date: October 31

text: October 31 – Suez Crisis: The United Kingdom and France begin bombing Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal.


date: December 23

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: December 23 – British and French troops leave the Suez Canal region.

source_section: Events › December


date: April 14

section: Science & Discovery

text: 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_section: Events › April


date: May 9

text: May 9 – Manaslu, eighth highest mountain in the world (in the Nepalese Himalayas) is first ascended, by a Japanese team.

source_section: Events › May


date: June 5

text: 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_section: Events › June


date: July 4

text: July 4 – An American Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft makes its first flight over the Soviet Union.

source_section: Events › July


date: July 31

text: 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).


text: 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_section: Events › October


date: May 1

section: Health & Medicine

text: May 1 – Minamata disease is discovered in Japan.


date: November 1

text: 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_section: Events › November


date: February 11

section: Crime & Justice

text: February 11 – British spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean resurface in the Soviet Union, after being missing for 5 years.

source_section: Events › February


date: June 4

text: 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.


date: June 13

text: June 13 – The International Criminal Police Organization adopts Interpol as its official name.


date: June 21

text: June 21 – Playwright Arthur Miller appears before the House Un-American Activities Committee in Washington, D.C.


date: November 13

text: 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.


date: November 18

text: November 18 – At a reception for Western ambassadors at the Polish embassy in Moscow, Nikita Khrushchev utters his famous phrase "We will bury you".


date: November 20

text: November 20 – In Yugoslavia, former prime minister Milovan Đilas is arrested after he criticizes Josip Broz Tito.


date: December 19

text: December 19 – British doctor John Bodkin Adams is arrested for the murder of 2 patients in Eastbourne, England; he will be acquitted.


date: June 30

section: Disasters & Accidents

text: 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.


date: July 25

text: July 25 – The Italian ocean liner sinks after colliding with the Swedish ship SS Stockholm in heavy fog 72 km mi south of Nantucket island, killing 51.


date: August 7

text: 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_section: Events › August


date: August 8

text: August 8 – 262 miners (chiefly Italian nationals) die in a fire at the Bois du Cazier coal mine, in Marcinelle, Belgium.


date: October 15

text: October 15 – The British Royal Air Force retires its last Avro Lancaster bomber.


date: December 9

text: 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.


date: April 19

section: Climate & Environment

text: April 19 – The 5.0 1956 Atarfe-Albolote earthquake strikes southern Spain killing 12 and injuring dozens more.


date: May 23

text: May 23 – French minister Pierre Mendès France resigns, due to his government's policy on Algeria.


date: July 9

text: July 9 – The 7.7 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.


date: November 23

text: November 23 – The Suez Crisis causes petrol rationing in Britain.


date: January 26

section: Culture & Society

text: January 26 – The 1956 Winter Olympics open in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.

source_section: Events › January


date: February 16

text: February 16 – The 1956 World Figure Skating Championships open in Garmisch, West Germany.


date: March 12

text: 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_section: Events › March


date: March 21

text: March 21 – The 28th Academy Awards Ceremony is held in Los Angeles. Marty is awarded Best Picture.


date: April 18

text: April 18 – American actress Grace Kelly legally marries Rainier III, Prince of Monaco; a religious ceremony follows next day.


date: May 24

text: 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).


date: June 10

text: June 10 – 1956 Summer Olympics: Equestrian events open in Stockholm, Sweden (all other events are held in November in Melbourne, Australia).


date: June 13

text: June 13 – Real Madrid beats Stade Reims 4–3 at Parc des Princes, Paris and wins the 1955–56 European Cup (football).


date: June 15

text: June 15 – Eindhoven University of Technology is founded in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.


date: June 28

text: 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).


date: June 29

text: June 29 – Actress Marilyn Monroe marries playwright Arthur Miller, in White Plains, New York.


date: July 31

text: July 31 – Luzhniki Stadium, well known sports venue of Russia and the Soviet Union, officially opens in Moscow.


date: August 12

text: 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.


date: October 8

text: 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.


date: October 14

text: October 14 – Dalit Buddhist movement (India): B. R. Ambedkar, Dalit leader, converts to Buddhism, along with 500,000 followers.


date: October 17

text: 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.


date: October 29

text: October 29 – The Huntley-Brinkley Report debuts on NBC-TV in the United States.


date: November 3

text: 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.


date: November 15

text: November 15 – Middle East Technical University is founded in Ankara, Turkey.


date: November 22

text: November 22 – The 1956 Summer Olympics begin in Melbourne, Australia.


date: November 28

text: 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.


date: November 30

text: November 30 – African-American Floyd Patterson wins the world heavyweight boxing championship that is vacant after the retirement of Rocky Marciano.


date: January 1

section: Births

text: January 1 – Christine Lagarde, French lawyer and politician, IMF Managing Director and ECB president

source_section: Births › January


date: January 20

text: January 20 – Bill Maher, American actor, comedian and political analyst


date: March 24

text: March 24 – Steve Ballmer, American businessman, CEO of Microsoft (2000–2014), owner of the Los Angeles Clippers

source_section: Births › March


date: July 13

text: July 13 – Koffi Olomide, Congolese soukous singer, dancer, producer and composer

source_section: Births › July


date: July 24

text: July 24 – Charlie Crist, American politician, 44th governor of Florida


date: July 25

text: July 25 – Frances Arnold, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry


date: July 31

text: July 31 – Deval Patrick, American politician, first African-American Governor of Massachusetts


date: August 14

text: August 14 – Rusty Wallace, American NASCAR race car driver

source_section: Births › August


date: August 31

text: August 31 – Tsai Ing-wen, President of the Republic of China (Taiwan)


date: September 17

text: September 17 – Almazbek Atambayev, 3-Time Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan and 4th president of Kyrgyzstan

source_section: Births › September


date: September 29

text: September 29 – Sebastian Coe, Baron Coe, British athlete; co-ordinator of the London 2012 Olympic Games


date: October 1

text: October 1 – Theresa May, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

source_section: Births › October


date: October 18

text: October 18 – Martina Navratilova, Czech-American multiple Grand Slam title winning tennis player


date: December 10

text: December 10 – Rod Blagojevich, American politician and convicted felon, Governor of Illinois (2003–2009)

source_section: Births › December


date: February 8

section: Deaths

text: February 8 – Connie Mack, American baseball executive and manager (Philadelphia Athletics) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1862)

source_section: Deaths › February


date: February 10

text: February 10 – Hugh Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard, British marshal of the Royal Air Force (b. 1873)


date: February 28

text: February 28 – Carlo Gnocchi, Italian Roman Catholic priest and blessed (b. 1902)


date: February 29

text: February 29 – Elpidio Quirino, 6th president of the Philippines (b. 1890)


date: March 12

text: March 12 – Bolesław Bierut, Polish Communist politician and statesman, former prime minister and president of Poland (b. 1892)

source_section: Deaths › March


date: March 17

text: March 17 – Irène Joliot-Curie, French physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1897)


date: April 30

text: April 30 – Alben W. Barkley, 35th Vice President of the United States (b. 1877)

source_section: Deaths › April


date: June 25

text: June 25 – Ernest King, American Navy Fleet Admiral and Commander in Chief (b. 1878)

source_section: Deaths › June


date: August 16

text: August 16 – Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-born American film actor (Dracula) (b. 1882)

source_section: Deaths › August


date: September 22

text: September 22 – Frederick Soddy, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1877)

source_section: Deaths › September


date: October 6

text: October 6 – Charles E. Merrill, American banker, co-founder of Merrill Lynch (b. 1885)

source_section: Deaths › October


date: October 25

text: October 25 – Risto Ryti, 23rd prime minister of Finland and 5th president of Finland (b. 1889)


date: November 3

text: November 3 – Jean Metzinger, French painter, theorist and critic (b. 1883)

source_section: Deaths › November


date: December 14

text: December 14 – Juho Kusti Paasikivi, twice Prime Minister of Finland and 7th president of Finland (b. 1870)

source_section: Deaths › December


date: January 1

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany.

source_section: Events › January


date: January 10

text: January 10 – Harold Macmillan becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.


date: January 11

text: January 11 – The African Convention is founded in Dakar.


date: January 20

text: January 20 – Israel withdraws from the Sinai Peninsula (captured from Egypt on October 29, 1956).


date: January 26

text: January 26 – The Ibirapuera Planetarium (the first in the Southern Hemisphere) is inaugurated in the city of São Paulo, Brazil.


date: February 15

text: February 15 – Andrei Gromyko becomes foreign minister of the Soviet Union.

source_section: Events › February


date: February 23

text: February 23 – The founding congress of the Senegalese Popular Bloc opens in Dakar.


date: March 1

text: March 1 – U Nu becomes Prime Minister of Burma.

source_section: Events › March


date: March 6

text: March 6 – United Kingdom colonies Gold Coast and British Togoland become the independent nation of Ghana.


date: March 25

text: March 25 – The Treaty of Rome (Patto di Roma) establishes the European Economic Community (EEC; predecessor of the European Union) between Italy, France, West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.


date: April 5

text: April 5 – The Communist Party of India wins the elections in Kerala, making E. M. S. Namboodiripad its first chief minister.

source_section: Events › April


date: April 12

text: April 12 – The United Kingdom announces that Singapore will gain self-rule on January 1, 1958.


date: April 15

text: April 15 – White Rock secedes from Surrey, British Columbia, following a referendum.


date: May 16

text: May 16 – Paul-Henri Spaak becomes the new Secretary General of NATO.

source_section: Events › May


date: June 21

text: June 21 – John Diefenbaker becomes the 13th Prime Minister of Canada.

source_section: Events › June


date: July 14

text: July 14 – Rawya Ateya takes her seat in the National Assembly of Egypt, thereby becoming the first female parliamentarian in the Arab world.

source_section: Events › July


date: July 25

text: July 25 – Tunisia becomes a republic, with Habib Bourguiba as its first president.


date: August 31

text: August 31 – The Federation of Malaya gains independence from the United Kingdom, subsequently celebrated as Malaysia's National Day. Abdul Rahman of Negeri Sembilan, Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan, becomes the first Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaya. The country's new Constitution had come into force on August 27. The Alliance Party and its successor are the ruling coalition until 2018.

