Editing 1955 (section)

==Events==
===January===
{{main|January 1955}}
[[File:Marian Anderson.jpg|thumb|120px|right|[[January 7]]: [[Marian Anderson]] at the [[Metropolitan Opera|Met]]]]
[[File:Minuteman3launch.jpg|thumb|120px|right| [[January 22]]: [[ICBM]]]] 
* [[January 3]] – [[José Ramón Guizado]] becomes president of [[Panama]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Marjorie Millace Whiteman |title=Digest of International Law |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vVIMAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA306 |year=1963 |publisher=U.S. Department of State |pages=306}}</ref>
* [[January 17]] – {{USS|Nautilus|SSN-571|6}}, the first [[Nuclear marine propulsion|nuclear-powered]] submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from [[Groton, Connecticut]].<ref>{{cite book |author=United States. Congress. House. Committee on Appropriations |title=Policy statements |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XRJEAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA724 |year=1959 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |pages=724}}</ref>
* [[January 18]]–[[January 20|20]] – [[Battle of Yijiangshan Islands]]: The Chinese Communist [[People's Liberation Army]] seizes the islands from the [[Republic of China]] (Taiwan).<ref>{{cite book |author1=Xiaobing Li |author2=Hongshan Li |title=China and the United States: A New Cold War History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Re8pJnCXvWoC&pg=PA57 |year=1998 |publisher=University Press of America |isbn=978-0-7618-0978-4 |pages=57}}</ref>
* [[January 22]] – In the United States, [[The Pentagon]] announces a plan to develop [[intercontinental ballistic missile]]s (ICBMs), armed with [[nuclear weapon]]s.
* [[January 23]] – The [[Sutton Coldfield rail crash]] kills 17, near Birmingham, England.
* [[January 25]] – The [[Presidium of the Supreme Soviet]] of the [[Soviet Union]] announces the end of the war between the USSR and Germany, which began during World War II in [[1941]].
* [[January 28]] – The [[United States Congress]] authorizes President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] to use force to protect [[Taiwan]] from the People's Republic of China.

===February===
{{main|February 1955}}
* [[February 10]] – The [[United States Seventh Fleet]] helps the [[Republic of China]] evacuate the [[Chinese Nationalist]] army and residents from the [[Tachen Islands]] to [[Taiwan]].
* [[February 16]] – Nearly 100 die in a fire at a home for the elderly in [[Yokohama]], Japan.
* [[February 19]] – The [[Southeast Asia Treaty Organization]] (SEATO) is established, at a meeting in [[Bangkok]].
* [[February 22]] – In Chicago's Democratic primary, Mayor [[Martin H. Kennelly]] loses to the head of the Cook County Democratic Party, [[Richard J. Daley]], 364,839 to 264,077.
* [[February 24]] – The [[Baghdad Pact]] (CENTO), originally known as [[Baghdad Pact|Middle East Treaty Organization]] (METO), is signed between Iraq and Turkey.<ref name="AdministrationMatchette1995">{{cite book |author1=United States. National Archives and Records Administration |author2=Robert B. Matchette |title=Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States: Record groups 171-515 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LLUZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PT579 |year=1995 |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |isbn=978-0-16-048312-7 |pages=579}}</ref>

