1956 CE

President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt announces the nationalization of the Suez Canal and Egyptian forces seize control of the canal, moves that precipitate the Suez Crisis and the Sinai Campaign. The Protocol of Sèvres, a secret agreement between Israel, France and the United Kingdom, is signed, allowing the former to invade the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt and occupy the Suez Canal with the support of the other two governments, giving rise to the Suez Crisis. Suez Crisis: Israel invades the Sinai Peninsula and pushes Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal.

In the 1950s, the 20th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years.source
  • January 16 – Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser vows to Liberate Palestine.source
  • 26 January – The Administrative Department of the Presidency of the Republic is formed.Colombiasource
  • 20 February – Tunku Abdul Rahman announced in Malacca Town after he returned from London that Malaya would become independent on 31 August 1957.Malayasource
  • March 2 – Morocco declares its independence from France.source
  • March 20 – Tunisia gains independence from France.source
  • April 9 – Habib Bourguiba is elected President of the National Constituent Assembly of the Kingdom of Tunisia; on April 15 he becomes prime minister.source
  • April 18 – Maria Desylla-Kapodistria is elected mayor of Corfu, becoming the first female mayor in Greece.source
  • May 8 – The constitutional union between Indonesia and the Netherlands is dissolved.source
  • 8 May – Israel and Austria establish diplomatic relations.Israelsource
  • May 25 – India announces the institution of diplomatic relations with Francoist Spain.source
  • June 1 – Vyacheslav Molotov resigns as foreign minister of the Soviet Union; he later becomes ambassador to Mongolia.source
  • June 6 – In Singapore, chief minister David Marshall resigns a little over a year into his chief ministership, after the breakdown of talks regarding internal self-government in London.source
  • 8 June — Lim Yew Hock became the second Chief Minister of Singapore.Singaporesource
  • June 23 – Gamal Abdel Nasser becomes the 2nd president of Egypt, a post he holds until his death in 1970.source
  • July 10 – The British House of Lords defeats the abolition of the death penalty.source
  • July 30 – A joint resolution of Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing "In God we trust" as the U.S. national motto.source
  • August 17 – West Germany bans the Communist Party of Germany.source
  • August 1956 – Maj. Gen. Iskander Mirza, the president of Pakistan, stays four days in the Afghan capital. It is believed that both Menderes and Mirza discussed at Kabul the possibility of Afghanistan's joining the Baghdad Pact, the problems of the Pathan or Pakhtu tribesmen, and their aspiration for a "Pakhtunistan" state.Afghanistansource
  • date unknown – A coalition government between the Pathet Lao and National Progressive Party (Laos) is formed.Laossource
  • October 19 – The Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956 is signed in Moscow, ending the legal state of war between the Soviet Union and Japan (with effect from December 12) and making possible the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two nations.source
  • 25 October - The Constitution of Luxembourg is amended in two places to allow for the delegation of constitutional powers to international organisations, in preparation for the creation of the European Economic Community.Luxembourgsource
  • October 29 – Tangier Protocol: The international city Tangier is reintegrated into Morocco.source
  • November 1 – The States Reorganisation Act of India reforms the boundaries and names of Indian states. Three new states, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, are formed.source
  • November 6 – 1956 United States presidential election: Republican incumbent Dwight D. Eisenhower defeats Democratic challenger Adlai Stevenson, in a rematch of their contest 4 years earlier.source
  • November 12 – Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia join the United Nations.source
  • December 12 – Japan becomes a member of the United Nations.source
  • 11-12 February: 1956 Maltese United Kingdom integration referendumMaltasource