source_section: Events › August


date: September 9

text: September 9 – The Civil Rights Act of 1957 is enacted, establishing the United States Commission on Civil Rights.

source_section: Events › September


date: October 27

text: October 27 – Celâl Bayar is re-elected president of Turkey.

source_section: Events › October


date: November 15

text: November 15 – Yugoslavia announces the end of an economic boycott of Francoist Spain (although it does not reinstitute diplomatic relations).

source_section: Events › November


date: November 16

text: November 16 – Adnan Menderes of the Democrat Party forms the new government of Turkey (23rd government, last government formed by DP and Menderes).


date: November 30

text: November 30 – 1957 New Zealand general election: The Labour Party defeats the governing National Party, with Walter Nash succeeding Keith Holyoake as Prime Minister.


date: December 10

text: December 10 – Canadian diplomat Lester B. Pearson receives the Nobel Peace Prize, for his peacekeeping efforts in the United Nations.

source_section: Events › December


date: February 4

section: Conflict & Security

text: February 4 – France prohibits U.N. involvement in Algeria.


date: February 18

text: February 18 – Kenyan rebel leader Dedan Kimathi is executed by the British colonial government.


date: April 13

text: April 13 – The 1957 alleged Jordanian military coup attempt against Hussein Bin Talal is made by Ali Abu Nuwar.


date: May 8

text: May 8 – South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem begins a state visit to the United States, his regime's main sponsor.


date: May 15

text: May 15 – Operation Grapple: At Malden Island in the Pacific, Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb, which fails to detonate properly.


date: May 24

text: May 24 – May 24 incident: Anti-American riots erupt in Taipei, Taiwan.


date: September 5

text: September 5 – Cuban Revolution: Fulgencio Batista’s forces bomb anti-government riots in Cienfuegos.


text: November 30 – Indonesian president Sukarno survives a grenade attack at the Cikini School in Jakarta, but several children are killed.


date: June 9

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: June 9 – Broad Peak, on the China-Pakistan border, is first ascended.


text: The so-called 'mound of Midas', the Great Tumulus near Gordium, is excavated.

source_section: Events › Date unknown


date: January 14

section: Religion & Belief

text: January 14 – Kripalu Maharaj is named fifth Jagadguru (world teacher), after giving seven days of speeches before 500 Hindu scholars.


text: February 4 – A coal gas explosion at the giant Bishop Coal Mine in Bishop, Virginia, United States, kills 37 men.


date: March 1

text: March 1 – Arturo Lezama becomes President of the National Council of Government of Uruguay.


date: May 2

text: May 2 – "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika", written by Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven, becomes the South African national anthem, replacing "God Save the Queen", which is retained as a royal anthem.


date: July 11

text: July 11 – His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV becomes the 49th Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims at age 20. His grandfather Sir Sultan Mohammed Shah Aga Khan III appoints Prince Karim in his will.


section: Economy & Finance

text: March 1 – Sud Aviation forms, from a merger between SNCASE (Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud Est) and SNCASO (Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud Ouest).


date: December 1

text: December 1 – In Indonesia, Sukarno announces the nationalization of 246 Dutch businesses.


text: Raja Fashions, a tailoring business, is founded in Hong Kong.


date: January 3

text: January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.


date: January 16

text: January 16 – Global hotel brand Marriott opens its first hotel, the Marriott Motor Hotel in Arlington, Virginia.


date: February 2

text: February 2 – President Iskander Mirza of Pakistan lays the foundation-stone of the Guddu Barrage across the Indus River, near Sukkur.


date: March 8

text: March 8 – Egypt re-opens the Suez Canal.


date: April 1

text: April 1 – The first new conscripts join the Bundeswehr.


date: April 9

text: April 9 – Egypt reopens the Suez Canal to all shipping.


date: April 15

text: April 15 – The Distant Early Warning Line is handed over by contractors to the U.S. and Canadian military.


date: June 1

text: June 1 – Launch of the first Ayanami-class destroyer warship by the JMSDF.


date: July 1

text: July 1 – Production of the Citroën Traction Avant automobile, begun in 1934, ceases.


date: October 4

text: October 4 – The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow delta wing interceptor aircraft is unveiled.


date: November 1

text: November 1 – The Mackinac Bridge, the world's longest suspension bridge between anchorages at this time, opens in the United States, to connect Michigan's two peninsulas.


date: December 20

text: December 20 – The Boeing 707 airliner flies for the first time.


date: February 16

text: February 16 – Ingmar Bergman's film The Seventh Seal opens at cinemas in Sweden.


date: April 30

text: April 30 – The solar eclipse of April 30, 1957, a non-central annular solar eclipse that does not have a northern path limit, takes place. This is the last of 57 umbral solar eclipses of Solar Saros 118.


date: April

text: April – IBM sells the first compiler for the Fortran scientific programming language.


date: May 15

text: May 15 – Stanley Matthews plays his final international game, ending an English record international career of almost 23 years.


text: July 1 – The International Geophysical Year begins.


text: July 1 – Hugh Everett III publishes the first scientifically founded many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.


date: July 16

text: July 16 – United States Marine Major John Glenn flies an F8U supersonic jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds, setting a new transcontinental speed record.


date: July 23

text: July 23 – Asghar Khan becomes the first native Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Air Force and the world's youngest Air Vice Marshal at 36 years old.


date: July 29

text: July 29 – The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.


date: October 1

text: October 1 – The Africanized bee is accidentally released in Brazil.


text: October 4 – Space Age – Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.


date: October 9

text: October 9 – The Jodrell Bank radio telescope in Cheshire, England, is controlled from its control room for the first time.


date: October 11

text: October 11 – The orbit of the last stage of the R-7 Semyorka rocket (carrying Sputnik I) is first successfully calculated on an IBM 704 computer at the MIT Computation Center as part of Operation Moonwatch, Cambridge, Massachusetts.


date: November 3

text: November 3 – Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2, with the first animal to orbit the Earth, a dog named Laika, on board. There is no technology available to return her to Earth.


date: November 13

text: November 13 – Gordon Gould invents the laser.


date: December 6

text: December 6 – The first U.S. attempt to launch a satellite fails, when the Vanguard rocket blows up on the launch pad.


text: Three new neo-grotesque sans-serif typefaces are released: Folio (designed by Konrad Bauer and Walter Baum), Neue Haas Grotesk (designed by Max Miedinger) and Univers (designed by Adrian Frutiger); all will be influential in the International Typographic Style of graphic design.


date: January 5

text: January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be dismissed for having handled the ball in Test cricket.


date: January 9

text: January 9 – British Prime Minister Anthony Eden resigns on health grounds.


date: March 14

text: March 14 – President Sukarno declares martial law in Indonesia.


date: February 18

text: February 18 – The last person to be executed in New Zealand, Walter James Bolton, is hanged at Mount Eden Prison for poisoning his wife.


date: April 17

text: April 17 – Suspected English serial killer Dr John Bodkin Adams is found not guilty of murder, at the Old Bailey.


text: Albeit the practice was in decline since the late 19th Century, and illegal since 1912, the very last new case of Chinese foot binding was reported this year.


text: Mao Zedong admits that 800,000 "class enemies" had been summarily liquidated in China between 1949 and 1954.


date: February 17

text: February 17 – A fire at a home for the elderly in Warrenton, Missouri, United States, kills 72 people.


date: March 17

text: March 17 – 1957 Cebu Douglas C-47 crash: Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others are killed in a plane crash.


date: March 22

text: March 22 – A United States Air Force Boeing C-97 disappears somewhere over the Pacific Ocean near the coast of Japan. All 67 people and the aircraft remain missing to this day.


date: July 28

text: July 28 – Heavy rains and mudslides at Isahaya, western Kyūshū, Japan, kill 992.


date: September 21

text: September 21 – The sailing ship Pamir sinks off the Azores in a hurricane.


date: September 29

text: September 29 – The Kyshtym disaster occurs at the Mayak nuclear reprocessing plant in Russia.


date: October 20

text: October 20 – Two trains collide at Yarımburgaz in Turkey; 95 die.


date: November 15

text: November 15 – 1957 Aquila Airways Solent crash: A flying boat crash on the Isle of Wight leaves 45 dead.


date: December 4

text: December 4 – The Lewisham rail crash in London, UK, leaves 92 people dead.


date: December 5

text: December 5 – All 326,000 Dutch nationals are expelled from Indonesia.


date: April 24

text: April 24–25 – The 1957 Fethiye earthquakes occur on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey.


date: June 27

text: June 27 – Hurricane Audrey demolishes Cameron, Louisiana, U.S., killing 400 people.


date: October 10

text: October 10 – Windscale fire: Fire at the Windscale nuclear reactor on the north-west coast of England releases radioactive material into the surrounding environment, including iodine-131.


date: November 13

text: November 13 – Flooding in the Po Valley of Italy leads to flooding also in Venice.


text: December 4 – 1957 Bayankhongor Earthquake in Mongolia kills 30+ people


date: December 18

text: December 18 – A violent F5 tornado wipes out the entire community of Sunfield, Illinois.


date: January 15

text: January 15 – The film Throne of Blood, Akira Kurosawa's reworking of Macbeth, is released in Japan.


date: February 4

text: February 4 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, , logs its 60,000th nautical mile, matching the endurance of the fictional Nautilus described in Jules Verne's 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas. It is decommissioned on March 3, 1980.


date: February 10

text: February 10 – The Confederation of African Football is founded, at a meeting in Khartoum.


date: March 3

text: March 3 – Net als toen, sung by Corry Brokken (music by Guus Jansen, lyrics by Willy van Hemert), wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1957 (held at Frankfurt), for the Netherlands.


date: March 6

text: March 6 – Zodi Ikhia founds the Nigerien Democratic Front (FDN) in Niger.


date: March 27

text: March 27 – The 29th Academy Awards Ceremony is held in Hollywood. Around the World in 80 Days wins Best Picture.


date: May 30

text: May 30 – Real Madrid beats Fiorentina 2–0 at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid, to win the 1956–57 European Cup (football).


date: July 1

text: July 1 – The University of Waterloo is founded in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.


date: July 6

text: July 6 – At the age of fifteen, Paul McCartney meets John Lennon and his band, the Quarrymen, at the St Peter's Church Hall fête in Woolton.


