1953

Years :	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956
Years:	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956
Decades:	1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s
Centuries:	19th century · 20th century · 21st century

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1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1953 calendar).

Events

January

January 7 - President Harry S. Truman announces the United States has developed a hydrogen bomb.
January 12 - Estonian emigres find a government in exile in Oslo
January 13 - Marshal Josip Broz Tito chosen President of Yugoslavia
January 14 - CIA-sponsored Robertson Panel first meets to discuss the UFO phenomenon. Official results are to publicly "debunk" them and use the media to ridicule people
January 15 - Georg Dertinger, foreign minister of East Germany, is arrested for spying
January 20 - Change of US presidency from Harry S. Truman (1945-1953) to Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961).
January 22 - The Crucible, a drama by Arthur Miller, opens on Broadway
January 24 – Mau Mau rebels in Kenya kill Ruck family – father, mother and a 6-year-old son
January 26 - Walter Ulbricht announces that the agriculture will be collectivized in East Germany
January 28 - Derek Bentley is executed for murder in Wandsworth Prison
January 31-February 1 - North Sea flood of 1953 kills 1,835 people in the southwestern Netherlands (especially Zeeland), 307 in the United Kingdom and several hundred at sea, including 132 on the ferry Princess Victoria in the Irish Sea

February

February 1 - Surge of North Sea Flood of 1953 continues from the previous day.
February 5 - The movie Peter Pan premieres (Roxy Theatre, New York City).
February 11 - President Eisenhower refuses clemency appeal for Ethel and Julius Rosenberg.
February 11 - The Soviet Union breaks diplomatic relations with Israel.
February 13 - Transsexual Christine Jorgenson returns to New York after successful sexual reassignment surgery in Denmark
February 18 - The first 3D film, Bwana Devil opens.
February 19 - Censorship: Georgia approves the first literature censorship board in the United States
February 28 - James D. Watson and Francis Crick announce that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA.

March

March 1 - After an all-night dinner with Soviet Union interior minister Lavrenty Beria and future premiers Georgi Malenkov, Nikolai Bulganin and Nikita Khrushchev, Joseph Stalin collapses, having suffered a stroke that paralyzed the right side of his body.
March 1 - Bernard Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg made the deputy constable and lieutenant governor of Windsor Castle
March 5 - After 29 years of ruling the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin dies.
March 6 - Georgy Maksimilianovich Malenkov succeeds Josef Stalin as Premier and First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
March 11 - U.S. B-47 bomber accidentally drops an atom bomb on Mars Bluff, South Carolina. Fortunately it fails to detonate.
March 13 - United Nations Security Council nominates Dag Hammarskjöld as United Nations Secretary General
March 14 - Nikita Khruschev selected general secretary of the Soviet communist party
March 17 - Nuclear test in Nevada - with 1620 spectators in 3.4 km
March 18 - An earthquake hits western Turkey killing 250.
March 25-26 – Lari Massacre in Kenya – Mau Mau rebels kill up to 150 kikuyu
March 26 - Jonas Salk announces his polio vaccine.

April

April 7 - Dag Hammarskjöld is elected United Nations Secretary General.
April 8 – Jomo Kenyatta is sentenced for seven years in prison for alleged organization of Mau Mau Rebellion
April 13 - Ian Fleming publishes his first James Bond novel, Casino Royale in the United Kingdom
April 25 - Francis Crick and James D. Watson publish their description of the double helix structure of DNA.(::Watson, J. D. and Crick, F. H. C. (1953). Molecular structure of nucleic acids: a structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid. Nature 171, 737-738.)