Conflict & Security

  • January 25–26 – Finnish troops reoccupy Porkkala, after Soviet troops vacate its military base. Civilians can return February 4.source
  • February 14–25 – The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is held in Moscow.source
  • March 9 – The Soviet Armed Forces suppress mass demonstrations in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, reacting to Nikita Khrushchev's de-Stalinization policy.source
  • March 19 – At age 48, Dutch boxer Bep van Klaveren contests his last match in Rotterdam.source
  • March 21–22 – On his way to India, Anastas Mikoyan stays in Kabul.Afghanistansource
  • March – 1956 Georgian demonstrationsSoviet Unionsource
  • April 7 – Spain relinquishes its protectorate in Morocco.source
  • 23 April — The first Merdeka talks were held, which failed on 23 May after failing to compromise on internal security arrangements. As a result, David Marshall resigned.Singaporesource
  • June 9 – Juan Jose Valle launches a revolt against the government of President Aramburu. He and 26 others are executed after its failure.Argentinasource
  • June 14 – The Flag of the United States Army is formally dedicated.source
  • June 28 – Poznań 1956 protests: Labour riots in Poznań, Poland, are crushed with heavy loss of life. Soviet troops fire at a crowd protesting high prices, killing 53 people.source
  • 7 August – Seven army ammunition trucks filled with dynamite explode in Cali, killing more than 1,000 people.Colombiasource
  • 22 October – Israel, Britain and France secretly meet in Sèvres, France, and make plans to invade Egypt.Israelsource
  • October 23 – The Hungarian Revolution breaks out against the pro-Soviet government, originating as a student demonstration in Budapest. Hungary attempts to leave the Warsaw Pact.source
  • October 24 – The Protocol of Sèvres, a secret agreement between Israel, France and the United Kingdom, is signed, allowing the former to invade the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt and occupy the Suez Canal with the support of the other two governments, giving rise to the Suez Crisis.source
  • October 26 – Soviet Red Army troops invade Hungary.source
  • October 29 – Suez Crisis: Israel invades the Sinai Peninsula and pushes Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal.source
  • November 3 – Khan Yunis massacre (Suez Crisis): Israeli soldiers shoot dead hundreds of Palestinian refugees and local inhabitants in Khan Yunis Camp.source
  • November 4 – Hungarian Revolution of 1956: More Soviet troops invade Hungary, to crush the revolt that started on October 23. Thousands are killed, more are wounded, and nearly a quarter million leave the country.source
  • November 7 – Suez Crisis: The United Nations General Assembly adopts a resolution calling for the United Kingdom, France and Israel to withdraw their troops from Arab lands immediately.source
  • November 11 – Hungarian Revolution of 1956: Last insurgents succumb to the invading Soviet army.source
  • December 3 – The 1956 Bush Terminal explosion occurs in Brooklyn, United States.source
  • 12 December – The Irish Republican Army launches its Border Campaign with the bombing of a BBC relay transmitter in County Londonderry, burning of a courthouse in Magherafelt by a unit led by 18-year-old Seamus Costello and of an Ulster Special Constabulary post near Newry and blowing up of a half-built British Army barracks at Enniskillen. A raid on Gough Barracks in Armagh is beaten off after a brief exchange of fire.Northern Irelandsource
  • Main opposition – Republican People's Party (CHP)Turkeysource

Exploration & Expansion

  • April 19 – British diver Lionel (Buster) Crabb (working for MI6) dives into Portsmouth Harbour, to investigate a visiting Soviet cruiser, and vanishes.source
  • May 18 – Lhotse main summit, the fourth highest mountain (on the Nepalese–Tibetan border) is first ascended, by Fritz Luchsinger and Ernst Reiss.source
  • 9 June – Berit Aunli, cross-country skierNorwaysource
  • June 29 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, creating the Interstate Highway System in the United States.source
  • 7–24 June – 1956 Vuelta a ColombiaColombiasource
  • July 8 – The mountain Gasherbrum II, on the border of Pakistan and China, is first ascended, by an Austrian expedition.source
  • July 1956 – Adnan Menderes, the Turkish prime minister, pays a visit to Afghanistan.Afghanistansource
  • 5 November – Sharm el-Sheikh was occupied by Israel and as a result the Gulf of Aqaba was reopened.Israelsource
  • 7 November – The 2nd Soviet Antarctic Expedition leaves KaliningradSoviet Unionsource
  • November 14 – An eight-mile long stretch of highway is opened west of Topeka, Kansas, creating the first portion of the Interstate Highway System in the United States and the first highway to be completed with funds from the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956.source
  • November 25 – Fidel Castro and Che Guevara depart from Tuxpan, Veracruz, Mexico, en route to Santiago de Cuba aboard the yacht Granma, with 82 men.source
  • Pianist Glenn Gould tours the Soviet UnionCanadasource
  • A prospect of Ferrara by Giorgio Bassani.Italysource
  • Tayto (Northern Ireland) established by the Hutchinson family to manufacture potato chips at Tandragee, County Armagh.Northern Irelandsource

