At A Glance

18 August 1954 at a glance

Day of the week
18 August 1954 was a Wednesday.
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 18 August is Leo.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 18 August 1954 fell in the Year of the Horse.
Birthstone
The birthstone for August is Peridot.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 18 August 1954 was Waning Gibbous.

On this day: 18 August

  • 1945 Sukarno takes office as the first president of Indonesia, following the country's declaration of independence the previous day.
  • 1949 Kemi strike: Two protesters die in the scuffle between the police and the strikers' protest procession in Kemi, Finland.
  • 1958 Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.
  • 1958 Brojen Das from Bangladesh swims across the English Channel in a competition as the first Bengali and the first Asian to do so, placing first among the 39 competitors.
  • 1963 Civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first African American to graduate from the University of Mississippi.

Famous people born on August 18

  • Robert Redford, American actor, director, and producer (1936–2025)
  • Patrick Swayze, American actor and dancer (1952–2009)
  • Edward Norton, American actor (born 1969)
  • Kaitlin Olson, American actress and comedian (born 1975)

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.
More events of 1954 →Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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

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Famous Faces Born in the 1950s

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

Michael Jackson29 August 1958Singer & songwriterView their day →Anthony Bourdain25 June 1956Chef & television personalityView their day →Bruce Willis19 March 1955ActorView their day →Madonna16 August 1958SingerView their day →Annette Bening29 May 1958ActressView their day →Robin Williams21 July 1951Actor & comedianView their day →Steve Jobs24 February 1955Entrepreneur & co-founder of Apple Inc.View their day →Prince7 June 1958MusicianView their day →

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

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