Top News Stories from 1953

World Events

World Statistics

Population: 4.378 billion
population by decade
Nobel Peace Prize: George C. Marshall (US)
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U.S. Events

U.S. Statistics

Vice President: Richard M. Nixon
Population: 160,184,192
Life expectancy: 68.8 years
Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 4.8
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Economics

US GDP (1998 dollars): $379.7 billion
Federal spending: $76.10 billion
Federal debt $266.0 billion
Consumer Price Index: $26.7
Unemployment: 3.0%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.03

Sports

World Series
NY Yankees d. Brooklyn Dodgers (4-2)
NBA Championship
Minneapolis Lakers d. New York
Stanley Cup
Montreal d. Boston
Wimbledon
Women: Maureen Connolly d. D. Hart (8-6 7-5)
Men: Vic Seixas d. K. Nielsen (9-7 6-3 6-4)
Kentucky Derby Champion
Dark Star
NCAA Basketball Championship
Indiana d. Kansas
NCAA Football Champions
Maryland (10-1-0)

Entertainment

Entertainment Awards

Pulitzer Prizes
Drama: Picnic, William Inge
Academy Award, Best Picture: The Greatest Show on Earth, Cecil B. DeMille, producer (Paramount)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Sir Winston Churchill (UK)
Miss America: Neva Jane Langley (GA)
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Events

  • The first issue of TV Guide magazine hits the newsstands on April 3 in 10 cities with a circulation of 1,560,000.
  • To counteract the threat of television, Hollywood thinks big and develops wide-screen processes such as CinemaScope, first seen in The Robe.
  • Loretta Young abandons Hollywood for her stylish debut on the small screen.
  • Lucille Ball gives birth to Desi Arnaz, Jr. on same day the fictional Little Ricky is born on I Love Lucy.
  • Playboy magazine hits newsstands. A nude Marilyn Monroe graces the cover.

Movies

  • The Robe, From Here to Eternity, Shane, Roman Holiday

Books

Science

Nobel Prizes in Science

Chemistry: Hermann Staudinger (Germany), for research in giant molecules
Physics: Fritz Zernike (Netherlands), for development of ""phase contrast"" microscope
Physiology or Medicine: Fritz A. Lipmann (Germany-US) and Hans Adolph Krebs (Germany-UK), for studies of living cells
Physiology or Medicine: The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
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Death

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