Religion & Belief

  • 9 February – The report of the Pospelov Commission is presented to the presidium.Soviet Unionsource
  • February 25 – Nikita Khrushchev attacks the veneration of Joseph Stalin, in a speech "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences", at a secret session concluding the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. This is not officially made public in the Soviet Union at this time but becomes known in the West in June.source
  • March 9 – The British deport Archbishop Makarios from Cyprus to the Seychelles.source
  • March 23 – Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic, and a national holiday is observed in the country, including the state of East Pakistan.source
  • 1 May – Finance Minister, Levi Eshkol, approves the establishment of the city of Ashdod.Israelsource
  • May 2 – The United Methodist Church in America decides, at its General Conference, to grant women full ordained clergy status. It also calls for an end to racial segregation in the denomination.source
  • May 2 – The Methodist Church in the U.S. decides, at its General Conference, to grant women full ordained clergy status. It also calls for an end to racial segregation in the denomination.United Statessource
  • June 13: in an interview to Nuovi Argomenti, Palmiro Togliatti comments the publication of Khruschev's secret speech; the PCI secretary criticize the cult of personality but expresses several doubts about the de-Stalinization politicy.Italysource
  • 29 July – Olav Øygard, Lutheran prelateNorwaysource
  • The first interfaith dialogue between Christians, Jews and Muslims with over 850 participants takes place at the monastery of Toumliline in Azrou, Morocco.source
  • 22 October - His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej enter monkhood for 15 days.Thailandsource
  • Leonard Cohen – Let Us Compare MythologiesCanadasource
  • Unknown date – Catholic High School, Petaling Jaya is founded by Rev. Bro. Philippe Wu of the Marist Brothers.Malayasource

Economy & Finance

  • February 28: the three employers’ organization, Confindustria, Confcommercio and Confagricoltura constitute a coordination committee, Confintesa.Italysource
  • April 25: Usiminas, one of Brazil's largest steelmakers, is founded in Ipatinga, in the state of Minas Gerais.Brazilsource
  • 2 August - The National Party (1956-1958) is created, product of the merger of the National Independent Movement, the National Agrarian Party and the Agrarian Labor Recoveryist Party.Chilesource
  • October 5 – Cecil B. DeMille's epic film The Ten Commandments, starring Charlton Heston as Moses, is released in the United States. It will be in the top ten of the worldwide list of highest-grossing films of all time, adjusted for inflation.source
  • 22 October – The last SovRom joint enterprises with the Soviet Union, Sovromcuarț and Sovrompetrol, are dissolved.Romaniasource
  • December 4 – The Million Dollar Quartet (Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash) get together at Sun Studio, for the first and last time in history.source
  • Capital University of Economics and BusinessChinasource
  • British Adviser of Perak : Ian Blelloch (until unknown date, position abolished)Malayasource
  • Increase since 31 December 1955: 44,400 (2.05%).New Zealandsource
  • 3rd Congress of the Workers' Party of KoreaNorth Koreasource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • January 22 – The Argentine Grand Prix is held in Buenos Aires and is won by Luigi Musso and Juan Manuel Fangio.Argentinasource
  • March 1 – The International Air Transport Association finalizes a draft of the radiotelephony spelling alphabet, for the International Civil Aviation Organization.source
  • March 10 – The Fairey Delta 2 breaks the World Air Speed Record, raising it to 1,132 mph or Mach 1.73, an increase of some 300 mph over the previous record, and thus becoming the first aircraft to exceed 1,000 mph in level flight.source
  • March – The Rural and Industrial Development Authority (RIDA) Training Centre (Dewan Latehan RIDA) was established.Malayasource
  • June 8 – General Electric/Telechron introduces model 7H241 "The Snooz Alarm", the first snooze alarm clock ever.source
  • July 2 – A laboratory experiment involving scrap thorium at Sylvania Electric Products in Bayside, New York, results in an explosion.source
  • July 13 – John McCarthy (Dartmouth), Marvin Minsky (MIT), Claude Shannon (Bell Labs) and Nathaniel Rochester (IBM) assemble the first coordinated research meeting on the topic of artificial intelligence, at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, in the United States.source
  • July 26 – Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal, sparking international condemnation.source
  • 26 July – President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt announces the nationalization of the Suez Canal and Egyptian forces seize control of the canal, moves that precipitate the Suez Crisis and the Sinai Campaign.Israelsource
  • 1 August – The establishment of Fuxing Broadcasting Station.Taiwansource
  • 17 August — The Nicoll Highway and Merdeka Bridge are officially opened.Singaporesource
  • September 13 – The hard disk drive is invented by an IBM team, led by Reynold B. Johnson.source
  • September 13 – The dike around the Dutch polder East Flevoland is closed.source
  • September 16 – Television broadcasting in Australia commences.source
  • September 25 – The submarine transatlantic telephone cable opens.source
  • September 27 – The Bell X-2 becomes the first crewed aircraft to reach Mach 3.source
  • 29 September - Entry into service of the electrified railway lines between Luxembourg City and Thionville, and Luxembourg City and Arlon.Luxembourgsource
  • October 10 – The prototype Lockheed L-1649 Starliner, the final Lockheed Constellation model, makes its first flight.source
  • October 17 – The world's first industrial-scale commercial nuclear power plant is opened at Calder Hall in the UK.source
  • October 31 – Suez Crisis: The United Kingdom and France begin bombing Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal.source
  • December 23 – British and French troops leave the Suez Canal region.source
  • The Cartagena Refinery is built.Colombiasource
  • Kalevi Keskstaadion was built.Estoniasource

