1953 in the United States

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 1953
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Decades:
  • 1930s
  • 1940s
  • 1950s
  • 1960s
  • 1970s
See also:

Events from the year 1953 in the United States.

Incumbents[]

Federal Government[]

  • President: Harry S. Truman (D-Missouri) (until January 20), Dwight D. Eisenhower (R-Kansas/New York) (starting January 20)
  • Vice President: Alben W. Barkley (D-Kentucky) (until January 20), Richard Nixon (R-California) (starting January 20)
  • Chief Justice: Fred M. Vinson (Kentucky) (died September 8), Earl Warren (California) (starting October 5)
  • Speaker of the House of Representatives: Sam Rayburn (D-Texas) (until January 3), Joseph William Martin, Jr. (R-Massachusetts) (starting January 3)
  • Senate Majority Leader:
    • until January 3: Ernest McFarland (D-Arizona)
    • January 3 – July 31: Robert A. Taft (R-Ohio)
    • starting August 3: William F. Knowland (R-California)
  • Congress: 82nd (until January 3), 83rd (starting January 3)

Events[]

January–March[]

January 20: Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes the 34th U.S. President
Richard Nixon becomes the 36th U.S. Vice President
  • January 7 – President Harry S. Truman announces the United States has developed a hydrogen bomb.
  • January 14 – The CIA-sponsored Robertson Panel first meets to discuss the UFO phenomenon.
  • January 19 – 68% of all television sets in the United States are tuned into I Love Lucy to watch Lucille Ball give birth.
  • January 20 – Dwight D. Eisenhower is sworn in as the 34th President of the United States, and Richard Nixon is sworn in as Vice President of the United States.
  • January 22 – The Crucible, a historical drama by Arthur Miller written as an allegory of McCarthyism, opens on Broadway.
  • February 1 – WEEK-TV begins broadcasting in Peoria, Illinois.
  • February 5 – Walt Disney's 14th animated film, Peter Pan, premieres in Chicago. It is Disney's final film to be distributed by RKO.
  • February 11 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower refuses a clemency appeal for Ethel and Julius Rosenberg.
  • February 13 – Transsexual Christine Jorgensen returns to New York after successful sexual reassignment surgery in Denmark.
  • February 19 – Georgia approves the first literature censorship board in the U.S.
  • March 17 – The first nuclear test of Operation Upshot–Knothole is conducted in Nevada, with 1,620 spectators at 3.4 km (2.1 mi).
  • March 19 – The 25th Academy Awards ceremony, emceed by Conrad Nagel, is simultaneously held at RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles (hosted by Bob Hope) and at NBC International Theatre in New York (hosted by Fredric March). It is the first ceremony to be televised. Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth wins Best Motion Picture, while Fred Zinnemann's High Noon, John Huston's Moulin Rouge and John Ford's The Quiet Man all receive the most nominations with seven, with Ford receiving his third Best Director win. Vincente Minnelli's The Bad and the Beautiful wins the most awards with five.
  • March 31 – Due to increasingly lower ridership, Staten Island Rapid Transit closes two of its three-passenger lines (South Beach & North Shore).

April–June[]

  • April 11 – The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare begins operations, the first new Cabinet-level department since the Department of Labor's formation in 1913.
  • May 11 – The 1953 Waco tornado outbreak: an F5 tornado hits in the downtown section of Waco, Texas, killing 114.
  • May 25 – Nuclear testing: at the Nevada Test Site, the United States conducts its first and only nuclear artillery test: Upshot–Knothole Grable.
  • June 8 – Flint–Worcester tornado outbreak sequence: a tornado kills 115 in Flint, Michigan (the last to claim more than 100 lives).
  • June 9
    • CIA Technical Services Staff head Sidney Gottlieb approves of the use of LSD in a MKULTRA subproject.
    • Flint–Worcester tornado outbreak sequence: a tornado spawned from the same storm system as the Flint tornado hits in Worcester, Massachusetts, killing 94.
  • June 19 – The U.S. executes Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for spying for the USSR.
  • June 30 – The first Chevrolet Corvette is built at Flint, Michigan.

