1954

Events from the year **1954 in the United States**.

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: Gordon Persons (Democratic)
* Governor of Arizona: John Howard Pyle (Republican)
* Governor of Arkansas: Francis Cherry (Democratic)
* Governor of California: Goodwin Jess Knight (Republican)
* Governor of Colorado: Daniel I. J. Thornton (Republican)
* Governor of Connecticut: John Davis Lodge (Republican)
* Governor of Delaware: J. Caleb Boggs (Republican)
* Governor of Florida: Charley Eugene Johns (Democratic)
* Governor of Georgia: Herman Talmadge (Democratic)
* Governor of Idaho: Leonard B. Jordan (Republican)
* Governor of Illinois: William G. Stratton (Republican)
* Governor of Indiana: George N. Craig (Republican)
* Governor of Iowa:
	+ until November 21: William S. Beardsley (Republican)
	+ November 21-November 22: vacant
	+ starting November 22: Leo Elthon (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: Burton M. Cross (Republican)
* 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)
* 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)
* Governor of Nevada: Charles H. Russell (Republican)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Hugh Gregg (Republican)
* Governor of New Jersey: Alfred E. Driscoll (Republican) (until January 19), Robert B. Meyner (Democratic) (starting January 19)
* Governor of New Mexico: Edwin L. Mechem (Republican)
* Governor of New York: Thomas E. Dewey (Republican)
* Governor of North Carolina: William B. Umstead (Democratic) (until November 7), Luther H. Hodges (Democratic) (starting November 7)
* 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: Frank G. Clement (Democratic)
* 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) (until January 20), Thomas Bahnson Stanley (Democratic) (starting January 20)
* 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)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: James B. Allen (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas: Nathan Green Gordon (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of California: Harold J. Powers (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: Gordon L. Allott (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Edward N. Allen (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: John W. Rollins (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Georgia: Marvin Griffin (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: Edson H. Deal (Republican)
* 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)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Emerson Beauchamp (Democratic)
* 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)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: vacant (until month and day unknown), Donald O. Wright (Republican) (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)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Clifford A. Jones (Democratic) (until December), vacant (starting December)
* Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico: Tibo J. Chavez (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Walter J. Mahoney (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Luther H. Hodges (Democratic) (until November 7), vacant (starting November 7)
* 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)
* 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: Jared Maddux (Democratic)
* 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: Emmett T. Anderson (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: George M. Smith (Republican)

## Events

### January

* January 14 – Marilyn Monroe marries baseball player Joe DiMaggio at San Francisco City Hall.
* January 20
	+ The U.S.-based National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations.
	+ Rogers Pass, Montana, records the coldest temperature in the contiguous United States of −70 °F (−56.7 °C).
* January 21 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS *Nautilus*, is launched in Groton, Connecticut, by First Lady of the United States Mamie Eisenhower.
* January 25 – The foreign ministers of the United States, United Kingdom, France and the Soviet Union meet at the Berlin Conference.

### February

* February 2 – New York City Ballet co-founder and balletmaster George Balanchine's production of *The Nutcracker* is staged for the first time in New York, becoming an annual tradition there, still being performed there as of 2008.
* February 10 – After authorizing $385,000,000 over the $400,000,000 already budgeted for military aid to Vietnam, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam.
* February 23 – The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

### March

* March 1
	+ U.S. officials announce that a hydrogen bomb test 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 people; they are apprehended by security guards.
* March 9 – Journalists Edward Murrow and Fred W. Friendly produce a 30-minute *See It Now* documentary, entitled *A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy*.
* March 16 – The Army–McCarthy hearings are convened.
* March 19 – Joey Giardello knocks out Willie Tory at Madison Square Garden, in the first televised boxing prizefight to be shown in color.
* March 25 – The 26th Academy Awards ceremony is simultaneously held at RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood (hosted by Donald O'Connor) and at NBC Century Theatre (hosted by Fredric March). Fred Zinnemann's *From Here to Eternity* wins and receives the most respective awards and nominations, with eight (matching *Gone with the Wind'*s record) and thirteen, including Best Motion Picture and Best Director for Zinnemann.
* March 28 – Puerto Rico's first television station, *WKAQ-TV*, goes on the air.

### April

* April 1 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.
* April 7 – Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his "domino theory" speech during a news conference.
* April 16 – Vice President Richard Nixon announces that the United States may be "putting our own boys in Indochina regardless of Allied support."
* April 22 – Senator Joseph McCarthy begins hearings investigating the United States Army for being "soft" on Communism.

### May

* May 14 – The Boeing 707 is released after about two years of development.
* May 16 – National Educational Television is launched on cable TV. It will become PBS on October 5, 1970.
* May 17 – *Brown v. Board of Education* (347 US 483 1954): The United States Supreme Court rules that segregated schools are unconstitutional.