Science & Discovery

  • 25 February – Jacob Levitzki (born 1904), Russian (Ukraine)-born Israeli mathematician.Israelsource
  • April 14 – Videotape is first demonstrated at the 1956 NARTB (modern-day NAB) convention in Chicago, United States, by Ampex. It is the demonstration of the first practical and commercially successful videotape format known as 2" Quadruplex.source
  • May 9 – Manaslu, eighth highest mountain in the world (in the Nepalese Himalayas) is first ascended, by a Japanese team.source
  • 18 May – Swiss mountaineers Ernst Reiss and Fritz Luchsinger successfully climbed Lhotse, the world's fourth highest mountain, for the first time.Switzerlandsource
  • 20 May – Ingvar Ambjørnsen, writer (died 2025)Norwaysource
  • June 5 – The text of Nikita Khrushchev's February attack on Stalin's reputation, "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences", is first published in the West, in The New York Times.source
  • 11 June – Seventh Heaven releasedSwedensource
  • July 4 – An American Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft makes its first flight over the Soviet Union.source
  • July 31 – Cricket: Jim Laker sets an extraordinary record at Old Trafford in the fourth Test between England and Australia, taking 19 wickets in a first class match (the previous best was 17).source
  • 26 October – Turkey joined the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEATurkeysource
  • October 31 – A United States Navy team becomes the third group to reach the South Pole (arriving by air), and commences construction of the first permanent Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station.source
  • Kurrewa IV takes line honours and Solo wins on handicap in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht RaceAustraliasource
  • Una strana gioia di viviere by Sandro Penna.Italysource
  • The Chemical Society of Mexico is formed.Mexicosource

Health & Medicine

  • 9 January – Thorhild Widvey, politicianNorwaysource
  • May 1 – Minamata disease is discovered in Japan.source
  • June 5 – Elvis Presley performs "Hound Dog" on The Milton Berle Show, scandalizing the audience with his suggestive hip movements.United Statessource
  • 14 October – Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Indian Untouchable leader, converts to Buddhism along with 385,000 followers. See Neo-Buddhism.Indiasource
  • November 1 – The film Oklahoma! (1955), previously released to select cities in Todd-AO, now receives a U.S. national release in CinemaScope, since not all theatres are yet equipped for Todd-AO. To accomplish this, the film has actually been shot twice, rather than printing one version in two different film processes, as is later done.source
  • Segregation is introduced on buses.South Africasource
  • Beijing University of Chinese MedicineChinasource
  • Menteri Besar of Johor : Wan Idris IbrahimMalayasource
  • Estimated population as of 31 December: 2,209,200.New Zealandsource
  • 11-17 June - The country stages the Equestrian events in the 1956 Summer Olympics because of problems with quarantine laws affecting the host city of MelbourneSwedensource