date: July 28

text: July 28 – The 6th World Festival of Youth and Students, a high point of the Khrushchev Thaw, opens in Moscow.


date: August 4

text: August 4 – Juan Manuel Fangio, driving for Maserati, wins the Formula One German Grand Prix, clinching (with 4 wins this season) his record 5th world drivers championship, including his 4th consecutive championship (also a record); these 2 records endure for nearly half a century.


date: September 26

text: September 26 – West Side Story, a new musical by Leonard Bernstein with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, opens on Broadway in New York City.


text: Gruppe SPUR, an artistic collaboration, is founded in Germany.


date: February 18

text: February 18 – Vanna White, American game show presenter (Wheel of Fortune)

source_section: Births › February


date: April 22

text: April 22 – Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of Poland

source_section: Births › April


date: May 10

text: May 10 – Sid Vicious (John Beverley), English punk rock bassist (Sex Pistols) (d. 1979)

source_section: Births › May


date: May 24

text: May 24 – John G. Rowland, American Republican politician, Governor of Connecticut and felon


date: May 27

text: May 27 – Siouxsie Sioux, born Susan Ballion, English post-punk singer (Siouxsie and the Banshees)


date: June 5

text: June 5 – Kim Tai-chung, Korean martial artist and former actor and Bruce Lee double (d. 2011)

source_section: Births › June


date: June 29

text: June 29 – Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, Turkmen politician, 2nd President of Turkmenistan


date: September 13

text: September 13 – Bongbong Marcos, 17th President of the Philippines

source_section: Births › September


date: September 22

text: September 22 – Nick Cave, Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter and actor


date: October 23

text: October 23 – Paul Kagame, 4th President of Rwanda

source_section: Births › October


date: October 25

text: October 25 – Nancy Cartwright, American voice actress (Bart Simpson from The Simpsons)


date: October 29

text: October 29 – Dan Castellaneta, American voice actor (Homer Simpson from The Simpsons)


date: November 12

text: November 12 – Cécilia Attias, wife of French Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy

source_section: Births › November


date: December 16

text: December 16 – Nikolaos Michaloliakos, Greek politician, founder and leader of Golden Dawn, a neo-nazi party

source_section: Births › December


date: January 10

text: January 10 – Gabriela Mistral, Chilean writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1889)

source_section: Deaths › January


date: February 6

text: February 6 – The Soviet Union announces that Swedish envoy Raoul Wallenberg had died in a Soviet prison ("possibly of a heart attack"), on July 17, 1947

source_section: Events › February


date: February 8

text: February 8 – John von Neumann, Hungarian-born American mathematician (b. 1903)

source_section: Deaths › February


text: February 8 – Walther Bothe, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)


date: February 9

text: February 9 – Miklós Horthy, Austro-Hungarian admiral and regent of the Kingdom of Hungary (b. 1868)


date: March 17

text: March 17 – Ramon Magsaysay, 7th President of the Philippines (b. 1907)

source_section: Deaths › March


date: March 28

text: March 28 – Gheorghe Tătărescu, Romanian politician, 36th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1886)


date: July 8

text: July 8 – Grace Coolidge, First Lady of the United States (b. 1879)

source_section: Deaths › July


date: July 15

text: July 15 – James M. Cox, Democratic candidate for President of the United States in the election of 1920 (b. 1870)


date: July 26

text: July 26 – Carlos Castillo Armas, Guatemalan military officer and politician, 28th President of Guatemala (b. 1914)


date: August 16

text: August 16 – Irving Langmuir, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)

source_section: Deaths › August


date: October 26

text: October 26 – Gerty Cori, Austrian-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1896)

source_section: Deaths › October


text: October 29 – Louis B. Mayer, American film studio mogul, former head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (b. 1885)


date: December 17

text: December 17 – Dorothy L. Sayers, British crime writer, poet, playwright and essayist (b. 1893)

source_section: Deaths › December


date: January 3

text: January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed.

source_section: Events › January


date: January 27

text: January 27 – A Soviet-American executive agreement on cultural, educational and scientific exchanges, also known as the "Lacy–Zarubin Agreement", is signed in Washington, D.C.


date: February 1

text: February 1 – Egypt and Syria unite to form the United Arab Republic.


date: February 11

text: February 11 – Marshal Chen Yi succeeds Zhou Enlai as Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs.


date: February 14

text: February 14 – The Hashemite Kingdoms of Iraq and Jordan unite in the Arab Federation, with King Faisal II of Iraq as head of state.


date: February 23

text: February 23 – Arturo Frondizi is elected president of Argentina.


date: April 1

text: April 1 – The Treaty of Angra de Cintra is signed by Spain and Morocco, ending the Spanish protectorate in Morocco.

source_section: Events › April


date: May 1

text: May 1 – The Nordic Passport Union comes into force.

source_section: Events › May


text: May 1 – Arturo Frondizi becomes President of Argentina.


date: May 10

text: May 10 – Interviewed in the Chave d'Ouro café, when asked about his rival António de Oliveira Salazar, Humberto Delgado utters one of the most famous comments in Portuguese political history: "Obviamente, demito-o! (Obviously, I'll sack him!)".


date: May 12

text: May 12 – A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada.


date: July 12

text: July 12 – Henri Cornelis becomes Governor-General of the Belgian Congo, the last Belgian governor prior to independence.

source_section: Events › July


date: September 2

text: September 2 – Hendrik Verwoerd becomes the 6th Prime Minister of South Africa.

source_section: Events › September


date: September 4

text: September 4 – Jorge Alessandri is the winner of Chile's presidential election.


date: September 28

text: September 28 – In the 1958 French constitutional referendum, a majority of 79% says yes to the constitution of the Fifth Republic.


date: October 1

text: October 1 – Tunisia and Morocco join the Arab League.

source_section: Events › October


text: October 1 – The United Kingdom transfers sovereignty of Christmas Island from Singapore to Australia.


date: October 4

text: October 4 – The new Constitution of France is signed into law, establishing the French Fifth Republic.


date: November 3

text: November 3 – The new UNESCO building, World Heritage Centre, is inaugurated in Paris.

source_section: Events › November


text: November 3 – Jorge Alessandri is sworn in as President of Chile.


date: November 25

text: November 25 – French Sudan gains autonomy as a self-governing member of the French colonial empire.


date: November 28

text: November 28 – Chad, the Republic of the Congo and Gabon become autonomous republics within the French colonial empire.


date: November 30

text: November 30 – Gaullists win the French parliamentary election.


date: December 1

text: December 1 – Adolfo López Mateos takes office as President of Mexico.

source_section: Events › December


date: January 13

text: January 13 – Battle of Edchera: The Moroccan Army of Liberation ambushes a Spanish patrol.


date: February 23

text: February 23 – Cuban rebels kidnap five-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio, releasing him 28 hours later.


date: March 8

text: March 8 – The is decommissioned, leaving the United States Navy without an active battleship for the first time since 1896 (she is recommissioned October 22, 1988).

source_section: Events › March


date: April 3

text: April 3 – In Cuba, Castro's revolutionary army begins its attacks on Havana.


date: April 28

text: April 28 – A bomber flown by a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency operative in support of Indonesian Permesta rebels bombs the harbor at Balikpapan, Borneo, Indonesia, hitting an Indonesian naval corvette and two British oil tankers. In June, the Indonesian and British governments both claim that Indonesian rebels are responsible for such attacks, concealing the C.I.A.'s involvement.


date: May 13

text: May 13 – During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, Vice President Richard Nixon's car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators.


text: May 13 – Crisis in France: French Algerian protesters seize government offices in Algiers, leading to a military coup.


date: May 20

text: May 20 – The Cuban government of Fulgencio Batista launches a counteroffensive against Castro's rebels.


date: May 30

text: May 30 – The bodies of unidentified United States soldiers killed in action during World War II and the Korean War are buried at the Tomb of the Unknowns, in Arlington National Cemetery.


date: June 30

text: June 30 – The 1957–58 Ifni War ends in Spanish Sahara.

source_section: Events › June


date: July 14

text: July 14 – July 14 Revolution in Iraq: King Faisal II and several family members are executed. Abd al-Karim Qasim assumes power.


date: July 15

text: July 15 – 1958 Lebanon crisis: 5,000 United States Marines land in the Lebanese capital Beirut in support of the pro-Western government.


date: August 6

text: August 6 – The Law of Permanent Defense of Democracy, which outlawed the Communist Party of Chile and banned 26,650 persons from the electoral lists, is repealed.

source_section: Events › August


date: August 7

text: August 7 – 1958 East Pakistan-India border skirmishes, a skirmish between East Pakistan and the Indian Army in Laxmipur.


date: August 23

text: August 23 – The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis begins with the People's Republic of China's People's Liberation Army shelling the island of Kinmen (Quemoy) which is controlled by the Republic of China (Taiwan)'s Kuomintang forces.


date: August 26

text: August 26 – A general strike is called in Paraguay.


date: August 30

text: August 30–September 1 – Notting Hill race riots: Riots occur between blacks and whites in Notting Hill, London.


date: September 1

text: September 1 – The first Cod War begins between the United Kingdom and Iceland.


date: December 29

text: December 29 – Battle of Santa Clara: Rebel troops under Camilo Cienfuegos and Che Guevara begin to invade Santa Clara, Cuba.


date: December 30

text: December 30 – The Guatemalan Air Force fires on Mexican fishing boats which had strayed into Guatemalan territory, triggering the Mexico–Guatemala conflict.


date: December 31

text: December 31 – After the fall of Santa Clara, Cuban President Fulgencio Batista flees the country.


date: January 4

text: January 4 – Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third overland journey to the South Pole, the first to use powered vehicles.


date: March 2

text: March 2 – A British Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition team, led by Sir Vivian Fuchs, completes the first overland crossing of the Antarctic, using snowcat caterpillar tractors and dogsled teams, in 99 days, via the South Pole.


date: June 1

text: June 1 – Iceland extends its fishing limits to 12 miles (22.2 km).


date: July 26

text: July 26 – Explorer program: Explorer 4 is launched in the United States.


