June 1954

Month of 1954

1954
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The following events occurred in June 1954:

## June 1, 1954 (Tuesday)

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* Beginning of the Saigon Military Mission, a CIA covert operation with the goal of stabilizing the South Vietnamese government and carrying psychological warfare and paramilitary operations against North Vietnam.[1][2]
* President Eisenhower signed into law House Resolution 7786, changing Armistice Day into Veterans Day.[3]

## June 2, 1954 (Wednesday)

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* Following the 1954 Irish general election, the 15th Dáil assembles at Leinster House and John A. Costello is appointed the new Taoiseach.[4]
* Born: Dennis Haysbert, African-American actor, in San Mateo[5]

## June 3, 1954 (Thursday)

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* A Soviet Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 attacks a Belgian Douglas DC-3 on a cargo flight from the United Kingdom to Yugoslavia, killing one crew member and injuring others. It is forced to land at Graz Airport in Austria.[6]

## June 4, 1954 (Friday)

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* The European Women's Basketball Championship opens in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.[7]

## June 5, 1954 (Saturday)

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* The last episode of Your Show of Shows airs on NBC.
* Born:
* Haluk Bilginer, Turkish actor, in Izmir, Turkey.

## June 6, 1954 (Sunday)

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* A statue of Yuriy Dolgorukiy in Moscow, originally conceived in 1947 in recognition of the 800th anniversary of the city's foundation, is unveiled.[8]
* The San Francisco Chief passenger train comes into use on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway between Chicago and San Francisco in the United States.[9]
* Born:
* Harvey Fierstein, American actor and playwright, in Brooklyn, New York[10]
* Urve Tiidus, Estonian journalist and politician, in Rapla
* Władysław Żmuda, Polish footballer and manager, in Lublin[11]

## June 7, 1954 (Monday)

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* All 4 Iowa class battleships are together in one place for the only time in their history.[12]
* Born: Louise Erdrich, US novelist and poet, in Little Falls, Minnesota[13]
* Died: Alan Turing, 41, British mathematician, cryptanalyst, and pioneer computer scientist (suicide)[14]

## June 8, 1954 (Tuesday)

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* Born:
* Greg Ginn, US punk rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter (Black Flag), in Tucson, Arizona[15]
* Kiril of Varna, Bulgarian metropolitan bishop (d. 2013)[16]
* Sergei Storchak, Deputy Finance Minister of Russia, in Olevsk[17]

## June 9, 1954 (Wednesday)

[edit]

* McCarthyism: Joseph Welch, special counsel for the United States Army, lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy, during hearings on whether Communism has infiltrated the Army, saying, "Have you no sense of decency?"[18]
* Parliamentary elections are held in Iraq; the Constitutional Union Party remains the largest party in the Chamber of Deputies of Iraq.[19]
* Born: George Pérez, American comic book artist, in The Bronx, New York (d. 2022)
* Died: Alain LeRoy Locke, 68, US writer, philosopher and educator[20]

## June 10, 1954 (Thursday)

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* The College World Series men's baseball tournament opens in Omaha, Nebraska, United States.[21]

## June 11, 1954 (Friday)

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## June 12, 1954 (Saturday)

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* An IRA unit carries out a daylight arms raid on the British Army's Gough Barracks in Armagh, Northern Ireland. In twenty minutes, the IRA men loaded a cattle truck with 340 rifles, 50 Sten guns, 12 Bren guns, and a volley of smaller arms and ammunition, and drove it away without anyone being injured.[22]

## June 13, 1954 (Sunday)

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* The 1954 Giro d'Italia cycle race ends in victory for Swiss rider Carlo Cerci.[23]
* NASCAR holds its first ever road course event, in Linden, New Jersey; it is won by Al Keller in a Jaguar.[24]
* Steam locomotives operate for the last time on the Maine Central Railroad in the United States.[25]

## June 14, 1954 (Monday)

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* The words "under God" are added to the United States Pledge of Allegiance.[26]

## June 15, 1954 (Tuesday)

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* The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) is formed in Basel, Switzerland.[27]
* Born: James Belushi, American actor and comedian; in Chicago, Illinois[28]

