WORLD HISTORY · 1954 日本語
Events of 1954Showa 29 (Japan) · Year of the Horse
What happened in 1954?
In 1954, Japan's Defense Agency and Self-Defense Forces were established, and the first Godzilla film was released. The ferry Toya Maru, linking Honshu and Hokkaido, capsized in a typhoon, and the Geneva Accords brought a ceasefire in the Indochina War.
- Tokyo's Marunouchi subway line opensAsia
- Battle of Dien Bien Phu endsAsia
- Soviet Union starts world's first nuclear power plantEurope
- Defense Agency and Self-Defense Forces establishedAsia
- Geneva Accords bring Indochina ceasefireAsia
- Ferry Toya Maru capsizes in typhoonAsia
- Algerian War beginsAfrica
- First Godzilla film releasedAsia
Tap an event to jump to it in the timeline below.
1954 at a glance
| Japanese era | Showa 29 |
|---|---|
| Chinese zodiac | Year of the Horse |
| Age of people born in 1954 | Turn 72 in 2026 |
| Previous / next year | 1953 (Showa 28) ／ 1955 (Showa 30) |
| Events | 89 |
| AP World History | Unit 8 (Cold War and Decolonization) |
| AP U.S. History | Period 8 |
Famous people born in 1954
Our birthday pages list 690 people born in 1954. Here are some of them.
- James CameronBorn August 16 · turns 72 this year · Canadian-born filmmaker who directed The Terminator, Aliens, Titanic, and Avata…
- Catherine O'HaraBorn March 4 · turns 72 this year · Canadian comic actress known for SCTV, Home Alone, Beetlejuice, and playing Moi…
- Denzel WashingtonBorn December 28 · turns 72 this year · American actor and director who won Academy Awards for Glory and Training Day.
- Oprah WinfreyBorn January 29 · turns 72 this year · American talk show host, actress, and media entrepreneur best known for The Opr…
- Matt GroeningBorn February 15 · turns 72 this year · American cartoonist who created the animated TV series The Simpsons and Futuram…
- John TravoltaBorn February 18 · turns 72 this year · American actor and dancer famous for Saturday Night Fever, Grease, and Pulp Fic…
- Ron HowardBorn March 1 · turns 72 this year · American director and former child actor who played Opie and Richie Cunningham,…
- Jackie ChanBorn April 7 · turns 72 this year · Hong Kong action star and director famous for doing his own daring stunts in fi…
- Jerry SeinfeldBorn April 29 · turns 72 this year · American stand-up comedian who co-created and starred in the hit NBC sitcom Sei…
- Sonia SotomayorBorn June 25 · turns 72 this year · American judge who has served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court…
- Angela MerkelBorn July 17 · turns 72 this year · German politician who served as chancellor from 2005 to 2021, the first woman t…
- Condoleezza RiceBorn November 14 · turns 72 this year · American political scientist who served as U.S. national security adviser and a…
Show 28 more
- Chris EvertBorn December 21 · turns 72 this year · American tennis champion who won 18 Grand Slam singles titles and helped popula…
- Ozzie SmithBorn December 26 · turns 72 this year · American Hall of Fame shortstop nicknamed "the Wizard of Oz" for his acrobatic…
- Shinzo AbeBorn September 21 · turns 72 this year
- Kazuhiro YamajiBorn June 4 · turns 72 this year
- Katsuhiro OtomoBorn April 14 · turns 72 this year
- Hugo ChávezBorn July 28 · turns 72 this year
- Hōchū ŌtsukaBorn May 19 · turns 72 this year
- Jermaine JacksonBorn December 11 · turns 72 this year
- Bob MenendezBorn January 1 · turns 72 this year
- Dennis O'DriscollBorn January 1 · turns 72 this year
- Richard EdsonBorn January 1 · turns 72 this year
- Yannis PapathanasiouBorn January 1 · turns 72 this year
- Henry BonillaBorn January 2 · turns 72 this year
- Évelyne TrouillotBorn January 2 · turns 72 this year
- Rob KerinBorn January 4 · turns 72 this year
- Tina KnowlesBorn January 4 · turns 72 this year
- Alex EnglishBorn January 5 · turns 72 this year
- László KrasznahorkaiBorn January 5 · turns 72 this year
- Anthony MinghellaBorn January 6 · turns 72 this year
- Alan ButcherBorn January 7 · turns 72 this year
- Philippa GregoryBorn January 9 · turns 72 this year
- Baba VazirogluBorn January 10 · turns 72 this year
- Jaak AaviksooBorn January 11 · turns 72 this year
- Kailash SatyarthiBorn January 11 · turns 72 this year
- Howard SternBorn January 12 · turns 72 this year
- Richard BlackfordBorn January 13 · turns 72 this year
- Trevor RabinBorn January 13 · turns 72 this year
- Jim DugganBorn January 14 · turns 72 this year
Events of 1954 (timeline · 89)
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India establishes its highest civilian awards, the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan.
Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York at the head office of IBM.
BOAC Flight 781, a de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1, explodes and falls into the Tyrrhenian Sea, killing 35 people.
The Hudson Motor Car Company merges with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation forming the American Motors Corporation.
In the United States, the National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations.
The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, the First Lady of the United States.
The Detroit Red Wings played in the first outdoor hockey game by any NHL team in an exhibition against the Marquette Branch Prison Pirates in Marquette, Michigan.
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam.
Frank Selvy becomes the only NCAA Division I basketball player ever to score 100 points in a single game.
First Indochina War - small French garrison at Đắk Đoa is overrun by the Viet Minh after a week's siege.
Canada and the United States agree to construct the Distant Early Warning Line, a system of radar stations in the far northern Arctic regions of Canada and Alaska.
Transfer of Crimea: The Soviet Politburo of the Soviet Union orders the transfer of the Crimean Oblast from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR.
The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine begins in Pittsburgh.
Nuclear weapons testing: The Castle Bravo, a 15-megaton hydrogen bomb, is detonated on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, resulting in the worst radioactive contamination ever caused by the United States.
Armed Puerto Rican nationalists attack the United States Capitol building, injuring five Representatives.
McCarthyism: CBS television broadcasts the See It Now episode, "A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy", produced by Fred Friendly.
The Battle of Điện Biên Phủ begins with an artillery barrage by Viet Minh forces under Võ Nguyên Giáp; Viet Minh victory led to the end of the First Indochina War and French withdrawal from Vietnam.
Nuclear weapons testing: The Romeo shot of Operation Castle is detonated at Bikini Atoll. Yield: 11 megatons.
United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his "domino theory" speech during a news conference.
South African Airways Flight 201: A de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1 crashes into the sea during night killing 21 people.
A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair Harvard collides with a Trans-Canada Airlines Canadair North Star over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 37 people.
Red Scare: Witnesses begin testifying and live television coverage of the Army–McCarthy hearings begins.
The first practical solar cell is publicly demonstrated by Bell Telephone Laboratories.
The Geneva Conference, an effort to restore peace in Indochina and Korea, begins.
The first clinical trials of Jonas Salk's polio vaccine begin in Fairfax County, Virginia.
Indochina War: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat and a Viet Minh victory (the battle began on March 13).
The anti-National Service Riots, by Chinese middle school students in Singapore, take place.
The United States Supreme Court hands down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, outlawing racial segregation in public schools.
Joseph N. Welch, special counsel for the United States Army, lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Army–McCarthy hearings, giving McCarthy the famous rebuke, "You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"
Pope Pius XII canonises Dominic Savio, who was 14 years old at the time of his death, as a saint, making him at the time the youngest unmartyred saint in the Roman Catholic Church. In 2017, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, aged ten and nine at the time of their deaths, are declared as saints.
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill into law that places the words "under God" into the United States Pledge of Allegiance.
Carlos Castillo Armas leads an invasion force across the Guatemalan border, setting in motion the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état.
First Indochina War: Battle of Mang Yang Pass: Viet Minh troops belonging to the 803rd Regiment ambush G.M. 100 of France in An Khê.
The FIFA World Cup quarterfinal match between Hungary and Brazil, highly anticipated to be exciting, instead turns violent, with three players ejected and further fighting continuing after the game.
The Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant, the Soviet Union's first nuclear power station, opens in Obninsk, near Moscow.
Food rationing in Great Britain ends, with the lifting of restrictions on sale and purchase of meat, 14 years after it began early in World War II, and nearly a decade after the war's end.
Elvis Presley records his first single, "That's All Right", at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee.
The Boeing 367-80, the prototype for both the Boeing 707 and C-135 series, takes its first flight.
