Born in 1955

What things cost in 1955

1955 figures are annual averages of the published monthly (or quarterly) values. “Today’s dollars” uses the Consumer Price Index for September 2026; “latest” is the most recent published price. Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor, via FRED. Average retail prices are only published from 1976 on; 1955 has the CPI alone.

Who was in charge in 1955

United States

Dwight D. Eisenhower (President)

United Kingdom

Elizabeth II (Queen); Winston Churchill, then Anthony Eden (Prime minister)

Soviet Union

Nikita Khrushchev (General Secretary); Kliment Voroshilov (Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet); Georgy Malenkov, then Nikolai Bulganin (Chairman of the Council of Ministers)

People's Republic of China

Mao Zedong (Chairman; Paramount Leader); Mao Zedong (Chairman); Zhou Enlai (Premier)

French Fourth Republic

René Coty (President); Pierre Mendès France, then Edgar Faure (Prime minister)

Allied-occupied Germany

André François-Poncet, then James B. Conant, then Frederick Millar (High Commissioner)

East Germany

Wilhelm Pieck (President); Otto Grotewohl (Chairman)

West Germany

Theodor Heuss (President); Konrad Adenauer (Chancellor)

Japan

Hirohito (Emperor); Ichirō Hatoyama (Prime minister)

Republic of India

Rajendra Prasad (President); Jawaharlal Nehru (Prime minister)

From Wikipedia’s List of state leaders in the 20th century (1951–2000) (revision 1371751893), each name checked against Wikidata. Every country in 1955 →

Famous people born in 1955

• July 9 – Lindsey Graham, American politician, lawyer, U.S. Army soldier, U.S. Senator (R-Sc.) and unsuccessful 2016 presidential candidate (died 2026) source
• March 21 – Jair Bolsonaro, Brazilian congressman and politician, 38th President of Brazil source
• September 14 – Pope Leo XIV, head of the Catholic Church source
• October 28 – Bill Gates, American businessman and co-founder of Microsoft source
• June 15 – David A. Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy (died 1984) source
• November 11 – Friedrich Merz, German politician, Chancellor of Germany source
• November 22 – Milan Bandić, Croatian politician (died 2021) source
• February 24 – Steve Jobs, American businessman and founder of Apple Computer (died 2011) source
• July 26 – Asif Ali Zardari, 11th President of Pakistan source
• October 8 – Bill Elliott, American racing driver source
• January 13 – Paul Kelly, Australian musician source
• January 28 – Nicolas Sarkozy, 23rd President of France source
• August 4 – Alberto Gonzales, American lawyer and 80th United States Attorney General source
• December 28 — Liu Xiaobo, literary critic and human rights activist (died 2017) source
• February 24 – Alain Prost, French four-time Formula 1 world champion source

What happened in 1955

• January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. source
• 9 January – The National Action Movement (Movimiento de Acción Nacional, MAN), the political party of Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, is created. source
• March 20 – The movie adaptation of 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. source
• January 17 – USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. source
• 13 February – Israel obtains four of the seven Dead Sea Scrolls, which had been discovered in the caves in and around the ruins of the ancient settlement of Khirbet Qumran on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea in the Judean Desert. source
• January 23 – The Sutton Coldfield rail crash kills 17, near Birmingham, England. source
• January 7 – Marian Anderson is the first African-American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. source
• January 28 – Benesse Corporation was founded, following its predecessor, Fukutake Shoten. source