January
1st	The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from East Germany
12th	Avalanches in Austria kill more than 20
15th	Mau Mau leader Waruhiu Itote is captured in Kenya
21st	The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut, by First Lady of the United States Mamie Eisenhower
25th	The foreign ministers of the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union meet at the Berlin Conference

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February
3rd	Queen Elizabeth II becomes the first reigning monarch to visit Australia
10th	After authorising $385 million over the $400 million already budgeted for military aid to Vietnam, US President Dwight Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam
23rd	The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

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March
1st	Officials announce that an American hydrogen bomb test has been conducted on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean
1st	Four Puerto Rican nationalists open fire in the United States House of Representatives chamber and wound five; they are apprehended by security guards
13th	French troops begin battle against Vietminh in Dien Bien Phu
19th	Joey Giardello knocks out Willie Tory at Madison Square Garden in the first televised prize boxing fight shown in colour
23rd	In Vietnam, the Viet Minh capture the main airstrip of Dien Bien Phu leaving French forces are partially isolated
25th	The 26th Academy Awards ceremony takes place in Los Angeles, California
25th	RCA manufactures the first color TV set
25th	Soviet Union recognises sovereignty of East Germany but Soviet troops remain in the country
30th	Canada's first subway line opens in Toronto

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April
3rd	Vladimir Petrov defects from the Soviet Union and asks to seek political asylum in Australia
4th	Legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini experiences a lapse of memory during a concert. At concert's end, his retirement is announced, and Toscanini never conducts in public again
7th	Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his "domino theory" speech during a news conference
14th	Aneurin Bevan resigns from the UK Labour shadow cabinet
16th	Vice President Richard Nixon announces that the United States may be "putting our own boys in Indochina regardless of Allied support."
22nd	Senator Joseph McCarthy begins hearings investigating the United States Army for being "soft" on Communism

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May
6th	Roger Bannister runs the first four-minute mile
7th	The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat (the battle began on March 13)
10th	West Brom win The FA Cup
14th	The Boeing 707 is released after about two years of development
20th	Chiang Kai-shek is reelected president of the Republic of China by the National Assembly
29th	Robert Menzies's government is re-elected for a 4th term in Australia

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June
9th	Joseph Welch, special counsel for the United States Army, lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy during hearings on whether Communism has infiltrated the Army
14th	The words "under God" are added to the United States Pledge of Allegiance
15th	UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations) is formed in Basel, Switzerland
16th	The FIFA football World Cup Finals begin in Switzerland
18th	Pierre Mendès France becomes prime minister of France
27th	Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán steps down in a CIA-sponsored military coup, triggering a bloody civil war that would continue for more than 35 years
27th	The world's first atomic power station opens at Obninsk, near Moscow

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July
4th	End of rationing of meat - the last form of food rationing in Britain
4th	West Germany win the football World Cup in Switzerland, beating Hungary 3 - 2 in the final
5th	The Andhra Pradesh High Court is established
15th	The maiden flight of Boeing 707 occurs
21st	The Geneva Conference partitions Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam

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August
6th	Emilie Dionne, one of the Dionne Quintuplets, dies of asphyxiation following an epileptic seizure at Sainte Agathe, Quebec
16th	The very first issue of Sports Illustrated is published
24th	President of Brazil, Getulio Vargas, commits suicide; he's been accused of conspiracy to murder an air force officer

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September
3rd	The last new episode of The Lone Ranger is aired on radio after 2,956 episodes over a period of 21 years
9th	An earthquake in the city of Orleansville in Algeria leaves 1500 dead and thousands homeless
11th	First Miss America Pageant broadcast on television
14th	The Soviet Union conduct nuclear testing
24th	Edward Pilgrim commits suicide on disputed land after the government of the day had refused to pay him a fair value to buy it back for housing development. The case is widely reported in the media as murder by bureaucracy
26th	Japanese ferry Toya Maru sinks during a typhoon in the Tsugaru Strait killing more than 1,100
30th	The submarine USS Nautilus, 1st atomic-powered vessel, is commissioned by the US Navy

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October
11th	The Viet Minh takes control of North Vietnam
11th	Hurricane Hazel crosses over Haiti, killing 1,000
15th	Hurricane Hazel makes U.S. landfall becoming the only recorded Category 4 hurricane to strike as far north as North Carolina
18th	Texas Instruments announces the development of the first Transistor radio
20th	Dock workers' strike expands in England
23rd	West Germany joins NATO
25th	Landslides caused by heavy rains hit Salerno, Italy, killing about 300
31st	The Algerian National Liberation Front begins a revolt against French rule

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November
2nd	The Dock workers' strike in England ends
5th	Japan and Burma sign in Rangoon a separate treaty of peace to end the formal state of war
10th	US President Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicates the USMC War Memorial (Iwo Jima memorial) in Arlington National Cemetery
14th	Egyptian president Mohammed Naguib is deposed - Gamal Abdel Nasser replaces him
30th	In Sylacauga, Alabama, a 4 kg piece of the Hodges Meteorite crashes through the roof of a house and badly bruises a napping woman, in the first documented case of an object from outer space hitting a person

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December
2nd	The United States Senate votes 67 to 22 to condemn Joseph McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonour and disrepute."
4th	The first Burger King is opened in Miami, Florida, USA
24th	Laos gains full independence from France