1955: Encyclopedia - 1955

1955

1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar.

1955 - Events

• January 7 - Marian Anderson is the first African American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
• January 22 - Pentagon announces plan to develop ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) armed with nuclear weapons

1955 - February

• February 8 - Nikolai Bulganin becomes Soviet Premier.
• February 12 - US President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends the first U.S. advisors to South Vietnam.
• 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

1955 - March

• March 20 - Blackboard Jungle opens in 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.

1955 - April

• April 5 - Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• April 5 - 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 12 - The Salk polio vaccine is introduced.
• April 15 - Ray Kroc starts the McDonald's fast food restaurant chain.
• April 18 - Imre Nagy, Premier of Hungary, is ousted for being too moderate.

1955 - May

• May 5 - West Germany becomes a sovereign state.
• May 9 - West Germany joins NATO.
• May 14 - The Warsaw Pact is formed by the communist states of Eastern Europe and the USSR.
• May 31 - The United States Supreme Court orders school integration at "all deliberate speed"

1955 - June

• June 11 - Eighty-three are killed and at least 100 are injured after an Austin-Healey and a Mercedes-Benz collide at the Le Mans Grand Prix.

1955 - July

• July 17 - Disneyland opens.
• July 18 - The first atomic-generated electrical power is sold commercially.
• July 18 - Illinois's Govenor William Stratton signs Loyalty Oath Act that mandates all public employees take a loyalty oath or lose their jobs.
• July 18 - Beginning of Geneva Summit between US, USSR, England, and France.
• July 23 - Geneva Summit between US, USSR, England, and France ends.

1955 - August

• August 19 - Hurricane Diane hits the northeast United States, killing 200 and causing over $1 billion in damage.
• August 20 - Hundreds killed in anti-French rioting in Morocco and Algeria.
• August 25 - The last Soviet forces leave Austria.

1955 - September

• September 10 - Gunsmoke debuts on CBS.
• September 19 - President of Argentina Juan Peron is ousted in a military coup.
• September 19 - Hurricane Hilda kills 200 in Mexico.
• September 22 - Commercial television begins in England.
• September 24 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower suffers coronary thrombosis while on vacation in Denver.
• September 30 - Actor James Dean killed in car accident near Cholame, California.

1955 - October

• October 4 - The Reverend Sun Myung Moon is released from prison in Seoul, Korea.
• October 26 - Ngo Dinh Diem proclaims Vietnam a republic with himself as president.

1955 - November

• November 1 - Time bomb explodes aboard a United Airlines DC-6 killing 44 above Longmont, Colorado.
• November 5 - Racial segregation is forbidden on trains and buses in interstate commerce.
• November 23 - The Cocos Islands are transferred from the control of the United Kingdom to Australia.

1955 - December

• December 1 - Montgomery, Alabama seamstress, Rosa Parks, refuses to give up her bus seat to a white man and is arrested.
• December 5 - The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge to become the AFL-CIO.
• December 14 - Tappan Zee Bridge in New York opens to traffic.
• December 31 - General Motors becomes the first American corporation to make over USD $1 billion in a year.

• 70 mm film is introduced with Oklahoma!.
• Düsseldorf-Mönchengladbach Airport (Flughafen Düsseldorf-Mönchengladbach) was founded.

1955 - Births

1955 - January

• January 2 - Tex Brashear, American voice actor
• January 6 - Rowan Atkinson, English comedian and actor
• January 12 - Rockne O'Bannon, 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 22 - Neil Mallon Bush, son of George H. W. Bush and Barbara Pierce Bush and brother of President George W. Bush
• January 19 - Simon Rattle, English conductor
• January 25 - Terry Chimes, co-founder and drummer of the British punk rock band The Clash
• January 26 - Edward Van Halen, Dutch-born musician
• January 27 - John Roberts, Chief Justice of the United States

1955 - February

• February 3 - Stephen Euin Cobb, American novelist
• February 8 - John Grisham, American novelist
• February 10 - Chris Adams, British professional wrestler (d. 2001)
• February 10 - Greg Norman, Australian golfer
• February 12 - Arsenio Hall, American actor and talk show host
• February 15 - Christopher McDonald, American actor
• February 19 - Jeff Daniels, American actor
• February 20 - Kelsey Grammer, American actor
• February 23 - Howard Jones, English musician
• February 24 - Alain Prost, French race car driver
• February 24 - Steve Jobs, American computer pioneer

1955 - March

• March 5 - Penn Jillette, American magician and comedian
• March 6 - Alberta Watson, Canadian actress
• March 7 - Tommy Kramer, American football player
• March 15 - Dee Snider, American singer
• March 16 - Jiro Watanabe, Japanese boxer
• March 16 - Bruno Barreto, Brazilian film director
• March 17 - Gary Sinise, American actor
• March 19 - Bruce Willis, American actor
• March 22 - Pete Sessions, American politician
• March 23 - Moses Malone, American basketball player
• March 28 - Reba McEntire, American singer and actress
• March 29 - Earl Campbell, American football star
• March 31 - Angus Young, Scottish musician

1955 - April

• April 6 - Michael Rooker, American actor
• April 7 - Werner Stocker, German actor (d. 1993)
• April 8 - Kane Hodder, American actor
• April 11 - Kevin Brady, American politician
• April 15 - Dodi Al-Fayed, Egyptian businessman (d. 1997)
• April 16 - Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg
• April 23 - Tony Miles, English chess player (d. 2001)
• April 29 - Kate Mulgrew, American actress

