The following events occurred in March 1955:
March 1, 1955 (Tuesday) At the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio, future astronaut Neil Armstrong makes his first flight as a test pilot for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the predecessor organization of NASA. Born: Denis Mukwege, Congolese humanitarian, in Bukavu, Belgian Congo Timothy Laurence, British naval officer and the second husband of Princess Anne, in Camberwell, South London.
March 2, 1955 (Wednesday) The Hong Kong-registered cargo ship Inchkeith strikes an uncharted rock in the Bay of Bengal off Port Meadows, Andaman Islands, and is abandoned as a total loss. Claudette Colvin, a fifteen-year-old African-American girl, becomes the first person arrested for resisting bus segregation in Montgomery, Alabama, when she refuses to give up her seat to a white woman as demanded by the driver. She is carried off the bus backwards while being kicked and 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. The Boeing Airplane Company receives its first major production contract for the KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft. Born: Dale Bozzio, American rock and pop vocalist, in Medford, Massachusetts Jay Osmond, American musician, in Ogden, Utah Jerome Ringo, American activist, in Lake Charles, Louisiana (d. 2025) Ken Salazar, American politician and diplomat, in Alamosa, Colorado Shoko Asahara, Japanese cult leader, in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture (d. 2018)
March 3, 1955 (Thursday) The Pennsylvania Railroad runs its first "TrucTrain" piggyback train from Chicago to Kearny, NJ, the first time the Pennsylvania has carried trailers of common carrier trucking companies on its flatcars. Born: Andy Breckman, American TV and film writer, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Died: Katharine Drexel, 96, American heiress, philanthropist, teacher and Roman Catholic saint Mary Jerrold, 77, English actress Rose Plumer, 79, American actress
March 4, 1955 (Friday)
The iconic Ellis Island in New York was officially determined to be surplus government property and was returned to obscurity under the jurisdiction of the General Services Administration. The very first radio facsimile transmission sent across the North American continent took place. Rising musician Elvis Presley performed a live concert at the local high school in DeKalb, Texas. A destructive F3 tornado touched down in Madison County, Kentucky, destroying homes, barns, and killing livestock. Born: Dominique Pinon, French actor, in Saumur Joey Jones, Welsh footballer, in Llandudno, Wales (d. 2025) Khoisan X (Benny Alexander), South African political activist, in Kimberley, South Africa (d. 2010) Boon Gould, English musician, in Shanklin, Isle of Wight (d. 2019) Died: Doc Reisling, 80, American baseball player Jess Tinsley, 47, American football player
March 5, 1955 (Saturday) US TV station WBBJ-TV signs on the air in Jackson, Tennessee, with WDXI as its initial call-letters, to expanded American commercial television in mostly-rural areas. Elvis Presley makes his television debut on "Louisiana Hayride" carried by KSLA-TV Shreveport (although audio recordings exists, there is no known video footage of this appearance). Born: David Gelernter, American computer scientist Juraj Filas, Slovak composer, in Košice, Slovakia (d. 2021) Marcia McCabe, American soap opera actress, in Pennsylvania Penn Jillette, American magician and comedian, in Greenfield, Massachusetts Died: Antanas Merkys, 68, Lithuanian politician and lawyer, served as the 16th Prime Minister of Lithuania 1939-1940 and as Acting President of Lithuania in 1940 William C. deMille, 76, American screenwriter and director
March 6, 1955 (Sunday) A Douglas DC-3A (registration PP-YPZ) of Brazilian airline Real Transportes Aéreos crashes at Vitória da Conquista Airport, with 5 out of the 21 passengers and crew killed. Born: Alberta Watson, Canadian actress, in Toronto (d. 2015) Cyprien Ntaryamira, Burundian politician, 5th President of Burundi (d. 1994)
March 7, 1955 (Monday) The 7th Emmy Awards ceremony takes place at the "Moulin Rouge Nightclub" in Hollywood, California, USA. The Broadway musical version of 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 8, 1955 (Tuesday) Born: Ronnie Thomas, American racing driver, in Christiansburg, Virginia Steve James, American film producer, in Hampton, Virginia Died: Princess Clémentine of Belgium, 82, wife of Victor, Prince Napoléon
March 9, 1955 (Wednesday) Born: R. Bruce Dold, American Journalist, in Newark, New Jersey (d. 2025) Fernando Bujones, Cuban-American dancer, in Miami, Florida (d. 2005) Franco Uncini, Italian motorcycle racer, in Recanati Ornella Muti, Italian actress, in Rome Teo Fabi, Italian racing driver, in Milan Died: Matthew Henson, 88, American explorer, first African-American to reach the North Pole in 1909 Miroslava Stern, 29, Czech-Mexican actress, suicide by overdosage on sleeping pills
March 10, 1955 (Thursday) The UK's Anti-Aircraft Command is officially disbanded after 15 years of operation.Beckett, Territorials: A Century of Service, TA100, 2008, 178. Born: Bunny DeBarge, American musical artist, in Detroit, Michigan Gary Louris, American musician, in Toledo, Ohio Ignazio Marino, Italian politician and former transplant surgeon, 33rd Mayor of Rome 2013-2015, Member of the Senate 2006-2013, current Member of the European Parliament for Central Italy since 2024, in Genoa Juliusz Machulski, Polish film director, screenwriter and producer, in Olsztyn, Poland Richard Benson, English-Italian guitarist and singer, in Woking, Surrey (d. 2022) Yousra, Egyptian actress and singer, in Cairo Died: Brian Vrepont, 72, Australian poet Johannes Brandt, 70, Austrian screenwriter and film director William O'Dea, 66, Irish republican activist Rick Adams, 76, American baseball player
