1954 in the United States

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

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, a cover of "That's All Right", is released by Sun Records (recorded July 5 in Memphis, Tennessee).

August

September

October

• October 2 – The New York Giants (baseball) 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

Undated

Ongoing

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

Births

January–March

• January 1
• Bob Menendez, former U.S. Senator from New Jersey
• Richard Edson, actor and musician
• January 3 – Ned Lamont, Governor of Connecticut
• January 12 – Howard Stern, broadcaster and media presenter
• January 17 – Robert F. Kennedy Jr., environmental lawyer and political figure
• January 19
• Clifford Tabin, geneticist and academic
• Katey Sagal, actress and singer
• January 20 – Ken Page, actor and singer (d. 2024)
• January 23
• Richard Finch, bass player, songwriter, and producer (KC and the Sunshine Band)
• Greg Guidry, singer, songwriter (d. 2003)
• January 29
• Bill Evers, baseball player, coach and manager
• Oprah Winfrey, talk show host presenter, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor.
• Terry Kinney, actor
• February 2 – Christie Brinkley, supermodel and actress
• February 3 – Tom Barrise, basketball coach (d. 2022)
• February 7 – Joe Maddon, baseball coach and manager
• February 9 – Chris Gardner, African-American businessman, investor, stockbroker, motivational speaker, author, and philanthropist
• February 12 – Philip Zimmermann, cryptographer
• February 13
• Gary A. Rendsburg, professor of biblical studies, Hebrew language, and ancient Judaism
• Isiah Whitlock Jr., actor (d. 2025)
• February 15 – Matt Groening, author, cartoonist, producer and screenwriter
• February 16 – Margaux Hemingway, fashion model and actress, sister of Mariel Hemingway (d. 1996)
• February 17 – Rene Russo, actress
• February 18 – John Travolta, actor and singer
• February 20 – Patty Hearst, heiress and kidnap victim
• February 22 – Nathan Phillips, Native American activist
• March 1 – Ron Howard, director and film producer
• March 19 – Jill Abramson, writer, journalist, and academic
• March 20 – Louis Sachar, author
• March 24
• Mike Braun, businessman and politician
• Robert Carradine, actor
• March 26 – Curtis Sliwa, activist, radio talk show host and politician

April–June

July–September

• July 1 – Keith Whitley, country music singer (d. 1989 in the United States|1989)
• July 3 – Pennie Lane Trumbull, socialite
• July 13 – Andrew Klavan, novelist and political commentator
• July 15 – Jeff Jarvis, journalist and blogger
• July 16 – Jeanette Mott Oxford, politician
• July 23 – Janet Cooke, disgraced journalist, forced to return a Pulitzer Prize for a fabricated story
• July 25 – Walter Payton, football running back playing for the Chicago Bears (d. 1999)
• August 1 – Philip Trenary, businessman (d. 2018)
• August 19 – Lin Brehmer, disc jockey and radio personality (d. 2023)
• August 20 – Al Roker, meteorologist and television presenter from Today
• August 24 – Ed Buck, Democratic political activist and fundraiser
• August 30 – David Paymer, actor and television director
• September 6 – Carly Fiorina, businesswoman, CEO of Hewlett-Packard
• September 8 – Raymond T. Odierno, army general (d. 2021)
• September 15 – Barry Shabaka Henley, character actor
• September 17 – Jubilant Sykes, singer (d. 2025)
• September 21 – Cass Sunstein, legal scholar
• September 23 – Melanie Skillman, archer
• September 24 – Ash Carter, 25th United States Secretary of Defense (d. 2022)
• September 27
• Sylvester Turner, politician, mayor of Houston (d. 2025)
• Larry Wall, computer programmer
• September 29 – Cindy Morgan, actress (d. 2023)

October–December

• October 3
• Al Sharpton, pastor and activist
• Joe Gates, baseball player and coach (d. 2010)
• October 9 – John O'Hurley, actor, comedian, author, game show host and television personality
• October 26 – Stephen L. Carter, African American author of legal thrillers
• November 12 – Rob Lytle, American football player (d. 2010)
• November 14
• Anson Funderburgh, guitarist and bandleader
• Condoleezza Rice, first female African American Secretary of State, in office from 2005 to 2009
• November 24 – Clem Burke, drummer from Blondie (d. 2025)
• December 1 – Bob Goen, television personality and game show host
• December 2 – Stone Phillips, journalist and educator
• December 4 – Tony Todd, actor (d. 2024)
• December 9 – Jack Sonni, guitarist (d. 2023)
• December 10 – Gavin Smith, film studio executive (d. 2012)
• December 11 – Jermaine Jackson, member of Jacksons
• December 15 – Mark Warner, U.S. Senator from Virginia from 2009
• December 18 – Ray Liotta, actor and producer (d. 2022)
• December 24 – Karla Burns, opera singer (d. 2021)
• December 28
• Denzel Washington, actor
• Gayle King, television journalist
• December 29 – Alan Myers, new wave rock drummer (Devo) (d. 2013)