July–September[]

  • July 18 – Howard Hawks's musical film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, starring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell, is released by 20th Century Fox.
  • July 26 – The Short Creek raid is carried out on a polygynous Mormon sect in Arizona.
  • July 27 – The Korean War ends: The United States, the People's Republic of China, North Korea and South Korea sign an armistice agreement.
  • July 28 – Burger King opens its first restaurant in Jacksonville, Florida.
  • August 5 – Operation Big Switch: U.S. prisoners of war are repatriated after the Korean War.
  • August 17 – The first planning session of Narcotics Anonymous is held in Southern California. Its first meeting is held October 5.
  • August 18 – The second Kinsey Report, Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, on American sexual habits, is issued.
  • August 19 – Cold War: 1953 Iranian coup d'état ("Operation Ajax") – The CIA helps to overthrow the democratic government of Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran and retain Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi on the throne.
  • August 20 – The U.S. returns to West Germany 382 ships it had captured during World War II.
  • September 9 – The Supreme Court decision in Rumely v. United States affirms that indirect lobbying in the U.S. by distribution of books intended to influence opinion is a public good and not subject to regulation by Congress.[1]
  • September 28 – Six year old boy Bobby Greenlease is kidnapped in Kansas City, Missouri and murdered in Lenexa, Kansas, despite his father paying the largest ever ransom payment in American history at the time.[2]

October–December[]

  • October 5
    • Earl Warren is appointed Chief Justice of the United States by U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower.
    • The New York Yankees defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4 games to 2, to win their 16th World Series title in baseball.
  • October 10 – Mutual Defense Treaty Between the United States and the Republic of Korea is concluded in Washington D.C.
  • October 12 – The play The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial opens at Plymouth Theatre, New York.
  • October 19 – Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, is published
  • October 30 – Cold War: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally approves the top secret document of the United States National Security Council NSC 162/2, which states that the United States' arsenal of nuclear weapons must be maintained and expanded to counter the communist threat.
  • December – Hugh Hefner publishes the first issue of Playboy magazine: it sells 54,175 copies at $.50 each.
  • December 6 – With the NBC Symphony Orchestra, conductor Arturo Toscanini performs what he claims is his favorite Beethoven symphony, Eroica, for the last time. The live performance is broadcast nationwide on radio, and later released on records and CD.
  • December 8 – U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers his Atoms for Peace address to the UN General Assembly in New York City.
  • December 18 – Carl Hall and Bonnie Brown are both executed in the Missouri gas chamber after pleading guilty to the Murder and kidnapping of six year old Bobby Greenlease;[3] she is the third woman in history (and last until 2021) to be executed by federal authorities.
  • December 25 – Amami Islands are returned to Japan after 8 years of United States Military occupation.

Date unknown[]

  • Harold Butler and his first partner open Danny's Donuts (later Denny's) in Lakewood, California.[4]
  • Swanson introduce the TV dinner.

Ongoing[]

  • Cold War (1947–1991)
  • Second Red Scare (1947–1957)
  • Korean War (1950–1953)

Births[]

  • January 1
    • Gary Johnson, 29th Governor of New Mexico, Libertarian Party nominee for President.
    • Lynn Jones, baseball player and coach
  • January 2 – Vincent Racaniello, virologist, author and academic
  • January 4 – James Warren, journalist and publisher
  • January 5 – Steve Archer, singer-songwriter and producer
  • January 8 – Bruce Sutter, baseball player
  • January 11 – Jim Clendenen, winemaker (died 2021)
  • January 13 – Luann Ryon, archer[5]
  • January 15 – Kent Hovind, Christian fundamentalist evangelist and tax protester
  • January 20 – Jeffrey Epstein, financier and sex offender (died 2019)
  • January 21
    • Paul Allen, entrepreneur and co-founder of Microsoft (died 2018)
    • Glenn Kaiser, Christian blues-rock, heavy metal and R&B singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • January 23 – Robin Zander, singer and guitarist (Cheap Trick)
  • January 24 – Tim Stoddard, baseball player and coach
  • January 29
    • Nate Barnett, basketball player
    • Caesar Cervin, soccer player and coach
    • Dennis Delaney, actor and playwright
    • Paul Fusco, puppeteer and voice actor
    • Steve March-Tormé, singer-songwriter
    • Louie Pérez, singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • Dwight Takamine, lawyer and politician
    • Charlie Wilson, singer-songwriter; producer (The Gap Band)
  • February 3 – Ron Williamson, baseball player wrongly convicted of rape and murder (died 2004)[6]
  • February 7 – Dan Quisenberry, baseball player and poet (died 1998)
  • February 11 – Jeb Bush, 43rd Governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007, second son of President George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush; younger brother of President George W. Bush
  • February 15 – John Goodsall, guitarist
  • March 1 – Luther Strange, U.S. Senator from Alabama from 2017 to 2018
  • March 2 – Russ Feingold, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin from 1993 to 2011
  • March 13 – Michael Curry, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church from 2015
  • March 26 – Lincoln Chafee, U.S. Senator from Rhode Island from 1999 to 2007
  • April 9 – Hal Ketchum, country singer-songwriter (died 2020)
  • April 16
    • Douglas M. Fraser, general
    • J. Neil Schulman, author, actor, director and producer
  • April 20 – Carrie Mae Weems, photographer
  • April 26 – Linda Thompson, lawyer and conspiracy theorist (died 2009)
  • May 12 – Kevin Grevey, basketball player and sportscaster
  • May 26
    • Kay Hagan, U.S. Senator from North Carolina from 2009 to 2015
    • Dan Roundfield, basketball player (died 2012)
  • May 29
  • June 10 – John Edwards, U.S. Senator from North Carolina from 1999 to 2005
  • June 11 – Barbara Minty, model
  • June 13 – Tim Allen, comedian, actor, voice-over artist and entertainer
  • June 18 – Bruce Seals, basketball player (died 2020)
  • July 6
    • Nanci Griffith, country folk singer-songwriter (died 2021)
    • Mike Riley, football head coach
  • July 15 – Alvin Neelley, murderer (died 2005)[9]
  • July 24 – Claire McCaskill, U.S. Senator from Missouri from 2007 to 2019
  • July 28 – Don Black, white supremacist
  • August 8 – Don Most, actor and director
  • August 19 – Mary Matalin, political consultant
  • September 24 – Peter Halley, painter and educator
  • October 15
    • Tito Jackson, singer-songwriter and guitarist[10]
    • Larry Miller, actor and screenwriter
    • Walter Jon Williams, author
  • October 25 – Ajamu Baraka, human rights activist and the Green Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in the 2016 election
  • October 28 – Desmond Child, songwriter and producer
  • November 14 – Phil Baron, voice actor, puppeteer and songwriter
  • November 15 – James Widdoes, actor, director and producer
  • November 18 - Kath Soucie, voice actress
  • November 25 – Katherine Zappone, human rights activist and independent politician in the Republic of Ireland
  • December 6
    • Tom Hulce, actor
    • Dwight Stones, high jumper and sportscaster
    • Gary Ward, baseball player and coach
  • December 10 – Chris Bury, journalist and academic
  • December 27 – Sheila Dixon, Democrat mayor of Baltimore and criminal[11]

