Top News Stories from 1953
World Events
World Statistics
Population: 4.378 billion
population by decade Nobel Peace Prize: George C. Marshall (US)
More World Statistics... - 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
U.S. Statistics
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
More U.S. Statistics... - Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower inaugurated President of United States (Jan. 20).
- Julius and Ethel Rosenberg executed in Sing Sing prison (June 19).
- Alleged Communist Charlie Chaplin leaves U.S. for good. Justice Dept. warns him any attempt to reenter the country will be challenged.
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
Sports
World Series
NY Yankees d. Brooklyn Dodgers (4-2)NBA Championship
Minneapolis Lakers d. New YorkStanley Cup
Montreal d. BostonWimbledon
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 StarNCAA Basketball Championship
Indiana d. KansasNCAA Football Champions
Maryland (10-1-0)Entertainment
Entertainment Awards
Pulitzer Prizes Drama: Picnic, William Inge
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)
More Entertainment Awards... Events
- 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
- William Burroughs, Junkie
- Randall Jarrell, Poetry and the Age
- Henry Miller, Plexus
- Alain Robbe-Grillet, The Erasers
- Jean Stafford, Children are Bored on Sunday
- James Baldwin, Go Tell It on the Mountain
- Saul Bellow, The Adventures of Augie March
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
Physiology or Medicine: The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
More Nobel Prizes in 1998... - 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
Death
- Queen Mary
- Eugene O'Neill
- Jacques Thiabaud