Crime & Justice

  • February 11 – British spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean resurface in the Soviet Union, after being missing for 5 years.source
  • March 5 – Enactment of Decree Law 4161/56Argentinasource
  • June 4 – Montgomery bus boycott: The related civil suit is heard in federal district court; the U.S. Supreme Court will uphold the ruling in November.source
  • June 13 – The International Criminal Police Organization adopts Interpol as its official name.source
  • June 21 – Playwright Arthur Miller appears before the House Un-American Activities Committee in Washington, D.C.source
  • July 1956 – The Swedish citizen Gunnel Gummeson and her American boyfriend Peter Winant disappear in Afghanistan on their way home from India.Afghanistansource
  • 25 September – Operation Lulav (מבצע לולב): Following the murder of the participants in an archaeological conference held in Ramat Rachel and the murder of two farmers from Moshav Aminadav and Kibbutz Maoz Haim, IDF forces raid the police fort at Husan, near Bethlehem, in the West Bank (then under the control of Jordan). Thirty-seven Legionnaires and National Guardsmen were killed as well as two civilians. Nine IDF members were also killed.Israelsource
  • September plenum of the Central Committee of the WPKNorth Koreasource
  • November 13 – Browder v. Gayle: The United States Supreme Court declares illegal the state and municipal laws requiring segregated buses in Montgomery, Alabama, thus ending the Montgomery bus boycott.source
  • November 18 – At a reception for Western ambassadors at the Polish embassy in Moscow, Nikita Khrushchev utters his famous phrase "We will bury you".source
  • 18 November – "We will bury you" is spoken by Nikita Khrushchev.Soviet Unionsource
  • November 20 – In Yugoslavia, former prime minister Milovan Đilas is arrested after he criticizes Josip Broz Tito.source
  • December 19 – British doctor John Bodkin Adams is arrested for the murder of 2 patients in Eastbourne, England; he will be acquitted.source
  • 21 December – The Government of Northern Ireland under Basil Brooke uses the Special Powers Act to intern several hundred republican suspects without trial.Northern Irelandsource
  • Residents-Commissioner : Robert Porter BinghamMalayasource
  • 1956–57 Maltese Premier LeagueMaltasource

Disasters & Accidents

  • 14 February – 1956 Santiago rail crashChilesource
  • 18 February: Żurrieq Scottish Airlines crashMaltasource
  • June 30 – 1956 Grand Canyon mid-air collision: A TWA Lockheed Constellation and United Airlines Douglas DC-7 collide in mid-air over the Grand Canyon in Arizona, killing all 128 people aboard both aircraft, in the deadliest civil aviation disaster to date; the accident leads to sweeping changes in the regulation of cross-country flight and air traffic control over the United States.source
  • July 25 – The Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria sinks after colliding with the Swedish ship SS Stockholm in heavy fog 72 km south of Nantucket island, killing 51.source
  • July 26: SS Andrea Doria's sinking; 55 dead.Italysource
  • August 7 – Seven ammunition trucks loaded with 1,053 boxes of dynamite explode in Cali, Colombia. Death estimates range from 1,300 to 10,000, in a city that at this time has 120,000 inhabitants.source
  • August 8 – 262 miners (chiefly Italian nationals) die in a fire at the Bois du Cazier coal mine, in Marcinelle, Belgium.source
  • 8 August – Mining accident of Marcinelle claims 262 lives, including 136 Italian foreign workersBelgiumsource
  • October 15 – The British Royal Air Force retires its last Avro Lancaster bomber.source
  • October 15 – According to Japan Transport Ministry official confirmed report, two trains crush in Rokken rail accident in Mie Prefecture, official death toll was 42 persons, with 94 persons were hurt.Japansource
  • 21 November – Soviet submarine M-200 is rammed and sunk by a Soviet destroyer, killing the submarine's crew.Soviet Unionsource
  • December 9 – Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810, a Canadair North Star, crashes into Slesse Mountain near Chilliwack, British Columbia. All 62 people aboard, including five Canadian Football League players, are killed.source
  • December 9 – Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810 (9), a Canadair Northstar, crashes on Slesse Mountain near Chilliwack during heavy weather. The plane carried five members of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers and fans on their way home from an all-star game in Vancouver. Bodies were not found until the following late summer due to severe terrain and high altitude and unknown location of the crash. This was one of the worst civilian air disasters in the world at the time.Canadasource
  • List of Bollywood films of 1956Indiasource

