1955
Year 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar).
January
 January 2 - José Antonio Remón Cantera, president of Panama, is assassinated at a racetrack in Panama City.
January 7 - Marian Anderson is the first African American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
January 18 - Battle of Yijiangshan started in China. Fighting lasted until January 20 with a Communist victory.
January 22 - Pentagon announces plan to develop ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) armed with nuclear weapons.
January 23 - The Sutton Coldfield rail crash.
January 25 - The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union announces end of the war between the USSR and Germany, which began during World War II in 1937. Until then, despite the end of World War II, the USSR was formally at war with Germany.
January 28 - The United States Congress authorizes President Dwight D. Eisenhower to use force to protect Formosa from the People's Republic of China.
February
February 10 - The seventh fleet of the United States Navy helps the Republic of China evacuate Chinese Nationalist army and residents from Tachen Islands to Taiwan.
February 12 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends the first U.S. advisors to South Vietnam.
February 16 - Nearly 100 die in fire at a home for the elderly in Yokohama, Japan.
February 22 - In Chicago's Democratic primary, Mayor Martin H. Kennelly loses to the head of the Cook County Democratic Party, Richard J. Daley, 364,839 to 264,775.
March
March 5 - WBBJ signs on the air in the United States as WDXI.
March 7 - The 1954 Broadway musical version of Peter Pan, starring Mary Martin, is presented on television for the first time by NBC - also the first time that a stage musical is presented in its entirety on TV exactly as performed on stage. The program gains the largest viewership of a TV special up to that time, and becomes one of the first great television classics.
March 17 - The Richard Riot occurs in Montreal.
March 19 - KXTV signs on the air in the United States
March 20 - Blackboard Jungle opens in movie theaters featuring the song "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and his Comets, thus propelling Rock and Roll as a musical genre. Teenagers jump from their seats to dance to the song.
April
April 5 -
*Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
*Richard J. Daley defeats Robert Merrian to become mayor of Chicago by a vote of 708,222 to 581,555.
April 6 - Anthony Eden becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
April 11 - The Taiwanese Kuomintang sabotaged the "Kashmir Princess", killing 16 but fails to assassinate People's Republic of China leader Zhou Enlai.
April 12 - The Salk polio vaccine is introduced.
April 15 - Ray Kroc opens a McDonald's fast food restaurant; it is the company's ninth since it was founded in 1940, but Kroc would later take over the company and oversee its worldwide expansion.
April 16 - The Burma-Japanese peace treaty signed in Rangoon on November 5, 1954 comes into force, formally ending the state of war.
April 17 - Imre Nagy, Premier of Hungary, is ousted for being too moderate.
May
May 5 - West Germany becomes a sovereign state.
May 9 - West Germany joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
May 11 - Japanese ferry Shiun Maru sinks off of Takamatsu, Shikoku. 168 are killed.
May 14 - Eight communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a mutual defence treaty called the Warsaw Pact.
June
June 7 - The $64,000 Question premieres on CBS television, with Hal Marks as the host.
June 11 - Eighty-three are killed and at least 100 are injured after an Austin-Healey and a Mercedes-Benz collide in the 1955 Le Mans disaster.
June 13 - Mir Mine, the first diamond mine of the USSR, is discovered.
June 16 - Lady and the Tramp, Walt Disney's fifteenth animated feature film, debuts in U.S. movie theaters.
July
July 7 - The New Zealand Special Air Service was formed.
July 13 - Ruth Ellis (b. 1926) is hanged for murder in London - the last woman ever to be executed in the United Kingdom.
July 17 - Disneyland opens, in Anaheim, California.
July 18
*The first atomic-generated electrical power is sold commercially.
*Illinois's Governor William Stratton signs Loyalty Oath Act that mandates all public employees take a loyalty oath or lose their jobs.
*Beginning of Geneva Summit between US, USSR, UK, and France.
July 19 - Estonian Television (ETV) begins broadcasting.
July 23 - Geneva Summit between US, USSR, UK, and France ends.
July 27 - El Al Airlines Flight 402 from Vienna to Tel Aviv-Yafo via Istanbul shot down over Bulgaria. All passengers and crew aboard the Lockheed Constellation were killed.
July 28 - The first Interlingua congress in Tours, France, leads to the founding of the Union Mundial pro Interlingua.
August
August 19 - Hurricane Diane hits the northeast United States, killing 200 and causing over $1 billion in damage.
August 20 - Hundreds are killed in anti-French rioting in Morocco and Algeria.
August 22 - Eleven schoolchildren are killed when their school bus is hit by a freight train in Spring City, Tennessee.