===March===
{{main|March 1955}}
* [[March 2]] – [[Claudette Colvin]], a 15-year-old [[African-American]] girl, refuses to give up her seat on a bus in [[Montgomery, Alabama]], to a white woman after the driver demands it. She is carried off the bus backwards, while being kicked, handcuffed and harassed on the way to the police station. She becomes a plaintiff in ''[[Browder v. Gayle]]'' (1956), which rules bus segregation to be unconstitutional.
* [[March 5]]
** [[WBBJ-TV]] signs on the air in [[Jackson, Tennessee]], with WDXI as its initial call-letters, to expand American commercial television in mostly rural areas.
** [[Elvis Presley]] makes his television debut on "[[Louisiana Hayride]]", carried by KSLA-TV Shreveport in the United States.<ref>Although audio recordings exist, there is no known video footage of this appearance.</ref>
* [[March 7]] – The [[Peter Pan (1954 musical)|Broadway musical]] version of ''[[Peter and Wendy|Peter Pan]]'', which had opened in [[1954]] starring [[Mary Martin]], is presented on television for the first time by [[NBC]]-TV, with its original cast, as an installment of ''[[Producers' Showcase]]''. It is also the first time that a stage musical is presented in its entirety on TV, almost exactly as it was performed on stage. This program gains the largest viewership of a TV special up to this time, and it becomes one of the first great TV family musical classics.
* [[March 17]] – [[Richard Riot]] in [[Montreal]]: 6,000 people protest against the [[Suspension (punishment)|suspension]] of [[French Canadian]] [[ice hockey]] star [[Maurice Richard]] of the [[Montreal Canadiens]] by the [[National Hockey League]], following a violent incident during a match.
* [[March 19]] – [[KXTV]] signs on the air in [[Sacramento, California]], as the 100th commercial television station in the United States.
* [[March 20]] – The movie adaptation of [[Ed McBain|Evan Hunter]]'s novel ''[[Blackboard Jungle]]'' premieres in the United States, featuring the famous single "[[Rock Around the Clock]]" by [[Bill Haley & His Comets]]. Teenagers jump from their seats to dance to the song.

===April===
{{main|April 1955}}
[[File:McDonalds Museum.jpg|thumb|120px|right|[[April 15]]: [[McDonald's]]]]
* [[April 1]] – [[EOKA]] starts a resistance campaign against British rule in the [[Crown colony]] of [[Cyprus]].
* [[April 5]]
** [[Winston Churchill]] resigns as [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]], due to ill-health, at the age of 80.
** [[Richard J. Daley]] defeats Robert Merrian to become Mayor of Chicago, by a vote of 708,222 to 581,555.
* [[April 6]] – [[Anthony Eden]] becomes [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]].
* [[April 10]] – In the American [[National Basketball Association]] championship, the [[Syracuse Nationals]] defeat the [[Fort Wayne Pistons]] 92–91 in Game 7, to win the title.
* [[April 11]]
** The [[Taiwan]]ese [[Kuomintang]] put a bomb on the airplane ''[[Kashmir Princess]]'', killing 16 but failing to assassinate the People's Republic of China leader, [[Zhou Enlai]].
** [[Taekwondo]], a form of [[Korean martial arts]], is officially recognized in South Korea. A board convened by [[Choi Hong-hi|General Choi Hong Hi]], including master instructors, historians and societal leaders, officially adopts the name Taekwon-Do for the unified Korean martial art.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Taekwon‑Do – International Taekwon‑Do Federation |url=https://www.itf-tkd.org/history-of-taekwon-do/ |access-date=2025-04-05 |website=www.itf-tkd.org}}</ref>
* [[April 12]] – The [[Salk polio vaccine]], having passed large-scale trials earlier in the United States, receives full approval by the [[Food and Drug Administration]].
* [[April 14]]
** The [[Detroit Red Wings]] win the [[Stanley Cup]] in North American ice hockey for the 7th time in franchise history, but will not win again until [[1997]].
** A [[1955 Zheduotang earthquake|7.1 earthquake]] shakes the Chinese city of [[Kangding]] leaving 70 dead.
* [[April 15]] – The first franchised [[McDonald's]] restaurant is opened by [[Ray Kroc]], in [[Des Plaines, Illinois]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Wagner III |first1=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DaQJEAAAQBAJ&dq=McDonald%27s+%22Drive-In+Restaurant+Services%22&pg=PT455 |title=Organizational Behavior: Securing Competitive Advantage |last2=Hollenbeck |first2=John R. |publisher=Routledge |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-000-33490-6}}</ref>
* [[April 16]] – The [[Burma]]–Japan Peace Treaty, signed in [[Rangoon]] on [[November 5]], [[1954]], comes into effect, formally ending a state of war between the two countries.
* [[April 17]] – [[Imre Nagy]], the communist Premier of Hungary, is ousted for being too moderate.
* [[April 18]]–[[April 24|24]] – The [[Asian-African Conference]] is held in [[Bandung]], Indonesia.

