1955

Events from the year **1955 in the United States**.

* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Joseph William Martin Jr. (R-MA) (until January 3), Sam Rayburn (D-TX) (starting January 3)
* Senate Majority Leader: William F. Knowland (R-CA) (until January 3), Lyndon B. Johnson (D-TX) (starting January 3)
* Congress: 83rd (until January 3), 84th (starting January 3)

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: Gordon Persons (Democratic) (until January 17), Jim Folsom (Democratic) (starting January 17)
* Governor of Arizona: John Howard Pyle (Republican) (until January 3), Ernest McFarland (Democratic) (starting January 3)
* Governor of Arkansas: Francis Cherry (Democratic) (until January 11), Orval Faubus (Democratic) (starting January 11)
* Governor of California: Goodwin Jess Knight (Republican)
* Governor of Colorado: Daniel I. J. Thornton (Republican) (until January 11), Edwin C. Johnson (Democratic) (starting January 11)
* Governor of Connecticut: John Davis Lodge (Republican) (until January 5), Abraham A. Ribicoff (Democratic) (starting January 5)
* Governor of Delaware: J. Caleb Boggs (Republican)
* Governor of Florida: Charley Eugene Johns (Democratic) (until January 4), LeRoy Collins (Democratic) (starting January 4)
* Governor of Georgia: Herman Talmadge (Democratic) (until January 11), Marvin Griffin (Democratic) (starting January 11)
* Governor of Idaho: Leonard B. Jordan (Republican) (until January 3), Robert E. Smylie (Republican) (starting January 3)
* Governor of Illinois: William G. Stratton (Republican)
* Governor of Indiana: George N. Craig (Republican)
* Governor of Iowa: Leo Elthon (Republican) (until January 13), Leo A. Hoegh (Republican) (starting January 13)
* Governor of Kansas: Edward F. Arn (Republican) (until January 10), Fred Hall (Republican) (starting January 10)
* Governor of Kentucky: Lawrence W. Wetherby (Democratic) (until December 13), Happy Chandler (Democratic) (starting December 13)
* Governor of Louisiana: Robert F. Kennon (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine: Burton M. Cross (Republican) (until January 5), Edmund Muskie (Democratic) (starting January 5)
* Governor of Maryland: Theodore R. McKeldin (Republican)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Christian A. Herter (Republican)
* Governor of Michigan: G. Mennen Williams (Democratic)
* Governor of Minnesota: C. Elmer Anderson (Republican) (until January 5), Orville L. Freeman (Democratic) (starting January 5)
* Governor of Mississippi: Hugh L. White (Democratic)
* Governor of Missouri: Phil M. Donnelly (Democratic)
* Governor of Montana: J. Hugo Aronson (Republican)
* Governor of Nebraska: Robert B. Crosby (Republican) (until January 6), Victor E. Anderson (Republican) (starting January 6)
* Governor of Nevada: Charles H. Russell (Republican)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Hugh Gregg (Republican) (until January 6), Lane Dwinell (Republican) (starting January 6)
* Governor of New Jersey: Robert B. Meyner (Democratic)
* Governor of New Mexico: Edwin L. Mechem (Republican) (until January 1), John F. Simms (Democratic) (starting January 1)
* Governor of New York: W. Averell Harriman (Democratic)
* Governor of North Carolina: Luther H. Hodges (Democratic)
* Governor of North Dakota: Clarence Norman Brunsdale (Republican)
* Governor of Ohio: Frank J. Lausche (Democratic)
* Governor of Oklahoma: Johnston Murray (Democratic) (until January 10), Raymond D. Gary (Democratic) (starting January 10)
* Governor of Oregon: Paul L. Patterson (Republican)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: John S. Fine (Republican) (until January 18), George M. Leader (Democratic) (starting January 18)
* Governor of Rhode Island: Dennis J. Roberts (Democratic)
* Governor of South Carolina: James Francis Byrnes (Democratic) (until January 18), George Bell Timmerman Jr. (Democratic) (starting January 18)
* Governor of South Dakota: Sigurd Anderson (Republican) (until January 4), Joe Foss (Republican) (starting January 4)
* Governor of Tennessee: Frank G. Clement (Democratic)
* Governor of Texas: Allan Shivers (Democratic)
* Governor of Utah: J. Bracken Lee (Republican)
* Governor of Vermont: Lee E. Emerson (Republican) (until January 6), Joseph B. Johnson (Republican) (starting January 6)
* Governor of Virginia: Thomas Bahnson Stanley (Democratic)
* Governor of Washington: Arthur B. Langlie (Republican)