date: September 18

text: September 18 – BankAmericard, the first credit card to be widely offered, is launched in Fresno, California in what becomes known as the "Fresno Drop".


date: December 14

text: December 14 – The 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition becomes the first ever to reach the Southern Pole of Inaccessibility.


date: December 16

text: December 16 – Soviet polar pilot V. M. Perov on Li-2 rescues four Belgian polar explorers, led by Gaston de Gerlache, who have survived a plane crash in Antarctica 250 km from their base five days earlier.


text: For the first time, the total of transatlantic passengers carried by air this year exceeds the total carried by sea.

source_section: Events › Undated


date: October 28

text: October 28 – Pope John XXIII succeeds Pope Pius XII, as the 261st pope.


date: October

text: October – GoldStar, predecessor of LG Electronics, is founded in South Korea.


date: November 20

text: November 20 – The Jim Henson Company is founded as Muppets, Inc. in the United States.


date: February 24

text: February 24 – In Cuba, Fidel Castro's Radio Rebelde begins broadcasting from Sierra Maestra.

source_section: Events › February


date: February 25

text: February 25 – Bertrand Russell launches the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the United Kingdom, initiated at a meeting called by Canon John Collins on January 15. The campaign peace symbol has been launched on 21 February by Gerald Holtom. Protests will focus on the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston.


date: March 26

text: March 26 – The 30th Academy Awards Ceremony takes place in Hollywood; The Bridge on the River Kwai wins 7 awards, including Academy Award for Best Picture.


date: April 17

text: April 17 – King Baudouin of Belgium officially opens the world's fair in Brussels, also known as Expo 58. The Atomium forms the centrepiece.


date: April 20

text: April 20 – The Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup in ice hockey, after defeating the Boston Bruins in 6 games.


date: August 3

text: August 3 – The nuclear-powered submarine becomes the first vessel to cross the North Pole under water.


date: August 18

text: August 18 – Brojen Das from East Pakistan swims across the English Channel in a competition, the first Bangali as well as the first Asian to ever do it. He is first among 39 competitors.


date: September 2

text: September 2 – China's first television broadcasts start at Beijing Television Station, a predecessor of China Central Television.


date: September 12

text: September 12 – Jack Kilby invents the first integrated circuit, while working at Texas Instruments.


date: September 14

text: September 14 – Two rockets designed by German engineer Ernst Mohr (the first German post-war rockets) reach the upper atmosphere.


date: October 17

text: October 17 – An Evening with Fred Astaire, the first television show recorded on color videotape, is broadcast on NBC in the United States.


date: October 18

text: October 18 – Tennis for Two, a game invented by William Higinbotham and considered to be the first pure entertainment computer game, is introduced at the Brookhaven National Laboratory Visitors' Day Exhibit in the United States.


date: October 26

text: October 26 – A Pan American World Airways Boeing 707 makes its first transatlantic flight.


date: November 22

text: November 22 – 1958 Australian federal election: Robert Menzies' Liberal/Country Coalition Government is re-elected with a slightly increased majority, defeating the Labor Party led by H.V. Evatt. This is the first election where television is used as a medium for communicating with voters. Evatt will eventually resign as Labor leader and will be replaced by his deputy Arthur Calwell.


date: January 4

text: January 4 – Sputnik 1 (launched on October 4, 1957) falls towards Earth from its orbit and burns up.


date: February 2

text: February 2 – The Falcons aerobatic team of the Pakistan Air Force led by Wg Cdr Mitty Masud set a world record performing a 16 aircraft diamond loop in F-86 Sabres. 30,000 people are in attendance including President Iskandar Ali Mirza, General Ayub Khan, Air Marshal Asghar Khan, Air Commodore Nur Khan, C-in-C Turkish Air Force Hamdullah Suphi Göker, Chief of the Iraqi Air Force Abdul Kadhim Abaddi, Chief of the Imperial Iranian Air Force and Chief Guest King Zahir Shah in whose honor the performance has been organized.


date: March 17

text: March 17 – The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite.


date: April 13

text: April 13 – The Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 (launched November 3, 1957) disintegrates during reentry from orbit.


date: May 1

text: May 1 – U.S. space scientist James van Allen announces the discovery of Earth's magnetosphere.


date: May 15

text: May 15 – The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.


date: May 18

text: May 18 – A U.S. Lockheed F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of 1404.19 mi/h km/h.


date: August 6

text: August 6 – Australian athlete Herb Elliott clips almost 3 seconds off the world record for the mile run at Santry Stadium, Dublin, recording a time of 3 minutes 54.5 seconds.


date: August 17

text: August 17 – The first Thor-Able rocket is launched, carrying Pioneer 0, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 17. The launch fails due to a first stage malfunction.


date: September 30

text: September 30 – The U.S.S.R. performs a nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya.


date: October 1

text: October 1 – NASA starts operations and replaces the NACA in the United States.


date: October 4

text: October 4 – The British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) uses one of its new de Havilland Comet 4s, G-APDB, to make the first commercial transatlantic flight by a jet airliner, from London to New York International Airport, Anderson Field via Gander.


date: October 11

text: October 11 – Pioneer 1, the second and most successful of the 3 project Able space probes, becomes the first spacecraft launched by the newly formed NASA.


date: December 15

text: December 15 – Arthur L. Schawlow and Charles H. Townes of Bell Laboratories publish a paper in Physical Review Letters setting out the principles of the optical laser.


date: December 18

text: December 18 – The Bell XV-3 Tiltrotor makes the first true mid-air transition from vertical helicopter-type flight to fully level fixed-wing flight.


text: December 18 – The United States launches SCORE, the world's first communications satellite.


date: December 19

text: December 19 – A message from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower is broadcast from the SCORE satellite.


text: Denatonium, the bitterest substance known, is discovered. It is used as an aversive agent in products such as bleach to reduce the risk of children drinking them.


date: June 16

text: June 16 – Imre Nagy and other leaders of the failed Hungarian Revolution of 1956 are hanged for treason, following secret trials.


date: February 5

text: February 5 – 1958 Tybee Island mid-air collision: A U.S. B-47 bomber jettisons a hydrogen bomb into Wassaw Sound off Tybee Island, Georgia; it is never recovered.


date: February 28

text: February 28 – Prestonsburg bus disaster: One of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history occurs in Kentucky when a school bus hits a truck and falls into a river, resulting in 27 deaths, 26 of them schoolchildren. Twenty-two others are rescued.


date: March 1

text: March 1 – Turkish passenger ship capsizes and sinks in a sudden gale while crossing the Gulf of İzmit, Turkey; many of the 272 who die are teenage students.


date: March 11

text: March 11 – 1958 Mars Bluff B-47 nuclear weapon loss incident: A U.S. B-47 bomber accidentally drops an atom bomb on Mars Bluff, South Carolina. Without a fissile warhead, its conventional explosives destroy a house and injure six people.


date: March 19

text: March 19 – The Monarch Underwear Company fire occurs in New York, United States, killing 24 people.


date: April 21

text: April 21 – United Airlines Flight 736 is involved in a mid-air collision with a U.S. Air Force F-100F jet fighter over what becomes Enterprise, Nevada; all 49 persons in both aircraft are killed.


date: June 20

text: June 20 – The iron barque Omega of Callao, Peru (built in Liverpool, 1887), the world's last full-rigged ship trading under sail alone, sinks on passage carrying guano from the Pachacamac Islands for Huacho.


date: August 14

text: August 14 – KLM Flight 607-E, a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation, crashes into the Atlantic with 99 people aboard, all of whom are killed.


date: December 1

text: December 1 – Our Lady of the Angels School fire: 90 students and 3 nuns are killed in a fire in Chicago.


date: December 16

text: December 16 – A fire breaks out in the Vida Department Store in Bogotá, Colombia and kills 84 persons.


date: December 24

text: December 24 – 1958 BOAC Bristol Britannia crash: A BOAC Bristol Britannia (312 G-AOVD) crashes near Winkton, England, during a test flight, killing nine people. Three crew members survive.


date: July 9

text: July 9 – 1958 Lituya Bay megatsunami: A 7.8 strike-slip earthquake in Southeast Alaska causes a landslide that produces a megatsunami. The runup from the waves reaches 525 m on the rim of Lituya Bay.


date: September 27

text: September 27 – Hurricane Helene, the worst storm of the North Atlantic hurricane season, reaches category 4 status.


text: September 27 – Typhoon Ida kills at least 1,269 people in Honshū, Japan.


date: April 14

text: April 14 – Van Cliburn wins the International Tchaikovsky Competition for pianists in Moscow, easing Cold War tensions.


date: May 28

text: May 28 – Real Madrid beats A.C. Milan 3–2 at Heysel Stadium, Brussels, and wins the 1957–58 European Cup in Association football.


date: June 29

text: June 29 – Brazil beats Sweden 5–2 in the final game to win the football World Cup in Sweden.


date: July 24

text: July 24 – Fourteen life peerages, the first under the Life Peerages Act 1958, are created in the United Kingdom.


date: July 26

text: July 26 – Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom announces that she is giving her son Prince Charles the customary title for the heir apparent of Prince of Wales. The announcement is made at the end of the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, held in Cardiff.


date: August 21

text: August 21–October 15 – Illinois observes the centennial of the Lincoln–Douglas debates.


date: November 10

text: November 10 – Harry Winston donates the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.