Climate & Environment

  • 20 February – The magnitude 5.8 Eskişehir earthquake affected the area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), causing moderate damage and four deaths.Turkeysource
  • February: an extraordinary wave of cold and snow, the second for intensity in the Twentieth century, strikes the whole Italy.Italysource
  • 7 March – Several avalanche kill 21 people and causing heavy damage in Nordland and Troms.Norwaysource
  • April 19 – The 5.0 Mw 1956 Atarfe-Albolote earthquake strikes southern Spain killing 12 and injuring dozens more.source
  • May 23 – French minister Pierre Mendès France resigns, due to his government's policy on Algeria.source
  • July 9 – The 7.7 Mw Amorgos earthquake shakes the Cyclades island group in the Aegean Sea, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). The shaking and the subsequent tsunami leave 53 people dead.source
  • 21 July – The 6.1 Ms Anjar earthquake shook Gujarat with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing 115 and injuring 254.Indiasource
  • August - The Murray River flooded (the biggest flood in recorded history), affecting many towns near the river.Australiasource
  • November 23 – The Suez Crisis causes petrol rationing in Britain.source
  • Häädetkeidas Strict Nature Reserve.Finlandsource
  • Sultan of Johor : Sultan Ibrahim Al-MasyhurMalayasource
  • 11–12 February – A cold spell across the country causes four deaths and sees Lisbon experience its coldest day of the 20th century, with the newspaper Diário de Lisboa reporting temperatures of −2 °C in the early hours of 12 February.Portugalsource

