“Under God” phrase added to the Pledge of Allegiance
https://youtu.be/Xi8MXIq_0t0 In June 1954, In response to the perceived communist threat during the Cold War, President Eisenhower encouraged Congress to add the words "under God," to the pledge of allegiance. Today the Pledge reads: I pledge allegiance to the flag of...
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Coup D’état in Guatemala
https://youtu.be/uVkthJcKQxg In June 1954, Operation PBSuccess (a covert operation directed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency) orchestrated the invasion of Guatemala from Honduras by a force of Guatemalan mercenaries. The successful coup d'état deposed...
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Popular TV Programs
Popular TV shows 1954 https://youtu.be/NkQ58I53mjk https://youtu.be/ojkTUIelOWI https://youtu.be/VjA4-wSjPWg https://youtu.be/2ylvWg6AV7g Top-rated primetime television series of the 1954–55 season as measured by Nielsen Media Research.[1]...
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First Taiwan Strait Crisis
In August 1954 the Communist People's Republic of China attacked several islands located a few miles from mainland China in the Taiwan Strait that were held by the Nationalist Republic of China. Wikipedia In January 1955, the Formosa Resolution was...
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“The World Series Catch” by Willie Mays
In the 8th inning of game 5 of the September 1954 World Series, New York Giants center fielder Willie Mays made a remarkable over-the-shoulder running catch of a deep center field fly ball to record the out and throw back to...
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Fall of French Indochina
https://youtu.be/ZMPNY9w8OmQ In May 1954 communist Viet Minh forces won a decisive victory over the French colonial army in the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ. The war ended shortly afterward with signing of the 1954 Geneva Accords in which France agreed to withdraw its...
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Brown v. Board of Education
In the landmark 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka the justices ruled unanimously that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional. The case became one of the cornerstones of the civil rights movement,...
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Edward R. Murrow vs. Joseph McCarthy
Edward Roscoe Murrow was an American broadcast journalist and war correspondent who first gained radio prominence with a series of live radio broadcasts from Europe during WWII. In the spring of 1954 the US Senate held a series of hearings to investigate...
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Rock and Roll Music
Rock and roll music evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s from gospel, blues, jazz, boogie woogie, rhythm and blues and country music. Many maintain that the first rock and roll single was Rocket 88, written by Ike Turner, sung...
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Five Shot In U.S. Congress
In March 1954 four Puerto Rican nationalists wanting independence from US rule, shot 30 rounds from semi-automatic pistols from the balcony of the House of Representatives chamber in the United States Capitol. The nationalists unfurled...
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Godzilla, Them and the Creature from the Black Lagoon
1954 was a great year for classic monster movies. https://youtu.be/lM1o1xe5FGE https://youtu.be/CugQcmapiwc
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Jonas Salk and the Polio Vaccine
The first effective polio vaccine was developed in 1952 by Jonas Salk and his team at the University of Pittsburgh. Shortly thereafter, a key laboratory technique that enabled mass production of the vaccine was invented by Leone N. Farrell and her team...
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Marilyn Monroe Marries Joe DiMaggio
In January 1954, Marilyn Monroe and and baseball star Joe DiMaggio were mobbed by reporters and fans when they married in San Francisco. On their honeymoon in Japan, Monroe was asked to perform for American soldiers stationed in Korea. She went, leaving her new...
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Vintage Commercials
With a shift in government spending at the end of the Korean War, the American GDP dropped by 2.2% and unemployment peaked at ~6%. Although the U.S. Federal Reserve tightened monetary policy to curb inflation, spiking interest rates decreased consumer demand. The...
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Nationwide Atom Bomb Drills
The development of the H-bomb committed the United States to an arms race with the Soviet Union. Despite the specter of nuclear holocaust, both the United States and the Soviet Union vied to build ever more powerful nuclear weapons. The Federal Civil Defense...
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Atoms for Peace
https://youtu.be/CQ0bd4cShs8 In December 1953 , Preident Eisenhower delivered his "Atoms for Peace" address to the UN. He called on both the US and Soviet Union to abandon their nuclear arsenals. The "Atoms for Peace" program spread nuclear technology to nations that...
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Memorial Day
Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 1953 May 21, 1953By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Whereas the bodies of our war dead lie buried in hallowed plots throughout the land, and it has long been our custom to decorate their graves on...
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How Much is that Doggie in the Window?
How Much is that Doggie in the Window, written by the novelty tune specialist Bob Merrill and sung by Patti Paige, reached No. 1 on both the Billboard and Cash Box charts in 1953, and sold over two million copies.
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Joseph Stalin Dies
In March 1953 Joseph Stalin died of a stroke at his personal dacha near Moscow. After a state funeral, his body was interred along with Vladimir Lenin in a mausoleum within the Kremlin. Like America's President Roosevelt, Stalin's health had deteriorated towards the...
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Transcontinental Non-stop Flight
https://youtu.be/sfwb9piy9WQ In November 1953 American Airlines began the 1st regular non-stop commercial NY-LA air service with the Douglas DC7 . yesterdays airlines.com 1932 First scheduled cross-country passenger flights with no change of plane 1933...
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Playboy Magazine
In 1953 Hugh Hefner and Eldon Sellers founded Playboy Magazine featuring Marilyn Monroe as its first cover girl and nude centerfold. Although best known for its centerfolds of nude and semi-nude models known as playmates, Playboy has published...
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Nikita Khrushchev
After Joseph Stalin’s death in March 1953 and the execution of the powerful state security chief, Lavrenty Beria—which Khrushchev engineered—Nikita Khrushchev engaged in a power struggle with Georgy Malenkov, who was Stalin’s heir apparent....
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Fashion 1953
https://youtu.be/RVpcykngYqs http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1953.html In 1953 women's hemlines, waistlines and hairlines grew shorter. ... The semi-fitted suit with a narrow jacket very slightly indented at the waist and the form-fitting sheath dress were...
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Coup d’etat in British Guiana
https://youtu.be/b61zp4lQCHk In October 1953, the democratically elected People's Progressive Party (PPP) of British Guyana was removed from power by the British Government—its colonial ruler at that time. The overthrow of the PPP, which had won a landslide...
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Post-Korean War Recession
https://theeconreview.com The recession of 1953 was the first recession occurring in the United States since the Great Depression of the 1930s. With high expenditures to purchase equipment during the Korean War, the inflation rate in the U.S. soared up to 10%,...
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