April 1955 in History

Events in History

Event of Interest

Apr 3 The American Civil Liberties Union announces it will defend Allen Ginsberg's book "Howl" against obscenity charges

Apr 4 British government signs military treaty with Iraq

Event of Interest

Apr 5 Anthony Eden succeeds Winston Churchill as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Apr 6 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
Apr 6 Yemen: failed coup by Abdullah Seif el-Islam
Apr 9 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
Apr 10 Ruth Ellis shoots jilting lover David Blakely (last woman to be executed in the UK)

Assassination Attempt

Apr 11 Chartered Air India plane the "Kashmir Princess" is bombed and crashes into the South China Sea in a failed assassination attempt on Zhou Enlai by a Kuomintang secret agent

Premier of the People's Republic of China Zhou Enlai

Polio

Apr 12 Polio vaccine tested by Jonas Salk announced to be 'safe and effective' and is given full approval by the US Food and Drug Administration

Apr 13 20.33" (51.64 cm) of rainfall, Axis, Alabama (state record)

Event of Interest

Apr 15 Ray Kroc opens first McDonald's Inc. fast food restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois

Apr 15 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
Apr 18 1st "Walk"/"Don't Walk" lighted street signals installed
Apr 18 1st Bandoeng Conference opens in Indonesia, attended by 29 nations - first international assembly of Asian-African nations
Apr 19 The German automaker Volkswagen, after six years of selling cars in the United States, founds Volkswagen of America in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey to standardize its dealer and service network
Apr 21 J Lawrence & R E Lee's "Inherit the Wind" premieres in NYC
Apr 21 Minas Gerais Argentina tunnel caves in; 30 die
Apr 24 Conference of Bandung against colonialism and for self determination, ends
Apr 24 Gaullists lose elections in France
Apr 29 Giovanni Gronchi elected third President of Italy
Apr 30 Element atomic number 101, Mendelevium, announced
Apr 30 Imperial Bank of India nationalized
Apr 30 West German unions protest for 40-hour work week & higher wages

Birthdays in History

Apr 1 Gregg Jarrett, American television anchor
Apr 2 Michael Stone, British terrorist (Ulster Defence Association), born in Harborne, Birmingham
Apr 3 Aleksandr Nikolayevich Yablontsev, Russian lt-colonel and cosmonaut, born in Warsaw, Poland (d. 2012)
Apr 5 Akira Toriyama, Japanese manga artist, born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan
Apr 6 Keith Hunter Jesperson, Canadian-born serial killer
Apr 7 Andrea Fisher, American artist, born in New York (d. 1997)
Apr 8 Barbara Kingsolver, American novelist (The Poisonwood Bible), born in Annapolis, Maryland
Apr 8 David Wu, Taiwanese-born American politician (Rep-D-Ore 1999-2011), born in Hsinchu, Taiwan
Apr 8 Ron Johnson, American politician (Senator-R-Wisconsin 2011-), born in Mankato, Minnesota
Apr 9 Joolz Denby, English poet and novelist, born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England
Apr 9 Kate Heyhoe, American editor and food writer, born in Los Angeles, California
Apr 11 Kevin Brady, American politician (Rep Texas (R) 1997-), born in Vermillion, South Dakota
Apr 11 Piers J Sellers, English astronaut and climate scientist, born in Sussex (d. 2016)
Apr 13 Ole von Beust, German politician and Mayor of Hamburg, born in Hamburg, Germany
Apr 15 Dodi Fayed, Egyptian businessman who died in a car crash in Paris with Diana. Princess of Wales, born in Alexandria, Egypt (d. 1997)
Apr 16 Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (2020-), born in Castle Betzdorf, Betzdorf, Luxembourg

Apr 18 Amschel Rothschild, British banker (executive chairman of Rothschild Asset Management of the Rothschild banking family of England), born in Paris (d. 1996)
Apr 20 Donald Pettit, American chemical engineer and NASA astronaut, born in Silverton, Oregon
Apr 20 Svante Pääbo, Swedish geneticist (Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine 2022 - work on genomes of extinct hominins), born in Stockholm, Sweden [1]
Apr 23 Mike Smith, English TV and radio presenter, born in Romford, Essex (d. 2014)
Apr 24 Jack Kingston, American politician, U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia (1993-2015), born in Bryan, Texas
Apr 24 John de Mol Jr., Dutch media businessman, born in The Hague, Netherlands
Apr 28 Nicky Gumbel, British author and priest (Alpha Course), born in London, England
Apr 30 Dimitra Papandreau, Greece, wife of Greek PM Andreas Papandreau
Apr 30 Nicolas Hulot, French journalist

Deaths in History

Apr 1 Robert R. McCormick, American editor and publisher (Chicago Tribune), dies at 74
Apr 1 Silvio D'Amico, Italian theater critic (Il Teatro Italian), dies at 68
Apr 10 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French philosopher and paleontologist (The Phenomenon of Man), dies at 73
Apr 16 Abdullah Seif el-Islam, brother of Yemenite king Ahmed, beheaded

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Apr 18 German-born theoretical physicist & Nobel laureate (theory of relativity), dies of an abdominal aortic aneurysm at 76

Apr 18 Eugen Herrigel, German philosopher and scholar (early pioneer of Zen in Europe), dies at 70
Apr 23 Robert Herman Woltjer, Dutch Minister of Education, dies at 76
Apr 24 Alfred Polgar, Austrian writer/theater critic, dies at 79
Apr 25 Paul Basilius Barth, Swiss painter and lithographer, dies at 73
Apr 28 Lode Cantens, Flemish playwright (Gnomes of the City), dies at 43