===May===
{{main|May 1955}}
* [[May 5]] – [[West Germany]] becomes a sovereign country, recognized by Western countries such as France, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.
* [[May 6]] – The [[Western European Union]] Charter becomes effective.
* [[May 7]] – [[Newcastle United F.C.]] beat [[Manchester City F.C.]] 3–1 to win the [[1955 FA Cup final]] in English Association football.
* [[May 9]]
** West Germany joins the [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization]] (NATO).
** A young [[Jim Henson]] introduces the earliest version of [[Kermit the Frog]] (made in March), in the premiere of his puppet show ''[[Sam and Friends]]'', on [[WRC-TV]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]
* [[May 11]] – [[Japanese National Railways]]' ferry [[Shiun Maru disaster|''Shiun Maru'' sinks]] after a collision with sister ship ''Uko Maru'', in thick fog off [[Takamatsu, Kagawa|Takamatsu, Shikoku]], in the [[Seto Inland Sea]] of Japan; 166 passengers (many children) and 2 crew members are killed. This event is influential in plans to construct the [[Akashi Kaikyō Bridge]] (built 1986–98).
* [[May 12]] – New York's [[IRT Third Avenue Line|Third Avenue Elevated]] runs its last train between [[Chatham Square]] in [[Manhattan]] and East 149th Street in [[the Bronx]], thus ending elevated train service in Manhattan.
* [[May 14]]
** Eight Communist Bloc countries, including the [[Soviet Union]], sign a mutual defence treaty in [[Warsaw]], Poland, that is called the [[Warsaw Pact]] (it will be dissolved in [[1991]]).
** [[Warrington Wolves|Warrington]] win the [[Rugby Football League Championship First Division|British Rugby League Championship]] title for the third time; they will not win it again within the following 60 years.
* [[May 15]]
** The [[Austrian State Treaty]], which restores Austria's national sovereignty, is concluded between [[Allied-occupied Austria|the 4 occupying powers following World War II]] (the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and France) and Austria, setting it up as a neutral country.
** [[Lionel Terray]] and [[Jean Couzy]] become the first people to reach the summit of [[Makalu]], the fifth-highest mountain in the world, on the [[1955 French Makalu expedition]]. The entire team of climbers reaches the summit over the next two days.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Isserman |first1=Maurice |author1-link=Maurice Isserman |last2=Weaver |first2=Stewart |title=Fallen Giants: A History of Himalayan Mountaineering from the Age of Empire to the Age of Extremes |date=2008 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=9780300115017 |edition=1 |chapter=The Golden Age of Himalayan Climbing |page=326 |ref=none}}</ref>
* [[May 18]] – Free movement of residents between [[North Vietnam|North]] and [[South Vietnam]] ends.<ref>[[1954 Geneva Conference]] Article 14(d).</ref>
* [[May 25]] – [[Joe Brown (climber)|Joe Brown]] and [[George Band]] are the first to climb [[Kangchenjunga]] in the [[Himalayas]], as part of the [[1955 British Kangchenjunga expedition|British Kangchenjunga expedition]] led by [[Charles Evans (mountaineer)|Charles Evans]].

