← 1953 1952 1951 1954 in the United States → 1955 1956 1957
Decades:	1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
See also:	History of the United States (1945–1964) Timeline of the history of the United States (1950-1970) List of years in the United States

Events from the year1954 in the United States.

• President:Dwight D. Eisenhower (R-Kansas/New York)
• Vice President:Richard Nixon (R-California)
• Chief Justice:Earl Warren (California)
• Speaker of the House of Representatives:Joseph William Martin Jr. (R-Massachusetts)
• Senate Majority Leader:William F. Knowland (R-California)
• Congress:83rd

• January 14 –Marilyn Monroe marriesbaseball playerJoe DiMaggio atSan Francisco City Hall.
• January 20
  • The U.S.-basedNational Negro Network is established with 40 charter memberradio stations.
  • Rogers Pass, Montana, records the coldest temperature in the contiguous United States of −70 °F (−56.7 °C).
• January 21 – The first nuclear-poweredsubmarine, theUSSNautilus, is launched inGroton, Connecticut, byFirst Lady of the United StatesMamie Eisenhower.
• January 25 – The foreign ministers of the United States,United Kingdom,France and theSoviet Union meet at theBerlin Conference.

• February 2 –New York City Ballet co-founder and balletmasterGeorge Balanchine's production ofThe Nutcracker is staged for the first time in New York, becoming an annual tradition there, still being performed there as of 2022.
• February 10 – After authorizing $385,000,000 over the $400,000,000 already budgeted for military aid to Vietnam, U.S.PresidentDwight Eisenhower warns against United States intervention inVietnam.
• February 23 – The first massvaccination of children againstpolio begins inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

• March 1
  • U.S. officials announce that ahydrogen bomb test has been conducted onBikini Atoll in thePacific Ocean.
  • U.S. Capitol shooting incident: FourPuerto Rican nationalists open fire in theUnited States House of Representatives chamber and wound five people; they are apprehended by security guards.
• March 9 – JournalistsEdward Murrow andFred W. Friendly produce a 30-minuteSee It Now documentary, entitledA Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy.
• March 16 – TheArmy–McCarthy hearings are convened.
• March 19 –Joey Giardello knocks out Willie Tory atMadison Square Garden, in the firsttelevisedboxing prizefight to be shown in color.
• March 25 – The26th Academy Awards ceremony is simultaneously held atRKO Pantages Theatre inHollywood (hosted byDonald O'Connor) and atNBC Century Theatre (hosted byFredric March).Fred Zinnemann'sFrom Here to Eternity wins and receives the most respective awards and nominations, with eight (matchingGone with the Wind's record) and thirteen, includingBest Motion Picture andBest Director for Zinnemann.
• March 28 –Puerto Rico's first television station,WKAQ-TV, goes on the air.

• April 1 – PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of theUnited States Air Force Academy inColorado.
• April 7 –Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his "domino theory" speech during a news conference.
• April 16 – Vice PresidentRichard Nixon announces that the United States may be "putting our own boys in Indochina regardless of Allied support."
• April 22 –SenatorJoseph McCarthy begins hearings investigating theUnited States Army for being "soft" onCommunism.

• May 14 – TheBoeing 707 is released after about two years of development.
• May 16 –National Educational Television is launched on cable TV. It will becomePBS on October 5, 1970.
• May 17 –Brown v. Board of Education (347 US 483 1954): TheSupreme Court of the United States rules that segregated schools are unconstitutional.^[1]

• June 9 –McCarthyism:Joseph Welch, special counsel for theUnited States Army, lashes out atSenatorJoseph McCarthy, during hearings on whetherCommunism has infiltrated the Army, saying, 'Have you, at long last, no decency?'.^[1]
• June 14 – The words "under God" are added to the United StatesPledge of Allegiance.
• June 17 – A CIA-engineeredmilitary coup occurs inGuatemala.
• June 27 –Guatemalan PresidentJacobo Arbenz Guzmán steps down in aCIA-sponsoredmilitary coup, triggering a bloody civil war that continues for more than thirty-five years.

