Bannister – “I found longer racing boring; [so] the mile was just perfect.”

1954 CE:  HO CHI MINH’S GUERILLA’S DEFEAT THE FRENCH AT DIEN BIEN PHU

The French are finished at this point. The Americans mistakenly follow in their footsteps, and will reap horrendous consequences.

1954 CE:  USS NAUTILUS

The world’s first nuclear submarine launched…

Admiral Hyman Rickover presiding.

1954 CE:  NATIONAL TESTING OF THE SALK VACCINE

The son of Russian–Jewish immigrants, Jonas Salk

Britannica –

“American physician and medical researcher who developed the first safe and effective vaccine for polio.

Salk received his M.D. in 1939 from New York University College of Medicine, where he worked with Thomas Francis, Jr., who was conducting killed–virus immunology studies. Salk joined Francis in 1942 at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and became part of a group that was working to develop an immunization against influenza.

In 1954 Francis conducted a mass field trial, and the vaccine, injected by needle, was found to safely reduce the incidence of polio. On April 12, 1955, the vaccine was