===June===
{{main|June 1955}}
* [[June 7]] – The television [[Game show|quiz program]] ''[[The $64,000 Question]]'' premieres on [[CBS]]-TV in the United States, with [[Hal March]] as the host.
* [[June 11]] – [[1955 Le Mans disaster|Le Mans disaster]]: Eighty-three people are killed and at least 100 are injured after two race cars collide in the [[1955 24 Hours of Le Mans]].
* [[June 13]] – [[Mir mine]], the first [[diamond]] mine in the [[Soviet Union]], is discovered.
* [[June 16]] 
** ''[[Lady and the Tramp]]'', the [[Walt Disney]] company's 15th animated film, premieres in [[Chicago]].
** [[Bombing of Plaza de Mayo]]: The Argentine Navy drops bombs over Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires and shoots unarmed civilians in an attempt to kill president [[Juan Perón]].
* [[June 26]] – The [[Freedom Charter]] of the anti-[[apartheid]] [[South Africa]]n [[Congress Alliance]] is adopted, at a [[Congress of the People (1955)|Congress of the People]] in [[Kliptown]].
* [[June 30]] – The [[Simonstown Agreement]] provides for control of the naval base at [[Simon's Town]] in the Union of South Africa to transfer from the British [[Royal Navy]] to the [[South African Navy]].<ref>[http://filestore.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pdfs/small/cab-129-179-c-119.pdf The Simonstown Agreement: Memorandum by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, 29 October 1974.]</ref>

===July===
{{main|July 1955}}
* [[July 1]] – Transformation from the [[Imperial Bank of India]] to the [[State Bank of India]] is given legal recognition through an Act of the [[Parliament of India]].
* [[July 7]] – The [[New Zealand Special Air Service]] is formed.
* [[July 13]] – [[Ruth Ellis]] is [[hanged]] for murder in London, becoming the last woman ever to be executed in the United Kingdom.
* [[July 17]]
** The [[Disneyland]] theme park opens in [[Anaheim, California]], an event broadcast on the [[American Broadcasting Company]] television network.
** The first atomic-generated electrical power is sold commercially, partially powering [[Arco, Idaho]], from the U.S. [[National Reactor Testing Station]]; on July 18, [[Schenectady, New York]], receives power from a prototype nuclear submarine reactor at [[Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory]].<ref name=HMGST55>"1955". ''Houghton Mifflin Guide to Science & Technology''.</ref>
* [[July 18]] &ndash; Illinois Governor [[William Stratton]] signs the Loyalty Oath Act, that mandates all public employees take a loyalty oath to the State of Illinois and the United States or lose their jobs.
* [[July 18]]–[[July 23|23]] – [[Geneva Summit (1955)|Geneva Summit]] between the United States, Soviet Union, United Kingdom and France.
* [[July 22]] – In [[Long Beach]], [[California]] (United States), [[Hillevi Rombin]] of [[Sweden]] is crowned [[Miss Universe]].
* [[July 27]] – [[El Al Flight 402]] from [[Vienna]] (Austria) to [[Tel Aviv]], via [[Istanbul]], is shot down over [[Bulgaria]]. All 58 passengers and crewmen aboard the [[Lockheed Constellation]] are killed.
* [[July 28]] – The first [[Interlingua]] Congress is held in [[Tours]], France, leading to the foundation of the [[Union Mundial pro Interlingua]].

===August===
{{main|August 1955}}
[[File:Diane 1955 track.png|thumb|120px|right| [[August 19]]: [[Hurricane Diane]]]]
* [[August 1]] – The prototype [[Lockheed U-2]] [[reconnaissance aircraft]] first flies, in Nevada.
* [[August 18]]
** The [[First Sudanese Civil War]] begins.
** The first meeting of the [[Organization of Central American States]] ({{langx|es|Organización de Estados Centroamericanos}}, ODECA) is held, in [[Antigua Guatemala]].
* [[August 19]] – [[Hurricane Diane]] hits the northeastern United States, killing over 200 people and causing over $1&nbsp;billion in damage.
* [[August 20]] – Hundreds of people are killed in anti-French rioting in [[Morocco]] and [[Algeria]].
* [[August 22]] – Eleven schoolchildren are killed when their school bus is hit by a freight train in [[Spring City, Tennessee]].
* [[August 25]] – The last [[Soviet Army]] forces leave Austria.
* [[August 26]] – [[Satyajit Ray]]'s film ''[[Pather Panchali]]'' is released in [[India]].
* [[August 27]] – The first edition of the ''[[Guinness Book of Records]]'' is published, in London.
* [[August 28]] – Black 14-year-old [[Emmett Till]] is [[lynching in the United States|lynched]] and shot in the head for allegedly whistling at a white woman in [[Money, Mississippi]]; his white murderers, Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam, are acquitted by an all-white jury.

