Video: 'M-26-7 - The 26th of July Movement (Cuba)'
(Sunday, July 26, 1953; during the Cuban Revolution, part of the Cold War) — Fidel Castro, 26, began his revolt against Fulgencio Batista today with an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, an army facility in the city of Santiago de Cuba in eastern Cuba. Castro would oust Batista in 1959.
Video: 'Elvis Presley - My Happiness (Elvis' first recording)'
(Saturday, July 18, 1953) — Elvis Presley, 18, recorded “My Happiness” today as a gift for his mother at The Memphis Recording Service, home of the Sun label; it was his first recording.
Video: 'The Band Wagon' trailer
(Thursday, July 9, 1953) — The Band Wagon, a musical comedy film about an aging musical star who hopes a Broadway play will restart his career, opened today at the Music Hall in New York City.
Directed by Vincente Minnelli, the film starred Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant, Nanette Fabray and Jack Buchanan.
Video: 'Intro 1953 Corvette'
(Tuesday, June 30, 1953) — The first Chevrolet Corvette, with its innovative fiberglass body, was built today at a General Motors assembly facility in Flint, Michigan.
Video: 'Korean War - PART 28, End of the War, 6.25' (June 18, 1953, at 6:25)
(Thursday, June 18, 1953, by 5 a.m. local time; during the Korean War, part of the Cold War) — With an armistice agreement was all but complete, South Korea President Syngman Rhee unilaterally ordered the release of 25,000 anti-communist North Korean prisoners of war today in protest of the proposed settlement.
Video: 'Rare Footage of Worcester Tornado (1953)'
(Tuesday, June 9, 1953, 4:25 p.m. EST) — 94 people died today when an F4 tornado struck Worcester, Massachusetts, part of the Flint–Worcester tornado outbreak sequence, which occurred over a three-day period from June 6-9, 1953. Continue reading 1953 Worcester tornado kills 94 people 60 years ago this hour (1953)
Video: 'Weather History: 1953 Flint-Worcester Tornado Outbreak (HD)'
(Monday, June 8, 1953; 01:30 UTC) — The 1953 Flint-Beecher tornado, one of the top ten single deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history and rated as an F5 on the Fujita Scale, touched down in Genesee County, Michigan, tonight and continued on a 27 mile path, causing 116 fatalities. Most of the casualties and damage occurred in the unincorporated community of Beecher, a suburb on the northern edge of the city of Flint, Michigan. Continue reading 1953 Flint–Beecher tornado kills 116 people 60 years ago this hour (1953)
Video: 'Stalag 17' trailer
(Friday, May 29, 1953) — Stalag 17, a war film about a group of American airmen held in a German World War II prisoner of war camp who come to suspect that one of their number is an informant, premiered today in London. Continue reading ‘Stalag 17’ premieres in London 60 years ago today (1953)
(Monday, May 18, 1953) — Jacqueline Cochran, 47, became the first woman to break the sound barrier today as she piloted a Canadair F-86 Sabre jet over Rogers Dry Lake, California, at an average speed of 652.337 mph
(Saturday, May 16, 1953; during the Cold War) — Associated Press correspondent William N. Oatis was released today by communist authorities in Czechoslovakia, where he’d been imprisoned for two years after being forced to confess to espionage while working as the AP’s Prague bureau chief.
