March 2, 1954

Gas cost $0.29 a gallon in the spring of 1954, and the Dow Jones stood at 404 — the French garrison at Dien Bien Phu was under sustained Viet Minh assault, with U.S. aircraft ferrying reinforcements in a conflict that was testing American foreign policy in Southeast Asia. Perry Como's "Wanted" was holding at number one on the charts, while the film "Rose Marie" was drawing steady crowds at the box office. The Minneapolis Lakers claimed the NBA championship over the Syracuse Nationals, and on April 12, Bill Haley and His Comets recorded "Rock Around the Clock" at a New York City studio, a track that would sit quietly as a B-side before igniting a nationwide rock and roll movement the following year.