* Governor of West Virginia: William C. Marland (Democratic)
* Governor of Wisconsin: Walter J. Kohler Jr. (Republican)
* Governor of Wyoming: Clifford Joy Rogers (Republican) (until January 3), Milward L. Simpson (Republican) (until January 3)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: James B. Allen (Democratic) (until January 17), William G. Hardwick (Democratic) (starting January 17)
* Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas: Nathan Green Gordon (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of California: Harold J. Powers (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: Gordon L. Allott (Republican) (until January 11), Stephen L. R. McNichols (Democratic) (starting January 11)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Edward N. Allen (Republican) (until January 5), Charles W. Jewett (Democratic) (starting January 5)
* Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: John W. Rollins (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Georgia: Marvin Griffin (Democratic) (until January 11), S. Ernest Vandiver (Democratic) (starting January 11)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: Edson H. Deal (Republican) (until January 3), J. Berkeley Larsen (Republican) (starting January 3)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: John William Chapman (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Harold W. Handley (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: Leo Elthon (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Fred Hall (Republican) (until January 10), John McCuish (Republican) (starting January 10)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Emerson Beauchamp (Democratic) (until December 13), Harry Lee Waterfield (Democratic) (starting December 13)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: C. E. "Cap" Barham (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Sumner G. Whittier (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Clarence A. Reid (Republican) (until January 1), Philip A. Hart (Democratic) (starting January 1)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Donald O. Wright (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Karl Rolvaag (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: Carroll Gartin (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: James T. Blair Jr. (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana: George M. Gosman (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: Charles J. Warner (Republican) (until September 24), vacant (starting September 24)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: vacant (until month and day unknown), Rex Bell (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico: Tibo J. Chavez (Democratic) (until January 1), Joseph Montoya (Democratic) (starting January 1)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: vacant (until January 1), George DeLuca (Democratic) (starting January 1)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: vacant
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Clarence P. Dahl (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: John William Brown (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma: James E. Berry (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Cowboy Pink Williams (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Lloyd H. Wood (Republican) (until January 18), Roy E. Furman (Democratic) (starting January 18)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: John S. McKiernan (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: George Bell Timmerman Jr. (Democratic) (until January 18), Ernest Hollings (Democratic) (starting January 18)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: Rex A. Terry (Republican) (until January 4), L. Roy Houck (Republican) (starting January 4)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: Jared Maddux (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: Ben Ramsey (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Joseph B. Johnson (Republican) (until January 6), Consuelo N. Bailey (Republican) (starting January 6)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Allie Edward Stokes Stephens (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Washington: Emmett T. Anderson (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: George M. Smith (Republican) (until January 3), Warren P. Knowles (Republican) (starting January 3)

