1959 - What happened in 1959 ?

January 1959

Friday 02:

CBS Radio cuts four soap operas: Backstage Wife, Our Gal Sunday, Road of Life, and This is Nora Drake.

Saturday 03:

Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.

Wednesday 07:

The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro

Thursday 08:

Michel Debré becomes Prime Minister of France

Thursday 29:

Sleeping Beauty, the last animated feature produced by Walt Disney to be based upon a fairy tale, was first released.

February 1959

Tuesday 03:

The Day The Music Died: A plane crash kills rock-and-roll performers Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper.

Friday 06:

At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.

Tuesday 17:

The first weather satellite, Vanguard 2, was launched to measure cloud-cover distribution.

Friday 20:

The Avro Arrow programme to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate.

Sunday 22:

Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.

March 1959

Monday 02:

Miles Davis holds the first recording session for Kind of Blue at Columbia 30th Street Studio in New York, NY.

Monday 09:

The Barbie doll debuts.

Saturday 14:

J.R.D.A.C.I. founded at a congress in Treichville, Côte d'Ivoire.

Tuesday 24:

The Party of the African Federation (PFA) is launched by Léopold Sédar Senghor and Modibo Keita.

Tuesday 31:

The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, crosses the border into India and is granted political asylum.

April 1959

Thursday 09:

Mercury program: NASA announces the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts which the news media quickly dub the "Mercury Seven".

Saturday 25:

David Carr, a 25-year-old Briton, enters Royal Manchester Infirmary in England. His death later that year was in 1990 attributed to AIDS by a director at the infirmary, Gerald Corbitt; a 1995 by Corbitt cowrote an update noting that the virus was from 1990.

May 1959

Monday 04:

The first Grammy Awards are announced.

Monday 18:

Launching of the National Liberation Committee of Côte d'Ivoire in Conakry, Guinea.

June 1959

Friday 05:

The first government of the State of Singapore is sworn in.

Monday 08:

The USS Barbero and United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.

Sunday 14:

1959 - A group of left-leaning Dominican exiles in Cuba landed in the Dominican Republic with the intent of assassinating Trujillo. They would later be known as the J14 or "Catorce de Junio" (14th of June) group.

Thursday 18:

1959 Governor of Louisiana Earl K. Long is committed to a state mental hospital; he responds by having the hospital's director fired and replaced with a crony who proceeds to proclaim him perfectly sane.

Friday 26:

The Saint Lawrence Seaway opens, opening North America's Great Lakes to ocean-going ships.

July 1959

Wednesday 01:

The Party of the African Federation (PFA) holds its constitutive conference.

Saturday 04:

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, Pennsylvania.

Tuesday 07:

14:28 UT Venus occults the star Regulus. This rare event was used to determine the diameter of Venus and the structure of the Venusian atmosphere.

Monday 20:

Elias Tsirimokos becomes Prime Minister of Greece.

Friday 24:

At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, US vice-president Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev have a "kitchen debate."

August 1959

Friday 07:

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

Friday 21:

President Eisenhower signs an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union.

September 1959

Saturday 12:

Bonanza premiers. First regularly-scheduled TV program presented in color.

Monday 14:

The Soviet probe Luna 2 crashes onto the Moon, becoming the first man-made object to reach it.

Tuesday 15:

Nikita Khrushchev becomes the first Soviet leader to visit the United States.

Saturday 19:

Nikita Khrushchev is barred from visiting Disneyland.

Friday 25:

Solomon Bandaranaike, prime minister of Sri Lanka is assassinated by a Buddhist monk, Talduwe Somarama, and dies the next day.

October 1959

Friday 02:

The Twilight Zone pilot premieres.

Wednesday 07:

Far side of the Moon seen for first time, compliments of U.S.S.R.'s Luna 3.

Wednesday 21:

US President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order transferring Wernher von Braun and other German scientists from the United States Army to NASA.

November 1959

Monday 02:

Ice Hockey: After being struck in the face with a puck, goalkeeper Jacques Plante returns to play wearing a protective mask for the first time in professional play.

Sunday 15:

Four members of the Herbert Clutter Family murdered at their farm outside Holcomb, Kansas.

Wednesday 18:

William Wyler's film Ben-Hur premieres at Loew's Theater in New York City.

Thursday 19:

Ford Motor Company announces the discontinuation of the unpopular Edsel.

December 1959

Tuesday 01:

Cold War: Antarctic Treaty signed , which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on that continent.

Sunday 13:

Archbishop Makarios becomes the first President of Cyprus

Monday 14:

Motown record label is founded in Detroit, Michigan.