date: January 8

text: January 8 – Betsy DeVos, American businesswoman and politician, 11th Secretary of Education

source_section: Births › January


date: January 24

text: January 24 – Mike Harmon, American stock car racing driver, crew chief, and team owner


date: January 26

text: January 26 – Ellen DeGeneres, American actress, comedian and television host


date: May 18

text: May 18 – Toyah Willcox, English singer-songwriter, actress, and television presenter

source_section: Births › May


date: May 19

text: May 19 – Jenny Durkan, American attorney, federal prosecutor and politician


date: May 30

text: May 30 – Marie Fredriksson, Swedish rock guitarist and singer-songwriter (d. 2019)


date: June 14

text: June 14 – Olaf Scholz, 9th Chancellor of Germany

source_section: Births › June


date: September 2

text: September 2 – Zdravko Krivokapić, Montenegrin politician, Prime Minister of Montenegro

source_section: Births › September


date: September 7

text: September 7 – Goran Hadžić, Croatian Serb politician and President the Republic of Serbian Krajina during the Croatian War of Independence


date: October 5

text: October 5 – Neil deGrasse Tyson, American astrophysicist and science communicator

source_section: Births › October


date: October 8

text: October 8 – Ursula von der Leyen, German politician, President of the European Commission


date: November 3

text: November 3 – Derrike Cope, American stock car racing driver and team owner

source_section: Births › November


date: December 1

text: December 1 – Candace Bushnell, American writer (Sex & the City), journalist and television producer

source_section: Births › December


date: December 24

text: December 24 – Michael Flynn, American lieutenant general and former U.S. national security advisor


date: January 7

text: January 7 – Petru Groza, Romanian politician, 46th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1884)

source_section: Deaths › January


date: February 6

text: February 6 – Seven Manchester United footballers are among the 21 people killed in the Munich air disaster in West Germany, on the return flight from a European Cup game in Yugoslavia. 23 people survive; manager Matt Busby and players Johnny Berry and Duncan Edwards are in a serious condition. Berry will never play again and Edwards dies a fortnight later, as does the co-pilot.


text: February 6 – Manchester United footballers and journalists who died in Munich air disaster

source_section: Deaths › February


date: February 21

text: February 21 – Duncan Edwards English footballer, died from injuries sustained in the Munich air disaster (b. 1936)


date: March 11

text: March 11 – Ole Kirk Christiansen, Danish businessman, founder of The Lego Group (b. 1891)

source_section: Deaths › March


date: April 16

text: April 16 – Rosalind Franklin, English crystallographer (b. 1920)

source_section: Deaths › April


date: July 15

text: July 15 – Nuri al-Said, Iraqi politician, 7th Prime Minister of Iraq (b. 1888)

source_section: Deaths › July


date: July 27

text: July 27 – Claire Lee Chennault, American aviator and general, leader of the Flying Tigers (b. 1893)


date: August 27

text: August 27 – Ernest Lawrence, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)

source_section: Deaths › August


date: September 28

text: September 28 – Fernando Rios, a Mexican tour guide in New Orleans, dies from injuries suffered in an incident of gay bashing.

source_section: Events › September


date: October 14

text: October 14 – Sir Douglas Mawson, Australian geologist and polar explorer (b. 1882)

source_section: Deaths › October


date: November 24

text: November 24 – Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, English politician and diplomat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1864)

source_section: Deaths › November


date: December 12

text: December 12 – Milutin Milanković, Yugoslav mathematician, astronomer, climatologist and geophysicist, (b. 1879)

source_section: Deaths › December


date: December 15

text: December 15 – Wolfgang Pauli, Austrian-born American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)


date: January 3

text: January 3 – Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.

source_section: Events › January


text: January 3 – The southernmost island of the Maldives archipelago, Addu Atoll, declares its independence from the Kingdom of the Maldives, initiating the United Suvadive Republic.


date: January 6

text: January 6 – The International Maritime Organization is inaugurated.


text: January 7 – The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.


date: January 8

text: January 8 – Charles de Gaulle is inaugurated as the first president of the French Fifth Republic.


date: January 10

text: January 10 – The Soviet government recognizes the new Castro government of Cuba.


date: January 21

text: January 21 – The European Court of Human Rights is established.


date: February 9

text: February 9 – Yugoslavia and Spain set trade relations (not diplomatic ones).

source_section: Events › February


date: February 16

text: February 16 – Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba.


date: February 18

text: February 18 – Women in Nepal vote for the first time.


date: February 19

text: February 19 – First of the London and Zürich Agreements under which the United Kingdom agrees to grant independence to Cyprus.


date: March 18

text: March 18 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Hawaii Admission Act, granting statehood to Hawaii.

source_section: Events › March


date: March 19

text: March 19 – The other two southern islands of the Maldives, Huvadhu Atoll and Fuvahmulah, join Addu Atoll in forming the United Suvadive Republic (abolished September 1963).


date: April 27

text: April 27 – National People's Congress elects Liu Shaoqi as Chairman of the People's Republic of China, as a successor of Mao Zedong.

source_section: Events › April


date: May 24

text: May 24 – British Empire Day is renamed Commonwealth Day.

source_section: Events › May


date: June 3

text: June 3 – Singapore becomes a self-governing crown colony of Britain with Lee Kuan Yew as Prime Minister.

source_section: Events › June


date: June 23

text: June 23 – Seán Lemass becomes the third Taoiseach of Ireland.


date: August 19

text: August 19 – The Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) is established.

source_section: Events › August


date: August 30

text: August 30 – 1959 South Vietnamese legislative election: South Vietnamese opposition figure Phan Quang Dan is elected to the National Assembly despite soldiers being bussed in to vote for President Ngo Dinh Diem's candidate.


date: September 15

text: September 15–28 – USSR Premier Nikita Khrushchev and his wife tour the United States, at the invitation of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower.


date: September 30

text: September 30 – Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev meets Mao Zedong in Beijing.


date: November 20

text: November 20 – The Declaration of the Rights of the Child is adopted by the United Nations.

source_section: Events › November


date: December 1

text: December 1 – Cold War: Antarctic Treaty – 12 countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union, sign a landmark treaty that sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on the continent (the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War).

source_section: Events › December


date: December 14

text: December 14 – Makarios III is selected as the first president of Cyprus.


date: January 1

text: January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance.


date: January 4

text: January 4 – In Cuba, rebel troops led by Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos enter the city of Havana.


text: January 4 – Léopoldville riots: At least 49 people are killed during clashes between the police and participants of a meeting of the ABAKO Party in Léopoldville in the Belgian Congo.


date: March 10

text: March 10 – The Tibetan uprising erupts in Lhasa when Chinese officials attempt to arrest the Dalai Lama.


date: May 2

text: May 2 – 1959 FA Cup Final: Nottingham Forest defeat Luton Town 2–1 at Wembley Stadium.


date: May 18

text: May 18 – The National Liberation Committee of Côte d'Ivoire is launched in Conakry, Guinea.


date: May 23

text: May 23 – In Laos the Laotian Civil War begins between the Kingdom of Laos and communist rebels, the Pathet Lao.


date: June 14

text: June 14 – A 3-front invasion of the Dominican Republic by exile forces backed by Fidel Castro and Venezuela attempts to overthrow Rafael Trujillo.


date: July 14

text: July 14 – Groups of Kurdish and communist militias rebel in Kirkuk, Iraq against the central government.

source_section: Events › July


date: August 4

text: August 4 – Martial law is declared in Laos.


date: August 17

text: August 17 – In the United States:


date: September 26

text: September 26 – First large unit action of the Vietnam War takes place, when two companies of the ARVN's 23rd Division are ambushed by a well-organized Viet Cong force of several hundred, identified as the "2nd Liberation Battalion".


date: October 12

text: October 12 – At the national Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana Congress in Peru, a group of leftist radicals is expelled from the party; they later form APRA Rebelde.

source_section: Events › October


date: October 31

text: October 31 – Riots break out in the Belgian Congo.


date: November 1

text: November 1 – In Rwanda, Hutu politician Dominique Mbonyumutwa is beaten up by Tutsi forces, leading to a period of violence known as the wind of destruction.


date: March 17

text: March 17 – Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama escapes Tibet and arrives in India.


date: March 31

text: March 31 – The Dalai Lama is granted asylum in India.


date: April 25

text: April 25 – The Saint Lawrence Seaway linking the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean officially opens to shipping.


date: August 7

text: August 7 – Explorer program: The United States launches Explorer 6 from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida.


text: Nylon pantyhose, or sheer tights, are first sold on the open market as 'Panti-Legs' by Glen Raven Knitting Mills in the United States.

source_section: Events › Date unknown


date: January 25

text: January 25 – Pope John XXIII announces that the Second Vatican Council will be convened in Rome.


date: March 1

text: March 1 – Archbishop Makarios returns to Cyprus from exile.


date: March 28

text: March 28 – The Kashag, the government of Tibet, is abolished by an order signed by Chinese premier Zhou Enlai. The Dalai Lama is replaced in China by the Panchen Lama.


date: July 24

text: July 24 – At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, United States Vice President Richard Nixon and USSR Premier Nikita Khrushchev engage in the "Kitchen Debate".


text: The Supremes girl group is founded as The Primettes in Detroit.


date: January 15

text: January 15 – The Soviet Union conducts its first census after World War II.


text: January 25 – American Airlines begins the first U.S. domestic jet service with a Boeing 707 airliner flight between New York and Los Angeles.


date: February 13

text: February 13 – TAT-2, AT&T's second transatlantic telephone cable goes into operation between Newfoundland and France.


date: June 8

text: June 8 – The USS Barbero and United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.


date: June 26

text: June 26 – Elizabeth II (as monarch of Canada) and United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower open the Saint Lawrence Seaway.


date: July 9

text: July 9 – Wing Commander Michael Beetham flying a British Royal Air Force Vickers Valiant sets a record of 11 hours 27 minutes for a non-stop London-Cape Town flight.


date: August 26

text: August 26 – The original Mini car, designed by Sir Alec Issigonis, is launched in England.


date: September 16

text: September 16 – The Xerox 914, the first plain paper copier, is introduced to the public.


date: September 17

text: September 17 – The hypersonic North American X-15 research aircraft, piloted by Scott Crossfield, makes its first powered flight at Edwards Air Force Base, California.


date: November 2

text: November 2 – At a ceremony near Toddington, British Minister of Transport Ernest Marples opens the first section of the M1 Motorway, between Watford and Crick, along with two spur motorways, the M45 and M10. Three decades of large scale motorway construction follow, leading to the rapid expansion of the UK motorway network.


date: November

text: November – The MOSFET (metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor), also known as the MOS transistor, is invented by Mohamed Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs in the United States. It revolutionizes the electronics industry, becomes the fundamental building block of the Information Age and goes on to become the most widely manufactured device in history.


date: December 2

text: December 2 – Malpasset Dam in southern France collapses and water flows over the town of Fréjus, killing 412.


text: The Henney Kilowatt goes on sale in the United States, becoming the first production electric car in almost three decades, but only 47 models will be sold in its 2-year production run.


