December 1955

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The following events occurred in December 1955:

December 1, 1955 (Thursday)

• In Montgomery, Alabama, USA, 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 2, 1955 (Friday)

• Edgar Faure dissolves France's National Assembly under Article 51 of the country's Constitution.
• Barnes rail crash: After a collision at Barnes, London, UK, caused by a signal error, fire breaks out. Thirteen people are killed and 35 injured.

December 3, 1955 (Saturday)

• Resistance fighter Osvald Harjo returns to Norway after 13 years in Soviet prison camps.

December 4, 1955 (Sunday)

• The International Federation of Blood Donor Organizations is founded in Luxembourg.

December 5, 1955 (Monday)

• 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 a Black people's boycott of all city buses.
• Died: Glenn L. Martin, 69, US aviation pioneer

December 6, 1955 (Tuesday)

• Austria's neutrality is recognised by the USA, Soviet Union, UK and France.
• The Bensen B-8M autogyro makes its maiden flight.

December 7, 1955 (Wednesday)

• The role of Deputy Premier of Western Australia is formally established by the Government of Western Australia.
• Clement Attlee resigns as leader of the UK Labour Party after twenty years.^[1]

December 8, 1955 (Thursday)

• France's Republican Front coalition is formed by Guy Mollet, Pierre Mendès France, François Mitterrand and Jacques Chaban-Delmas.
• The Council of Europe adopts a new flag.^[2]
• British conductor Sir Thomas Beecham is presented with the Order of the White Rose of Finland.^[3]

December 9, 1955 (Friday)

• Adnan Menderes of the Democrat Party forms the new government of Turkey (22nd government).
• The UK cargo ship Darton runs aground off Gedser, Denmark, but is refloated.^[4]

December 10, 1955 (Saturday)

• In the Australian federal election, the incumbent Liberal Party, led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies with coalition partner the Country Party, led by Arthur Fadden, defeats the Labor Party, led by H. V. Evatt. Future PM Malcolm Fraser enters Parliament for the first time as Liberal member for Wannon.
• The first Saturday morning cartoon series is shown on U.S. television: The Mighty Mouse Playhouse is broadcast by CBS.

December 11, 1955 (Sunday)

• Operation Olive Leaves, an Israeli reprisal operation against Syria, ends with the destruction of Syrian emplacements, and fifty-four Syrians killed in action, with another thirty taken prisoner. Six IDF fatalities are reported.^[5]
• Italy's Radical Party is founded by a splinter group of the Italian Liberal Party.

December 12, 1955 (Monday)

• The hundred-year-old Cork Opera House at Emmet Place, is destroyed by fire.
• Christopher Cockerell patents his design of the hovercraft.^[6]

December 13, 1955 (Tuesday)

• The de Havilland Comet 3, the world's first jet airliner, visits an American airport for the first time when it stops at Honolulu International Airport in Honolulu, Hawaii, during an around-the-world flight. It then flies to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in 5 hours 39 minutes.^[7]
• Club Sporting Cristal is founded in Peru; it will become one of South America's most successful football teams.
• Born: Manohar Parrikar, Indian politician and Chief Minister of Goa, in Mapusa.^[8]

December 14, 1955 (Wednesday)

• The Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson River in New York State opens to traffic.
• Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Libya, Nepal, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and Sri Lanka join the United Nations simultaneously, after several years of a moratorium on admitting new members that began during the Korean War.
• UK cargo ship Victoria City collides with Italian ship SS Valentina Bibolini off Ameland, Netherlands, and sinks.^[9]
• Hugh Gaitskell becomes leader of the UK Labour Party, having as Chancellor of the Exchequer during the final year of the previous Labour government.^[10]
• Born: Hervé Guibert, French writer and photographer, in Saint-Cloud (died 1991)

December 15, 1955 (Thursday)

• The de Havilland Mosquito flies its final operational sortie with the Royal Air Force.

