January, 1955. The Chinese Communist People’s Liberation Army seizes the Yijiangshan Islands from the Republic of China (Taiwan). The United States Congress authorizes President Dwight D. Eisenhower to use force to protect Taiwan from the People’s Republic of China.
January 22, 1955. The Pentagon announces a plan to develop ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) armed with nuclear weapons.
February 19, 1955. The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) is formed. SEATO’s members include Australia, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
February, 1955. Nikita Krushchev becomes the new leader of the Soviet Union, replacing former premier Georgi Malenkov.
May 14, 1955. Eight Communist Eastern European countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a mutual defence treaty in Warsaw, Poland, called the Warsaw Pact. The nations, in addition to the Soviets, are Poland, Bulgaria, Albania, East Germany, Rumania, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia.
July 18, 1955. Walt Disney opens his new amusement park, Disneyland, at Anaheim near Los Angeles, California.
July 18-23, 1955. The first Geneva Summit meeting between the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France is held in Switzerland.
September, 1955. In Buenos Aires, Argentina, President Juan Peron is overthrown and General Eduardo Lonardi becomes provisional president.
October 25, 1955. The U.S. Air Force concludes an eight year investigation of the phenomenon of “flying saucers” and UFO’s and concludes that alien spacecraft do not exist. Secretary of the Air Force Donald Quarles: “On the basis of this study, we believe that no objects such as those popularly described as flying saucers have overflown the United States. I feel certain that even the Unknown 3% could have been explained as conventional phenomena or illusions if more complete observational data had been obtained.”
November 1, 1955. The Vietnam War begins between the South Vietnamese Army and the North Vietnamese Army with their allies in the south, the Viet Cong. Ngo Dinh Diem has declared himself president of South Vietnam and seeks to unify the country under his rule. Communists in the south are imprisoned or killed by Diem’s government. North Vietnam is willing to hold democratic elections to unify the country because the communists under Ho Chi Minh are assured of winning any election. Diem seeks to eliminate communism in the south.
Children’s nonfiction set in 1955:
Back of the Bus by Aaron Reynolds. Reviewed at True Tales and a Cherry on Top.
Rosa’s Bus by Jo Kittinger. Reviewed at Booktalking with Anastasia Suen.