1953

Events from the year **1953 in the United States**.

## Incumbents

### Federal Government

* President: Harry S. Truman (D-MO) (until January 20), Dwight D. Eisenhower (R-KS/NY) (starting January 20)
* Vice President: Alben W. Barkley (D-KY) (until January 20), Richard Nixon (R-CA) (starting January 20)
* Chief Justice: Fred M. Vinson (KY) (died September 8), Earl Warren (CA) (starting October 5)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Sam Rayburn (D-TX) (until January 3), Joseph William Martin Jr. (R-MA) (starting January 3)
* Senate Majority Leader:
	+ until January 3: Ernest McFarland (D-AZ)
	+ January 3 – July 31: Robert A. Taft (R-OH)
	+ starting August 3: William F. Knowland (R-CA)
* Congress: 82nd (until January 3), 83rd (starting January 3)

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: Gordon Persons (Democratic)
* Governor of Arizona: John Howard Pyle (Republican)
* Governor of Arkansas: Sid McMath (Democratic) (until January 13), Francis Cherry (Democratic) (starting January 13)
* Governor of California: Earl Warren (Republican) (until October 5), Goodwin Jess Knight (Republican) (starting October 5)
* Governor of Colorado: Daniel I. J. Thornton (Republican)
* Governor of Connecticut: John Davis Lodge (Republican)
* Governor of Delaware: Elbert N. Carvel (Democratic) (until January 20), J. Caleb Boggs (Republican) (starting January 20)
* Governor of Florida:
	+ until January 6: Fuller Warren (Democratic)
	+ January 6-September 28: Daniel T. McCarty (Democratic)
	+ starting September 28: Charley Eugene Johns (Democratic)
* Governor of Georgia: Herman Talmadge (Democratic)
* Governor of Idaho: Leonard B. Jordan (Republican)
* Governor of Illinois: Adlai E. Stevenson II (Democratic) (until January 12), William G. Stratton (Republican) (starting January 12)
* Governor of Indiana: Henry F. Schricker (Democratic) (until January 12), George N. Craig (Republican) (starting January 12)
* Governor of Iowa: William S. Beardsley (Republican)
* Governor of Kansas: Edward F. Arn (Republican)
* Governor of Kentucky: Lawrence W. Wetherby (Democratic)
* Governor of Louisiana: Robert F. Kennon (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine:
	+ until January 6: Burton M. Cross (Republican)
	+ January 6-January 7: Nathaniel M. Haskell (Republican)
	+ starting January 7: Burton M. Cross (Republican)
* Governor of Maryland: Theodore R. McKeldin (Republican)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Paul A. Dever (Democratic) (until January 8), Christian A. Herter (Republican) (starting January 8)
* Governor of Michigan: G. Mennen Williams (Democratic)
* Governor of Minnesota: C. Elmer Anderson (Republican)
* Governor of Mississippi: Hugh L. White (Democratic)
* Governor of Missouri: Forrest Smith (Democratic) (until January 12), Phil M. Donnelly (Democratic) (starting January 12)
* Governor of Montana: John W. Bonner (Democratic) (until January 5), J. Hugo Aronson (Republican) (starting January 5)
* Governor of Nebraska: Val Peterson (Republican) (until January 8), Robert B. Crosby (Republican) (starting January 8)
* Governor of Nevada: Charles H. Russell (Republican)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Sherman Adams (Republican) (until January 1), Hugh Gregg (Republican) (starting January 1)
* Governor of New Jersey: Alfred E. Driscoll (Republican)
* Governor of New Mexico: Edwin L. Mechem (Republican)
* Governor of New York: Thomas E. Dewey (Republican)
* Governor of North Carolina: W. Kerr Scott (Democratic) (until January 8), William B. Umstead (Democratic) (starting January 8)
* Governor of North Dakota: Clarence Norman Brunsdale (Republican)
* Governor of Ohio: Frank J. Lausche (Democratic)
* Governor of Oklahoma: Johnston Murray (Democratic)
* Governor of Oregon: Paul L. Patterson (Republican)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: John S. Fine (Republican)
* Governor of Rhode Island: Dennis J. Roberts (Democratic)
* Governor of South Carolina: James Francis Byrnes (Democratic)
* Governor of South Dakota: Sigurd Anderson (Republican)
* Governor of Tennessee: Gordon Browning (Democratic) (until January 15), Frank G. Clement (Democratic) (starting January 15)
* Governor of Texas: Allan Shivers (Democratic)
* Governor of Utah: J. Bracken Lee (Republican)
* Governor of Vermont: Lee E. Emerson (Republican)
* Governor of Virginia: John S. Battle (Democratic)
* Governor of Washington: Arthur B. Langlie (Republican)
* Governor of West Virginia: Okey L. Patteson (Democratic) (until January 19), William C. Marland (Democratic) (starting January 19)
* Governor of Wisconsin: Walter J. Kohler Jr. (Republican)
* Governor of Wyoming: Frank A. Barrett (Republican) (until January 3), Clifford Joy Rogers (Republican) (starting January 3)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: James B. Allen (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas: Nathan Green Gordon (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of California: Goodwin Knight (Republican) (until October 5), Harold J. Powers (Republican) (starting October 5)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: Gordon L. Allott (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Edward N. Allen (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: Alexis I. du Pont Bayard (Democratic) (until January 20), John W. Rollins (Democratic) (starting January 20)
* Lieutenant Governor of Georgia: Marvin Griffin (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: Edson H. Deal (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Sherwood Dixon (Democratic) (until January 12), John William Chapman (Republican) (starting January 12)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: John A. Watkins (Democratic) (until January 12), Harold W. Handley (Republican) (starting January 12)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: William H. Nicholas (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Leo Elthon (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Fred Hall (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Emerson Beauchamp (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: C. E. "Cap" Barham (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Charles F. Sullivan (Republican) (until January 8), Sumner G. Whittier (Republican) (starting January 8)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: William C. Vandenberg (Republican) (until January 1), Clarence A. Reid (Republican) (starting January 1)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota:
	+ until month and day unknown: vacant
	+ month and day unknown: Ancher Nelsen (Republican)
	+ starting month and day unknown: vacant
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: Carroll Gartin (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: James T. Blair Jr. (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana: Paul Cannon (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), George M. Gosman (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: Charles J. Warner (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Clifford A. Jones (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico: Tibo J. Chavez (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York:
	+ until September 30: Frank C. Moore (Republican)
	+ September 30-October 1: vacant
	+ October 1-December 31: Arthur H. Wicks (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Hoyt Patrick Taylor (Democratic) (until January 8), Luther H. Hodges (Democratic) (starting January 8)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Ray Schnell (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Clarence P. Dahl (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: George D. Nye (Democratic) (until January 12), John William Brown (Republican) (starting January 12)
* Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma: James E. Berry (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Lloyd H. Wood (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: John S. McKiernan (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: George Bell Timmerman Jr. (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: Rex A. Terry (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: Walter M. Haynes (Democratic) (until January 15), Jared Maddux (Democratic) (starting January 15)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: Ben Ramsey (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Joseph B. Johnson (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Allie Edward Stokes Stephens (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Washington: Victor A. Meyers (Democratic) (until January 12), Emmett T. Anderson (Republican) (starting January 12)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: George M. Smith (Republican)

