February 2 – New York City Ballet co-founder and balletmaster George Balanchine's production of The Nutcracker is staged for the first time in New York, becoming an annual tradition there, still being performed there as of 2022.
February 10 – After authorizing $385,000,000 over the $400,000,000 already budgeted for military aid to Vietnam, U.S. PresidentDwight Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam.
November 23 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average rises 3.27 points, or 0.86%, closing at an all-time high of 382.74. More significantly, this is the first time the Dow has surpassed its peak level reached just before the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
November 30 – In Sylacauga, Alabama, a 4 kg piece of the Hodges Meteorite crashes through the roof of a house and badly bruises a napping woman, in the first documented case of an object from outer space hitting a person.
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December 1 – The first Hyatt Hotel, The Hyatt House Los Angeles, opens. It is the first hotel in the world built adjacent to an airport.
December 21 – The 6.5 MLEureka earthquake affects the north coast of California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). Several people are injured and one killed, with $2.1 million in damage.
^ abc"On This Day", New York Times, retrieved 25 August 2016
^Strauss, Lewis (1954-09-16). Remarks prepared by Lewis L. Strauss(PDF) (Technical report). United States Atomic Energy Commission.
^Mutual Defense Treaty between the United States of America and the Republic of China.
^Dente, Christopher J. (March 2005). "Joseph E. Murray (1919– )". Archives of Surgery. 140 (3). American Medical Association: 270–272. doi:10.1001/archsurg.140.3.270. PMID 15781791.