## Events

### January

* January 7 – Marian Anderson is the first African-American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
* January 22 – The Pentagon announces a plan to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) armed with nuclear weapons.
* 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 1 – Major tornadoes in Mississippi.
* February 10 – The Seventh Fleet of the United States Navy helps the Republic of China evacuate Chinese Nationalist army and residents from the Tachen Islands to Taiwan.
* February 12 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends the first U.S. advisors to South Vietnam.
* February 14 – WFLA-TV signs on the air in Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida.
* 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 264,77.

### March

* March 2 – Claudette Colvin, a fifteen-year-old African-American girl, refuses to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, to a white woman after the driver demands it. She is carried off the bus backwards whilst being kicked and handcuffed and harassed on the way to the police station. She becomes a plaintiff in *Browder v. Gayle* (1956), which rules bus segregation to be unconstitutional.
* March 5 – WBBJ signs on the air in the Jackson, Tennessee as WDXI, to expanded U.S. commercial television in rural areas.
* 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 this time and becomes one of the first great television classics.
* March 12 – African-American jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker dies in New York City at age 34.
* March 19 – KXTV of Stockton, California signs on the air as the 100th commercial television station in the U.S.
* March 20 – The film adaptation of Evan Hunter's *Blackboard Jungle* premieres, featuring the famous single "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets. Teenagers jump from their seats to dance to the song. On July 9 it becomes the first Rock and roll single to reach Number One on the U.S. charts.
* March 26 – Bill Hayes tops the U.S. charts for five weeks with "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" and starts a (fake) coonskin cap craze.
* March 28 – The important income tax case of *Commissioner v. Glenshaw Glass Co.* is decided in the Supreme Court.
* March 30 – The 27th Academy Awards ceremony is simultaneously held at RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood (hosted by Bob Hope) and at NBC Century Theatre in New York (hosted by Thelma Ritter). Elia Kazan's *On the Waterfront* wins and receives the most respective awards and nominations with eight and 12, including Best Motion Picture and Kazan's second Best Director win.

### April

* April 1 – Theresa Meikle becomes the presiding judge of San Francisco County Superior Court, the first woman elected to such a position in any major U.S. city.
* April 5 – Richard J. Daley defeats Robert Merrian to become mayor of Chicago by a vote of 708,222 to 581,555.
* April 10 – In the National Basketball Association championship, the Syracuse Nationals defeat the Fort Wayne Pistons 92-91 in Game 7 to win the title.
* April 12 – Jonas Salk's polio vaccine, having passed large-scale trials earlier in the U.S., receives full approval by the Food and Drug Administration.
* April 14 – The Detroit Red Wings win the Stanley Cup in ice hockey for the 7th time in franchise history, but will not win again until 1997.
* April 15 – Ray Kroc opens his first McDonald's in Des Plaines, Illinois.

### May

* May 9 – A young Jim Henson introduces the earliest version of Kermit the Frog (made in March), in the premiere of his puppet show *Sam and Friends*, on WRC-TV in Washington, D.C.
* May 21 – Chuck Berry records his first single, "Maybellene", for Chess Records in Chicago.

### June

* June 7 – *The $64,000 Question* premieres on CBS television, with Hal March as the host.
* June 16 – *Lady and the Tramp*, Walt Disney's 15th animated feature film, premieres in Chicago. It is the first animated film distributed by Disney's own Buena Vista Film Distribution and the first filmed in CinemaScope widescreen.

### July

* July 17
	+ The Disneyland theme park opens in Anaheim, California, an event broadcast on the ABC television network.
	+ The first atomic-generated electrical power is sold commercially, partially powering Arco, Idaho, from the National Reactor Testing Station; on July 18, Schenectady, New York, receives power from a prototype nuclear submarine reactor at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory.
* July 18
	+ Illinois Governor William Stratton signs the Loyalty Oath Act, that mandates all public employees take a loyalty oath to the State of Illinois and the U.S. or lose their jobs.
	+ Geneva Summit between the U.S., Soviet Union, United Kingdom and France.

### August

* August 1 – The prototype Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft first flies, in Nevada.
* August 4 – American Airlines Flight 476, a Convair CV-240-0 attempting an emergency landing at Forney Army Airfield, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri following an engine fire, crashes just short of the runway; all 27 passengers and three crew members are killed.
* August 19 – Hurricane Diane hits the northeast, killing 200 and causing over $1 billion in damage.
* August 22 – Eleven schoolchildren are killed when their school bus is hit by a freight train in Spring City, Tennessee.
* August 28 – Black 14-year-old Emmett Till is lynched and shot in the head for allegedly grabbing and threatening a white woman in Money, Mississippi; his white murderers, Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam, are acquitted by an all-white jury.

### September

* September 3 – African American rock singer Little Richard records "Tutti Frutti" in New Orleans; it is released in October.
* September 10 – Western series *Gunsmoke* debuts on the CBS television network.
* September 24 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower suffers a coronary thrombosis while on vacation in Denver.
* September 26 – "America's Sweethearts", singers Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, marry.
* September 30 – Film actor James Dean, aged 24, is killed when his Porsche 550 Spyder collides with another automobile at a highway junction near Cholame, California.