===September===
{{main|September 1955}}
[[File:Rockall Union flag hoisted 1955.jpg|thumb|150px|upright|[[September 18]]: Britain annexes [[Rockall]]]]
* [[September 2]] – Under the guidance of Dr. [[Humphry Osmond]], [[Christopher Mayhew]] ingests 400&nbsp;mg of [[Mescaline|mescaline hydrochloride]] and allows himself to be filmed as part of a ''[[Panorama (TV series)|Panorama]]'' special for BBC TV in the U.K. that is never broadcast.
* [[September 3]] – [[Little Richard]] records "[[Tutti Frutti (song)|Tutti Frutti]]" in New Orleans; it is released in October.
* [[September 6]] – [[Istanbul pogrom]]: [[Istanbul]]'s Greek minority is the target of a government-sponsored [[pogrom]].
* [[September 10]] – The long-running [[Western (genre)|Western]] television series ''[[Gunsmoke]]'' debuts, on the [[CBS]] network in the United States.
* [[September 14]] – Pope Pius XII elevates many of the [[apostolic vicariate]]s in Africa to [[Metropolitan Archdiocese]]s.
* [[September 15]] – [[Vladimir Nabokov]]'s controversial novel ''[[Lolita]]'' is published in Paris, by [[Olympia Press]].
* [[September 16]]
** The military coup to unseat President [[Juan Perón]] of Argentina is launched at midnight.
** A Soviet Navy Zulu-class submarine becomes the first to launch a [[ballistic missile]].
* [[September 18]] – The United Kingdom formally annexes the uninhabited Atlantic island of [[Rockall]].
* [[September 19]]–[[September 21|21]] – [[President of Argentina]] [[Juan Perón]] is ousted in a military coup.
* [[September 19]] – [[Hurricane Hilda (1955)|Hurricane Hilda]] kills about 200 people in Mexico.
* [[September 21]]–[[September 30|30]] – [[Hurricane Janet]], one of the strongest North Atlantic [[tropical cyclone]]s on record, sweeps the [[Lesser Antilles]] and Mexico, causing more than 1,020 deaths.<ref>{{cite web |title=Category 5 Monsters! |url=http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/satellite/satelliteseye/educational/cat5hur.html |publisher=United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |access-date=2013-02-02 |author=[[National Climatic Data Center]]}}</ref>
* [[September 22]] – [[Commercial television]] starts in the United Kingdom with the [[Independent Television Authority]]'s first [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] franchises beginning broadcasting in London, ending the [[BBC]] monopoly.
* [[September 23]] – A [[1955 Yuzha earthquake|6.8 earthquake]] shakes the Chinese county of [[Huili]], leaving 728 dead and 1,547 injured.
* [[September 24]]
** [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], president of the United States, suffers a [[coronary thrombosis]] while on vacation in [[Denver, Colorado]]. Vice President [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]] assumed administrative duties and presided over Cabinet and National Security Council meetings while Eisenhower recovers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dwight D. Eisenhower Event Timeline {{!}} The American Presidency Project |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/dwight-d-eisenhower-event-timeline |access-date=2025-04-05 |website=www.presidency.ucsb.edu |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Vice-President Richard Nixon (1955 - 1957) |url=https://waverlyhs.weebly.com/us-history-blog-may-2019---may-2020/vice-president-richard-nixon-1955-1957 |access-date=2025-04-05 |website=Mr. Jensen's U.S. History Website |language=en}}</ref>
** Founder of Swiss watchmaker [[Glycine Watch SA]], Eugène Meylan, age 64, is murdered.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=May 1956 |title=L'affaire du Mail |language=fr |volume=XXIV |pages=29–31 |magazine=Der Kreis / Le Cercle |issue=5 |doi=10.5169/seals-569258 |doi-access=free |author1=&#91;s.n.]}}</ref>
* [[September 30]] – Actor [[James Dean]] is killed when his automobile collides with another car at a highway junction, near [[Cholame, California]].