## June 16, 1954 (Wednesday)

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* The 1954 FIFA World Cup opens in Lausanne, Switzerland.[29]

## June 17, 1954 (Thursday)

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* A CIA-engineered military coup occurs in Guatemala. Democratically elected President of Guatemala Jacobo Árbenz was ousted and the military dictatorship of Carlos Castillo Armas took power.
* Pierre Mendès France is elected prime minister of France, and immediately begins negotiations to end the Indochina war.[30]
* A number of homes are destroyed when a 5.3 magnitude earthquake strikes Anhui Province, China.[31]
* Undisputed Heavyweight Champion Rocky Marciano defeats former champion Ezzard Charles by unanimous decision.

## June 18, 1954 (Friday)

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* The 4th Berlin International Film Festival opens, running until June 29.[32]

## June 19, 1954 (Saturday)

[edit]

* Ticino, a Swissair Convair CV-240 runs out of fuel and is ditched in the English Channel off Folkestone, Kent, UK. Three of the nine people on board are killed as a result of there being no lifejackets on board and the air crew (who are subsequently dismissed) failing to assist them.[33]
* A Mexican Air Force Douglas C-47 Skytrain crashes into a mountainside near Ixtlahuaca, Mexico, killing all 22 people aboard.[34]
* The US Open golf championship is won by Ed Furgol.[35]
* Born:
* Lou Pearlman, American music producer and fraudster, in Flushing, New York (died 2016)[36]
* Kathleen Turner, US actress, in Springfield, Missouri[37]

## June 20, 1954 (Sunday)

[edit]

* The 1954 Copa del Generalísimo, Spain's football cup tournament, is won by Valencia CF for the third time.
* The Belgian Grand Prix is held at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps and is won by Juan Manuel Fangio.[38]
* Born: Allan Lamb, South African-born England cricketer and sportscaster, in Langebaanweg;[39] Ilan Ramon, Israeli fighter pilot and astronaut, in Ramat Gan (died 2003)[40]

## June 21, 1954 (Monday)

[edit]

* A British Royal Air Force Douglas Dakota C.4 crashes into a hill while attempting a night descent into Eastleigh Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, killing all seven people aboard.[41]
* Born: Anne Kirkbride, British actress (Coronation Street) in Oldham (died 2015);[42] Már Guðmundsson, Icelandic economist, Governor of the Central Bank of Iceland 2009–2019; Robert Menasse, Austrian author and academic, in Vienna
* Died: Gideon Sundback, 74, Swedish engineer, developer of the slide fastener (zipper)[43]

## June 22, 1954 (Tuesday)

[edit]

* Sarah Mae Flemming is expelled from a bus in South Carolina for sitting in a white-only section.
* Died:
* Honorah Parker, 45, New Zealand housewife, bludgeoned to death by her daughter, 16-year old Pauline Parker, and the 15-year-old Julia Hulme, a future writer of English historical detective fiction as Anne Perry[44]
* Don Hollenbeck, 49, US newscaster (suicide)[45]

## June 23, 1954 (Wednesday)

[edit]

* An election is held to decide the new leader of the New Zealand Labour Party, as a result of a challenge to the incumbent Walter Nash from Arnold Nordmeyer. Nash won 56.6% of the vote to retain the leadership.[46]

## June 24, 1954 (Thursday)

[edit]

* The Battle of Mang Yang Pass begins in Mang Yang, Vietnam. Lasting for five days, it would become the last battle of the First Indochina War.[47]
* Born: Chang San-cheng, Taiwanese academic and politician, Prime Minister 2016[48]
* Died: Thomas Denman, 3rd Baron Denman, 5th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1874)

## June 25, 1954 (Friday)

[edit]

* In a meeting, Dr. Wernher von Braun, Frederick C. Durant III, Alexander Satin, David Young, Dr. Fred L. Whipple, Dr. S. Fred Singer, and Commander George W. Hoover agree that a Redstone rocket with a Loki cluster as the second stage could launch a satellite into a 200-mile (320 km) orbit without major new developments. Project Orbiter was a later outgrowth of this proposal and resulted in the launching of Explorer I on January 31, 1958.[49]
* Hurricane Alice makes landfall in South Texas, United States, before moving into northern Mexico and causing substantial flooding and other damage in the area of the Pecos River and Rio Grande. Over 50 people are known to have been killed.[50]