### June

* June 9 – McCarthyism: Joseph Welch, special counsel for the United States Army, lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy, during hearings on whether Communism has infiltrated the Army, saying, 'Have you, at long last, no decency?'.
* June 14 – The words "under God" are added to the United States Pledge of Allegiance.
* June 17 – A CIA-engineered military coup occurs in Guatemala.
* June 27 – Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán steps down in a CIA-sponsored military coup, triggering a bloody civil war that continues for more than thirty-five years.

### July

* July 1 – The United States officially begins using the international unit of the nautical mile, equal to 6,076.11549 ft. or 1,852 meters.
* July 15 – The maiden flight of the Boeing 367-80 (or Dash 80), a prototype of the Boeing 707 series.
* July 19 – Elvis Presley's first single, "That's All Right", is released by Sun Records (recorded July 5 in Memphis, Tennessee).

### August

* August 16 – The first issue of *Sports Illustrated* magazine is published.

### September

* September 3 – The last new episode of *The Lone Ranger* is aired on radio, after 2,956 episodes over a period of 21 years.
* September 8 – The original Sunshine Skyway Bridge opens to traffic.
* September 11 – The Miss America Pageant is broadcast on television for the first time.
* September 16 – Lewis Strauss, chairman of the United States Atomic Energy Commission, in a speech to the National Association of Science Writers claims: "It is not too much to expect that our children will enjoy in their homes electrical energy too cheap to meter".
* September 29 – The Catch: A notable defensive play is made by New York Giants center fielder Willie Mays on a ball hit by Cleveland Indians batter Vic Wertz during Game 1 of the 1954 World Series at the Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan.
* September 30 – The USS *Nautilus*, the first nuclear-powered submarine, is commissioned by the US Navy.

### October

* October 2 – The New York Giants defeat the Cleveland Indians, 4 games to 0, to win their 5th World Series Title.
* October 15 – Hurricane Hazel makes U.S. landfall; it is the only recorded Category 4 hurricane to strike as far north as North Carolina.
* October 18 – Texas Instruments announces the development of the first transistor radio.

### November

* November 10 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicates the USMC War Memorial (Iwo Jima memorial) in Arlington National Cemetery.
* November 12 – The main immigration port of entry in New York Harbor at Ellis Island closes.
* November 23 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average rises 3.27 points, or 0.86%, closing at an all-time high of 382.74. More significantly, this is the first time the Dow has surpassed its peak level reached just before the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
* November 30 – In Sylacauga, Alabama, a 4 kg piece of the Hodges Meteorite crashes through the roof of a house and badly bruises a napping woman, in the first documented case of an object from outer space hitting a person.

### December

* December 1 – The first Hyatt Hotel, The Hyatt House Los Angeles, opens. It is the first hotel in the world built adjacent to an airport.
* December 2
	+ Red Scare: The U.S. Senate votes 67–22 to condemn Joseph McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute."
	+ The Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty between the U.S. and Republic of China is signed.
* December 4 – The first branch of Burger King opens in Miami, Florida, USA.
* December 21 – The 6.5 ML Eureka earthquake affects the north coast of California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (*Very strong*). Several people are injured and one killed, with $2.1 million in damage.
* December 23 – The first successful kidney transplant is performed by Joseph E. Murray, MD in Boston from one identical twin to his brother. Murray will later share the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his "[discovery] concerning organ and cell transplantation in the treatment of human disease".

## Memoriam

### January to March

* January 1 – Leonard Bacon, poet (aged 66; Peace Dale, RI, USA)
* January 5 – Rabbit Maranville, baseball player (aged 62; Queens, NY, USA)
* January 7 – Henry W. Anderson, attorney (aged 83; Richmond, VA, USA)
* January 12
	+ William H. P. Blandy, admiral (aged 63; St. Albans, NY, USA)
	+ Elmer H. Geran, politician (aged 78; Morganville, NJ, USA)
* January 17 – Leonard Eugene Dickson, mathematician (aged 79; Harlingen, TX, USA)
* January 31
	+ Edwin Armstrong, electrical engineer (aged 63; New York City, NY, USA)
	+ Florence Bates, character actress (aged 65; Burbank, CA, USA)
* February 6 – Maxwell Bodenheim, poet and novelist (murdered) (aged 61; New York City, NY, USA)
* February 8 – Laurence Trimble, silent film director and actor (aged 68; Woodland Hills, CA, USA)
* February 9 – Mabel Paige, actress (aged 73; Van Nuys, CA, USA)
* February 10 – Parley P. Christensen, attorney and politician (aged 84; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* February 16 – Senda Berenson Abbott, basketball pioneer (aged 85; Santa Barbara, CA, USA)
* February 21 – William K. Howard, film director (aged 54; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* March 5 – Zella de Milhau, artist, ambulance driver, community organizer and motorcycle policewoman (aged 84; Southampton, NY, USA)
* March 7 – Will H. Hays, politician and first chairman of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (aged 74; Sullivan, IN, USA)
* March 26 – Louis Silvers, film composer (aged 64; Hollywood, CA, USA)
* March 30 – Horatio Dresser, New Thought religious leader (aged 88; Boston, MA, USA)

