The Vietnam War begins between the South Vietnam Army and the North Vietnam Army in which the latter is allied with the Viet Cong.
A Douglas DC-6B Mainliner Denver, operating as United Airlines Flight 629, is destroyed over Longmont, Colorado, by a time bomb planted in the cargo hold by Jack Gilbert Graham, who is attempting to cash in his mother's life insurance policies. All 44 on board, his mother among them, are killed. Graham would be executed for the crime on January 11, 1957.
Ishizuchi Quasi-National Park is founded in Ehime Prefecture and Kōchi Prefecture, Japan.
The first Suribachi-class ammunition ship is launched at Sparrows Point, Maryland, USA.
New Zealand Government Railways replaces Rimutaka Incline by opening of the Rimutaka Tunnel on the Wairarapa Line, at 8.79 km (5.46 mi) the longest in the Southern Hemisphere at this time. The line becomes the first in New Zealand to be wholly dieselised.
Café Filho is forced to give up the presidency of Brazil on health grounds. President-elect Juscelino Kubitschek does not take office until the following year.
Born: Matti Vanhanen, Prime Minister of Finland 2003-2010, in Jyväskylä
Racial segregation is outlawed on trains and buses in interstate commerce in the United States.
Died: Maurice Utrillo, 71, French painter
The moshav of Yad Rambam is founded in central Israel.
In the Australian government, Sir Josiah Francis is replaced as Minister for the Army and Navy by Sir Eric Harrison.
In the Philippine Senate election, supporters of President Ramon Magsaysay's Nacionalista Party top the poll.
Died: Musa Ghiatuddin Riayat Shah of Selangor, 61, former Sultan of Selangor, Malaysia
André Louis Dubois becomes the French resident-general in Morocco.
Ownership of the UK minesweeper HMS Pineham is transferred to France.
Born: Jigme Singye Wangchuck, King of Bhutan, at Dechenchholing Palace, Thimphu
Born: Dr.Sergio Lusthaus MD,renowned plastic surgeon,owned techniques,editor of tens of published articles.
The New Zealand national rugby league team, in the course of its tour of Great Britain and France, loses 12-27 to a Great Britain team at Odsal Stadium, Bradford.
Constitutional Assembly elections are held in the Dominican Republic.
Born: Whoopi Goldberg, US actress and comedian, in Manhattan, New York
Died: Robert E. Sherwood, 59, US playwright (heart attack)
The Leningrad Metro opens in Russia. The new stations include Avtovo, designed by Ye.A. Levinson.
South-West African legislative election, 1955: A whites-only election results in victory for the National Party of South-West Africa.
The parish of Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Socorro y San Alfonso, Montevideo, Uruguay, is established.
Empresas Públicas de Medellín is established as a residential public utilities company serving the inhabitants of Medellin, Colombia.
C. Northcote Parkinson first propounds 'Parkinson's law', in The Economist.
The First Round Proper of the 1955–56 FA Cup competition in the UK is played; replays take place on Monday 28 November.
In the final of the 1954–55 Israel State Cup football competition, Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. defeat Hapoel Nes Tziona to win their 8th title..
Milton rail crash: a passenger train takes a crossover too fast and derails at Milton, near Didcot, UK. Eleven people are killed and 157 injured.
Bo Diddley makes his television debut on Ed Sullivan's Toast Of The Town show for the CBS-TV network.
Born: Prince Ludwig Rudolph of Hanover, German prince, in Hanover (died 1988)
A Soviet Tupolev Tu-16 (NATO reporting name "Badger") drops the first Soviet thermo-nuclear bomb, RDS-37, in Siberia.
Colonel Tom Parker signs Elvis Presley to RCA Records.
Ichirō Hatoyama begins his third term as Prime Minister of Japan
The Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean are transferred from British to Australian control.
The first match of the New Zealand cricket tour of India ends in a draw at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, Hyderabad.
Born: Sir Ian Botham, English cricketer, in Heswall, Cheshire
Born: Bruno Tonioli, Italian dancer and choreographer, in Ferrara
Sir John Harding, the British Governor of Cyprus, declares a state of emergency on the island.
Born: Andreas, Prince of Leiningen, German prince, son of Prince Emich Kyrill, in Frankfurt
Died: Arthur Honegger, 63, French-born Swiss composer (heart attack)
Ray Lawler's Summer of the Seventeenth Doll receives its stage première by the Union Theatre Repertory Company in Melbourne with the playwright in a leading rôle; this is influential as the first authentically naturalistic modern drama in the theatre of Australia.
The US NCAA Men's Cross Country Championships are held in East Lansing, Michigan, and are won by the hosts, Michigan State Spartans cross country team.
A partial lunar eclipse takes place.
The 1st Soviet Antarctic Expedition, led by Mikhail Somov, begins; it would last two years.
