Explore 3918 historical events from 1950–1959.
The 1954 FIFA World Cup final was the final match of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, the fifth World Cup in FIFA history. The game was played at the Wankdorf Stadium in Bern, Switzerland,…
In what is known as "The Miracle of Bern", West Germany defeated Hungary 3–2 to win the FIFA World Cup.
Dominic Savio was a 19th-century Italian teenager who was a student of John Bosco and became a Catholic saint. He was studying to be a priest when he became ill and died at the age…
Dominic Savio, who was 14 years old at his death in 1857, was canonized by Pope Pius XII, making him one of the youngest
Carlos Castillo Armas was a Guatemalan military officer and politician who was the 28th president of Guatemala, serving from 1954 to 1957 after taking power in a coup d'état. A mem…
Carlos Castillo Armas led a CIA-sponsored invasion force across the Guatemalan border, beginning the 1954 Guatemalan cou
Juan Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán was a Guatemalan military officer and politician who served as the 25th president of Guatemala. He was Minister of National Defense from 1944 to 1950, bef…
Jacobo Árbenz resigned as President of Guatemala following a CIA-led coup against his administration
Elvis Aaron Presley was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is widely regarded as one of the most culturally significant figures of the 20t…
Elvis Presley recorded his first single, "That's All Right", at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee.
On July 22, 1954, a limited state of martial law was declared in Russell County, Alabama, by Governor Gordon Persons. The county, particularly Phenix City, had become lawless, and …
A limited state of martial law was declared in Russell County, Alabama, due to organized crime.
The Fellowship of the Ring is the first of three volumes of the epic novel The Lord of the Rings by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien; it is followed by The Two Towers and The Re…
The Fellowship of the Ring, the first part of J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings, was published by Allen &…
On the 1954 Italian expedition to K2, Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli became the first people to reach the summit of K2, 8,611 metres (28,251 ft), the second-highest mountain…
A team of Italian climbers became the first to reach the summit of K2, the world's second-highest mountain.
Getúlio Dornelles Vargas was a Brazilian military officer, lawyer, and politician who served as the 14th and 17th president of Brazil, from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 until his sui…
In the midst of a political crisis, Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas fatally shot himself in the Catete Palace in…
Collective security is arrangement between states in which the institution accepts that an attack on one state is the concern of all and merits a collective response to threats by …
Eight nations signed a collective-defense treaty in Manila to create the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (flag…
The 1954 Chlef earthquake struck El Asnam Province in French Algeria on 9 September at 02:04:43 local time. The shock measured 6.7 on the moment magnitude scale and had a maximum M…
A magnitude-6.7 earthquake struck near Chlef, killing over 1,200 people and forcing the Algerian government to…
The Seven Year Itch is a 1955 American romantic comedy film directed by Billy Wilder, who co-wrote the screenplay with George Axelrod. Based on Axelrod's 1952 play, the film stars …
The scene in The Seven Year Itch of Marilyn Monroe standing in a white dress over a subway grate was filmed by Billy…
3D television (3DTV) is a type of television that conveys depth perception to the viewer by employing techniques such as stereoscopic display, multi-view display, or any other form…
The first U
The crash of Delta Air Lines Flight 318 was an accident involving a Douglas DC-3 of the American airline Delta Air Lines 13 miles (21 km) east of Marshall, Texas, United States on …
Delta Air Lines Flight 318 crashes near Marshall, Texas, killing 19
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945, during the Second World …
Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II
Francis Harry Compton Crick was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist. He, James Watson, Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice Wilkins played crucial roles in d…
Francis Crick and James Watson publish "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid"
Narcotics Anonymous (NA), founded in 1953, describes itself as a "nonprofit fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem." Narcotics Anonymous u…
First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous takes place, in Southern California.
American Airlines Flight 723 was a scheduled American Airlines flight from Boston Airport in Massachusetts, to Chicago Midway Airport in Illinois. On September 16, 1953, a Convair …
American Airlines Flight 723 crashes in Colonie, New York, killing 28 people.
Peter Robert Garrett is an Australian musician, environmentalist, activist and former politician.
Peter Garrett, Australian singer-songwriter and politician
Frederick Allan Moranis is a Canadian actor, comedian, musician, producer, songwriter and writer.
Rick Moranis, Canadian-American actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter
Operation Moolah was a United States Air Force (USAF) effort during the Korean War to obtain through defection a fully capable Soviet MiG-15 jet fighter. Communist forces introduce…
Operation Moolah offers $50,000 to any pilot who defects with a fully mission-capable Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 to South K
A semi-trailer is a trailer without a front axle. The combination of a semi-trailer and a tractor truck is called a semi-trailer truck.
Two men are rescued from a semitrailer that crashed over the side of the Pit River Bridge before it fell into the Sacram
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has …
Ernest Hemingway wins the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea
Milwaukee is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is located on the western shore of Lake Michigan at the confluence of the Milwaukee, Menomonee, and Kinnickin…
Approximately 7,100 brewery workers in Milwaukee perform a walkout, marking the start of the 1953 Milwaukee brewery stri