May

May 2 - Hussein is crowned King of Jordan.
May 2 - 38-year-old Stanley Matthews finally wins the FA Cup at his third attempt, in the famous 'Matthews Final'
May 9 – France agrees to the provisional independence of Cambodia with the king Norodom Sihanouk
May 10 - Town of Chemnitz in East Germany becomes Karl Marx Stadt
May 11 - The Waco Tornado: A F5 tornado hits in the downtown section of Waco, Texas killing 114.
May 18 - At Rogers Dry Lake, California Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier (she flew in a F-86 Sabrejet at an average speed of 652.337 miles-per-hour).
May 25 - Nuclear testing: At the Nevada Test Site, the United States conducts its first and only nuclear artillery test.
May 29 - Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay perform the first successful ascent to the summit of Mount Everest.

June

Queen Elizabeth II in her coronation robes

June 2 - Coronation of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom at Westminster Abbey.
June 8 - Flint-Worcester Tornadoes: A tornado hits in Flint, Michigan and kills 115. This is the last tornado to claim more than 100 lives.
June 8 - Austria and Soviet Union form diplomatic relations
June 9 - CIA Technical Services Staff head Sidney Gottlieb approves of the use of LSD in a MKULTRA subproject.
June 9 - Flint-Worcester Tornadoes: A tornado spawned from the same storm system as the Flint tornado hits in Worcester, Massachusetts killing 94.
June 12 - Currency reform causes riots in Czechoslovakia
June 13 - Hungarian Prime Minister Mátyás Rákosi is replaced by Imre Nagy.
June 16 - Soviet Union and Yugoslavia form diplomatic relations
June 17 - Workers Uprising: In East Germany, the Soviet Union orders a Division (military) of troops into East Berlin to quell a rebellion.
June 18 - Egypt declares a republic
June 19 - Execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
June 30 - The first Chevrolet Corvette is built at Flint (Michigan)

July

July 4 - Strikes and riots in coal mining regions in Poland
July 5 - First meeting of the assembly of the European Economic Community in Strasbourg, France
July 10 – Soviet official paper Pravda announces that Lavrenti Beria has been deposed from his positions as a head of NKVD
July 18 - Flood in the Hodno island in Japan - 1700 dead, 7000 injured
July 26 - Fidel Castro and his brother lead a disastrous assault on the Moncada Barracks - preliminary to the Cuban Revolution.
July 27 - Korean War ends: The United States, People's Republic of China, North Korea, and South Korea sign an armistice agreement.

August

August 5 - Operation Big Switch, operation to repatriate prisoners of war after the Korean War
August 7 - Ohio admitted as a U. S. state, retroactive to 1803.
August 8 - Soviet prime minister Georgi Malenkov announces that Soviet Union has a hydrogen bomb
August 11 - Earthquake devastates islands of the Ionian Sea
August 13 - 4 million workers go on strike in France to protest austerity measures
August 17 - Addiction: First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous in Southern California, see October 5.
August 18 - Kinsey report
August 19 - Cold War: The CIA helps to overthrow the government of Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran and retain Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi on the throne (see: Operation Ajax).
August 20 - French government oust the sultan of Morocco and exiles him to Corsica
August 20 - USA gives West Germany 382 ships it captured during World War Two
August 25 - General strike ends in France

September

September 3 - Birthday, Cheryl Tutson, 1953
September 5 - United Nations does not accept Soviet Union's suggestion to accept China as a member
September 7 - Nikita Khrushchev becomes head of the Soviet Central Committee.
September 25 - Hurricane in South-East Asia - over 1000 dead
September 25 - First German prisoners of war return from Soviet Union to West Germany
September 26 - Rationing of sugar ends in the United Kingdom

October

October - The UNIVAC 1103 is the first commercial computer to use random access memory.
October 5 - First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous (first planning session was held August 17)
October 9 - Konrad Adenauer is re-elected as a German chancellor
October 12 - "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial" opens at Plymouth Theatre, New York.
October 30 - Cold War: US President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally approves the top secret document National Security Council Paper No. 162/2, which states that the United States' arsenal of nuclear weapons must be maintained and expanded to counter the communist threat.

