Baby Boomers - What Happened in 1955?
If you are a baby boomer born in 1955, you will find this information extremely interesting. Hope you enjoy learning more about the year you were born! If you have a friend or a family member born in 1955, send them a link to this page. They will appreciate it!
Major Events
- Dwight Eisenhower is president and Richard Nixon is vice president of the United States
- President Eisenhower suffers heart attack and is hospitalized for three weeks
- President Eisenhower takes part in the first televised press conference
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. leads the first major event of the U.S. civil rights movement, a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama
- Federal Republic of West Germany becomes a sovereign state
- World War II Allies sign treaty restoring Austria's independence
- AFL and CIO merge to become the AFL-CIO, the largest labor union
- U.S. military intervention in Iran
- Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus
- Interstate Commerce Commission orders all U.S. interstate trains and buses to end segregation practices
- Warsaw Pact was signed
Business and Economy
- U.S. GDP (1998 dollars): $415.1 billion
- Federal spending: $68.44 billion
- Federal debt: $274.4 billion
- Consumer Price Index: 26.8
- Unemployment: 5.5%
Science and Technology
- Albert Einstein and Alexander Fleming die
- First pocket transistor radios available
- Tetracycline was invented
- Corticosteroid prednisone is developed
- Optic fiber was invented
- UHF television developed
- Artificial diamonds created for the first time
Sports
- Brooklyn Dodgers defeat NY Yankees to win the World Series (4-3)
- Syracuse defeats Ft. Wayne Pistons to win the NBA Championship (4-3)
- "Sugar" Ray Robinson wins world boxing championship
Famous Baby Boomers Born in 1955
- Arsenio Hall
- Bill Gates
- Billy Bob Thornton
- Bruce Willis
- Debra Winger
- Jerry Seinfeld
- John Grisham
- John Hinckley
- Kevin Costner
- Margaux Hemingway
- Maria Shriver
- Steve Jobs
- Whoopi Goldberg
- Willem Dafoe
Arts and Entertainment
- Books:
Marjorie Morningstar, Auntie Mame, Andersonville, Bonjour Tristesse, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Something of Value, Not As a Stranger, No Time for Sergeants, The Tontine, Ten North Frederick
- Movies: On the Waterfront, Rebel without a Cause, Marty, East of Eden, Bad Day at Black Rock, Picnic, Oklahoma, To Catch A Thief, The Quatermass Xperiment, The Seven Year Itch
- Songs: Tutti-Frutti, Maybellene, Bo Diddley, Why Do Fools Fall In Love, The Great Pretender, Ain't It A Shame, Folsom Prison Blueso, Speedoo, Story Untold, My Babe
- Popular Musicians: Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Teenagers, Platters, Fats Domino, Johnny Cash, Cadillacs, Nutmegs, Little Walter
- TV Shows: Gunsmoke debuts on CBS and will go on to be television's longest-running western, The $64,000 Question, I Love Lucy, The Jackie Gleason Show, Dragnet, You Bet Your Life, Toast of the Town (Ed Sullivan)
- 70mm film is introduced with Oklahoma!
- James Dean dies in a car accident at age 26
Everyday Life
- U.S. Population: 165,931,202
- Life expectancy: 69.6 years
- Average yearly income: $4,418
- Cost of a new home: $10,950
- Cost of a new car: $1,900
- Federal hourly minimum wage: $.75
- Cost of a first-class stamp: $.03
Popular Culture
- Disneyland opens in Anaheim, California
- Laws enacted requiring seatbelts to be installed on all new cars
- Ray Kroc starts the McDonald's fast food restaurant chain
- Colonel Sanders went on the road to sell his secret chicken recipe to restaurants
- First cans of Coca-Cola were sold - previously only bottles of Coca-Cola were sold
- "In God We Trust" is added to all U.S. paper currency
- Fish Fingers are marketed by Bird's Eye
- First Guinness Book of World Records published
- The Mickey Mouse Club debuts on ABC
- Tappan manufactured the first home microwave ovens at a cost of $1,300
- Don't Walk signs are introduced in New York City
- Rudolph Flesch publishes "Why Johnny Can't Read," a stinging criticism of U.S. education
- Polio shots are given in schools for the first time
- Ann Landers starts her famous column in the Chicago Sun-Times
- Instant Oatmeal is invented by the Quaker Oats
- No-iron Dacron introduced
- Birds-Eye introduces Potato Patties
- Crest toothpaste was introduced
- Pink clothes for men become a fashion rage
- New York psychologist Joyce Brothers won the "$64,000 Question." The topic was boxing.
- The National Review appears, edited and published by William F. Buckley, Jr.
- Johnson & Johnson invents the first baby shampoo
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