## June 26, 1954 (Saturday)

[edit]

* The world's first civilian nuclear power station, Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant, is commissioned in the Soviet Union.[51]

## June 27, 1954 (Sunday)

[edit]

* Lunar Perigee occurs, 3 days before the total solar eclipse.
* Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz[52] resigns following a CIA-sponsored military coup d'etat, triggering a bloody civil war that continues for more than 35 years.
* A CIA air attack in support of the military coup napalms a British cargo ship, the Springfjord, and destroys it at Puerto San José, Guatemala.[53]
* A by-election takes place in Guinea for a seat in the National Assembly of France. It is won by Independent candidate Barry Diawadou, despite accusations of fraud against the French administration.[54][55]
* In the 1954 Taça de Portugal Final, Sporting CP defeat Vitória de Setúbal to win the football tournament for the fifth time.[56]
* Died: Alfredo Versoza, Filipino Roman Catholic bishop and Servant of God (b. 1877)

## June 28, 1954 (Monday)

[edit]

* The US fishing troller Al leaves Sitka, Alaska, bound for Maid Island (56°50′05″N 135°27′48″W﻿ / ﻿56.8347°N 135.4633°W﻿ / 56.8347; -135.4633﻿ (Maid Island)) in Southeast Alaska with one person aboard; the ship is reported missing on 3 July but is never recovered.[57]

* Born: Jean-Serge Brisson, Canadian author and politician, 14th leader of the Libertarian Party of Canada

## June 29, 1954 (Tuesday)

[edit]

* Buckminster Fuller obtains a US patent for his geodesic dome.[58]
* The Battle of Mang Yang Pass (see June 24) ends in victory for the Việt Minh, resulting in the end of the First Indochina War and the final defeat of the French.

## June 30, 1954 (Wednesday)

[edit]