August 25 - The last Soviet forces leave Austria.
August 27 - The first copy of a Guinness World Records book is printed and sold.
August 28 - Emmett Till is killed in Money, Mississippi.
September
September 6 - Istanbul Pogrom: Istanbul's Greek minority is the target of a government-sponsored pogrom.
September 10 - Gunsmoke debuts on the CBS television network.
September 15 - Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita is published in Paris by Olympia Press.
September 19
*President of Argentina Juan Peron is ousted in a military coup.
*Hurricane Hilda kills 200 in Mexico.
September 22 - Independent (Commercial) Television begins broadcasting in UK .
September 24 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower suffers coronary thrombosis while on vacation in Denver.
September 30 - Actor James Dean is killed when his Porsche 550 Spyder collides with another automobile at a highway junction near Cholame, California.
October
October 3 - The Mickey Mouse Club premieres on the ABC television network.
October 4 - The Reverend Sun Myung Moon is released from prison in Seoul, Korea.
October 4 - The Brooklyn Dodgers finally win the World Series, defeating the New York Yankees 2-0 in Game 7 of the 1955 Fall Classic.
October 11 - 70 mm film is introduced with the theatrical release of Oklahoma!
October 20
*First film footage of Elvis Presley in a planned film short about Cleveland disc jockey Bill Randle.
*Cardiff is proclaimed as the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom.
October 26 - After the last Allied troops have left the country and following the provisions of the Austrian Independence Treaty, Austria declares its permanent neutrality.
October 26 - Ngo Dinh Diem proclaims Vietnam a republic with himself as president.
November
November 1 - A time bomb explodes in the cargo hold of United Airlines Flight 629, a Douglas DC-6B airliner flying above Longmont, Colorado, killing all 39 passengers and five crew members on board the aircraft.
November 3 - The five-and-a-half-mile Rimutaka Railway tunnel opens in New Zealand.
November 5 - Racial segregation is forbidden on trains and buses in U.S. interstate commerce.
November 12 - The Bugs Bunny cartoon Roman-Legion Hare debuts in the USA.
November 20 - Bo Diddley makes his television debut on Ed Sullivan's Toast Of The Town show for the CBS network.
November 23 - The Cocos Islands are transferred from the control of the United Kingdom to Australia.
November 29 - Fred Phelps establishes the Westboro Baptist Church, an anti-gay hate group, in Topeka, Kansas.
December
December 1 - Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white person, and the national civil rights movement begins.
December 5
*The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge to become the AFL-CIO.
*The Montgomery Improvement Association is formed in Montgomery, Alabama by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other Black ministers to coordinate a Black boycott of city buses.
December 14
*Tappan Zee Bridge in New York opens to traffic.
*Bulgaria joins the United Nations.
December 22 - Joe Hin Tjio discovers correct number of human chromosomes.
December 31 - General Motors becomes the first American corporation to make over USD $1 billion in a year.
Undated
Düsseldorf-Mönchengladbach Airport (Flughafen Düsseldorf-Mönchengladbach) is founded.
Ongoing
Malayan Emergency (1948-1960)
Marshall Plan
Mau Mau Uprising (1952-1960)
World population
World population: 2,755,823,000
- Africa: 246,746,000
- Asia: 1,541,947,000
- Europe: 575,184,000
- Latin-America: 190,797,000
- Northern America: 186,884,000
- Oceania: 14,265,000
January-February
January 1 - Mario Andreacchio, Australian film director
January 2 - Tex Brashear, American voice actor
January 6 - Rowan Atkinson, English comedian and actor
January 12 - Rockne O'Bannon, American writer and television producer
January 13 - Jay McInerney, American writer
January 15 - Nigel Benson, British author and illustrator
January 17 - Steve Earle, American musician
January 18 - Kevin Costner, American actor
January 19 - Simon Rattle, English conductor
January 20 - Joe Doherty, Provisional Irish Republican Army member
January 25 - Terry Chimes, British drummer (The Clash)
January 26 - Eddie Van Halen, Dutch-born musician
January 27
*John Roberts, Chief Justice of the United States
*Alexander Stuart, British author
January 28 - Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France
February 3
*Stephen Euin Cobb, American novelist
*Kirsty Wark, Scottish television presenter
February 6 - Michael Pollan, American journalist
February 7 - Miguel Ferrer, American actor