• 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 theBoeing 367-80 (or Dash 80), a prototype of theBoeing 707 series.
• July 19 –Elvis Presley's first single, a cover of "That's All Right", is released bySun Records (recorded July 5 inMemphis, Tennessee).

• August 16 – The first issue ofSports Illustrated magazine is published.
• August 24 –U.S. Congress passes theCommunist Control Act, outlawing theCommunist Party in the U.S.

• September 3 – The last new episode ofThe Lone Ranger is aired onradio, after 2,956 episodes over a period of 21 years.
• September 8 – The originalSunshine Skyway Bridge opens to traffic in Florida.
• September 11 – TheMiss America Pageant is broadcast ontelevision for the first time.
• September 16 –Lewis Strauss, chairman of theUnited States Atomic Energy Commission, in a speech to theNational Association of Science Writers claims: "It is not too much to expect that our children will enjoy in their homes electrical energytoo cheap to meter".^[2]
• September 29 –The Catch (baseball): A notable defensive play is made byNew York Giants center fielderWillie Mays on a ball hit byCleveland Indians batterVic Wertz during Game 1 of the1954 World Series at thePolo Grounds inUpper Manhattan.
• September 30 – TheUSSNautilus, the firstnuclear-poweredsubmarine, is commissioned by theUnited States Navy.

• October 2 – TheNew York Giants (baseball) defeat theCleveland Indians, 4 games to 0, to win their 5th World Series Title.
• October 15 –Hurricane Hazel makes U.S. landfall; it is the only recordedCategory 4 hurricane to strike as far north asNorth Carolina.
• October 18 –Texas Instruments announces the development of the firsttransistor radio.

• November 10 – U.S. PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower dedicates theUSMC War Memorial (Iwo Jima memorial) inArlington National Cemetery.
• November 12 – The main immigration port of entry inNew York Harbor atEllis Island closes.
• November 23 – TheDow 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 theWall Street crash of 1929.
• November 30 – InSylacauga, Alabama, a 4 kg piece of theHodges Meteorite crashes through the roof of a house and badly bruises a napping woman, in the first documented case of an object fromouter space hitting a person.

• December 1 – The firstHyatt Hotel, The Hyatt House Los Angeles, opens. It is the first hotel in the world built adjacent to an airport.
• December 2
  • Red Scare: TheU.S. Senate votes 67–22 to condemnJoseph McCarthy ofWisconsin for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute."^[1]
  • TheSino-American Mutual Defense Treaty between the U.S. andRepublic of China is signed.^[3]
• December 4 – The first branch ofBurger King opens inMiami, Florida, USA.
• December 21 – The 6.5 M_L Eureka earthquake affects the north coast of California with a maximumMercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). Several people are injured and one killed, with $2.1 million in damage.
• December 23 – The first successfulkidney transplant is performed byJoseph E. Murray, MD inBoston from oneidentical twin to his brother. Murray will later share the 1990Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his "[discovery] concerning organ and cell transplantation in the treatment of human disease".^[4]

• Mongolian gerbils are brought to the U.S. by Dr. Victor Schwentker.
• TheBoy Scouts of America desegregates on the basis of race.^{[citation needed]}
• TheTV dinner is introduced by entrepreneurGerry Thomas.
• The Treasury of Science Fiction Classics is published.

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

• 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
• January 19 –Clifford Tabin, geneticist and academic
• January 20 –Ken Page, actor and singer (died2024)
• 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, andmedia proprietor.
  • Terry Kinney, actor
• February 2 –Christie Brinkley, supermodel and actress
• February 3 –Tom Barrise, basketball coach (d.2022)^[5]
• 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 Rendsburg, professor of biblical studies, Hebrew language, and ancient Judaism
• February 15 –Matt Groening, author, cartoonist, producer and screenwriter
• February 16 –Margaux Hemingway, fashion model and actress, sister ofMariel Hemingway (d.1996)
• February 17 –Rene Russo, actress
• February 18 –John Travolta, actor and singer^[6]
• February 20 –Patty Hearst, heiress and kidnap victim^[7]
• February 22 –Nathan Phillips, Native American activist
• March 1 –Ron Howard, American director and film producer
• March 20 –Louis Sachar, author
• March 24
  • Mike Braun, American businessman and politician
  • Robert Carradine, actor
• March 26 –Curtis Sliwa, activist, radio talk show host and politician