## Events

### January - March

* 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 – Assembly of the first Chevrolet Corvette is completed in 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.
* 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.

### 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 1 – 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 U.N. 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; 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.

## Memoriam

* January 1 – Hank Williams, country singer-songwriter (aged 29; Oak Hill, WV, USA)
* January 7 – Osa Johnson, adventurer and filmmaker, wife of Martin Johnson (aged 58; New York City, NY, USA)
* January 8 – Charles Edward Merriam, professor of political science (aged 78; Rockville, MD, USA)
* March 12 – James Hard, last verified living Union combat veteran of the American Civil War (aged 109; Rochester, NY, USA)
* March 28 – Jim Thorpe, athlete and Olympic gold medalist (aged 65; Lomita, CA, USA)
* May 30 – Dooley Wilson, African American actor, singer and drummer (aged 67; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* June 3 – Florence Price, African American classical composer (aged 66; Chicago, IL, USA)
* July 31 – Robert A. Taft, politician, lawyer, and scion (aged 63; New York City, NY, USA)
* August 7 – Abner Powell, Major League Baseball player (aged 92; New Orleans, LA, USA)
* September 2 – Jonathan M. Wainwright, general (aged 70; San Antonio, TX, USA)
* September 5
	+ Francis Ford, actor and director (aged 72; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
	+ Rudolf Höber, German-American physician (aged 79; Philadelphia, PA, USA)
* September 8 – Fred M. Vinson, Chief Justice of the U.S. (aged 63; Washington, DC, USA)
* September 13 – Mary Brewster Hazelton, portrait painter (aged 84; Wellesley, MA, USA)
* September 28 – Edwin Hubble, astronomer (aged 63; San Marino, CA, USA)
* October 3 – Florence R. Sabin, medical scientist (aged 81; Denver, CO, USA)
* November 18 – Ruth Crawford Seeger, modernist composer and folk music arranger (aged 52; Chevy Chase, MD, USA)
* November 21 – Larry Shields, dixieland jazz clarinetist (aged 60; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* November 27 – Eugene O'Neill, playwright (aged 65; Boston, MA, USA)
* December 14 – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, novelist (aged 57; St. Augustine, FL, USA)
* December 15 – George White, 52nd Governor of Ohio (aged 81; West Palm Beach, FL, USA)
* December 19 – Robert Andrews Millikan, physicist Nobel Prize laureate (aged 85; San Marino, CA, USA)
* December 21 – Nicholas H. Heck, geophysicist, oceanographer and surveyor (aged 71; Fairfax County, VA, USA)
* December 25 – Carter Harrison Jr., 37th and 40th Mayor of Chicago (aged 93; Chicago, IL, USA)