/born

Born in 1959

People born in 1959 turn 67 in 2026. A dollar in 1959 buys what $11.56 buys in September 2026, and about 2.97 billion people were alive. Every figure below links to the source it came from.

Your birthday in 1959

1959

What things cost in 1959

U.S. average1959in today’s dollarslatest
One dollar$1.00$11.56CPI-U

1959 figures are annual averages of the published monthly (or quarterly) values. “Today’s dollars” uses the Consumer Price Index for September 2026; “latest” is the most recent published price. Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor, via FRED. Average retail prices are only published from 1976 on; 1959 has the CPI alone.

Who was in charge in 1959

United States
Dwight D. Eisenhower (President)
United Kingdom
Elizabeth II (Queen); Harold Macmillan (Prime minister)
Soviet Union
Nikita Khrushchev (General Secretary); Kliment Voroshilov (Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet); Nikita Khrushchev (Chairman of the Council of Ministers)
People's Republic of China
Mao Zedong (Chairman; Paramount Leader); Mao Zedong (Chairman); Liu Shaoqi (President); Zhou Enlai (Premier)
France
Charles de Gaulle (President); Michel Debré (Prime minister)
East Germany
Wilhelm Pieck (President); Otto Grotewohl (Chairman)
West Germany
Theodor Heuss, then Heinrich Lübke (President); Konrad Adenauer (Chancellor)
Japan
Hirohito (Emperor)
Republic of India
Rajendra Prasad (President); Jawaharlal Nehru (Prime minister)

From Wikipedia’s List of state leaders in the 20th century (1951–2000) (revision 1371751893), each name checked against Wikidata. Every country in 1959 →

No. 1 songs of 1959

  1. “The Chipmunk Song” — The Chipmunks with David Seville (2 weeks)
  2. “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” — The Platters (3 weeks)
  3. “Stagger Lee” — Lloyd Price (4 weeks)
  4. “Venus” — Frankie Avalon (5 weeks)
  5. “Come Softly to Me” — The Fleetwoods (4 weeks)
  6. “The Happy Organ” — Dave "Baby" Cortez (1 week)
  7. “Kansas City” — Wilbert Harrison (2 weeks)
  8. “The Battle of New Orleans” — Johnny Horton (6 weeks)
  9. “Lonely Boy” — Paul Anka (4 weeks)
  10. “A Big Hunk o' Love” — Elvis Presley (2 weeks)
  11. “The Three Bells” — The Browns (4 weeks)
  12. “Sleep Walk” — Santo & Johnny (2 weeks)
  13. “Mack the Knife” — Bobby Darin (9 weeks)
  14. “Mr. Blue” — The Fleetwoods (1 week)
  15. “Heartaches by the Number” — Guy Mitchell (2 weeks)
  16. “Why” — Frankie Avalon (1 week)

Weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with issue dates in 1959, from List of Billboard Hot 100 number ones of 1959 (Wikipedia revision 1338917788).

Famous people born in 1959

  • June 7 – Mike Pence, 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 source
  • October 23 – "Weird Al" Yankovic, American singer and parodist source
  • November 5 – Bryan Adams, rock singer-songwriter and photographer source
  • November 24 – Akio Ōtsuka, actor and voice actor source
  • August 14 – Magic Johnson, African-American basketball player source
  • January 1 – Azali Assoumani, President of the Comoros source
  • June 10 – Carlo Ancelotti, Italian football player and manager source
  • January 9 – Mark Martin, race car driver and coach source
  • 22 May – Morrissey, English alternative rock singer-songwriter source
  • April 30 – Stephen Harper, 22nd Prime Minister of Canada source
  • 26 February – Ahmet Davutoğlu, prime minister source
  • February 8 – Mauricio Macri, President of Argentina source
  • October 26 – Evo Morales, President of Bolivia source
  • 28 May – Bernardine Evaristo, author and academic source
  • April 15 – Emma Thompson, English actress source

What happened in 1959

  • January 2 - As Castro's rebel forces rolled into Havana, the 32-year-old leader named Dr. Manuel Urrutia Lleo as President of Cuba. source
  • January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. source
  • January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the vicinity of Earth's Moon, where it was intended to crash-land, but instead becomes the first spacecraft to go into heliocentric orbit. source
  • January 15 – The Soviet Union conducts its first census after World War II. source
  • January 20 – Soviet Foreign Minister Anastas Mikoyan returned to Moscow after a controversial 17-day tour of the United States. source
  • January 9 – The Vega de Tera disaster in Spain, a flood caused by a dam collapse, nearly destroys the town of Ribadelago and kills 144 residents. source
  • January 11 – The Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques is founded in Monaco. source
  • 26 January – The Central Bank of Malaya (Bank Negara Tanah Melayu) was founded. source
Everything that happened in 1959 →