 Joe McCarthy, Republican, died of liver disease. He was most remembered for his ‘witch-hunts’ against suspected Communists. See 2/12/1954.
7/3/1957, The United States Congress approved the Eisenhower Doctrine.
5/1/1957, In the USA, President Eisenhower announced the Eisenhower Doctrine; that the US will protect the independence of Middle Eastern States, fearing that the USSR was behind Arab nationalist movements.
1956, President Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid Highway Act, to create a US-wide network of freeways.
25/9/1956, Transatlantic telephone cable between the UK and the USA became operational.
3/8/1956, The name of Bedloe’s Island, site of the Statue of Liberty, was changed to Liberty Island, on the approval of President Eisenhower.
14/8/1955, The US schooner Levin J. Marvel capsized and sank in Chesapeake Bay with the loss of 12 of the 24 people on board.
3/3/1955, Katharine Drexel, US philanthropist, teacher and Roman Catholic saint, died aged 96.
24/1/1955, Because of increasing tensions between China and Formosa (Taiwan), US President Eisenhower asked Congress for authority to protect Formosa; it was granted within four days by 409 votes to 3 in the House of Representatives.
2/12/1954, The US Senate voted to condemn McCarthy for abuse of proceedings, see 25/2/1954 and 2/5/1957.
12/11/1954, The immigration centre at Ellis Island, New York, closed. 15 million migrants into the US had been processed through here since 1892.
25/10/1954, In the US, meetings of the Cabinet were televised for the first time.
20/7/1954. The Geneva Agreement ended hostilities between North and South Korea.
12/7/1954, US Vice President Richard Nixon announced the construction of a network of Interstate Highways which would enable drivers to cross the USA without encountering a single crossroads or traffic light. They would also be useful as part of a defensive network, and to provide rapid exits from cities in the event of war.
10/7/1954, US President Eisenhower signed Public Law 480, the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954, better known as PL-480. This facilitated the export of grain to US-aligned governments that were facing threats from Leftist agencies, either internal rebels or intimidation from a Soviet-aligned State next door. PL-480 could be used to keep recalcitrant allies, those possibly sliding towards Communism, in line. For example in 1965 US President Johnson shifted the renewal of PL-480 food aid to India from an annual to a monthly basis, threatening India with withdrawal of food aid as India’s President Shastri expressed disapproval of US bombing in Vietnam. However if Shastri abandoned Nehru’s ideas of land distribution to Indian peasants then India would receive US agricultural technology, enhancing food yields.
15/6/1954, Senator John McCarthy’s committee labelled Robert Oppenheimer, inventor of the atom bomb, a security risk because he opposed development of the Hydrogen Bomb.
10/6/1954, Charles Adams, US statesman (born 2/8/1866) died.
4/5/1954, Doug Jones, US politician, was born.
22/4/1954, A committee headed by Senator John McCarthy, the ‘Permanent Investigations Sub-Committee’, began hearings into an alleged Communist spy ring at Fort Monmouth. McCarthy’s methods started alarming hs collaegues.
7/4/1954, The USA announced that, in conjunction with Canada, it would set up a chain of almost 100 radar stations along a 3,000 mile line at the 55th parallel. On 27/9/1954 a second chain of radfar stations was announced above the Arctic Circle to warn of enemy aircraft approaching from Russia across the North Pole. This was the Distant Early Warning Line, of DEW; within a few years it was obsolete because missiles would be delivered by rockets not planes.
8/3/1954, The US and Japan signed a mutual defence pact.
25/2/1954, President Eisenhower censured McCarthy (see 9/2/1950) for his bullying tactics. See 2/12/1954.
18/2/1954 John Travolta, American film actor, was born in Englewood, New York State.
10/10/1953. President Eisenhower of the USA signed a treaty with South Korea promising military ai