===October===
{{main|October 1955}}
* [[October 2]] – ''[[Alfred Hitchcock Presents]]'' debuts on the [[CBS]] TV network in the United States.
* [[October 3]] – ''[[The Mickey Mouse Club]]'' debuts on the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC-TV]] network in the United States.
* [[October 4]] – The Reverend [[Sun Myung Moon]] is released from prison in [[Seoul]], South Korea.
* [[October 5]] – [[Disneyland Hotel (California)|Disneyland Hotel]] opens to the public in [[Anaheim, California]].
* [[October 11]] – 70-mm film for projection is introduced, with the theatrical release of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical film, ''[[Oklahoma! (film)|Oklahoma!]]''.
* [[October 14]] – The [[Organization of Central American States]] secretariat is inaugurated.
* [[October 20]] – [[Disc jockey]] [[Bill Randle]] of [[WERE]] ([[Cleveland]]) is the key presenter of a concert at [[Brooklyn High School (Ohio)]], featuring [[Pat Boone]] and [[Bill Haley & His Comets]], and opening with [[Elvis Presley]] (Elvis's first filmed performance), for a documentary on Randle titled ''[[The Pied Piper of Cleveland]]''.
* [[October 26]]
** After the last [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] troops have left [[Austria]], and following the provisions of the [[Austrian Independence Treaty]], the country declares its [[Neutral country|permanent neutrality]].
** [[Ngo Dinh Diem|Ngô Đình Diệm]] proclaims [[Vietnam]] to be a republic, with himself as its President (following the [[1955 State of Vietnam referendum|State of Vietnam referendum]] on [[October 23]]), and forms the [[Army of the Republic of Vietnam]].
* [[October 27]] – The film ''[[Rebel Without a Cause]]'', starring [[James Dean]], is released in the United States.
* [[October 29]] – [[Italian battleship Giulio Cesare#Novorossiysk|Soviet battleship ''Novorossiysk'']] explodes at moorings in [[Sevastopol]] Bay, killing 608 (the [[Soviet Union]]'s worst naval disaster to date).

===November===
{{main|November 1955}}
[[File:LocationAustria.svg|thumb|120px|right| [[October 26]]: Austria free]]
* [[November 1]]
** Official start date of the [[Vietnam War]] between the [[North Vietnam|Democratic Republic of Vietnam]] and [[Republic of Vietnam]]; the north is allied with the [[Viet Cong]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Name of Technical Sergeant Richard B. Fitzgibbon to be added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial |publisher=[[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense (DoD)]] |url=https://www.defense.gov/Releases/Release.aspx?ReleaseID=1902 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020044326/http://www.defense.gov/Releases/Release.aspx?ReleaseID=1902 |archive-date=20 October 2013}}</ref>
** A time bomb explodes in the cargo hold of [[United Airlines Flight 629]], a [[Douglas DC-6]]B, over [[Longmont, Colorado]], killing all 39 passengers and 5 crew members on board.
* [[November 3]] – The [[Rimutaka Tunnel]] opens on the [[New Zealand Railways Department|New Zealand Railways]], at 5.46&nbsp;mi (8.79&nbsp;km), the longest in the [[Southern Hemisphere]] at this time.
* [[November 15]] – The [[Democratic Party (Japan, 1954)|Democratic Party of Japan]] and [[Liberal Party (Japan, 1950)|Japan Liberal Party]] merge to form the [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|Japan Liberal Democratic Party]], beginning the "[[1955 System]]".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Liberal-Democratic Party of Japan {{!}} political party, Japan |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Liberal-Democratic-Party-of-Japan |access-date=2021-11-02 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref>
* [[November 19]] – [[C. Northcote Parkinson]] first propounds '[[Parkinson's law]]', in ''[[The Economist]]''.
* [[November 20]] – [[Bo Diddley]] makes his television debut on [[Ed Sullivan]]'s ''Toast Of The Town'' show for the [[CBS|CBS-TV]] network in the United States.
* [[November 23]] – The [[Cocos Islands]] in the Indian Ocean are transferred from British to Australian control.
* [[November 26]] – The British Governor of [[Cyprus]] declares a [[state of emergency]] on the island.
* [[November 27]] – The [[Westboro Baptist Church]] holds its first service in [[Topeka, Kansas]].