* A solar eclipse is visible in parts of the United States, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and eastern Europe, thence over Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, 3 days after perigee.[59]
* Born:
* Pierre Charles, Dominican educator and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Dominica (d. 2004)[60]
* Serzh Sargsyan, Armenian politician, 3rd President of Armenia[61]
* Wayne Swan, Australian academic and politician, 14th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
* Died:
* US vocalists R. W. Blackwood, 32,[62] and Bill Lyles, age unknown, of the Blackwood Brothers gospel group[63] and Bill Lyles, age unknown, of the Blackwood Brothers gospel group, killed in an air crash at Clanton, Alabama, while on tour.[64]
* Andrass Samuelsen, 80, 1st Prime Minister of Faroe Islands[65]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Document 95, Lansdale Team's Report on Covert Saigon Mission in 1954 and 1955", The Pentagon Papers, Gravel Edition, Volume 1, pp. 573–83, archived from the original on 2022-01-03, retrieved 2025-06-07
2. ^ Spector, Ronald H. "French rule ended, Vietnam divided". Britannica. Retrieved 2025-06-07.
3. ^ "H.R.7786 - An Act to honor veterans on the 11th day of November of each year, a day dedicated to world peace", congress.gov, 1954-06-01, retrieved 2025-06-07
4. ^ Ireland. Oireachtas. Dáil (1956). Parliamentary debates; official report. p. 1.
5. ^ Jim Sangster (1 April 2003). 24: The Unofficial Guide. Contender Entertainment Group. p. 17\. ISBN 978-1-84357-034-9.
6. ^ "Aviation Safety Network Criminal Occurrence Description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
7. ^ "1954 European Championship for Women". FIBA. Archived from the original on August 12, 2009. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
8. ^ Irving R. Levine (1960). Travel Guide to Russia. Doubleday. p. 117.
9. ^ Glischinski, Steve (1997). Santa Fe Railway. Osceola, WI: Motorbooks International. ISBN 978-0-7603-0380-1.
10. ^ Emmanuel Sampath Nelson (2003). Contemporary Gay American Poets and Playwrights: An A-to-Z Guide. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 153\. ISBN 978-0-313-32232-7.
11. ^ "FIFA Tournaments - Players". FIFA. Archived from the original on May 9, 2019. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
12. ^ "80-G-638938 Battleship Division Two". United States Navy. 7 June 1954. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
13. ^ Stookey, Lorena Laura (January 1, 1999). Louise Erdrich: A Critical Companion. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 1\. ISBN 9780313306129. Retrieved November 7, 2013.
14. ^ Darren Tofts; Annemarie Jonson; Alessio Cavallaro (17 September 2004). Prefiguring Cyberculture: An Intellectual History. MIT Press. p. 144\. ISBN 978-0-262-70108-2.
15. ^ James Parker (15 August 2000). Turned On: A Biography of Henry Rollins. Cooper Square Press. p. 43\. ISBN 978-1-4616-2420-2.
16. ^ "Varna and Pereslavl Metropolitan Kirill died in Bulgaria". Voice of Russia. 9 July 2013. Archived from the original on 14 July 2013. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
17. ^ Сергей Анатольевич Сторчак Archived 2007-10-24 at the Wayback Machine Official website of the Ministry of Finance of RF.
18. ^ Steven H. Rutledge (4 January 2002). Imperial Inquisitions: Prosecutors and Informants from Tiberius to Domitian. Routledge. p. 175\. ISBN 978-1-134-56060-8.
19. ^ Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p101 ISBN 0-19-924958-X
20. ^ "Dr. Alain Locke, Teacher, Author". The New York Times. June 10, 1954. p. 31.
21. ^ "NCAA Men's College World Series Records" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. p. 196. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
22. ^ Robert W. White; Robert William White; Ed Maloney (2006). Ruairí Ó Brádaigh: The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary. Indiana University Press. pp. 47–49\. ISBN 0-253-34708-4.
23. ^ "Dos suizos y un belga" [Two Swiss and a Belgian] (PDF) (in Spanish). El Mundo Deportivo. 14 June 1954. p. 1\. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 March 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
24. ^ Pate, Josh (March 10, 2008). "Atlanta race will always be known as Toyota's first win". nascar.com: Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. p. 1. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
25. ^ Johnson, Ron (1985). The Best of Maine Railroads. Portland Litho. p. 112.
26. ^ David E. Rosenbaum (June 28, 2002). "With Little Ado, Congress Put God in Pledge in 1954". New York Times. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
27. ^ uefa.com (2 January 2014). "1954–80 – History – About UEFA – Inside UEFA". UEFA. Archived from the original on August 24, 2017. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
28. ^ Sweet Home Cook County (PDF). Cook County Clerk. p. 1\. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 May 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
29. ^ Cris Freddi (2006). Complete Book of the World Cup 2006. HarperSport. p. 57\. ISBN 978-0-00-722916-1.
30. ^ John Stewart Bowman (1985). The Vietnam War: an almanac. World Almanac Publications. p. 37\. ISBN 9780911818857.