February 8 - John Grisham, American novelist
February 10
*Chris Adams, British professional wrestler and judoka (d. 2001)
*Greg Norman, Australian golfer
February 12 - Arsenio Hall, American actor and talk show host
February 15 - Christopher McDonald, American actor
February 16 - Hunt Block, American actor
February 17 - Mo Yan, Chinese writer, author of Red Sorghum (novel)
February 19 - Jeff Daniels, American actor
February 20 - Kelsey Grammer, American actor
February 23
*Tom Bodett, American voice actor, radio personality, and writer
*Howard Jones, English musician
*Flip Saunders, American basketball coach
February 24
*Alain Prost, French race car driver
*Steve Jobs, American computer pioneer
March-April
March 4 - Dominique Pinon, French actor
March 5 - Penn Jillette, American magician and comedian
March 6 - Alberta Watson, Canadian actress
March 7 - Tommy Kramer, American football player
March 8 - Don Ashby, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 30 May, 1981)
March 10 - Youssra, Egyptian actress and singer
March 11 - Nina Hagen, German pop star
March 15 - Dee Snider, American singer
March 16
*Jiro Watanabe, Japanese boxer
*Bruno Barreto, Brazilian film director
March 17 - Gary Sinise, American actor
March 18 - Guillermo Dávila, Venezuelan actor and singer
March 19 - Bruce Willis, American actor
March 22
*Pete Sessions, American politician
*Valdis Zatlers, president of Latvia
March 23 - Moses Malone, American basketball player
March 26 - Danny Arndt, Canadian ice hockey player
March 28
*John Alderdice, Irish politician
*Reba McEntire, American singer and actress
March 29
*Earl Campbell, American football player
*Brendan Gleeson, Irish actor
March 30 - Paul Reiser, American actor
March 31 - Angus Young, Scottish-born guitarist (AC/DC)
April 1 - Gregg Jarrett, American lawyer turned journalist
April 5
*Akira Toriyama, Japanese manga artist
*Janice Long, British radio disc jockey
April 6
*Michael Rooker, American actor
*Janet Ellis, children's TV presenter
April 7 - Werner Stocker, German actor (d. 1993)
April 8
*Barbara Kingsolver, American fiction writer
*Kane Hodder, American actor
April 9
*Kate Heyhoe, American food writer
April 11 - Kevin Brady, American politician
April 13 - Steve Camp, American musician
April 15 - Dodi Al-Fayed, Egyptian businessman (d. 1997)
April 16 - Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg
April 20 - Seema Mustafa, Journalist and Indian Politician
April 21 - Ebiet G Ade, Indonesian singer and songwriter
April 23 - Tony Miles, English chess player (d. 2001)
April 24 - John de Mol, Dutch media tycoon
April 25
*John Nunn, English chess player and mathematician
*Parviz Parastui, Iranian actor
April 29
*Kate Mulgrew, American actress
*Wendee Lee, American voice actress
May-June
May 1
*Nick Feldman, English musician
*Ray Buttigieg, Maltese composer and poet
May 2
*Dave Winer, American software pioneer
*Willie Miller, Scottish footballer
May 3 - David Hookes, Australian cricketer (d. 2004)
May 4 - Robert Ellis Orrall, American singer
May 6 - Tom Bergeron, American television host
May 7 - Kevin Reed, American Presbyterian author, theologian and publisher.
May 9 - Anne-Sofie von Otter, Swedish mezzo-soprano
May 10
*Chris Berman, American sports broadcaster
*Mark David Chapman, American assassin of John Lennon
May 16
*Olga Korbut, Russian gymnast
*Jack Morris, baseball player
*Hazel O'Connor, British singer
*Debra Winger, American actress
May 17 - Bill Paxton, American actor
May 18 - Chow Yun-Fat, Hong Kong actor
May 19 - James Gosling, Canadian software engineer
May 20 - Zbigniew Preisner, Polish film composer
May 21
*Paul Barber, British field hockey player
*Stan Lynch, American drummer, songwriter, and producer
May 22
*Dale Winton, English radio DJ and television presenter
*Jimmy Lyon, American guitarist
*Chalmers "Spanky" Alford, American jazz guitarist (d. 2008)
May 24
*Rosanne Cash, American entertainer
*Rumiko Ukai, Jpanese voice actress
May 26
*Masaharu Morimoto, Japanese chef
*Doris Dörrie, German actress and screenplay writer
May 28 - John McGeoch, Scottish musician (Siouxsie and the Banshees and Public Image Ltd.) (d. 2004)
May 29 - John Hinckley, Jr., American who attempted to assassinate U.S. President Ronald Reagan
May 30 - Topper Headon, British drummer (The Clash)
May 31 - Tommy Emmanuel, Australian Guitarist, CGP
June 1 - Ralph Morse (actor), British actor, singer, and writer of historical dramas
June 2
*Dana Carvey, American actor and comedian
*Michael Steele, bassist for The Bangles
June 5 - Fernando Borrego Linares, Cuban singer and songwriter, Also known as Polo Montañez.
