U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower at a public appearnce in 1955.U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Churchill would resign as Prime Minister in April at age 80 due to health issues.15 year old Claudette Colvin refuses to give up her seat to a white person on a Montgomery, Alabama bus. She is forcibly removed and arrested by police.The movie Blackboard Jungle is released and teenagers love the opening music "Rock Around The Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets. In July the song would be the first Rock & Roll record to hit number one on the U.S. popular music charts.The FDA approves and begins a nationwide vaccination program with a polio vaccine developed by New York medical researcher Jonas Salk. The Detroit Redwings win the Stanley Cup for the 7th time, defeating the Montreal Canadiens.Jazz saxophonist and bebop pioneer Charlie "Bird" Parker dies at age 34.Ray Kroc opens the first McDonald's in Des Plaines, IL featuring 15 cent hamburgers. German born theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate Albert Einstein dies on April 18, 1955 at the age of 76.The Disneyland amusement park in Anaheim, CA opens to the public on July 18, 1955.Russian born writer Vladimir Nabokov publishes his controversial book "Lolita" in Paris. The book would be released in the U.S. in 1958.Boxing World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Marciano defends his title against Archie Moore and wins with a knockout in the 9th round. Marciano would retire in 1956 and is the only heavyweight champion to go undefeated.Actor James Dean, age 24, is killed in a car accident in California. He had just finished his third film Giant, which was released after his death.Baseball team the Brooklyn Dodgers finally beat the New York Yankees to win the 1955 World Series.In Montgomery, AL Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white person and is arrested. Martin Luther King would organize the Montogomery Bus Boycott following this incident.In professional football, the Cleveland Browns defeat the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL Campionship game.Beat poet and City Lights Bookstore owner Lawrence Ferlinghetti launches a publishing arm with his first book of poetry "Pictures of the Gone World".General Motors becomes the first American company to make a profit of over one billion dollars in a single year.
1955 in the News

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