### April to June

* April 2
	+ Michael MacDonald, unseen subject of "Tragedy by the Sea" (aged 1; Hermosa Beach, CA, USA)
	+ Hoyt Vandenberg, U.S. Air Force general (aged 55; Washington, DC, USA)
	+ Maud Barger-Wallach, tennis player (aged 83; Baltimore, MD, USA)
* April 8 – Fritzi Scheff, singer and actress (aged 74; NY, USA)
* April 9 – Joseph Patrick Tumulty, attorney and politician (aged 74; Olney, MD, USA)
* April 19 – Russell Davenport, journalist and publisher (aged 55; New York City, NY, USA)
* April 21 – Emil Post, mathematician and logician (aged 57; New York City, NY, USA)
* April 29 – Joe May, film director (aged 73; Hollywood, CA, USA)
* May 1 – Tom Tyler, film actor (aged 50; Hamtramck, MI, USA)
* May 3 – Earnest Hooton, writer on anthropology (aged 66; Cambridge, MA, USA)
* May 15 – William March, fiction writer and marine (aged 60; New Orleans, LA, USA)
* May 19 – Charles Ives, composer (aged 79; New York City, NY, USA)
* May 22 – Chief Bender, Native American baseball player (Philadelphia Athletics) (aged 70; Philadelphia, PA, USA)
* May 25 – Robert Capa, photojournalist (killed on location in Vietnam) (aged 40; Thái Bình Province, Vietnam)
* June 9 – Alain LeRoy Locke, African American cultural leader (aged 68; New York City, NY, USA)
* June 21 – Harvey A. Carr, psychologist (aged 81; Culver, IN, USA)
* June 22 – Don Hollenbeck, newscaster (aged 49; Manhattan, NY, USA)

### July to September

* July 3 – Reginald Marsh, painter (aged 56; Dorset, VT, USA)
* July 13
	+ Irving Pichel, actor and director (aged 63; Hollywood, CA, USA)
	+ Grantland Rice, sportswriter (aged 73; New York City, NY, USA)
* July 14 – Jackie Saunders, silent screen actress (aged 61; Palm Springs, CA, USA)
* July 17 – Machine Gun Kelly, gangster (aged 59; Leavenworth, KS, USA)
* August 3 – Bess Streeter Aldrich, novelist (aged 73; Lincoln, NE, USA)
* August 17 – Billy Murray, singer (aged 77; Jones Beach, NY, USA)
* August 31 – Elsa Barker, writer (aged 85; French Riviera, France)
* September 1 – Bert Acosta, aviator (aged 59; Denver, CO, USA)
* September 3 – Eugene Pallette, film actor (aged 65; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* September 6 – Edward C. Kalbfus, admiral (aged 76; Newport, RI, USA)
* September 7
	+ Bud Fisher, cartoonist (aged 69; New York City, NY, USA)
	+ Pop Warner, college football coach (aged 83; Palo Alto, CA, USA)
* September 20 – Washington Phillips, gospel singer and instrumentalist (aged 74; Teague, TX, USA)
* September 26 – Ellen Roosevelt, tennis player (aged 86; Hyde Park, NY, USA)
* September 28
	+ Bert Lytell, actor (aged 69; New York City, NY, USA)
	+ Pat McCarran, Democratic U.S. Senator from Nevada from 1933 to 1954 (aged 78; Hawthorne, NV, USA)

### October to December

* October 3 – Herbert Prior, actor (aged 87; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* October 9 – Robert H. Jackson, U.S. Supreme Court associate justice, chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials (aged 62; Washington, DC, USA)
* October 12 – George Welch, aviator (aged 36; Palmdale, CA, USA)
* October 19 – Hugh Duffy, baseball player (Boston Braves) (aged 87; Boston, MA, USA)
* October 30 – Wilbur Shaw, racing driver (aged 51; Decatur, IN, USA)
* November 15 – Lionel Barrymore, actor (aged 76; Van Nuys, CA, USA)
* November 16 – Albert Francis Blakeslee, botanist (aged 80; Northampton, MA, USA)
* November 20 – Clyde Cessna, aviator and aircraft designer and manufacturer (aged 74; Wichita, KS, USA)
* November 22
	+ Jess McMahon, professional boxing and wrestling promoter (aged 72; Wilkes-Barre, PA, USA)
	+ Moroni Olsen, actor (aged 65; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* November 29
	+ Enrico Fermi, nuclear physicist (aged 53; Chicago, IL, USA)
	+ Dink Johnson, Dixieland jazz performer (aged 62; Portland, OR, USA)
* December 1 – Fred Rose, songwriter (aged 56; Nashville, TN, USA)
* December 4 – Herman Ekern, attorney (aged 81; Madison, WI, USA)
* December 8 – Gladys George, actress (aged 50; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* December 25 – Johnny Ace, R&B singer (shooting accident) (aged 25; Houston, TX, USA)
* December 27 – Adolph Otto Niedner, cartridge designer (aged 91; Dowagiac, MI, USA)