At A Glance

12 April 1954 at a glance

Day of the week
12 April 1954 was a Monday.
Top Film of 1954
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1954 was Rear Window.
Bestselling Novel of 1954
“Not as a Stranger” by Morton Thompson was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1954.
Top-Rated TV Show
“I Love Lucy” (CBS) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1954–55 season.
Star sign
The star sign for 12 April is Aries.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 12 April 1954 fell in the Year of the Horse.
Birthstone
The birthstone for April is Diamond.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 12 April 1954 was Waxing Gibbous.

On this day: 12 April

  • 1937 Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at Rugby, England.
  • 1945 World War II: The U.S. Ninth Army under General William H. Simpson crosses the Elbe River astride Magdeburg, and reaches Tangermünde—only 80 kilometres from Berlin.
  • 1955 The polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, is declared safe and effective.
  • 1961 Space Race: The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first crewed orbital flight, Vostok 1.
  • 1970 Soviet submarine K-8, carrying four nuclear torpedoes, sinks in the Bay of Biscay four days after a fire on board.

Famous people born on April 12

  • Saoirse Ronan, American-born Irish actress (born 1994)
  • Claire Danes, American actress (born 1979)
  • Shannen Doherty, American actress, director, and producer (1971–2024)
  • Ed O'Neill, American actor and comedian (born 1946)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Events of 1954 in the United States

A selection from Wikipedia's '1954 in the United States'. Not a complete list.

  • April 1 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.
  • May 17 – Brown v. Board of Education (347 US 483 1954): The Supreme Court of the United States rules that segregated schools are unconstitutional.
  • June 27 – Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán steps down in a CIA-sponsored military coup, triggering a bloody civil war that continues for more than thirty-five years.

Life in the US in 1954

President

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Gas (per gallon)

$0.29

Loaf of Bread

$0.17

Average House

$8,900

Weekly Wage

$67

Or

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Famous Faces Born in the 1950s

Well-known people born in the same decade as you, not on your birthday.

Sources: Wikidata and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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