November

November 5 - David Ben Gurion resigns as a prime minister of Israel
November 9 - Cambodia becomes independent from France.
November 9 - King Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia dies
November 21 - Authorities at the British Natural History Museum announce that the skull of the "Piltdown Man", one of the most famous fossil skulls in the world, is a hoax.
November 23 - Moscow announces that Lavrenti Beria has been executed
November 25 - England lose 6-3 to Hungary at Wembley Stadium, their first ever loss to a continental team at home
November 29 - French paratroopers take Dien Bien Phu

December

December 2 - United Kingdom and Iran reform diplomatic relations
December 8 - US president Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers his Atoms for Peace address to the UN General Assembly in New York City
December 10 - Albert Schweitzer was given the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize.
December 17 - The FCC approves color television
December 23 – Soviet Union announces officially that Lavrenti Beria has been executed
December 24 - 153 people die as a result of the Tangiwai disaster when the railway bridge collapses at Tangiwai, New Zealand sending a fully loaded passenger train into the Whangaehu River
December 30 - The first color television sets go on sale for about $1,175 (American dollars).

Births

January

January 4 - George Tenet, American Central Intelligence Agency director
January 6 - Malcolm Young, Australian Musician
January 8 - Bruce Sutter, American baseball player
January 10 - Pat Benatar, American singer
January 10 - Bobby Rahal, American race car driver
January 19 - Desi Arnaz Jr., American actor
January 21 - Paul Allen, American entrepreneur
January 22 - Jim Jarmusch, American director
January 26 - Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark

February

February 7 - Dan Quisenberry, baseball player (d. 1998)
February 8 - Mary Steenburgen, American actress
February 9 - Ciarán Hinds, Northern Irish actor
February 9 - Rick Wagoner, American Automotive executive
February 11 - Philip Anglim, American actor
February 11 - Jeb Bush, brother of President George W Bush and son of George H.W. Bush and Barbara Pierce Bush
February 11 - Alan Rubin, American musician
February 17 - Norman Pace, British actor and comedian
February 21 - William Petersen, American actor
February 25 - José María Aznar, Spanish politician
February 25 - Martin Kippenberger, German artist
February 26 - Michael Bolton, American singer

March

March 1 - Richard Bruton, Irish politician and economist
March 6 - Jan Kjærstad, Norwegian author
March 6 - Jacklyn Zeman, American actress
March 12 - Carl Hiaasen, American author
March 12 - Ron Jeremy, American actor
March 16 - Isabelle Huppert, French actress
March 16 - Richard Stallman, American free software proponent
March 17 - Filemon Lagman, Filipino Communist revolutionary (d. 2001)
March 23 - Chaka Khan, American singer
March 26 - Elaine Chao, U.S. Secretary of Labor

April

April 1 - Barry Sonnenfeld, American film producer and director
April 2 - Jim Allister, Northern Irish politician
April 4 - Robert Bertrand, Canadian politician
April 6 - Andy Hertzfeld, American computer programmer
April 11 - Andrew Wiles, British-born mathematician
April 16 - J. Neil Schulman, American writer and activist

May

May 6 - Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
May 15 - George Brett, baseball player
May 15 - Mike Oldfield, English composer
May 16 - Pierce Brosnan, Irish actor
May 19 - Victoria Wood, British comic actress
May 20 - Robert Doyle, Australian politician
May 24 - Alfred Molina, English actor
May 26 - Michael Portillo, English politician
May 29 - Danny Elfman, American composer
May 30 - Colm Meaney, Irish actor

June

June 1 - David Berkowitz, American serial killer
June 4 - Susumu Ojima, Japanese entrepreneur (Huser)
June 8 - Bonnie Tyler, Welsh singer
June 13 - Tim Allen, American actor
June 21 - Benazir Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan
June 24 - Ivo Lill, Estonian artist