June 6 - Sandra Bernhard, American comedian, actress, author and singer
June 7 - Tim Richmond, American race car driver (d. 1989)
June 8 - Tim Berners-Lee, English inventor of the World Wide Web
June 10 - Andrew Stevens. American actor and film producer
June 13 - Larry Mike Garmon, American author
June 14 - Paul O'Grady, English talk show host and comedian
June 16 - Laurie Metcalf, American actress
June 18 - Sandy Allen, Tallest Woman (d. 2008)
June 20 - Tor Norretranders, Danish author
June 21 - Michel Platini, French football player
June 22
*Glenn Danzig, American singer and founder of The Misfits, Samhain and Danzig
*Green Gartside, Welsh singer songwriter
June 23 - Alan J. Gow, motorsport executive
June 21 - Tim Bray, Canadian computer programmer
June 24 - Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, head of Siddha Yoga
June 26 - Mick Jones, British guitarist (The Clash and Big Audio Dynamite)
June 27 - Isabelle Adjani, French actress
June 30 - David Alan Grier, American actor and comedian
July-August
July 1
*Sanma Akashiya, Japanese comedian and actor
*Lisa Scottoline, American novelist
July 8
*Mihaela Mitrache, Romanian actress
July 9
*Fred Norris, American radio personality
*Jimmy Smits, American actor
July 18 - Bernd Fasching, Austrian painter and sculptor
July 21 - Howie Epstein, American musician and producer (d. 2003)
July 27 - Allan Border, Australian cricket player
August 2 - Caleb Carr, American writer
August 4 - Billy Bob Thornton, American actor
August 7 - Vladimir Sorokin, Russian writer
August 8 - Diddú (Sigrún Hjálmtýsdóttir), Icelandic soprano and songwriter
August 9 - Doug Williams, American football quarterback
August 19 - Peter Gallagher, American actor
August 24 - Mike Huckabee, former Governor and 2008 Presidential candidate
August 27 - Laura Fygi, Dutch singer
August 30 - David Hefner, son of Hugh Hefner
August 31 - Edwin Moses, American athlete
September-October
September 1 - Bruce Foxton, English musician
September 2 - Robert Duncan, American astrophysicist
September 3 - Steve Jones, English guitarist (Sex Pistols)
September 7 - Efim Zelmanov, Russian mathematician
September 9 - John Kricfalusi, Canadian cartoonist
September 10 - Pat Mastelotto, American musician
September 12 - Peter Scolari, American actor
September 15 - Željka Antunovic, Croatian politician
September 16 - Robin Yount, baseball player
September 17 - Charles Martinet, American voice-actor
September 19 - Richard Burmer, American composer, sound designer, and musician (d. 2006)
September 21 - Richard Hieb, American astronaut
September 23 - Don Graham, American journalist
September 25 - Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, German football player
September 28 - Stéphane Dion, Canadian politician
October 7 - Yo-Yo Ma, French-born Chinese cellist
October 13 - Sergei Shepelev, Russian ice hockey player
October 15 - Kulbir Bhaura, British field hockey player
October 18 - Timmy Mallett, British television presenter
October 21 - Rich Mullins, American musician (d. 1997)
October 28
*Bill Gates, American software entrepreneur
*Indra Nooyi, CEO
October 29 - Kevin DuBrow, American Musician (d. 2007)
November-December
November 2 - Chris Burnett, American saxophone player, composer, veteran of US military jazz bands and band leader
November 3 - Phil Simms, American football player
November 4 - Matti Vanhanen, Prime Minister of Finland
November 5 - Karan Thapar, Indian Journalist, Political Analyst & Commentator
November 6 - Maria Shriver, American journalist
November 7 - Detlef Ultsch, German judo athlete
November 9 - Karen Dotrice, English actress
November 11 - Jigme Singye Wangchuk, King of Bhutan
November 13 - Whoopi Goldberg, American actress and comedienne
November 20 - Ray Ozzie, Chief Software Architect
November 21 - Kyle Gann, American composer and music critic
November 23 - Steven Brust, American author
November 24 - Ian Botham, British cricketer
November 27 - Bill Nye, American science presenter
November 29 - Howie Mandel, Canadian actor
November 30
*Kevin Conroy, American voice actor
*Billy Idol, British singer
*Gordon Liu, Chinese actor
December 3 - Steven Culp, American actor
December 4 - Maurizio Bianchi, Italian musician
December 7 - Priscilla Barnes, American actress
December 8 - Ian Greig, English cricketer
