1954 – INFORMATION AND EVENTS FROM 1954

Meath won the All Ireland Senior Football Championship
Cork  won the All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship

FAMOUS IRISH PEOPLE BORN THAT YEAR INCLUDE

Bob Geldof (Activist)
Philomena Begley (Singer)

ALSO, BORN THAT YEAR WERE

Annie Lennox (Singer)
Chris Evert (American Tennis Player)
Condoleezza Rice (National Security Advisor US)
Dennis Quaid (Actor)
Denzel Washington (Actor)
Jackie Khan (Stuntsman and Actor)
James Cameron (Director)
Jerry Seinfield (Actor and Comenian)
John Travolta (Actor)
Kathleen Turner (Actress)
Neil Tennant (Singer – Pet Shop Boys)
Rene Russo (Actress)

INVENTIONS IN 1954  INCLUDED

Non Stick Teflon Pan
Solar Cell

ALSO THAT YEAR

Hydrogen bomb test conducted on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
Armistice Day is renamed Veteran’s Day to honor vets from the Civil War, WWI and WWII, and the Korean conflict
Rosa Parks arrest in Montgomery Alabama sets the American Civil Rights Movement in Motion
President Eisenhower signs into law the new social security bill funded by employers and employees.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower performs the dedication ceremony for the Iwo Jima statue at the USMC War Memorial
James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick announce discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA
Senator Joseph R McCarthy continues his witch hunt for communist sympathizers in the US US “Operation Wetback” is started on 17th July to send back to Mexico almost 4 million illegal immigrants
President Dwight D. Eisenhower coins the Cold War phrase ” Domino Effect” on the spread of Communism
President Eisenhower signed the Communist Control Act outlawing Communist Party in the US
America does a large scale nationwide civil defense drill simulating Over 12 million Americans die in a mock nuclear attack.
Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at an all-time high of 382.74
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) backed Castillo Armas takes over as leader of Guatemala
The Indo-China war ends when France gives up North Vietnam to the Communists
Earthquake strikes strikes Orleansville, Algeria killing 1,600
The words “under God” are added to the United States Pledge of Allegiance .
Ellis Island in New York closes
Nash and Hudson merged to form the American Motors Corporation ( AMC ) The Nash Metropolitan built by the Austin Motor Company (by then part of British Motor Corporation ) went on sale for $1,445
10,000 Mau Mau Rebels Rounded Up in Kenya By British Forces
Desert Locust Swarm Morocco destroying $14 million dollars of Citrus Fruits in 6 weeks
BBC Television screens its famous, and controversial, adaptation of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Rationing finally ends in Great Britain
Three Hurricanes strike US in one year including Hurricane Hazel on October 14th one of the worst hurricanes of the 20th century
Hurricane Carol strikes New England killing 70
West Germany wins the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland defeating Hungary
First Nuclear Powered Submarine commissioned by US Navy Nautilus
The world’s first atomic power station opened at Obninsk, near Moscow.
Mercedes introduced the 300SL coupe, with its gull-wing doors
Boeing 707 ( America’s First Jet Airliner ) takes it’s Maiden Flight
The first automatic toll collection machine in New Jersey
The rosebowl Parade is broadcast in color on TV
Swanson introduces TV Dinners
General Motors produces it’s 50 millionth car
The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins
The first organ transplants are done in Boston and Paris.
Segregation Brown v Board of Education makes segregation in US Public Schools Unconstitutional
The First all Electronic Color television goes on sale from RCA the CT-100 selling for $1,000