July

July 14 - Bebe Buell, American model and singer
July 15 - Jean-Bertrand Aristide, President of Haiti
July 15 - Mila Pivnicki, First Lady of Canada
July 29 - Geddy Lee, Canadian musician (Rush)

August

August 5 - Rick Mahler, baseball player (d. 2005)
August 9 - Robert Cray, American musician
August 11 - Hulk Hogan, American professional wrestler
August 14 - Cliff Johnson, Puzzle Game Author
August 18 - Louie Gohmert, American politician
August 19 - Benoît Régent, French actor (d. 1994)
August 26 - Pat Sharkey, Northern Irish footballer
August 31 - György Károly, Hungarian author

October

October 2 - Brandon Wilson, American author and explorer
October 7 - Christopher Norris, British actress
October 7 - Tico Torres, American musician (Bon Jovi)
October 9 - Tony Shalhoub, American actor
October 12 - Serge Lepeltier, French politician
October 12 - Les Dennis, British comedian and television presenter
October 22 - Jeff Goldblum, American actor
October 27 - Robert Picardo, American actor
October 27 - Peter Firth, British actor
October 31 - Michael J. Anderson, American actor

November

November 4 - Carlos Gutierrez, American politician
November 11 - Harley Venton, American actor
November 14 - Dominique de Villepin, Prime Minister of France
November 18 - Alan Moore, English writer and magician
November 19 - Robert Beltran, American actor
November 19 - Tom Villard, American actor (d. 1994)
November 23 - Francis Cabrel, French singer
November 28 - Ben Bolt, American guitarist
November 29 - Alex Grey, American artist

December

December 6 - Gary Ward, baseball player
December 8 - Kim Basinger, American actress
December 13 - Ben Bernanke, American economist
December 13 - Bob Gainey, Canadian hockey player
December 29 - Stanley Williams, co-founder of Crips street gang (d. 2005)
December 30 - Harald Schmautz, German journalist

Deaths

January—April

January 1 - Hank Williams, American musician (b. 1923)
January 28 - James Scullin, ninth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1876)
March 2 - Jim Lightbody, American runner (b. 1882)
March 5 - Herman J. Mankiewicz, American writer and producer (b. 1897)
March 5 - Sergei Prokofiev, Russian composer (b. 1891)
March 5 - Joseph Stalin, Soviet leader (b. 1879)
March 24 - Queen Mary the Dowager Queen Mother, queen of George V of the United Kingdom (b. 1867)
March 28 - Jim Thorpe, American athlete (b. 1887)

May—August

May 29 - Man Mountain Dean, American professional wrestler (b. 1891)
July 26 - Nikolaos Plastiras, Greek general and politician (b. 1883)
July 29 - Richard William Pearse, New Zealand airplane pioneer (b. 1877)
August 22 - Jim Tabor, baseball player (b. 1916)

September—December

September 2 - General Jonathan Wainwright, U.S. Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1883)
September 8 - Fred M. Vinson, Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1890)
September 12 - Hugo Schmeisser, German weapons designer (b. 1884)
September 28 - Edwin Hubble, American astronomer (b. 1889)
October 3 - Arnold Bax, English composer (b. 1887)
October 8 - Kathleen Ferrier, British contralto (b. 1912)
October 25 - Holger Pedersen, Dutch linguist (b. 1867)
October 27 - Thomas Wass, English cricketer (b. 1873)
November 8 - Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1870)
November 8 - John van Melle, Dutch-born author (b. 1883)
November 9 - Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet and author (b. 1914)
November 21 - Larry Shields, American musician (b. 1893)
November 27 - Eugene O'Neill, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
November 29 - Sam De Grasse, Canadian actor (b. 1875)
November 30 - Francis Picabia, French painter and poet (b. 1879)
December 18 - Robert Millikan, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1868)
December 27 - Julian Tuwim, Polish poet (b. 1894)
December 31 - Albert Plesman, Dutch aviation pioneer (b. 1889)

Nobel Prizes

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