Culture & Society

  • January 26 – The 1956 Winter Olympics open in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.source
  • 12 February – Ezriel Carlebach (born 1909), German-born Israeli journalist and publicist, founder and editor of the Israeli daily tabloid "Ma'ariv".Israelsource
  • February 16 – The 1956 World Figure Skating Championships open in Garmisch, West Germany.source
  • 25 February – Nikita Khrushchev makes the speech On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences at the 20th Congress of the CPSU.Soviet Unionsource
  • March 12 – 96 U.S. Congressmen sign the Southern Manifesto, a protest against the 1954 Supreme Court ruling (Brown v. Board of Education) that desegregated public education.source
  • 15 March — Nanyang University is officiated with a flag-raising ceremony, with classes beginning on 30 March.Singaporesource
  • March 21 – The 28th Academy Awards Ceremony is held in Los Angeles. Marty is awarded Best Picture.source
  • April 18 – American actress Grace Kelly legally marries Rainier III, Prince of Monaco; a religious ceremony follows next day.source
  • May 24 – The first Eurovision Song Contest is broadcast from Lugano, Switzerland. The winning song is the host country's Refrain by Lys Assia (music by Géo Voumard, lyrics by Émile Gardaz).source
  • 24 May – Representing Luxembourg, Michèle Arnaud appears in the Eurovision Song Contest 1958 with the song Ne crois pas. No rankings are stated except the winner: Lys Assia of Switzerland.Luxembourgsource
  • June 10 – 1956 Summer Olympics: Equestrian events open in Stockholm, Sweden (all other events are held in November in Melbourne, Australia).source
  • June 13 – Real Madrid beats Stade Reims 4–3 at Parc des Princes, Paris and wins the 1955–56 European Cup (football).source
  • June 15 – Eindhoven University of Technology is founded in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.source
  • June 28 – The film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I, starring Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner, is released only a few months after the film version of R&H's Carousel. It becomes the most financially successful film version of a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical up to this time, and the only one to win an acting Oscar (Yul Brynner wins Best Actor for his performance as the King of Siam). It is also one of two Rodgers and Hammerstein films to be nominated for Best Picture (which it does not win).source
  • June 29 – Actress Marilyn Monroe marries playwright Arthur Miller, in White Plains, New York.source
  • July 31 – Luzhniki Stadium, well known sports venue of Russia and the Soviet Union, officially opens in Moscow.source
  • August 12 – Around 5,000 members of the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church hold a mass outside Cluj-Napoca Piarists' Church to demonstrate that their church, proscribed by the government in 1948, has not ceased to exist as the regime claims.source
  • October 8 – Baseball pitcher Don Larsen of the New York Yankees throws the only perfect game in World Series history, in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers. Yogi Berra catches the game. Dale Mitchell is the final out. The New York Yankees win the series in seven games. Larsen is named series MVP.source
  • October 14 – Dalit Buddhist movement (India): B. R. Ambedkar, Dalit leader, converts to Buddhism, along with 500,000 followers.source
  • October 17 – The Game of the Century (chess): 13-year-old Bobby Fischer beats grandmaster Donald Byrne, in the Rosenwald Memorial Tournament in New York City.source
  • October 29 – The Huntley-Brinkley Report debuts on NBC-TV in the United States.source
  • November 3 – MGM's film The Wizard of Oz is the first major Hollywood film running more than 90 minutes to be televised uncut in one evening, in the United States.source
  • November 15 – Middle East Technical University is founded in Ankara, Turkey.source
  • November 22 – The 1956 Summer Olympics begin in Melbourne, Australia.source
  • 22 November – Colombia participates in the Olympics for the fourth time at the 1956 Summer Olympics.Colombiasource
  • 22 November-8 December – Malaya competed for the first time in 1956 Olympic Games at Melbourne, Australia. 32 competitors, 31 men and 1 woman, took part in 13 events in 5 sports.Malayasource
  • November 28 – Roger Vadim's film And God Created Woman (Et Dieu... créa la femme), is released in France, making Brigitte Bardot an international sex symbol.source
  • November 30 – African-American Floyd Patterson wins the world heavyweight boxing championship that is vacant after the retirement of Rocky Marciano.source
  • Finland participated in the 1956 Summer Olympics, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, in Melbourne, Australia. The team of 72 Finns included 64 competitors. They won a total of 15 medals.Finlandsource
  • 1956 North Korean local electionsNorth Koreasource

Births

Deaths

  • January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are killed for trespassing by the Waorani people of Ecuador, shortly after making contact with them.source
  • January 18 – Konstantin Päts, 1st president of Estonia (born 1874)source
  • January 31 – A. A. Milne, English author (Winnie The Pooh) (born 1882)source
  • February 10 – Hugh Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard, British marshal of the Royal Air Force (born 1873)source
  • February 29 – Elpidio Quirino, 6th president of the Philippines (born 1890)source
  • April 30 – Alben W. Barkley, 35th Vice President of the United States (born 1877)source
  • June 25 – Ernest King, American Navy Fleet Admiral and Commander in Chief (born 1878)source
  • August 11 – Jackson Pollock, American painter (born 1912; car accident)source
  • August 14 – Bertolt Brecht, German playwright (born 1898)source
  • August 16 – Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-born American film actor (Dracula) (born 1882)source
  • August 26 – Yeung Kwo – Deputy Secretary General of the Malayan Communist PartyMalayasource
  • 6 September - Lee Jung-seob, Korean painterSouth Koreasource
  • September 21 – Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza García is assassinated.source
  • 21 October – Joseph Laurent Philippe, bishopLuxembourgsource
  • 24 October — Henry Nicholas Ridley, 1st Director of Singapore Botanic Gardens (born 1855).Singaporesource
  • October 25 – Risto Ryti, 23rd prime minister of Finland and 5th president of Finland (born 1889)source
  • November 3 – Jean Metzinger, French painter, theorist and critic (born 1883)source
  • December 6 – B. R. Ambedkar, Indian jurist and politician (born 1891)source