March 11, 1955 (Friday)
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is formed after the merger of Orient Airways (1947-1955) by the Pakistani Government Born: Joseph Siravo, American actor, in Washington, D.C. (d. 2021) Jimmy Fortune, American musical artist, in Williamsburg, Virginia Nina Hagen, German Singer, songwriter and actress, in East Berlin, East Germany
Died: Sir Alexander Fleming, 73, Scottish scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Oscar F. Mayer, 95, German-American entrepreneur, founder of Oscar Mayer
March 12, 1955 (Saturday) Died: Charlie Parker, 34, American saxophonist (officially from lobar pneumonia and a perforated ulcer) Theodor Plievier, 63, German writer
March 13, 1955 (Sunday) 1955 Swiss tenant and consumer protection referendum: The proposal for a popular initiative "for the protection of tenants and consumers", which would prolong price controls, is approved by a majority of voters, it was rejected by a majority of cantons, with the result that it does not come into force.Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p. 1916 Born: Bruno Conti, Italian footballer, in Nettuno Glenne Headley, American actress, in New London, Connecticut (d. 2017) John Hackett, English musical artist, in London Died: Tribhuwan Bir Bikram Shah, 48, King of Nepal, under "mysterious circumstances". He is succeeded by his eldest legitimate son Mahendra. Artashes Abeghyan, 77, Armenian historian
March 14, 1955 (Monday) The Greek fishing vessel Iason capsizes and sinks in the Ionian Sea with the loss of eleven of her fifteen crew. SS Stratheden sends one of her lifeboats to the aid of Iason, but it also capsizes and all eight on board are drowned. Four survivors from Iason are rescued by Stratheden. Born: Jonathon Kaufer, American film director, in Los Angeles, California (d. 2013) Died: Ernest Cook, 89, English philanthropist and art collector, grandson of Thomas Cook
March 15, 1955 (Tuesday) The first section of Cleveland's "Rapid" opens from Cleveland Union Terminal to Windermere. Colonel Tom Parker becomes Elvis Presley's de facto manager. Born: Dee Snider, American heavy metal singer, in New York City Moshin Khan, Pakistani cricket coach, former cricketer and actor, in Karachi, Dominion of Pakistan Steve Lillywhite, English record producer, in Egham, Surrey Died: Ernest Seillière, 89, French writer, journalist and critic
March 16, 1955 (Wednesday) Died: Nicolas de Staël, 41, Russian-born French painter, after leaping to his death from his eleventh story studio terrace in Antibes.Douglas Cooper, Nicolas de Staël, Masters and Movements, Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd. London, 1961, p. 6Chronology: Exhibition Catalogue, Nicolas de Staël, paintings 1950–1955, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, NYC. 1997 p. 99
March 17, 1955 (Thursday) Richard Riot in Montreal: 6,000 people protest against the 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. In the UK's Wrexham by-election, brought about by the death of the town's long-serving Labour MP Robert Richards, is won by the Labour candidate James Idwal Jones, with a majority of nearly 11,000 votes.British parliamentary by-elections: Wrexham 1955 British Locomotive builder Vulcan Foundry and its subsidiary Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns are absorbed into the English Electric group.
March 18, 1955 (Friday) Born: Jeff Stelling, English TV presenter in Hartlepool, County Durnham
March 19, 1955 (Saturday) The 1955 International Cross Country Championships (men's event only) are held in San Sebastián, Spain. TV station KXTV signs on the air in Sacramento, California, as KBET. Born: Pino Daniele, Italian music artist, in Naples (d. 2015)
March 20, 1955 (Sunday) The movie adaptation of Evan Hunter's novel Blackboard Jungle is premièred in the United States, making a hit out of "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets. Teenagers jump from their cinema seats to dance to the song. American Airlines Flight 711, a Convair CV-240, strikes the ground during its final approach at Springfield, Missouri, US killing 13 of the 35 people on board. UK tanker British Craftsman runs aground off Stockholm, Sweden. In Italy, the Republican Party retires its support to the Scelba cabinet, because contrasts about the farm lease act. Erich Kleiber resigns from director of the Berlin Staatsoper, as a protest for the interferences by the DDR bureaucracy and chiefly for the ungilding of an historical inscription placed by Frederick the Great.
March 21, 1955 (Monday) The Lebanon president Camille Chamoun begins a four-day official visit in Italy; at the Ciampino airport he's welcomed by the Italian president Luigi Einaudi and by the Foreign Affairs Minister Gaetano Martino. March 25 Chamoun is received by Pope Pius XII. The Sovietic Foreign Affairs Minister Vjaceslav Molotov announces the constitution of a unified military command among USSR and the satellite countries (the future Warsaw Pact). In South Vietnam, the National Front (gathering the criminal-paramilitary organization Bimh-Xuyen and the religious sects Cao Dai and Hoa Hao) asks for a national union cabinet. The request is ignored by the Diem government. Born: Jair Bolsonaro, Brazilian politician, 38th President of Brazil 2019-2023, in São Paulo
March 22, 1955 (Tuesday)