text: Sprite was created in West Germany by The Coca-Cola Company .


date: January 2

text: 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.


date: February 6

text: February 6 – At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.


date: February 17

text: February 17 – Vanguard 2, the first weather satellite, is launched to measure cloud cover for the United States Navy.


date: March 3

text: March 3 – Lunar probe Pioneer 4 becomes the first American object to escape dominance by Earth's gravity.


date: April 9

text: April 9 – NASA announces its selection of seven military pilots to become the first U.S. astronauts, later known as the 'Mercury Seven'.


date: May 28

text: May 28 – Jupiter AM-18 rocket launches two primates, Miss Baker and Miss Able, into space from Cape Canaveral in the United States along with living microorganisms and plant seeds. Successful recovery makes them the first living beings to return safely to Earth after space flight.


date: June 9

text: June 9 – The USS George Washington is launched as the first submarine to carry ballistic missiles.


date: July 7

text: July 7 – At 14:28 UT Venus occults the star Regulus. The rare event (which will next occur on October 1, 2044) is used to determine the diameter of Venus and the structure of Venus' atmosphere.


date: July 17

text: July 17 – The first skull of Australopithecus is discovered by Louis Leakey and his wife Mary in the Olduvai Gorge of Tanzania.


date: July 25

text: July 25 – The British SR.N1 hovercraft crosses the English Channel from Calais to Dover in just over 2 hours, on the 50th anniversary of Louis Blériot's first crossing by heavier-than-air craft.


date: August 14

text: August 14 – Explorer 6 sends the first picture of Earth from orbit.


date: September 14

text: September 14 – Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 becomes the first human-made object to crash on the Moon.


date: October 7

text: October 7 – The Soviet probe Luna 3 sends back the first ever images of the far side of the Moon.


date: October 13

text: October 13 – The United States launches research satellite Explorer 7.


text: The current (as of 2024) design of the Japanese 10 yen coin is put into circulation.


date: July 22

text: July 22 – A Kumamoto University medical research group studying Minamata disease concludes that it is caused by mercury.


date: February 18

text: February 18 – Jesús Sosa Blanco, a colonel in the Cuban army of Fulgencio Batista, is executed in Cuba after being convicted of committing 108 murders for Batista.


date: June 23

text: June 23 – Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after nine years in a British prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany where he resumes a scientific career.


date: October 29

text: October 29 – First appearance of Astérix the Gaul, in a French comic magazine.


date: November 15

text: November 15 – The brutal Clutter family murders are committed in Holcomb, Kansas, inspiring Truman Capote's In Cold Blood (1966).


date: January 9

text: 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.


date: January 22

text: January 22 – Knox Mine disaster: Water breaches the River Slope Mine in Port Griffith, near Pittston, Pennsylvania, United States; 12 miners are killed.


date: January 30

text: January 30 – Danish passenger/cargo ship , returning to Copenhagen after its maiden voyage to Greenland, strikes an iceberg and sinks off the Greenland coast with the loss of all 95 on board.


date: February 2

text: February 2 – Nine ski hikers mysteriously perish in the northern Ural Mountains in the Dyatlov Pass incident and are all found dead a few weeks later.


date: February 3

text: February 3 – American Airlines Flight 320, a Lockheed L-188 Electra from Chicago crashes into the East River on approach to New York City's LaGuardia Airport, killing 65 of the 73 people on board.


date: February 20

text: February 20 – The Canadian Government cancels the Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow interceptor aircraft project.


date: June 30

text: June 30 – 1959 Okinawa F-100 crash: Twenty-one students are killed and more than a hundred injured when a U.S. Air Force North American F-100 Super Sabre jet crashes into Miamori Elementary School on the Japanese island of Okinawa. The pilot ejected before the plane struck the school.


date: August 7

text: August 7 – The Roseburg Blast in Oregon, caused when a truck carrying explosives catches fire, kills 14 and causes $12 million worth of damage.


date: December 8

text: December 8 – The life-boat Mona, based at Broughty Ferry in Scotland, capsizes during a rescue attempt with the loss of 8 lives.


date: March 1

text: March 1 – The , , and are stricken from the United States Naval Vessel Register.


date: August 8

text: August 8 – A flood in Taiwan kills 2,000.


date: August

text: The 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake in southwest Montana kills 28.


date: September 26

text: September 26 – Typhoon Vera hits central Honshū, Japan, as a 160 mph kph Category 5 storm, killing an estimated 5,098, injuring another 38,921, and leaving 1,533,000 homeless. Most of the victims and damage are centered in the Nagoya area.


date: December 11

text: December 11 – Charles Robberts Swart is appointed the 11th Governor-General of the Union of South Africa.


text: The Caspian tiger becomes extinct in Iran.


date: January 11

text: January 11 – The Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques is founded in Monaco.


date: January 12

text: January 12 – The Motown record label is founded as Tamla by Berry Gordy in Detroit.


date: March 9

text: March 9 – Mattel's Barbie doll debuts in the United States.


date: March 11

text: March 11 – The Eurovision Song Contest 1959, staged in Cannes, is won for the Netherlands by "'n Beetje" sung by Teddy Scholten (music by Dick Schallies, lyrics by Willy van Hemert).


date: April 6

text: April 6 – The 31st Academy Awards ceremony is held in Hollywood. Musical film Gigi receives a record 9 Oscars.


date: April 8

text: April 8 – The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) is established.


date: April 10

text: April 10 – Crown Prince Akihito of Japan marries Shōda Michiko, the first commoner to marry into the Imperial House of Japan.


date: May 21

text: May 21 – Gypsy: A Musical Fable, starring Ethel Merman in her last new musical, opens on Broadway and runs for 702 performances.


date: May

text: The first Ten Tors event is held on Dartmoor.


date: June 3

text: June 3 – Real Madrid beat Stade Reims 2–0 at Neckarstadion, Stuttgart and win the 1958–59 European Cup (Association football).


date: June 18

text: June 18 – The film The Nun's Story, based on the best-selling novel, is released. Audrey Hepburn stars as the title character; she later says that this is her favorite film role. The film is a box-office hit, and is nominated for several Oscars.


date: July 2

text: July 2 – Prince Albert of Belgium marries Italian Donna Paola Ruffo di Calabria.


date: July 4

text: July 4 – With the admission of Alaska as the 49th U.S. state earlier in the year, the 49-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia.


date: August 31

text: August 31 – The Workers' Stadium sports venue in Beijing (China) is officially opened.


date: August

text: Miles Davis' influential jazz album Kind of Blue is released.


date: October 1

text: October 1 – The 10th anniversary of the People's Republic of China is celebrated with pomp across the country.


date: November 18

text: November 18 – Religious epic film Ben-Hur, starring Charlton Heston, which will be by far the highest-grossing film of the year and will go on to win a record 12 Academy Awards, premieres at New York City's Loews Theater in Ultra Panavision 70.


text: Car tailfin design reaches its apex in the United States with such as the Cadillac Eldorado, Chevrolet Impala second generation model, Dodge Silver Challenger and Imperial Crown Sedan.


date: January 9

text: January 9 – Rigoberta Menchú, Guatemalan recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize

source_section: Births › January


date: February 5

text: February 5 – Jennifer Granholm, Canadian-American politician, 47th governor of Michigan (2003–2011)

source_section: Births › February


date: February 8

text: February 8 – Mauricio Macri, President of Argentina


date: March 16

text: March 16 – Jens Stoltenberg, 27th Prime Minister of Norway

source_section: Births › March


date: March 30

text: March 30 – Andrew Bailey, executive director banking and chief cashier at the Bank of England


date: April 27

text: April 27 – Nicholas Kristof, American journalist and political commentator

source_section: Births › April


date: April 30

text: April 30 – Stephen Harper, 22nd Prime Minister of Canada


date: June 7

text: June 7 – Mike Pence, American politician and former Vice President of the United States

source_section: Births › June


date: June 13

text: June 13 – Jim Irsay, American businessman and former owner of the Indianapolis Colts (d. 2025)


date: June 19

text: June 19 – Anne Hidalgo, French politician, Mayor of Paris (2014–present)


date: July 30

text: July 30 − Abdullah of Pahang, sixteenth Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia

source_section: Births › July


date: August 6

text: August 6 – Rajendra Singh, Indian water conservationist, Magsaysay Award (2001)

source_section: Births › August


date: September 14

text: September 14 – Mary Crosby, American actress and daughter of Bing Crosby

source_section: Births › September


date: October 24

text: October 24 – Michelle Lujan Grisham, American politician, governor and representative from New Mexico

source_section: Births › October


date: March 7

text: March 7 – Ichirō Hatoyama, Japanese politician, 36th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1883)

source_section: Deaths › March


date: March 24

text: March 24 – Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi, Sudanese political figure and religious leader, Imam of the Ansar and 1st Prime Minister of Sudan (b. 1885)


date: May 24

text: May 24 – John Foster Dulles, 52nd United States Secretary of State (b. 1888)

source_section: Deaths › May


date: August 8

text: August 8 – Luigi Sturzo, Italian Roman Catholic priest and politician (b. 1871)

source_section: Deaths › August


date: August 16

text: August 16 – William Halsey Jr., American US Navy Fleet admiral (b. 1882)


date: August 21

text: August 21 – Sir Jacob Epstein, American-born British sculptor (b. 1880)


date: September 7

text: September 7 – Maurice Duplessis, Premier of Quebec (b. 1890)

source_section: Deaths › September


date: October 9

text: October 9 – Shirō Ishii, Japanese microbiologist and lieutenant general of Unit 731 (b. 1892)

source_section: Deaths › October


date: October 16

text: October 16 – George C. Marshall, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1880)


date: October 21

text: October 21 – The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of modern art (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, who died on April 9) opens to the public in New York City.


date: November 6

text: November 6 – José P. Laurel, Filipino politician and judge, 3rd President of the Philippines (b. 1891)

source_section: Deaths › November


date: November 15

text: November 15 – Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Scottish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1869)


date: December 23

text: December 23 – Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, British politician (b. 1881)

source_section: Deaths › December


date: December 28

text: December 28 – Ante Pavelic, Croatian fascist leader and WWII war criminal (b. 1889)


text: In order to assure the support of the Roman legion in Germany on his march to Rome, Clodius Albinus is declared Augustus by his army while crossing Gaul.