December 16, 1955 (Friday)

• The title of Earl Attlee in the British peerage is created for ex-Prime Minister Clement Attlee.^[11]
• Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom opens a new terminal at London Airport.^[12]

December 17, 1955 (Saturday)

• The African National Congress' 44th Annual Conference opens in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

December 18, 1955 (Sunday)

• In the Guatemalan parliamentary election, the National Democratic Movement wins 58 of the 66 seats in Congress.^[13]

December 19, 1955 (Monday)

• Under the leadership of Ismail al-Azhari, Sudan adopts a declaration of independence from Egypt, to take effect from 1 January 1956 with the agreement of Egypt and the UK.
• The Representative of Portugal to the United Nations makes a Declaration of Acceptance, on behalf of the Government of Portugal, of the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice in a dispute with India, resulting in further legal controversy.^[14]

December 20, 1955 (Tuesday)

• Cardiff is declared the capital of Wales by the British Government.

December 21, 1955 (Wednesday)

• Ibrahim Hashem becomes acting Prime Minister of Jordan, thus beginning his third term in the post.

December 22, 1955 (Thursday)

• Javanese-born US cytogeneticist Joe Hin Tjio discovers the correct number of human chromosomes, forty-six.

December 23, 1955 (Friday)

• Born: Carol Ann Duffy, Scottish poet, in Glasgow

December 24, 1955 (Saturday)

• The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of India receives assent from President Rajendra Prasad.^[15]

December 25, 1955 (Sunday)

• After being on radio since 1932, the Royal Christmas Message is broadcast on British television for the first time, in sound only, at 3.00pm.

December 26, 1955 (Monday)

• The eleventh Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race starts at noon in Sydney Harbour, with a fleet of 17 competitors.

December 27, 1955 (Tuesday)

• Japanese cargo ship SS Tanda Maru is driven ashore in a typhoon on Honshu and breaks in two. Fourteen of her 24 crew are rescued by a US helicopter.^[16]

December 28, 1955 (Wednesday)

• Born: Liu Xiaobo (刘晓波), Chinese critic, writer and activist, in Changchun

December 29, 1955 (Thursday)

• Turkey's Liberty Party is formed by a group of disaffected MPs.^[17]

December 30, 1955 (Friday)

• Died: Neal Macrossan, 66, Australian lawyer, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland]].^[18]

December 31, 1955 (Saturday)

• General Motors becomes the first American corporation to make a profit of over one billion dollars in one year.

References

1. "Attlee steps down as Labour leader". BBC News. 7 December 1955. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
2. Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (8 December 1955), Resolution (55) 32 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, CVCE, retrieved 25 June 2014
3. Lucas, John (2008). Thomas Beecham: An Obsession with Music. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. ISBN 978-1-84383-402-1. p. 330.
4. "Telegrams in Brief". The Times (53400). London. 10 December 1955. col G, p. 5.
5. Spencer Tucker, The encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli conflict, ABC-CLIO, (2008) p. 232
6. GB 854211 
7. Aviation Hawaii: 1950-1959 Chronology of Aviation in Hawaii
8. Shri. Manohar Parrikar | Goa MLA | Goa Legislative Assembly
9. "New British Ship Sunk". The Times (53404). London. 15 December 1955. col C, p. 10.
10. "Gaitskell elected Labour leader". BBC News. 14 December 1955. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
11. Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
12. "1955: Queen opens London Airport terminal". BBC News. 16 December 1955. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
13. Elections in the Americas A Data Handbook Volume 1. North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Edited by Dieter Nohlen. 2005.
14. Ademola Abass, Complete International Law: Text, Cases, and Materials. OUP, 2014 (2nd ed). p 548
15. "The Constitution (Amendment) Acts". Constitution.org. Retrieved 2013-11-26.
16. "Japanese Typhoon Toll". The Times (53414). London. 29 December 1955. col B, p. 5.
17. History portal (Turkish)
18. Macrossan, Neal William (1889–1955) — Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 19 December 2014.