1955 - May

• May 1 - Ray Buttigieg, Maltese composer and poet
• May 2 - Dave Winer, American software pioneer
• May 3 - David Hookes, Australian cricketer (d. 2004)
• May 3 - Steve Jones, guitarist for Sex Pistols
• May 6 - Tom Bergeron, American television host
• May 9 - Anne-Sofie von Otter, Swedish mezzo-soprano
• May 10 - Chris Berman, American sports broadcaster
• May 10 - Mark David Chapman, American assassin of John Lennon
• May 16 - Olga Korbut, Russian gymnast
• May 16 - Jack Morris, baseball player
• May 16 - Hazel O'Connor, British singer
• May 16 - Debra Winger, American actress
• May 17 - Bill Paxton, American actor
• May 18 - Chow Yun-Fat, Hong Kong actor
• May 20 - Zbigniew Preisner, Polish film composer
• May 21 - Paul Barber, British field hockey player
• May 21 - Stan Lynch, American drummer, songwriter and producer
• May 26 - Masaharu Morimoto, Japanese chef
• May 26 - Doris Dörrie, German actress and screenplay writer
• May 28 - John McGeoch, Scottish musician (Siouxsie and the Banshees and Public Image Ltd.) (d. 2004)
• May 30 - Topper Headon, British drummer (The Clash)

1955 - June

• June 2 - Dana Carvey, American actor and comedian
• June 7 - Tim Richmond, American race car driver (d. 1989)
• June 8 - Tim Berners-Lee, English inventor of the World Wide Web
• June 13 - Larry Mike Garmon, American author
• June 20 - Tor Norretranders, Danish author
• June 21 - Tim Bray, Canadian computer programmer
• June 26 - Mick Jones, British guitarist (The Clash and Big Audio Dynamite)
• June 27 - Isabelle Adjani, French actress

1955 - July

• July 1 - Sanma Akashiya, Japanese comedian and actor
• July 9 - Fred Norris, American radio personality
• July 21 - Howie Epstein, American musician and producer

1955 - August

• August 4 - Billy Bob Thornton, American actor
• August 7 - Vladimir Sorokin, Russian writer
• August 19 - Peter Gallagher, American actor

1955 - September

• September 1 - Bruce Foxton, English musician
• September 10 - Pat Mastelotto, American musician
• September 16 - Robin Yount, baseball player

1955 - October

• October 7 - Yo-Yo Ma, French-born Chinese cellist
• October 10 - David Lee Roth, American rock singer
• October 15 - Kulbir Bhaura, British field hockey player
• October 17 - Mae Jemison, astronaut
• October 19 - Steve Grundy, researcher
• October 21 - Rich Mullins, American musician (d. 1997)
• October 28 - Bill Gates, American software entrepreneur

1955 - November

• November 3 - Phil Simms, American football player
• November 4 - Matti Vanhanen, Prime Minister of Finland
• November 6 - Maria Shriver, American journalist
• November 7 - Detlef Ultsch, German judoka
• November 13 - Whoopi Goldberg, American actress, comedienne, and singer
• November 21 - Kyle Gann, American composer and music critic
• November 23 - Steven Brust, American author
• November 24 - Ian Botham, British cricketer
• November 24 - Elvis Ramone, American drummer The Ramones
• November 24 - Takashi Yuasa, Japanese lawyer

1955 - December

• December 3 - Steven Culp, American actor
• December 4 - Maurizio Bianchi, Italian experimental musician
• 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 18 - Ray Liotta, American actor
• December 21 - Jane Kaczmarek, American actress
• December 27 - Barbara Olson, American television commentator (d. 2001)

1955 - Deaths

1955 - January

• January 2 - Jose Antonio Remon, President of Panama
• January 15 - Yves Tanguy, French painter (b. 1900)
• January 21 - Archie Hahn, American athlete (b. 1880)
• January 31 - John Mott, American YMCA leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1865)

1955 - March

• March 11 - Sir Alexander Fleming, Scottish scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1881)
• March 12 - Charlie Parker, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1920)

1955 - April

• April 7 - Theda Bara, American film actress (b. 1885)
• April 18 - Albert Einstein, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)

1955 - May

• May 4 - Georges Enescu, Romanian composer (b. 1881)
• May 10 - Tommy Burns, American boxer (b. 1881)
• 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)

1955 - July

• July 23 - Cordell Hull, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1871)

1955 - August

• 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)

1955 - September

• September 30 - James Dean, American actor (automobile accident) (b. 1931)

1955 - October

• October 1 - Charles Christie, American film studio owner (b. 1880)
• October 9 - Theodor Cardinal Innitzer, Archbishop of Vienna (b. 1875)

1955 - November

• 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 27 - Arthur Honegger, French-born Swiss composer (b. 1982)

1955 - December

• December 6 - Honus Wagner, baseball player (b. 1874)
• December 13 - Egas Moniz, Portuguese physician and neurologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1874)
• December 27 - Alfred Francis Blakeney Carpenter, English soldier (b. 1881)

1955 - 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

Category: 1955

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "1955", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1955, used and available under the GNU Free Documentation License.