• April 1 –Jeff Porcaro, drummer and songwriter (Toto) (d.1992)
• April 3 –Chuck Deardorf, musician (d.2022)
• April 5 –David Edward Maust, serial killer (d.2006)
• April 9 –Dennis Quaid, actor
• April 10 –Peter MacNicol, actor
• April 16 –Ellen Barkin, actress
• April 23 –Michael Moore, filmmaker, writer, social critic and activist
• April 29
  • Jerry Seinfeld, comedian and actor
  • Joe D'Alessandris, American football coach (d.2024)
• May 1
  • Ray Parker, Jr., musician and composer
  • Alan Poul, screen producer and director
• May 4 –Doug Jones, U.S. Senator from Alabama from 2018 to 2021
• May 8
  • Pam Arciero, puppeteer and voice actress
  • David Keith, actor and director
  • John Michael Talbot, Christian musician
• May 10 –Mike Hagerty, actor (d.2022)
• May 11 –John Clayton, sportswriter (d.2022)
• May 12 –Rafael Yglesias, novelist and screenwriter
• May 20
  • Cindy McCain, diplomat and wife ofJohn McCain
  • David Paterson, politician, attorney, and formerGovernor of New York
• May 21 –Janice Karman, film producer, record producer, singer and voice artist, wife ofRoss Bagdasarian Jr.
• May 23 –Marvelous Marvin Hagler, middleweight boxer (d.2021)
• May 26 –Danny Rolling, murderer (d.2006)
• May 28
  • Townsend Coleman, voice actor
  • Jasper White, chef (d.2024)
• May 29 –Jerry Moran, U.S. Senator from Kansas from 2011
• June 2 –Dennis Haysbert, actor
• June 8
  • Greg Ginn, punk rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter (Black Flag)
  • Woodrow Lowe, American football player (d.2025)
• June 14 –Cyrus Vance, Jr.,New York County District Attorney from 2010 to 2022
• June 15 –Jim Belushi, actor and comedian
• June 19 –Kathleen Turner, actress
• June 25 –Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the U.S. from 2009
• June 27 –Ron Griffin, artist

• July 1 –Keith Whitley, country music singer (d.1989)
• July 3 –Pennie Lane Trumbull, socialite^[8]
• 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 theChicago Bears (d.1999)
• August 1 –Philip Trenary, businessman (d.2018)
• August 19 –Lin Brehmer, disc jockey and radio personality (d.2023)^[9]
• August 20 –Al Roker, meteorologist and television personality
• August 24 –Ed Buck, Democrat political activist and fundraiser^[10]
• August 30 –David Paymer, actor and television director
• September 6 –Carly Fiorina, businesswoman, CEO ofHewlett-Packard
• September 8 –Raymond T. Odierno, army general (d.2021)^[11]
• September 15 –Barry Shabaka Henley,character actor
• September 21 –Cass Sunstein, legal scholar
• September 23 –Melanie Skillman, archer^[12]
• September 24 –Ash Carter, 25thUnited States Secretary of Defense (d.2022)
• September 27
  • Sylvester Turner, politician and formermayor ofHouston (d.2025)
  • Larry Wall, computer programmer
• September 29 –Cindy Morgan, actress (d.2023)

• 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 AmericanSecretary of State, in office from 2005 to 2009
• November 24 –Clem Burke, drummer fromBlondie (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)^[13]
• December 10 –Gavin Smith, film studio executive (d.2012)
• December 11 –Jermaine Jackson, member ofJacksons
• 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)^[14]
• December 28 –Gayle King, television journalist
• December 29 –Alan Myers, new wave rock drummer (Devo) (d. 2013)

• 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)^[15][16]
• 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 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 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)^[17]
• 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 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)

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

• Media related to1954 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons

• 1954 in the United States
• 1950s in the United States
• 1954 by country
• 1954 in North America
• Years of the 20th century in the United States

• Articles with short description
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