What happened in 1953? - USA
We look at events, new products, films and music from 1953 in the USA.
In the news
- January 7 - President Harry S Truman announced that the USA had developed a hydrogen bomb
- January 19 - forty-four million viewers tuned in to watch an episode of 'I Love Lucy' called 'Lucy Goes to the Hospital'. In the episode Lucy gave birth. The real Lucille Ball gave birth on the day the episode was broadcast. The episode was filmed the previous November [1]
- January 20 - Dwight D Eisenhower was sworn in as the 34th President
- January 22 - The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, opened on Broadway. It was a historical drama about the Salem witch trials, but was an analogy of the anti-communist hearings hosted by Senator Joseph McCarthy
- May 11 - a powerful tornado struck Waco in Texas. One hundred and fourteen people died
- June 2 - a film of Queen Elizabeth II Coronation was flown to the USA by both CBS and NBC for transmission on US television on the same day. The five-hour time difference helped. There was no satellite link until 1962
- June 19 - Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for spying for the USSR
- July 27 - The Korean War ended
- July 28 - Insta-Burger King, the forerunner of Burger King, opened in Jacksonville, Florida
- September 28 - a six-year-old boy, Bobby Greenlease, was kidnapped and murdered. His father paid the largest ransom payment in American history, but did not get his son back alive
- October 5 - President Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren as Chief Justice of the United States
- December - Playboy magazine was published for the first time
- December 8 - President Dwight D Eisenhower gave the 'Atoms for Peace' address to the UN General Assembly New York
- December 12 - Major Charles E Yeager set the world air speed record at 1650mph in a Bell X-1A [2]
- December 18 - Carl Hall and Bonnie Heady (Brown) were executed in the Missouri gas chamber for the kidnapping and murder of Bobby Greenlease earlier in the year
Facts
- The population of the USA in 1953 was 160 million
- The outgoing president was Harry S Truman (Democrat). The new president was Dwight D Eisenhower (Republican)
- In 1953, 56% of men and 31% of women smoked [3]
- The best-selling cigarette was Camel [4]
- There were 50,373,000 telephones in the USA in 1953 [5]
- There were 2,357 AM radio stations and 616 FM radio stations [6]
- There were four television networks (NBC, CBS, ABC and DuMont) and 129 television broadcast stations on the air in America in 1953 [5]
- Americans posted 50,948,156 letters and parcels in 1953. Of these 136,434 were international air mail letters and 1,429,680 were domestic air mail letters [7]
- Americans bought 6,117,000 new cars in 1953. Just under half were 4-door sedans. There were 46,289,000 passenger cars and taxis registered in the USA in 1953 [8]
- 65% of American adults owned cars in 1953 [9]
- 42% of cars on US road were less than four years old
- 37,955 Americans died in road accidents in 1953 [10]
For more information see How much did things cost in 1953?
Films
The top ten highest-grossing movies of 1953 were:
- Peter Pan
- The Robe
- From Here to Eternity
- House of Wax
- Shane
- Gentlemen Prefer Blonds
- Hondo
- How to Marry a Millionaire
- The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
- Niagara
Source: North America (US and Canada) Domestic Movie Chart for 1953 from 'The Numbers' website
Television
The most watched television programs of 1953 were:
- I Love Lucy (season 2) (CBS)
- Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts (CBS)
- Arthur Godfrey and his Friends (CBS)
- Dragnet (season 2) (NBC)
- Texaco Star Theater: The Milton Berle Show (season 5) (NBC)
- The Buick Circus Hour (NBC)
- The Colgate Comedy Hour (season 3) (NBC)
- Gangbusters (season 1) (NBC)
- You Bet Your Life: hosted by Groucho Marx (season 3) (NBC)
- Fireside Theatre (season 5) (NBC)
Source: Nielsen rankings for the 1952-3 season
Sport
Baseball: the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers to win the 1953 World Series
American Football: the Detroit Lions beat the Cleveland Browns to win the NFL (National Football League) championship game
Boxing: Rocky Marciano was the World Heavyweight Champion in 1953
Golf: Ben Hogan won the US Open in 1953 for the fourth time
Horse racing: Dark Star ridden by Henry Moreno won the 1953 Kentucky Derby
Cars
Significant new models launched 1953 included:
- Cadillac Eldorado Convertible
- Chevrolet Corvette
Source: American Cars of the 1950s, published in the Auto Library Series by the Olyslager Organisation 1973
Read more
By Steven Braggs, September 2022
References
[1] 'I Love Lucy' by Lori Landy, published in 2010 by Wayne State University Press, page 74
[2] The Guinness Book of Records 1955, published by Guinness Superlatives page 55
[3] The National Consumer Survey of Cigarette Smoking Habits 1953, published by Sullivan, Stauffer, Colwell & Bayles Inc., page 5
[4] The National Consumer Survey of Cigarette Smoking Habits 1953, published by Sullivan, Stauffer, Colwell & Bayles Inc., table after page 9
[5] Statistical Abstract of the United State 1955, page 509
[6] Statistical Abstract of the United State 1956, pages 514 and 517
[7] Statistical Abstract of the United State 1956, page 521
[8] Statistical Abstract of the United State 1956, pages 550-1
[9] Statistical Abstract of the United State 1956, page 554
[10] Statistical Abstract of the United State 1956, page 554
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