source_section: Events › By place › Roman Empire


text: Emperor Septimius Severus attempts to assassinate Clodius Albinus but fails, causing Albinus to retaliate militarily.


text: The Xian Emperor returns to war-ravaged Luoyang and seeks the protection of warlord Cao Cao. He is advised to move the capital to Xuchang; the emperor becomes a pawn in the hands of the Chinese warlords.

source_section: Events › By place › China


text: Emperor Septimius Severus captures and sacks Byzantium; the city is rebuilt and regains its previous prosperity.


text: A church council is held in Caesarea over the date of Easter.

source_section: Events › By topic › Religion


text: Hadrian's Wall in Britain is partially destroyed.


text: First year of the Jian'an Era, during the reign of the Xian Emperor of the Han.


text: Cao Chong, son of Cao Cao (d. 208)

source_section: Births


text: Cao Bao, Chinese general and governor

source_section: Deaths


text: Beolhyu, Korean ruler of Silla


text: Zhou Xin, Chinese official and politician


text: Chizhi Shizhu Hou, Chinese puppet ruler (b. 150)


date: January 19

text: January 19 – A revised version of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan ("U.S.-Japan Security Treaty" or "Anpo (jōyaku)"), which allows U.S. troops to be based on Japanese soil, is signed in Washington, D.C. by Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi and President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The new treaty is opposed by the massive Anpo protests in Japan.

source_section: Events › January


date: February 13

text: February 13 – Gerboise Bleue: France tests its first atomic bomb, in the Sahara Desert of Algeria.

source_section: Events › February


date: March 6

text: March 6 – The Canton of Geneva in Switzerland gives women the right to vote.

source_section: Events › March


date: April 21

text: April 21 – In Brazil, the country's capital (Federal District) is relocated from the city of Rio de Janeiro to the new city, Brasília, in the highlands. The former Federal District, in which the city of Rio de Janeiro was situated, becomes the State of Guanabara.

source_section: Events › April


date: May 6

text: May 6 – United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1960 into law.

source_section: Events › May


date: June 20

text: June 20 – The short-lived Mali Federation, consisting of the Sudanese Republic (modern-day Republic of Mali) and Senegal, gains independence from France.

source_section: Events › June


date: June 24

text: June 24 – Joseph Kasa-Vubu is elected as the first President of the independent Democratic Republic of the Congo.


date: June 30

text: June 30 – The Belgian Congo receives its independence from Belgium, as the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). A civil war follows shortly.


date: July 1

text: July 1 – The Trust Territory of Somaliland (the former Italian Somaliland) gains its independence from Italy. Concurrently, it unites as scheduled with the five-day-old State of Somaliland (the former British Somaliland) to form the Somali Republic.

source_section: Events › July


date: July 11

text: July 11 – Congo Crisis: Moise Tshombe declares the Congolese province of Katanga independent. He requests and receives help from Belgium.


date: July 12

text: July 12 – Chin Peng is exiled from Malaya to Thailand, and the Malayan state of emergency is lifted.


date: July 20

text: July 20 – Ceylon elects Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike as its Prime Minister, the world's first elected female head of government (she takes office the following day).


date: August 6

text: August 6 – In the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville) (later the Democratic Republic of the Congo), Albert Kalonji declares the independence of the Autonomous State of South Kasai.

source_section: Events › August


date: August 20

text: August 20 – Senegal breaks away from the Mali Federation, declaring its independence.


date: September 5

text: September 5 – Poet Léopold Sédar Senghor is the first elected President of Senegal.

source_section: Events › September


date: October 1

text: October 1 – Nigeria becomes independent from the United Kingdom, and Nnamdi Azikiwe becomes its first native-born Governor General.

source_section: Events › October


date: October 14

text: October 14 – Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy first suggests the idea for the Peace Corps of the United States.


date: November 8

text: November 8 – 1960 United States presidential election: In a close race, Democratic U. S. Senator John F. Kennedy is elected over Republican U. S. Vice President Richard Nixon, to become (at 43) the second youngest man to serve as President of the United States, and the youngest man elected to this position.

source_section: Events › November


date: November 22

text: November 22 – The United Nations supports the government of Joseph Kasavubu and Joseph Mobutu in the Republic of the Congo.


date: November 26

text: November 26 – 1960 New Zealand general election: The National Party defeats the governing Labour Party after only three years in office. National leader Keith Holyoake becomes Prime Minister of New Zealand for a second time.


date: December 13

text: December 13 – The countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua announce the formation of the Central American Common Market.

source_section: Events › December


date: December 14

text: December 14 – Antoine Gizenga proclaims in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that he has taken over as the country's premier.


date: December 15

text: December 15 – King Mahendra of Nepal deposes the democratic government in his country and takes direct control himself.


date: December 16

text: December 16 – Secretary of State Christian Herter announces that the United States will commit five nuclear submarines and eighty Polaris missiles to the defense of the NATO countries by the end of 1963.


date: January 22

text: January 22 – Charles de Gaulle, President of France, dismisses Jacques Massu as commander-in-chief of French troops in Algeria.


date: February 11

text: February 11 – China–India relations: Twelve Indian soldiers die in clashes with Red Chinese troops along their small common border.


date: March 5

text: March 5 – Alberto Korda takes his iconic photograph of Che Guevara, Guerrillero Heroico, in Havana.


date: March 6

text: March 6 – Vietnam War: The United States announces that 3,500 American soldiers will be sent to Vietnam.


date: March 17

text: March 17 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower approves a covert Central Intelligence Agency plan to train a paramilitary force against Cuba, which will result in the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion.


date: March 21

text: March 21 – The Sharpeville massacre in South Africa results in more than 69 black protesters shot dead by police, 300 injured.


date: April 19

text: April 19 – April Revolution: South Korean students hold a nationwide pro-democracy protest against President Syngman Rhee, eventually leading him to resign from office.


date: May 1

text: May 1 – The U-2 incident: Several Soviet surface-to-air missiles shoot down an American Lockheed U-2 spy plane. Its pilot, Francis Gary Powers of the Central Intelligence Agency, is captured.


date: May 16

text: May 16 – Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev demands an apology from President Dwight D. Eisenhower for the U-2 reconnaissance plane flights over the Soviet Union, thus aborting their summit meeting scheduled for Paris this year.


date: May 27

text: May 27 – In Turkey, a bloodless military coup d'état removes President Celâl Bayar, and installs General Cemal Gürsel as the head of state.


date: June 10

text: June 10 – The "Hagerty Incident": As part of the ongoing Anpo protests in Japan against the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, a car carrying Dwight D. Eisenhower's press secretary James Hagerty and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Douglas MacArthur II is mobbed by protesters outside of Tokyo's Haneda Airport, requiring the occupants to be rescued by a U.S. Marine helicopter.


date: June 15

text: June 15 – The "June 15 Incident": As part of the massive Anpo protests against the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty in Japan, radical student activists from the Zengakuren student federation attempt to storm the National Diet compound, precipitating a battle with police in which female Tokyo University student Michiko Kanba is killed.


date: June 24

text: June 24 – Assassination attempt of Venezuelan President Rómulo Betancourt.


date: August 9

text: August 9 – The government of Laos is overthrown in a coup.


date: September 5

text: September 5 – Congolese President Joseph Kasa-Vubu dismisses Patrice Lumumba's entire government, and also places Lumumba under house arrest.


date: September 6

text: September 6 – Martin and Mitchell defection: William Hamilton Martin and Bernon F. Mitchell, two American cryptologists, announce their defection to the Soviet Union at a press conference in Moscow.


date: September 14

text: September 14 – Colonel Joseph Mobutu takes power in Republic of the Congo via a military coup.


date: September 29

text: September 29 – At the United Nations General Assembly, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev angrily interrupts British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, banging the desk and shouting in Russian. Macmillan drily says "I should like that to be translated, if I may".


date: December 2

text: December 2 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the use of $1.0 million for the relief and resettlement of Cuban refugees, who have been arriving in Florida at the rate of about 1,000 per week.


date: December 4

text: December 4 – The admission of Mauritania to the United Nations is vetoed by the Soviet Union.


date: December 7

text: December 7 – The United Nations Security Council is called into session by the Soviet Union, in order to consider Soviet demands for the Security Council to seek the immediate release of former Congolese Premier Patrice Lumumba.


date: December 9

text: December 9 – French President Charles de Gaulle's visit to Algeria is bloodied by European and Muslim rioters in Algeria's largest cities. These riots cause 127 deaths.


date: December 13

text: December 13 – 1960 Ethiopian coup attempt: While Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Brazil, his Kebur Zabagna (Imperial Bodyguard) leads a military coup against his rule, proclaiming that the emperor's son, Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen Taffari, is the new emperor.


date: December 17

text: December 17 – Troops loyal to Emperor Haile Selassie in Ethiopia overcome the coup that began on December 13, returning the reins to the Emperor upon his return from a trip to Brazil. The Emperor absolves his own son of any guilt.


date: January 10

text: January 10 – British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan makes the "Wind of Change" speech for the first time, to little publicity, in Accra, Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana).


date: May 10

text: May 10 – The U.S. nuclear-powered submarine , under the command of Captain Edward L. Beach Jr., completes the first underwater circumnavigation of the Earth (codenamed Operation Sandblast).


date: May 13

text: May 13 – A joint Swiss and Austrian expedition makes the first ascent of the Asian mountain Dhaulagiri, the world's 7th highest.


text: June 15 – The BC Ferries company, later to become the second-largest ferry operator in the world, commences service between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay, British Columbia, Canada.


date: July 21

text: July 21 – English navigator Francis Chichester wins the first Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race, arriving in New York aboard Gypsy Moth III having made a record solo Atlantic crossing in 40 days.


date: June 5

text: June 5 – The First Vatican Council, adjourned in 1870, is officially closed.


date: February 3

text: February 3 – Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Harold Macmillan makes the Wind of Change speech to the South African Parliament in Cape Town (although he had first made the speech, to little publicity, in Accra, Gold Coast – modern-day Ghana – on January 10).


date: May 14

text: May 14 – The Kenya African National Union (KANU) is founded in Kenya, when 3 political parties join forces.