===December===
{{main|December 1955}}
[[File:Tappan Zee Bridge.JPG|thumb|120px|right| [[December 14]]: [[Tappan Zee Bridge (1955–2017)|Tappan Zee Bridge]] opens]]
* [[December 1]] – In [[Montgomery, Alabama]], [[Rosa Parks]] refuses to obey bus driver James F. Blake's order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger, and is arrested, leading to the [[Montgomery bus boycott]].
* [[December 4]] – The [[International Federation of Blood Donor Organizations]] is founded in [[Luxembourg]].
* [[December 5]]
** The [[American Federation of Labor]] and the [[Congress of Industrial Organizations]] merge, to become the [[AFL–CIO]].
** The [[Montgomery Improvement Association]] is formed in [[Montgomery, Alabama]], by Dr. [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], and other Black ministers to coordinate the [[Montgomery bus boycott]] by Black people.
* [[December 9]] – [[Adnan Menderes]] of [[Democrat Party (Turkey, historical)|DP]] forms the new government of [[Turkey]] (22nd government).
* [[December 10]] – [[1955 Australian federal election]]: [[Robert Menzies]]' [[Liberal Party of Australia|Liberal]]/[[National Party of Australia|Country]] [[Coalition (Australia)|Coalition]] [[Menzies Government (1949-66)|Government]] is re-elected with a substantially increased majority, defeating the [[Australian Labor Party|Labor Party]] led by [[H. V. Evatt]]. This election comes in the immediate aftermath of the devastating [[Australian Labor Party split of 1955|split]] in the Labor Party, which leads to the formation of the [[Democratic Labor Party (Australia, 1955)|Democratic Labor Party]]. The DLP will preference against Labor, and keep the Coalition in office until [[1972 Australian federal election|1972]].
* [[December 14]]
** The [[Tappan Zee Bridge (1955–2017)|Tappan Zee Bridge]] over the [[Hudson River]], in [[New York (state)|New York]] State, opens to traffic.
** [[Albania]], [[Austria]], [[Bulgaria]], [[Cambodia]], [[Finland]], [[Hungary]], [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]], [[Italy]], [[Jordan]], [[Laos]], [[Libya]], [[Nepal]], [[Portugal]], [[Romania]], [[Spain]] and [[Sri Lanka]] join the [[United Nations]] simultaneously, after several years of moratorium on admitting new members that began during the [[Korean War]].
* [[December 19]] – Australian comedian [[Barry Humphries]] first introduces his character [[Edna Everage]] on stage in [[Melbourne]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Thorpe |first=Vanessa |title=Goodnight possum! Tributes to Dame Edna creator Barry Humphries |work=[[The Observer]] |location=London |date=2023-04-23 |access-date=2023-04-25 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/apr/23/dame-edna-everage-barry-humphries-tributes |page=8}}</ref>
* [[December 20]] – [[Cardiff]] is declared by the British Government as the capital of [[Wales]].
* [[December 22]] – American cytogeneticist [[Joe Hin Tjio]] discovers the correct number of human [[chromosome]]s, forty-six.
* [[December 31]]
** [[General Motors]] becomes the first American corporation to make a profit of over 1&nbsp;billion dollars in 1 year.
** [[Austria]] becomes independent, under terms of the May 15 [[Austrian State Treaty]].

===World population===
* [[World population]]: 2,755,823,000
** Africa: 246,746,000
** Asia: 1,541,947,000
** Europe: 575,184,000
** South America: 190,797,000
** North America: 186,884,000
** Oceania: 14,265,000