Deaths[]

  • January 1 – Hank Williams, country singer-songwriter (born 1923)
  • January 7 – Osa Johnson, adventurer and filmmaker, wife of Martin Johnson (born 1894)
  • March 12 – James Hard, last verified living Union combat veteran of the American Civil War (born 1842)
  • May 30 – Dooley Wilson, African American actor, singer and drummer (born 1886)
  • June 3 – Florence Price, African American classical composer (born 1887)
  • August 7 – Abner Powell, Major League Baseball player (born 1860)
  • September 2 – Jonathan M. Wainwright, general (born 1883)
  • September 5
  • September 8 – Fred M. Vinson, Chief Justice of the U.S. (born 1890)
  • September 13 – Mary Brewster Hazelton, portrait painter (born 1868)
  • September 28 – Edwin Hubble, astronomer (born 1889)
  • October 3 – Florence R. Sabin, medical scientist (born 1871)
  • November 18 – Ruth Crawford Seeger, modernist composer and folk music arranger (born 1901)
  • November 21 – Larry Shields, dixieland jazz clarinetist (born 1893)
  • November 27 – Eugene O'Neill, playwright (born 1888)
  • December 14 – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, novelist (born 1896)
  • December 19 – Robert Andrews Millikan, physicist Nobel Prize laureate (born 1868)
  • December 21 – Nicholas H. Heck, geophysicist, oceanographer and surveyor (born 1882)

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ 345 U.S. 41 (1953).
  2. ^ "A Byte Out of History: The Bobby Greenlease Kidnapping". Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  3. ^ "Kidnap Killers Die Side by side Amid Swirling Clouds of Cyanide". Jefferson City Post-Tribune. Jefferson City, Missouri. 1953-12-18. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "About Us". Denny's. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
  5. ^ "Luann Marie RYON - Olympic Archery | United States of America". International Olympic Committee. 14 June 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  6. ^ "THE INNOCENT MAN -THE STORY OF RONALD WILLIAMSON". June 6, 2015.
  7. ^ Dennis Franks, former Michigan, Lions center, dies at age 68
  8. ^ Longtime WIP host Big Daddy Graham dies at 68
  9. ^ Frasier, David K. (November 9, 1996). Murder Cases of the Twentieth Century: Biographies and Bibliographies of 280 Convicted Or Accused Killers. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9780786401840 – via Google Books.
  10. ^ Chase's Annual Events. Contemporary Books. 1994. p. 413. ISBN 978-0-8092-3732-6.
  11. ^ "Sheila Dixon -".

External links[]

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