plastiras, Greece premier (1945-50, 51-2), dies
• Jul 31 Robert A. Taft, American politician (U.S. Senator from Ohio), dies at 63
• Aug 11 Ludwig Strauss, German-Israeli writer (Heimliche Gegenwart), dies at 60
• Aug 15 Ludwig Prandtl, German physicist (b. 1875)
• Aug 17 Johannes Tielrooy, Dutch literary professor (French Living Lesson), dies at 66
• Aug 17 Bannister Fletcher, English architect and architectural historian (A History of Architecture), dies at 87
• Sep 1 Bernard O'Dowd, Australian poet, dies at 87
• Sep 2 Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright IV, American army officer, dies at 70
• Sep 5 Richard Walther Darré, Nazi politician, one of the leading 'blood and soil' ideologists (b. 1895)
• Sep 8 Fred M. Vinson, American Democratic politician, US Treasury Secretary (1945-46) and the 13th Chief Justice of US Supreme Court (1946-53), dies of a heart attack at 63
• Sep 12 Hugo Schmeisser, German inventor and weapons designer, dies at 68
• Sep 16 Colin G Fink, US chemist (electro-chemistry), dies
• Sep 17 Emil Ermatinger, Swiss literature historian, dies at 80
• Sep 25 Dimitur Poljanov [Popov], Bulgaria poet (Iron Verses), dies at 76
• Sep 26 Xu Beihong, Chinese painter, dies at 58
• Sep 27 Jules-Marie Canneel, Flemish painter and caricaturist (Rocks of Oran), dies at 72

• Oct 3 Florence Sabin, American Scientist who was the first woman to graduate from Johns Hopkins and the first lifetime woman member of the National Academy of Sciences, dies at 82
• Oct 5 Friedrich Wolf, writer, dies at 64
• Oct 11 James Earle Fraser, American sculptor (Indian Head (Buffalo) nickel), dies at 76
• Oct 18 Douwe Kalma, Dutch literary writer and leader (Young Frisian Movement), dies at 57
• Oct 20 Werner Baumbach, German bomber pilot (b. 1916)
• Oct 23 Maurice Lugeon, Swiss geologist (nappism), dies at 83
• Nov 8 Ivan Bunin, Russian poet and novelist (Gentleman from San Francisco-Nobel 1933, dies at 83
• Nov 8 John van Melle, South African writer (Bart Nel), dies at 66

• Nov 9 Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet (Child's Christmas in Wales), dies at 39
• Nov 22 Syed Sulaiman Nadvi, Pakistani religious scholar and biographer of Muhammad, dies at 69
• Nov 24 Robert Lightfoot, English theologist and exegetist, dies at 70

• Dec 2 Francis Picabia, French avante-garde artist, writer and typographist (Amorous Parade), dies at 74
• Dec 6 Konstanty I Galczynski, Polish poet (Zielona Ges), dies at 48
• Dec 10 Abdullah Yusuf Ali, British-Indian Islamic scholar and translator (translated Qu'ran into English), dies at 81

• Dec 19 Rudolf Leonhard, writer, dies
• Dec 20 Henry Horatio Dixon, Irish Biologist (cohesion-tension theory in plants), dies at 84

• Dec 25 Lee Shubert, American theatre producer (theatres in NY & LA named after him), dies at about 80
• Dec 31 Albert Plesman, Dutch aviation pioneer and founder (KLM), dies at 64