Deaths

January–March

• January 1 – Leonard Bacon, poet (b. 1887)
• January 6 – Rabbit Maranville, baseball player (b. 1891)
• January 12
• William H. P. Blandy, admiral (b. 1890)
• Elmer H. Geran, politician (b. 1875)
• January 17 – Leonard Eugene Dickson, mathematician (b. 1874)
• January 30 – John Murray Anderson, Canadian-born American actor, dancer, theatre director (b. 1886)
• January 31
• Edwin Armstrong, electrical engineer (b. 1890)
• Florence Bates, character actress (b. 1888)
• February 6 – Maxwell Bodenheim, poet and novelist (murdered) (b. 1892)
• February 8 – Laurence Trimble, silent film director and actor (b. 1885)
• February 9 – Mabel Paige, actress (b. 1880)
• February 16 –Senda Berenson Abbott, basketball pioneer (b. 1868)
• February 21 – William K. Howard, film director (b. 1899)
• March 5 – Zella de Milhau, artist, ambulance driver, community organizer and motorcycle policewoman (b. 1870)
• March 7 – Will H. Hays, politician and first chairman of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (b. 1879)
• March 26 – Louis Silvers, film composer (b. 1889)
• March 30 – Horatio Dresser, New Thought religious leader (b. 1866)

April–June

• April 2
• Hoyt Vandenberg, U.S. Air Force general (b. 1899)
• Maud Barger-Wallach, tennis player (b. 1870)
• April 8 – Fritzi Scheff, singer and actress (b. 1879 in Austria)
• April 19 – Russell Davenport, journalist and publisher (b. 1899)
• April 21 – Emil Post, mathematician and logician (b. 1897)
• April 29 – Joe May, film director (b. 1880 in Austria)
• May 1 – Tom Tyler, film actor (b. 1903)
• May 3 – Earnest Hooton, writer on anthropology (b. 1887)
• May 15 – William March, fiction writer and marine (b. 1893)
• May 19 – Charles Ives, composer (b. 1874)
• May 22 – Chief Bender, Native American baseball player (Philadelphia Athletics) (b. 1884)
• May 25 – Robert Capa, photojournalist (killed on location in Vietnam) (b. 1913 in Hungary)
• June 9 – Alain LeRoy Locke, African American cultural leader (b. 1885)
• June 21 – Harvey A. Carr, psychologist (b. 1873)
• June 22 – Don Hollenbeck, newscaster (b. 1905)

July–September

• July 3 – Reginald Marsh, painter (b. 1898)
• July 13
• Irving Pichel, actor and director (b. 1891)
• Grantland Rice, sportswriter (b. 1880)
• July 14 – Jackie Saunders, silent screen actress (b. 1892)
• July 17 – Machine Gun Kelly, gangster (b. 1895)
• August 3 – Bess Streeter Aldrich, novelist (b. 1881)
• August 17 – Billy Murray, singer (b. 1877)
• August 31 – Elsa Barker, writer (b. 1869)
• September 1 – Bert Acosta, aviator (b. 1895)
• September 3 – Eugene Pallette, film actor (b. 1889)
• September 6 – Edward C. Kalbfus, admiral (b. 1877)
• September 7
• Bud Fisher, cartoonist (b. 1885)
• Glenn Scobey Warner, college football coach (b. 1871)
• September 20 – Washington Phillips, gospel singer and instrumentalist (b. 1880)
• September 26 – Ellen Roosevelt, tennis player (b. 1868)
• September 28
• Bert Lytell, actor (b. 1885)
• Pat McCarran, Democratic U.S. Senator from Nevada from 1933 to 1954 (b. 1876)

October–December

• October 3 – Herbert Prior, actor (b. 1867)
• October 9 – Robert H. Jackson, U.S. Supreme Court associate justice, chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials (b. 1892)
• October 12 – George Welch, aviator (b. 1918)
• October 19 – Hugh Duffy, baseball player (b. 1866)
• October 22 – Earl Whitehill, baseball player (b. 1899)
• October 30 – Wilbur Shaw, racing driver (b. 1902)
• November 15 – Lionel Barrymore, actor (b. 1878)
• November 16 – Albert Francis Blakeslee, botanist (b. 1874)
• November 20 – Clyde Cessna, aviator and aircraft designer and manufacturer (b. 1879)
• November 22
• Jess McMahon, professional boxing and wrestling promoter (b. 1882)
• Moroni Olsen, actor (b. 1889)
• November 29
• Enrico Fermi, nuclear physicist (b. 1901 in Italy)
• Dink Johnson, Dixieland jazz performer (b. 1892)
• December 1 – Fred Rose, songwriter (b. 1898)
• December 8 – Gladys George, actress (b. 1904)
• December 15 – Papa Celestin, jazz bandleader, singer, cornetist, and trumpeter (b. 1884)
• December 25
• Johnny Ace, R&B singer (shooting accident) (b. 1929)
• Liberty Hyde Bailey, botanist (b. 1858)
• December 27 – Adolph Otto Niedner, cartridge designer (b. 1863)

See also

• List of American films of 1954
• Timeline of United States history (1950–1969)

References

External links