31. ^ "Significant Earthquake CHINA: ANHUI PROVINCE". National Geophysical Data Center. June 17, 1954. Archived from the original on January 1, 2017. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
32. ^ "4th Berlin International Film Festival". berlinale.de. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
33. ^ "The Swissair Accident". Flight (2 July 1954): 28.
34. ^ "Saturday 19 June 1954". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
35. ^ Grimsley, Will (June 20, 1954). "Furgol wins Open in dramatic finish". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. p. 1-sports.
36. ^ Tyler Gray (6 October 2009). The Hit Charade: Lou Pearlman, Boy Bands, and the Biggest Ponzi Scheme in U.S. History. HarperCollins e-books. p. 34\. ISBN 978-0-06-198030-5.
37. ^ Turner, Kathleen and Feldt, Gloria (February 2008). Send Yourself Roses: Thoughts on my Life, Love and Leading Roles. Springboard Press (Hatchette Book Group USA). p. 27. ISBN 978-0446581127.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
38. ^ "Belgium 1954 - Qualifying". statsf1.com. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
39. ^ G. L. Hough (1 January 1989). Chambers dates. Chambers. p. 163\. ISBN 978-0-550-11831-8.
40. ^ Stone, Tanya Lee (October 1, 2003). Ilan Ramon: Israel's First Astronaut. Kar-Ben Publishing. p. 10\. ISBN 978-0-7613-2888-9. Retrieved May 26, 2011.
41. ^ "Monday 21 June 1954". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
42. ^ "Anne Kirkbride, actress – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 20 January 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
43. ^ Ben Austin (1989). The 40 Year Cycle: Good-bye Dolly (August 1946-February 1976). Kilmarnock Press. p. 155.
44. ^ John McCarty (7 May 2018). Cinemusings: Essays and Interviews. Crossroad Press. p. 85.
45. ^ Ghiglione, Loren (2008). "The Sermon in the Suicide". CBS's Don Hollenbeck. Columbia University Press. pp. 220–223\. ISBN 978-0-231-14496-4. Retrieved July 5, 2009.
46. ^ Sinclair, Keith (1976). Walter Nash. Auckland, New Zealand: Oxford. pp. 284–294.
47. ^ Armor. U.S. Armor Association. 2001. p. 24.
48. ^ San-Cheng Chang (1981). An integrated finite element nonlinear shell analysis system with interactive computer graphics. Cornell University, January. p. ii.
49. ^ This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. Grimwood, James M. "Part 1 (A) Major Events Leading to Project Mercury March 1944 through December 1957". Project Mercury - A Chronology. NASA Special Publication-4001. NASA. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
50. ^ Von Zuben, F. J. Jr.; et al. (November 1957). "Public Health Disaster Aid in the Rio Grande Flood of 1954". Public Health Reports. 72 (11): 1009–17\. PMC 2031412. PMID 13485295.
51. ^ "Nuclear Power in Russia". World Nuclear Association. December 2011. Archived from the original on 2013-02-13. Retrieved 2011-12-16.
52. ^ Handy, Jim (9 November 2000). Revolution in the Countryside: Rural Conflict and Agrarian Reform in Guatemala, 1944-1954. University of North Carolina Press. p. 4\. ISBN 978-0-8078-6189-9 - via Google Books.
53. ^ "Sinking Of British Ship Reported". The Times. No. 52970\. London. 29 June 1954. col G, p. 8.
54. ^ Schmidt, Elizabeth (2007). Cold War and Decolonization in Guinea, 1946-1958. Western African studies. Athens: Ohio University Press. pp. 73–74, 82–83\. ISBN 9780821417638 - via Google Books.
55. ^ Schmidt, Elizabeth (October 2005). "Top Down or Bottom Up? Nationalist Mobilization Reconsidered, with Special Reference to Guinea (French West Africa)". The American Historical Review. 110 (4): 975–1014\. doi:10.1086/ahr.110.4.975. S2CID 162562610. Archived from the original on 29 September 2006. Retrieved 29 January 2023 - via The History Cooperative.
56. ^ "Taça de Portugal 1953/1954 - Final" [Cup of Portugal 1953/1954 - Final]. ForaDeJogo. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
57. ^ alaskashipwreck.com Alaska Shipwrecks (A)
58. ^ Donald Langmead; Christine Garnaut (2001). Encyclopedia of Architectural and Engineering Feats. p. 131\. ISBN 978-1-57607-112-0.
59. ^ van Gent, R.H. "Solar- and Lunar-Eclipse Predictions from Antiquity to the Present". A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles. Utrecht University. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
60. ^ Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations: World leaders. Thomson, Gale. 2002. p. 165\. ISBN 978-0-7876-6610-1.
61. ^ "The third President of Armenia". President of Armenia. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
62. ^ Papers. West Tennessee Historical Society. 1995. p. 86.
63. ^ Ted Ownby; Charles Reagan Wilson; Ann J. Abadie (25 May 2017). The Mississippi Encyclopedia. University Press of Mississippi. p. 109\. ISBN 978-1-4968-1159-2. [verification needed]
64. ^ Ted Ownby; Charles Reagan Wilson; Ann J. Abadie (25 May 2017). The Mississippi Encyclopedia. University Press of Mississippi. p. 109\. ISBN 978-1-4968-1159-2.
65. ^ Tom Nauerby (1996). No Nation is an Island: Language, Culture and National Identity in the Faroe Islands. SNAI-North Atlantic Publications. p. 95\. ISBN 978-87-983424-5-8.

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