date: June 23

text: June 23 – Japanese prime minister Nobusuke Kishi announces his resignation.


date: January 9

text: January 9 – Construction of the Aswan Dam begins in Egypt.


date: February 5

text: February 5 – The first CERN particle accelerator becomes operational in Geneva, Switzerland.


date: March 22

text: March 22 – Arthur Leonard Schawlow and Charles Hard Townes receive the first patent for a laser, in the United States.


date: May 16

text: May 16 – Theodore Maiman operates the first laser.


date: June 1

text: June 1 – New Zealand's first television station begins broadcasting, in the city of Auckland.


date: July 3

text: July 3 – The French Grand Prix is won by Australian Jack Brabham driving a Cooper T53.


date: August 7

text: August 7 – The world's first standard gauge passenger preserved railway, the Bluebell Railway, opens to the public in southern England.


date: September 1

text: September 1 – Disgruntled railroad workers effectively halt operations of the Pennsylvania Railroad in the United States, marking the first shutdown in the company's history (the event lasts two days).


date: September 14

text: September 14 – The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is founded by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.


date: September 21

text: September 21 – Mexican President Adolfo López Mateos nationalizes the country's electricity supply system.


date: September 26

text: September 26 – 1960 United States presidential debates: The two leading candidates in the 1960 United States presidential election, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, participate in the first live televised presidential debate.


date: October 14

text: October 14 – The Premier of New South Wales officially opens Warragamba Dam, one of the world's largest domestic water supply dams.


date: December 8

text: December 8 – For the first time, Mary Martin's Peter Pan is presented as a stand-alone 2-hour special on NBC television in the United States, instead of as part of an anthology series. This version, rather than being presented live, is shown on videotape, enabling NBC to repeat it as often as they wish without having to restage it. Although nearly all of the adult actors repeat their original Broadway roles, all of the original children have, ironically, outgrown their roles and are replaced by new actors.


date: January 22

text: January 22 – Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh descend into the Mariana Trench in the bathyscaphe Trieste, reaching a depth of 10,911 m ft, and become the first human beings to reach the lowest spot on Earth.


date: April 1

text: April 1 – The United States launches the first weather satellite, TIROS-1.


date: May 15

text: May 15 – The satellite Sputnik 4 is launched into orbit by the Soviet Union.


date: August

text: Sputnik program: The satellite Sputnik 5 is launched, with the dogs Belka and Strelka (the Russian for "Squirrel" and "Little Arrow"), 40 mice, two rats and a variety of plants. This satellite returns to Earth the next day and all animals are recovered safely.


date: September 8

text: September 8 – In Huntsville, Alabama, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center (which had been activated by NASA on July 1).


date: December 1

text: December 1 – A Soviet satellite containing live animals (dogs Pcholka and Mushka) and plants is launched into orbit. Due to a malfunction, it burns up during re-entry.


date: December 13

text: December 13 – The U.S. Navy's Commander Leroy Heath (pilot) and Lieutenant Larry Monroe (bombardier/navigator) establish a world flight-altitude record of 91,450 ft m, with payload, in an A-5 Vigilante bomber carrying 1000 kg lb, and better the previous world record by over 4 mi km.


text: April 1 – The 1960 United States census begins. There are 179,323,175 U.S. residents on this day. All people from Latin America are listed as white, including blacks from the Dominican Republic, European whites from Argentina and Mexicans who resemble Native Americans.


date: May 4

text: May 4 – West German refugee minister Theodor Oberländer is dismissed because of his Nazi past.


date: November 14

text: November 14 – Belgium threatens to leave the United Nations over criticism of its policy concerning the Republic of the Congo.


text: World population: 3,021,475,000

source_section: Events › World population


date: April 9

text: April 9 – White gunman David Pratt shoots South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd in Johannesburg, wounding him seriously.


date: May 11

text: May 11 – In Buenos Aires, four Mossad agents abduct fugitive Nazi German war criminal Adolf Eichmann in order that he can be taken to Israel and put on trial. This is announced on May 23 by Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion.


date: June 5

text: June 5 – The Lake Bodom murders occur in Finland.


date: August 17

text: August 17 – The trial of American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers begins in Moscow.


text: Cold War: American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced in Moscow to 10 years in prison for espionage.


text: December 1 – Patrice Lumumba, deposed premier of the Republic of the Congo, is arrested by the troops of Colonel Joseph Mobutu.


date: January 21

text: January 21 – Avianca Flight 671 crashes and burns upon landing at Montego Bay, Jamaica killing 37, the worst air disaster in Jamaica's history and the first for Avianca.


text: January 21 – Coalbrook mining disaster: A coal mine collapses at Holly Country, South Africa, killing 435 miners.


date: February 26

text: February 26 – Alitalia Flight 618: A Douglas DC 7 en route to New York crashes into a cemetery at Shannon, Ireland, shortly after takeoff, killing 34 of the 52 persons on board.


date: March 17

text: March 17 – Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 710 crashes near Tell City, Indiana, killing all 63 on board.


date: July 1

text: July 1 – Cold War: A Soviet Air Force MiG-19 fighter plane flying north of Murmansk, Russia, over the Barents Sea, shoots down a six-man RB-47 Stratojet reconnaissance plane of the U.S. Air Force. Four of the U.S. Air Force officers are killed, and the two survivors are held prisoner in the Soviet Union.


date: October 24

text: October 24 – Nedelin catastrophe: A large rocket explodes on the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, killing at least 92 people of the Soviet space program.


text: November 14 – Stéblová train disaster: A head-on collision between two trains in Pardubice, Czechoslovakia, kills 118 people.


text: December 1 – Striking coal miners at the Miike Coal Mine in Japan return to work, ending the unprecedented 312-day-long Miike Struggle.


date: December 16

text: December 16 – New York mid-air collision: A United Air Lines DC-8 collides in mid-air with a TWA Lockheed Constellation over Staten Island in New York City. All 128 passengers and crewmembers on the two airliners, and six people on the ground, are killed.


date: December 19

text: December 19 – Fire sweeps through the USS Constellation, to become the U.S. Navy's largest aircraft carrier, while she is under construction at the Brooklyn Navy Yard; killing 50 workers and injuring 150.


date: February 29

text: February 29 – The 5.7 Agadir Earthquake shakes coastal Morocco with a maximum perceived intensity of X (Extreme), destroying Agadir and leaving 12,000 dead and another 12,000 injured.


date: May 22

text: May 22 – The 9.5 Valdivia earthquake affects Chile with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XII (Extreme). This megathrust earthquake ruptures from Arauco to Chiloé Archipelago, causing the most powerful earthquake on record and a destructive basin-wide tsunami.


date: June 9

text: June 9 – 1960 Pacific typhoon season: Typhoon Mary kills 1,600 people in China.


date: August 29

text: August 29 – Hurricane Donna kills 50 people in Florida and New England, United States.


date: October 12

text: October 12 – Cold War: Shoe-banging incident – Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a desk at a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, his way of protesting the discussion of the Soviet Union's policies toward Eastern Europe.


date: October

text: c. October 31 – Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Ten makes landfall in East Pakistan, followed by a storm surge, just three weeks after a previous storm devastated the country.


date: February 1

text: February 1 – Greensboro sit-ins: In Greensboro, North Carolina, four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University begin a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter. Although they are refused service, they are allowed to stay at the counter. The event triggers many similar non-violent protests throughout the Southern United States, and six months later the original four protesters are served lunch at the same counter.


date: February 8

text: February 8 – Hollywood Walk of Fame is established.


date: February 18

text: February 18 – The 1960 Winter Olympics begin at the Squaw Valley Ski Resort in Placer County, California.


date: March 29

text: March 29 – "Tom Pillibi" sung by 18-year-old Jacqueline Boyer (music by André Popp, lyrics by Pierre Cour) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1960 (staged in London) for France.


date: April 4

text: April 4 – At the 32nd Academy Awards Ceremony, Ben-Hur wins a record 11 Oscars, including Best Picture.


date: May 18

text: May 18 – Real Madrid beat Eintracht Frankfurt 7–3 at Hampden Park, Glasgow, and win the 1959–60 European Cup in Association football, their 5th successive victory in the competition.


date: June 20

text: June 20 – Floyd Patterson becomes the first person to regain the world heavyweight boxing championship, with a knock-out of Ingemar Johansson in New York City.


date: June 22

text: June 22 – 1960 Quebec general election: the ruling Union nationale, led by Antonio Barrette, is defeated by the Quebec Liberal Party, led by Jean Lesage, beginning the 'Quiet Revolution' in the historically conservative Canadian province.


date: June 28

text: June 28 – King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand arrives in Washington, D.C. for a 4-day royal visit to the U.S.


date: June 30

text: June 30 – Public demonstrations by democratic and left forces against Italian government support of the post-fascist Italian Social Movement are heavily suppressed by police.


date: July 10

text: July 10 – The Soviet Union national football team defeats the Yugoslavia national football team 2–1 in Paris to win the first UEFA European Championship.


date: July 25

text: July 25 – The Woolworth Company's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, the location of a sit-in that has sparked demonstrations by Negroes across the Southern United States, serves a meal to its first black customer.


text: July 25–28 – In Chicago, the 1960 Republican National Convention nominates Vice President Richard Nixon as its candidate for President of the United States, and Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. for vice-president.


date: August 25

text: August 25 – The 1960 Summer Olympic Games begin in Rome.


date: September 5

text: September 5 – 1960 Summer Olympic Games: Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) of the United States wins the gold medal in light-heavyweight boxing.


date: September 10

text: September 10 – 1960 Summer Olympic Games: Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia wins the gold medal in the marathon, running barefoot in a world time, and becoming the first person from Sub-Saharan Africa to win Olympic gold.


date: September 18

text: September 18 – The first international Summer Paralympics open in Rome under the title "9th International Stoke Mandeville Games", the first quadrennial paralympic event outside of England.


date: September 30

text: September 30 - The Flintstones premieres on ABC.


date: December 15

text: December 15 – King Baudouin of Belgium marries Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón.


date: February 8

text: February 8 – Benigno Aquino III, 15th President of the Philippines (d. 2021)

source_section: Births › February