    __notoc__  ==events== ===january=== * january 1 â the soviet union ceases to demand war reparations from east germany. * january 10 â boac flight 781, a de havilland comet jet plane, disintegrates in mid-air due to metal fatigue and crashes in the mediterranean near elba. all 35 people on board are killed. * january 12 â avalanches in austria kill more than 200. * january 14 â marilyn monroe marries baseball player joe dimaggio. * january 15 â mau mau leader waruhiu itote is captured in kenya. * january 17 â in yugoslavia, milovan Äilas, one of the leading members of the league of communists of yugoslavia, is relieved of his duties. * january 20 â the u.s.-based national negro network is established with forty-six member radio stations. * january 21 â the first nuclear-powered submarine, the , is launched in groton, connecticut, by first lady of the united states mamie eisenhower. * january 25 â the foreign ministers of the united states, britain, france and the soviet union meet at the berlin conference.  ===february=== * february 3 â elizabeth ii becomes the first reigning monarch to visit australia. * february 10 â after authorizing $385 million over the $400 million already budgeted for military aid to vietnam, president of the united states dwight d. eisenhower warns against his country's intervention in vietnam. * february 19 â 1954 transfer of crimea: the soviet politburo of the soviet union orders the transfer the crimean oblast from the russian sfsr to the ukrainian ssr. * february 23 â the first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in pittsburgh, united states. * february 25 â lt. col. gamal abdel nasser becomes premier of egypt. === march === * march 1 ** u.s. officials announce that a hydrogen bomb test (castle bravo) has been conducted on bikini atoll in the pacific ocean. ** u.s. capitol shooting incident: four puerto rican nationalists open fire in the united states house of representatives chamber and wound five; they are apprehended by security guards. * march 9 â american journalists edward r. murrow and fred w. friendly produce a 30-minute see it now documentary, entitled a report on senator joseph mccarthy. * march 12 â finland and germany officially end their state of war. * 
1954