Can You Pass This 1953 General Knowledge Quiz?

In January 1953, the Eisenhower administration commenced. On August 1, 1953, the United States Information Agency was established to accent the role of propaganda in U.S. foreign policy.

Queen Elizabeth II of England took the throne on February 6, 1952 and her coronation was held June 2, 1953 in Westminster Abbey. Queen Elizabeth ascended to power after her father, King George VI, died. Her coronation was the first to be televised.

National Health Act 1953 is legislation that regulates the policies and practices of the health industry in Australia. The National Health Act 1953 stipulates that private health insurance can only pay for health services that Medicare does not fund.

Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi replaced Mohammad Mossadegh as the leader of Iran in a 1953 coup. The coup was organized by the British Secret Intelligence Service and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to shield Iran's oil reserves from a potential Soviet takeover.

Patti Page's "The Doggie in the Window" climbed to number one on the Cash Box and Billboard charts, selling over two million copies. The song's catchy lyrics included, "I don't want a bowl of little fishes; You can't take a goldfish for a walk."

Fifty-seven thousand, six hundred people in the United States contracted polio and over 3,000 died from the disease in 1952. In 1953, Dr. Jonas Stalk injected the polio survivors with the first effective vaccine at the D.T. Watson Home and Polk State School in Pennsylvania.

In 1953, the United States Federal Communications Commission established a standard for color television. The government agency determined that the new color format had to be compatible with the previous black-and-white sets and use the same number of scanning lines.

The first Chevrolet Corvette glided off the assembly line with serial number E53F001001 on Tuesday, June 30, 1953. The car company admits that the only thing unique about the new model was its fiberglass body. All the car's parts were the same as those of the standard 1952 model.

English author Ian Fleming published the first James Bond novel, "Casino Royale," in 1953. Fleming later admitted that originally the James Bond character was not a nice guy and did not exude the same level of charm that the film superspy is well-known for today.

June 27, 1953 marked the end of the Korean War, but North and South Korea remain at war. A signed armistice terminated the physical conflict phase of the war. In May 2009, North Korea conducted a successful nuclear test underground and declared it was no longer bound by the terms of the truce.

In 1953, Fidel Castro Ruz and his brother steered an ambush of the Moncada Army Barracks in Santiago de Cuba. Seventy subversives were killed in the attack. During the time of his trial, Fidel fled to Mexico.

Japan's postwar rise to economic power is due in large part to the country's command of transistor technology. In 1953, Sony Corporation secured a transistor license from Western Electric Company which resulted in the first commercially viable transistor radio.

A December 3, 1953 report of a National Security Council meeting revealed that President Eisenhower was ready to use nuclear weapons against North Korea and Communist China in order to avoid another war in Korea. The originally classified 1953 document was released in June 1984.

Joseph Stalin was leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics starting from 1929 until his death on March 5, 1953. Stalin was responsible for the deaths of millions. The leader died of a massive stroke.

Dr. N. Wilson Britt was an entomologist at Ohio State University. Britt defined the phrase after finding low concentrations of oxygen at the bottom of Lake Erie, one of the five Great Lakes of North America, on September 5, 1953. Due to low oxygen, most of the lake's bottom-dwelling organisms died.

In 1953, after a grueling battle with their rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers, the New York Yankees completed its fifth World Series championship in a row. The Yankees scored four over the Dodgers' two to win the series.

Hugh M. Hefner founded "Playboy" magazine in Chicago, Illinois in 1953. The inaugural issue featured Marilyn Monroe on the cover. The magazine has since included controversial social and political content in addition to nude photographs.

Walt Disney Pictures released the animated film "Peter Pan" in 1953. "Peter Pan" originator James Matthew Barrie penned the lead character as male, but Disney's animated version of the tale features a more androgynous Peter Pan.

Paramount Pictures released the science-fiction blockbuster movie hit "The War of the Worlds" in 1953. The film begins with black-and-white montages of World War I and II images before bleeding into Technicolor depictions of post-nuclear annihilation.

The comedy-romance-musical "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" premiered in 1953 starring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell. In the unrated film, two showgirls travel on a transatlantic cruise while deciding the type of male that would make for a better partner.

Italy had been without leadership for 48 days before Giuseppe Pella took the country's Budget Minister and Prime Minister seats. Christian Democratic leader Alcide De Gasperi had abdicated control of the Italian Government.

Harry S. Truman left office as president of the United States in 1953. The 33rd president took the position in 1945; and at its end, his administration was plagued with corruption at some federal agencies and with rumors of Communists in his cabinet.

In the early 1950s, East and West Berlin held separate city governments. Citizens of East Berlin revolted against their administration, which was controlled by Walter Ulbricht who governed with a dictatorial style. The Soviet Union sent reinforcements to quell the riot, resulting in 1,500 deaths.

After Joseph Stalin successor Georgi Malenkov declared On August 8, 1953 that "the United States has no monopoly on the hydrogen bomb," his administration conducted a nuclear explosion in Soviet-controlled Central Asia. Physicist Andrei Sakharov was considered the "father" of the Soviet H-bomb.

On January 13, 1953, Yugoslavia elected Josip Broz Tito as president of the country's Federal Assembly. Tito was formerly Yugoslavia's dictator and was instrumental in building the country's economic infrastructure.

In 1953 a lab technician at 3M Co. accidentally spilled a fluorochemical on a dirty sneaker that subsequently would not get clean. The company released "Scotchgard" in 1956, and specific protectors for fabrics, linens and carpets were released thereafter.

American actor Desi Arnaz Jr. graced the cover of the April 3, 1953 issue of TV Guide, which was the entertainment magazine's first national issue. The publication was originally published as "TeleVision Guide" in the eastern region of the United States in 1948.

Chevrolet cornered the market with its station wagon, which was considered a quintessential vehicle for American families that took road trips during the '50s. Dinah Shore sang "See the USA in your Chevrolet" in the 1953 commercial, reaffirming the vacation custom.

The romance film "Roman Holiday," starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, debuted in 1953. Peck plays an eager American reporter on assignment in Rome who sweeps a runaway European princess named Ann (Hepburn) off of her feet after one of the first on-screen meet-cutes.

American novelist Ernest Hemingway won the Pulitzer Prize for his 1952 literary work "The Old Man and the Sea." In 1954, Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize in recognition of his lifetime achievements in literature.

Japan's Diet, the country's legislative body, enacted legislation on August 1, 1953 called "Japan Airlines Act." Under the act the country financed Japan Airlines Co., Ltd. with 2 billion yen.

American baseball pitcher Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953. Dean pitched for the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals. He suffered a broken toe during the 1937 All-Star game that ended his baseball career.

During the last two years of World War II, American chemist Dr. John Warner joined the elite Manhattan Project to research the plutonium used to create the atomic bomb that decimated Nagasaki, Japan. In 1953, Warner won the gold medal of the American Institute of Chemists.

Molecular biologists Francis H. C. Crick and James D. Watson unveiled the double-helix structure of deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, which is the molecule that stores genetic information and is passed through generations. London scientist Rosalind Franklin simultaneously discovered the molecule.

President Elpidio Quirino of the Philippines pardoned 105 Japanese prisoners on July 4, 1953 as part of a peace treaty deal stemming from World War II conflicts between Japan and the Philippines. Fifty-two of those pardoned were convicted war criminals.