December 12 - Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Greek politician and businesswoman
December 15 - Paul Simonon, British bassist (The Clash)
December 17 - Brad Davis, American basketball player
December 16 - Rob Levin, founder of the freenode IRC network
December 18 - Ray Liotta, American actor
December 21 - Jane Kaczmarek, American actress
December 23 - Carol Ann Duffy, British poet
December 24 - Clarence Gilyard, American actor
December 27 - Barbara Olson, American television commentator (d. 2001)
January-June
January 1 - Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar, Indian scientist (b. 1894)
January 2 - Jose Antonio Remon, President of Panama (assassinated) (b. 1908)
January 6 - Yevgeny Tarle, Soviet historian (b. 1874)
January 15 - Yves Tanguy, French painter (b. 1900)
January 18 - August Duesenberg, automobile manufacturer (b. 1879)
January 21 - Archie Hahn, American athlete (b. 1880)
January 24 - Ira Hayes, U.S. Marine (b. 1923)
January 29 - Hans Hedtoft, Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1903)
January 31 - John Mott, American YMCA leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1865)
February 12 - Tom Moore, Irish-American film actor (b. 1883)
March 11 - Sir Alexander Fleming, Scottish scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1881)
March 12 - Charlie Parker, American saxophonist (b. 1920)
March 23 - Artur da Silva Bernardes, President of Brazil (b. 1875)
April 7 - Theda Bara, American film actress (b. 1885)
April 18 - Albert Einstein, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
May 4 - Georges Enescu, Romanian composer (b. 1881)
May 10
*Tommy Burns, American boxer (b. 1881)
*John Radecki, Australian stained glass artist (b. 1865)
May 11 - Gilbert Jessop, English cricketer (b. 1874)
May 16 - James Agee, American writer (b. 1909)
May 18 - Mary McLeod Bethune, American educator (b. 1875)
May 26 - Alberto Ascari, Italian race car driver (b. 1918)
June 5 - Pattillo Higgins, American oil pioneer and businessman (b. 1863)
June 19 - Adrienne Monnier, French poet (b. 1892)
June 24 - Carlos Gardel, Argentine singer (b. 1890)
June 25 - Vito Corleone, Italian-American Mob Boss (b. 1891)
July-December
July 3 - Beatrice Chase, British writer (b. 1874)
July 13 - Stanley Price, American film and television actor (b. 1892)
July 23 - Cordell Hull, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1871)
August 2 - Wallace Stevens, American poet (b. 1879)
August 5 - Carmen Miranda, Portuguese singer and actress (b. 1909)
August 12 - Thomas Mann, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1875)
August 12 - James B. Sumner, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
August 13 - Florence Easton, English opera soprano (b. 1882)
August 28 - Emmett Till, American murder victim (b. 1941)
September 24 - Ib Schønberg, Danish actor (b. 1902)
September 30 - James Dean, American actor (automobile accident) (b. 1931)
October 1 - Charles Christie, American film studio owner (b. 1880)
October 9 - Theodor Cardinal Innitzer, Catholic Archbishop of Vienna (b. 1875)
October 18 - José Ortega y Gasset, Spanish philosopher (b. 1883)
November 4 - Cy Young, baseball player (b. 1867)
November 5 - Maurice Utrillo, French artist (b. 1882)
November 12 - Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer (b. 1878)
November 22 - Shemp Howard, American actor and comedian (b. 1895)
November 27 - Arthur Honegger, French-born Swiss composer (b. 1892)
December 6 - Honus Wagner, baseball player (b. 1874)
December 13 - Egas Moniz, Portuguese neurologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1874)
December 21 - Garegin Njdeh, Armenian statesman (b. 1886)
December 25 - Elizabeth Harrison, daughter of President Benjamin Harrison and Mary Dimmick Harrison (b. 1897)
December 25 - Thomas J. Preston, Jr., professor of Archeology at Princeton University; he married Frances Cleveland, widow of President Grover Cleveland (b. 1862)
December 27 - Alfred Francis Blakeney Carpenter, English soldier (b. 1881)
Nobel prizes
Physics - Willis Eugene Lamb, Polykarp Kusch
Chemistry - Vincent du Vigneaud
Physiology or Medicine- Axel Hugo Theodor Theorell
Literature - Halldór Kiljan Laxness
Peace - not awarded
External links
1955 Coin Pictures
Table of contents
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