### October

* October 1 – First meeting of the lesbian group that becomes the Daughters of Bilitis.
* October 3 – *The Mickey Mouse Club* airs on the ABC television network.
* October 4 – The Brooklyn Dodgers 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 Rodgers and Hammerstein's masterpiece *Oklahoma!*.
* October 20 – Disc jockey Bill Randle of WERE (Cleveland) is the key presenter of a concert at Brooklyn High School in Ohio, featuring Pat Boone and Bill Haley & His Comets and opening with Elvis Presley, not only Elvis's first performance north of the Mason–Dixon line, but also his first filmed performance, for a documentary on Randle titled *The Pied Piper of Cleveland*.
* October 27 – The film *Rebel Without a Cause*, starring James Dean, is released.

### 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.
* 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.
* November 20 – Bo Diddley makes his television debut on Ed Sullivan's *Toast Of The Town* show for the CBS network.
* November 27 – Fred Phelps establishes the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas.

### December

* December 1 – Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to surrender her seat on a bus to a white person in Montgomery, Alabama.
* 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 the Montgomery bus boycott by Black people.
* December 14 – Tappan Zee Bridge in New York opens to traffic.
* December 15 – Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues", recorded on July 30, is released by Sun Records.
* December 22 – Cytogeneticist Joe Hin Tjio discovers the correct number of human chromosomes (46).
* December 31
	+ General Motors becomes the first American corporation to make over US$1 billion in a year.
	+ Michigan J. Frog, a Warner Bros. cartoon character, makes his debut in *One Froggy Evening*.

## Memoriam

### January

* January 1 – Arthur C. Parker, part-Seneca archeologist and ethnographer of Native Americans (aged 73; Canandaigua, NY, USA)
* January 20 – Robert P. T. Coffin, poet, essayist and novelist (aged 62; Brunswick, ME, USA)
* January 21 – Archie Hahn, sprinter (aged 74; Charlottesville, VA, USA)
* January 24 – Ira Hayes, Native American U.S. Marine flag raiser on Iwo Jima (aged 32; Bapchule, AZ, USA)
* January 31 – John Mott, YMCA leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (aged 89; Orlando, FL, USA)

### February

* February 11 – Ona Munson, actress (aged 51; New York City, NY, USA)
* February 12 – Tom Moore, Irish-American film actor (aged 71; Santa Monica, CA, USA)
* February 20 – Oswald Avery, physician and medical researcher (aged 77; Nashville, TN, USA)
* February 22 – John T. Walker, Marine Corps lieutenant general (aged 61; San Diego, CA, USA)
* February 27 – Trixie Friganza, actress (aged 84; Flintridge, CA, USA)

### March

* March 3 – Katharine Drexel, Roman Catholic saint (aged 96; Bensalem, PA, USA)
* March 8 – William C. deMille, screenwriter and director (aged 76; Playa del Rey, CA, USA)
* March 9 – Matthew Henson, African-American explorer (aged 88; Bronx, NY, USA)
* March 12 – Charlie Parker, African-American jazz saxophonist (aged 34; New York City, NY, USA)
* March 24
	+ John W. Davis, politician, diplomat and lawyer (aged 81; Charleston, SC, USA)
	+ Paul V. McNutt, 34th Governor of Indiana (aged 63; New York City, NY, USA)

### April

* April 1 – Robert R. McCormick, newspaper publisher (Chicago Tribune) (aged 74; Wheaton, IL, USA)
* April 7 – Theda Bara, silent film actress (aged 69; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* April 14 – Cleveland Abbott, African-American football player and coach (aged 60; Tuskegee, AL, USA)
* April 18 – Albert Einstein, theoretical physicist, developer of theory of relativity (aged 76; Princeton, NJ, USA)

### May

* May 2 – Truman Abbe, surgeon who received awards for his research on radium in medicine (aged 81; Washington, DC, USA)
* May 11
	+ Francis Pierlot, actor (aged 79; Hollywood, CA, USA)
	+ Bradley Walker Tomlin, painter (aged 53; New York City, NY, USA)
* May 14 – Charles Pelot Summerall, general (aged 88; Washington, DC, USA)
* May 16 – James Agee, writer (aged 45; New York City, NY, USA)
* May 18 – Mary McLeod Bethune, educator (aged 79; Daytona Beach, FL, USA)
* May 22 – Richard "Skeets" Gallagher, actor (aged 63; Santa Monica, CA, USA)
* May 30 – Bill Vukovich, race-car driver (aged 36; Indianapolis, IN, USA)

