1955 Events & Facts

What Happened in 1955?

MAJOR EVENTS:

  • Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. leads the first major event of the U.S. civil rights movement, a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama
  • President Eisenhower suffers heart attack, is hospitalized for three weeks
  • World War II Allies sign treaty restoring Austria’s independence
  • Interstate Commerce Commission orders all U.S. interstate trains and buses to end segregation practices

BUSINESS & ECONOMY:

  • The AFL and CIO labor unions merge
  • The minimum wage was raised to $1.00 per hour

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY:

  • UHF television developed
  • Artificial diamonds created for the first time
  • Albert Einstein dies

SPORTS:

  • World Series: Brooklyn over New York Yankees, 4-3
  • "Sugar" Ray Robinson wins world boxing championship

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT:

  • Movies: Marty, The Seven Year Itch, The Rose Tattoo, Smiles of a Summer Night
  • Songs: Rock Around the Clock, The Yellow Rose of Texas, Davy Crockett, Love is a Many Splendored Thing
  • TV Shows: Truth or Consequences, Lawrence Welk Show, The Honeymooners, Gunsmoke, Name that Tune, $64,000 Question, Lassie, You’ll Never Get Rich
  • Books: The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Sloan Wilson; Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov; Witness for the Prosecution, Agatha Christie
  • Johnny Carson Show debuts on CBS-TV
  • RCA Records pays $35,000 to Sun Records for Elvis Presley's contract
  • The Mickey Mouse Club debuts on ABC

EVERYDAY LIFE:

  • Disneyland opens in Anaheim, California
  • Rudolph Flesch publishes Why Johnny Can’t Read, a stinging criticism of U.S. education
  • Cost of a gallon of gas is 23 cents

FUN FACTS:

  • Pink clothes for men become a fashion rage
  • Black and white TV costs $99.95



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