First Indochina War: Viet Minh troops successfully ambush the armoured French column 'G.M. 42' in the Battle of Chu Dreh Pass in the Central Highlands. It is the last battle of the war.
Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany's secret service, defects to East Germany.
First Indochina War: The Geneva Conference partitions Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
At Massena, New York, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Saint Lawrence Seaway is held.
Radio Pakistan broadcasts the "Qaumī Tarāna", the national anthem of Pakistan for the first time.
The Cruise of the Kings, a royal cruise organised by the Queen Consort of Greece, Frederica of Hanover, departs from Marseille, France.
The Communist Control Act goes into effect, outlawing the Communist Party in the United States.
Vice president João Café Filho takes office as president of Brazil, following the suicide of Getúlio Vargas.
The People's Liberation Army begins shelling the Republic of China-controlled islands of Quemoy, starting the First Taiwan Strait Crisis.
KLM Flight 633 crashes into the River Shannon in Shannon, County Clare, Ireland, killing 28.
The 6.7 Mw Chlef earthquake shakes northern Algeria with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). At least 1,243 people were killed and 5,000 were injured.
Hurricane Edna hits New England (United States) as a Category 2 hurricane, causing significant damage and 29 deaths.
In a top secret nuclear test, a Soviet Tu-4 bomber drops a 40 kiloton atomic weapon just north of Totskoye village.
Marilyn Monroe's iconic skirt scene is shot during filming for The Seven Year Itch.
Finnish president J. K. Paasikivi becomes the first Western head of state to be awarded the highest honor of the Soviet Union, the Order of Lenin.
The Moomin comics, created by Tove Jansson and Lars Jansson, is published internationally in the London newspaper The Evening News.
The Cochabamba–Santa Cruz highway connecting western and eastern Bolivia is inaugurated.
The Japanese rail ferry Tōya Maru sinks during a typhoon in the Tsugaru Strait, Japan, killing 1,172.
The convention establishing CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) is signed.
The U.S. Navy submarine USS Nautilus is commissioned as the world's first nuclear-powered vessel.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Sultanate of Muscat, Neil Innes, sends a signal to the Sultanate's forces, accompanied with oil explorers, to penetrate Fahud, marking the beginning of Jebel Akhdar War.
In accord with the 1954 Geneva Conference, French troops complete their withdrawal from North Vietnam.
Hurricane Hazel devastates the eastern seaboard of North America, killing 95 and causing massive floods as far north as Toronto.
Texas Instruments announces the Regency TR-1, the first mass-produced transistor radio.
US President Dwight D. Eisenhower pledges United States support to South Vietnam.
Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. becomes the first African-American general in the United States Air Force.
The Front de Libération Nationale fires the first shots of the Algerian War of Independence.
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicates the USMC War Memorial (Iwo Jima memorial) in Arlington Ridge Park in Arlington County, Virginia.
Great Britain defeats France to capture the first ever Rugby League World Cup in Paris in front of around 30,000 spectators.
Télé Monte Carlo, Europe's oldest private television channel, is launched by Prince Rainier III.
People's Action Party, an eventual dominative political party in Singapore, was established.
In Sylacauga, Alabama, United States, the Hodges meteorite crashes through a roof and hits a woman taking an afternoon nap; this is the only documented case in the Western Hemisphere of a human being hit by a rock from space.
Cold War: The United States Senate votes 65 to 22 to censure Joseph McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute".
The Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty, between the United States and Taiwan, is signed in Washington, D.C.
First successful kidney transplant is performed by J. Hartwell Harrison and Joseph Murray.
The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation is established to consolidate criminal investigation and intelligence into a single agency.
Source: Wikipedia date pages ("January 1" … "December 31") / CC BY-SA 4.0. Regions are assigned by the site editors.
FAQ
What year was 1954 in the Japanese calendar?
1954 was Showa 29 in the Japanese era system.
What Chinese zodiac animal is 1954?
1954 is the Year of the Horse.
How old is someone born in 1954?
They turn 72 on their birthday in 2026.
What happened in 1954?
In 1954, Japan's Defense Agency and Self-Defense Forces were established, and the first Godzilla film was released. The ferry Toya Maru, linking Honshu and Hokkaido, capsized in a typhoon, and the Geneva Accords brought a ceasefire in the Indochina War.
Dates and events are based on Wikipedia and other references. Summaries and regions are written by the site editors.