### June

* June 5 – Pattillo Higgins, oil pioneer and businessman (aged 91; San Antonio, TX, USA)
* June 10 – Margaret Abbott, golfer, first American woman to take first place in the Olympics (aged 76; Greenwich, CT, USA)
* June 11 – Walter Hampden, film actor (aged 75; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* June 17 – Carlyle Blackwell, actor (aged 71; Miami, FL, USA)

### July

* July 13 – Stanley Price, film and television actor (aged 62; Garden Grove, CA, USA)
* July 23 – Cordell Hull, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (aged 83; Washington, DC, USA)
* July 31 – Robert Francis, actor (aged 25; Burbank, CA, USA)

### August

* August 2 – Wallace Stevens, poet (aged 75; Hartford, CT, USA)
* August 5 – Carmen Miranda, Portuguese-born Brazilian singer and actress (aged 46; Beverly Hills, CA, USA)
* August 8 – Grace Hartman, actress (aged 48; Van Nuys, CA, USA)
* August 11 – Robert W. Wood, optical physicist (aged 87; Amityville, NY, USA)
* August 12 – James B. Sumner, chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (aged 67; Buffalo, NY, USA)
* August 14 – Herbert Putnam, Librarian of Congress (aged 93; Woods Hole, MA, USA)
* August 22 – Olin Downes, music critic (aged 69; New York City, NY, USA)
* August 28 – Emmett Till, murder victim (aged 14; Drew, MS, USA)

### September

* September 1 – Philip Loeb, actor (aged 64; New York City, NY, USA)
* September 2 – Stephen Victor Graham, United States Navy Rear Admiral and 18th Governor of American Samoa (aged 81; Washington, DC, USA)
* September 3 – Georgina Jones, tennis player (aged 73; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* September 20 – Robert Riskin, screenwriter (aged 58; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* September 23 – Martha Norelius, Olympic swimmer (aged 46; St. Louis, MO, USA)
* September 27 – Leslie Garland Bolling, African-American sculptor (aged 57; New York City, NY, USA)
* September 28 – Sarah Blizzard, labor activist (aged 90; WV, USA)
* September 30
	+ James Dean, film actor (aged 24; Cholame, CA, USA)
	+ Louis Leon Thurstone, pioneer of psychometrics and psychophysics (aged 68; Chapel Hill, NC, USA)

### October

* October 1 – Charles Christie, film studio owner (aged 75; Hollywood, CA, USA)
* October 8 – Iry LeJeune, Cajun musician (aged 26; Basile, LA, USA)
* October 9 – Alice Joyce, actress (aged 65; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* October 19 – John Hodiak, film actor (aged 41; Tarzana, CA, USA)
* October 31 – William Woodward Jr., banker and horse breeder, shot in mariticide (aged 35; Oyster Bay, NY, USA)

### November

* November 1 – Dale Carnegie, writer and lecturer (aged 66; Forest Hills, NY, USA)
* November 4 – Cy Young, baseball player (Cleveland Spiders), member of MLB Hall of Fame (aged 88; Newcomerstown, OH, USA)
* November 9 – Tom Powers, actor (aged 65; Manhattan Beach, CA, USA)
* November 11 – Jerry Ross, lyricist and composer (aged 29; Hartsdale, NY, USA)
* November 14 – Robert E. Sherwood, playwright (aged 59; New York City, NY, USA)
* November 15 – Lloyd Bacon, actor and film director (aged 65; Burbank, CA, USA)
* November 29 – Rene Paul Chambellan, sculptor (aged 62; Jersey City, NJ, USA)

### December

* December 1 – Chief Thundercloud, character actor (aged 56; Ventura, CA, USA)
* December 6
	+ George Platt Lynes, photographer (aged 48; New York City, NY, USA)
	+ Honus Wagner, baseball player (Pittsburgh Pirates), member of MLB Hall of Fame (aged 81; Carnegie, PA, USA)
* December 22 – Otto Eppers, cartoonist (aged 62; New York City, NY, USA)
* December 25
	+ Thomas J. Preston Jr., professor of archeology at Princeton University; second husband of Frances Cleveland (widow of President Grover Cleveland) (aged 93; South Orange, NJ, USA)
	+ Elizabeth Harrison Walker, daughter of President Benjamin Harrison and Mary Dimmick Harrison (aged 58; New York City, NY, USA)