World Events
Population: 2.681 billion
Nobel Peace Prize: George C. Marshall (US)
Joseph Stalin dies (March 5). Georgi Malenkov becomes Soviet Premier; Lavrenti Beria, Minister of Interior; Vyacheslav Molotov, Foreign Minister (March 6). Background: Rulers of Russia since 1533
East Berliners rise against Communist rule; quelled by tanks (June 17).
Korean armistice signed (July 27).
Moscow announces explosion of hydrogen bomb (Aug. 20). Background: nuclear weapons
Tito becomes president of Yugoslavia.
U.S. Events
President: Dwight D. Eisenhower
Vice President: Richard M. Nixon
Population: 160,184,192
Life expectancy: 68.8 years
Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 4.8
Economics
US GDP (1998 dollars): $379.7 billion
Federal spending: $76.10 billion
Federal debt: $266.0 billion
Consumer Price Index: 26.7
Unemployment: 3.0%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.03
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower inaugurated President of United States (Jan. 20).
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg executed in Sing Sing prison (June 19).
Alleged to be a Communist, Charlie Chaplin leaves U.S. for good. Justice Dept. warns him any attempt to reenter the country will be challenged.
Sports
World Series
NY Yankees d. Brooklyn Dodgers (4-2)
NBA Championship
Minneapolis Lakers d. New York (4-1)
Stanley Cup
Montreal d. Boston (4-1)
Wimbledon
Women: Maureen Connolly d. D. Hart (8-6 7-5)
Men: Vic Seixas d. K. Nielsen (9-7 6-3 6-4)
Kentucky Derby Champion
Dark Star
NCAA Basketball Championship
Indiana d. Kansas (69-68)
NCAA Football Champions
Maryland (10-1-0)
Entertainment
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
Drama: Picnic, William Inge
Oscars awarded in 1953
Academy Award, Best Picture: The Greatest Show on Earth, Cecil B. DeMille, producer (Paramount)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Sir Winston Churchill (UK)
Miss America: Neva Jane Langley (GA)
The first issue of TV Guide magazine hits the newsstands on April 3 in 10 cities with a circulation of 1,560,000.
To counteract the threat of television, Hollywood thinks big and develops wide-screen processes such as CinemaScope, first seen in The Robe.
Loretta Young abandons Hollywood for her stylish debut on the small screen.
Lucille Ball gives birth to Desi Arnaz, Jr. on same day the fictional Little Ricky is born on I Love Lucy.
Playboy magazine hits newsstands. A nude Marilyn Monroe graces the cover.
Movies
The Robe, From Here to Eternity, Shane, Roman Holiday
Books
James Baldwin, Go Tell It on the Mountain
Saul Bellow, The Adventures of Augie March
William Burroughs, Junkie
Randall Jarrell, Poetry and the Age
Henry Miller, Plexus
Alain Robbe-Grillet, The Erasers
Jean Stafford, Children are Bored on Sunday
Science
Nobel Prizes in Science
Chemistry: Hermann Staudinger (Germany), for research in giant molecules
Physics: Fritz Zernike (Netherlands), for development of ""phase contrast"" microscope
Physiology or Medicine: Fritz A. Lipmann (Germany-US) and Hans Adolph Krebs (Germany-UK), for studies of living cells
Rosalind Franklin (England), Francis Crick (England), and James Watson (US) discover the double-helical structure of DNA. Background: genetic engineering
Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal reach the top of Mt. Everest (May 29).
Background: Everest Almanac
First successful open-heart surgery is performed in Philadelphia. Background: Health & Nutrition
Deaths
Queen Mary
Eugene O'Neill
Jacques Thiabaud