What happened in 1953
40 entries recorded for 1953, listed by date. That was 73 years ago.
1953 at a glance
- Years ago
- 73 (as of 2026)
- Century
- 20th century
- Decade
- 1950s
- Generation born
- Baby Boomers
- Entries here
- 40
- Breakdown
- 40 historical events
January
- January 6
Asian Socialist Conference
The inaugural Asian Socialist Conference, an organisation of socialist political parties, opened in Rangoon with 177 delegates, observers and fraternal guests.
- January 13
Doctors' plot
Nine Moscow doctors were accused of a plot to poison members of the Soviet political and military leadership.
- January 14
Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito is elected the first President of Yugoslavia.
February
- February 3
Creole peoples
Hundreds of native creoles known as Forros were massacred on São Tomé Island by the colonial administration and Portuguese landowners.
March
- March 3
De Havilland Comet
A De Havilland Comet (Canadian Pacific Air Lines) crashes in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 11 people.
- March 6
Joseph Stalin
Following Joseph Stalin's death, Georgy Malenkov succeeded him as Premier of the Soviet Union.
- March 18
1953 Yenice–Gönen earthquake
An earthquake hits western Turkey, killing at least 1,070 people.
- March 26
Jonas Salk
Jonas Salk announced the successful test of his polio vaccine on a small group of adults and children.
April
- April 13
Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming's novel Casino Royale was published as the first work to feature the British spy character James Bond.
- April 13
Central Intelligence Agency
The CIA began Project MKUltra, an illegal, covert human research program into mind control.
- April 25
Francis Crick
Francis Crick and James Watson publish "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid" describing the double helix structure of DNA.
- April 29
3D television
The first U.S. experimental 3D television broadcast shows an episode of Space Patrol on Los Angeles ABC affiliate KECA-TV.
May
- May 3
Semi-trailer
Two men are rescued from a semitrailer that crashed over the side of the Pit River Bridge before it fell into the Sacramento River. Amateur photographer Virginia Schau photographs "Rescue on Pit River Bridge", the first and only winning submission for the Pulitzer Prize for Photo
- May 14
Milwaukee
Approximately 7,100 brewery workers in Milwaukee perform a walkout, marking the start of the 1953 Milwaukee brewery strike.
- May 15
Pinewood derby
Don Murphy organized the first pinewood derby, an event for Cub Scouts of the Boy Scouts of America where wooden cars built by the scouts are raced.
- May 29
Edmund Hillary
The mountaineers Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
June
- June 2
Coronation of Elizabeth II
The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey becomes the first British coronation, and one of the first major international events, to be televised.
- June 2
Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth II was crowned at Westminster Abbey in London.
- June 8
1953 Flint–Beecher tornado
An F5 tornado struck Flint and Beecher, Michigan, causing 116 fatalities, 844 injuries and $19 million in damage during a larger tornado outbreak sequence.
- June 9
Tornado outbreak of June 7–9, 1953
The Flint–Worcester tornado outbreak sequence kills 94 people in Massachusetts.
- June 17
Cold War
Cold War: East Germany Workers Uprising: In East Germany, the Soviet Union orders a division of troops into East Berlin to quell a rebellion.
- June 18
United States Air Force
A United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns near Tachikawa, Japan, killing 129.
- June 18
Egyptian revolution of 1952
The Egyptian revolution of 1952 ends with the overthrow of the Muhammad Ali dynasty and the declaration of the Republic of Egypt.
- June 18
Douglas C-124 Globemaster II
A Douglas C-124 Globemaster II aircraft crashed just after takeoff from Tachikawa, Japan, killing all 129 people on board.
- June 19
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Americans Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (pictured) were executed as spies for passing nuclear weapons secrets to the Soviet Union.
July
- July 26
Battle of the Samichon River
The Battle of the Samichon River, the last engagement of the Korean War, ended a few hours before the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement.
- July 26
Colorado City, Arizona
In Short Creek, Arizona, police conducted a mass arrest of approximately 400 Mormon fundamentalists for polygamy.
- July 27
Korean War
Korean War: Cessation of hostilities is achieved when the United States, China, and North Korea sign an armistice agreement. Syngman Rhee, President of South Korea, refuses to sign but pledges to observe the armistice.
- July 27
Korean Armistice Agreement
An armistice was signed to end hostilities in the Korean War, officially making the division of Korea indefinite by creating a 4 km wide (2.5 mi) demilitarized zone across the Korean Peninsula.
August
- August 4
Alfred C. Glassell Jr.
Alfred C. Glassell Jr. caught a black marlin weighing 1,560 lb (710 kg) (pictured) off the coast of Peru, setting the record for the largest bony fish caught by hand.
- August 10
First Indochina War
First Indochina War: The French Union withdrew its forces from Operation Camargue against the Việt Minh in central modern-day Vietnam.
- August 12
Nuclear weapons testing
Thermonuclear bomb testing: The Soviet atomic bomb project continues with the detonation of "RDS-6s" (Joe 4) using a "layered" scheme.
- August 12
1953 Ionian earthquake
The 7.2 Ms Ionian earthquake shakes the southern Ionian Islands with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). Between 445 and 800 people are killed.
September
- September 22
Four Level Interchange
The Four Level Interchange, first stack interchange in the world opened in Los Angeles.
October
- October 3
Holy Rosary Cathedral (Vancouver)
Vancouver's Holy Rosary Cathedral was dedicated by Archbishop William Mark Duke, fifty-three years after it first opened.
- October 14
Ariel Sharon
Israeli military commander Ariel Sharon and his Unit 101 special forces attacked the village of Qibya on the West Bank, destroying 45 buildings, killing 42 villagers, and wounding 15 others.
- October 19
Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 is published.
November
- November 30
Mutesa II of Buganda
Mutesa II, Kabaka of Buganda, was temporarily deposed and exiled to London by Andrew Cohen, the British governor of Uganda.
December
- December 1
Playboy
American men's magazine Playboy was founded in Chicago by Hugh Hefner and his associates.
- December 24
North Island
A railway bridge at Tangiwai on New Zealand's North Island was damaged by a lahar and collapsed beneath a passenger train (wreckage pictured), killing 151 people.
Questions about 1953
What happened in 1953?
This site records 40 entries for 1953, including Asian Socialist Conference on January 6. They are listed below by date.
How long ago was 1953?
73 years ago, counting from 2026. Anyone born in 1953 turns 73 this year.
Which century is 1953 in?
1953 falls in the 20th century, in the 1950s.
Which generation was born in 1953?
Baby Boomers (1946–1964). Born in the post-war birth surge.
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