1956 in the United States

1956 in the United States
Years 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958
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History of the United States (1945–64)

Events from the year 1956 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal Government

• President: Dwight D. Eisenhower (R-Kansas/New York)
• Vice President: Richard Nixon (R-California)
• Chief Justice: Earl Warren (California)
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Sam Rayburn (D-Texas)
• Senate Majority Leader: Lyndon B. Johnson (D-Texas)
• Congress: 84th

Events

January–March

• January 1 – Carl Perkins' record "Blue Suede Shoes" is released by Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee.
• January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. missionaries are killed by the Huaorani of Ecuador shortly after making contact with them.
• January 22 – Redondo Junction train wreck in Los Angeles kills 30 people.
• February 14 – Dwight D. Eisenhower's doctors say that he is healthy enough to seek another term at the White House.
• February 22 – Elvis Presley enters the U.S. music charts for the first time, with Heartbreak Hotel.
• February 23 – Norma Jean Mortenson legally changes her name to Marilyn Monroe.
• February 29 – Eisenhower say he will seek re-election as president.
• March 11 – Laurence Olivier's film, Richard III, adapted from Shakespeare's play, premieres in the U.S. in theatres and on NBC Television, on the same day as an afternoon matinée. It is one of the first such experiments of its kind. Olivier is later nominated for an Oscar for his performance.
• March 12
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 500 for the first time rising 2.40 points, or 0.48%, to 500.24.
  • 96 U.S. Congressmen sign the Southern Manifesto, a protest against the 1954 Supreme Court ruling (Brown v. Board of Education) desegregating public education.
• March 13 – Elvis Presley releases his first Gold Album titled Elvis Presley.
• March 15 – The Broadway musical My Fair Lady opens in New York City.
• March 21 – The 28th Academy Awards ceremony is held; Marty wins Best Picture.

April–June

June 29: Interstate Highway System authorized

• April 2 – The first episode of As the World Turns is broadcast on the CBS television network
• April 14 – Videotape is first demonstrated at the 1956 NARTB (now NAB) convention in Chicago by Ampex. It is the demonstration of the first practical and commercially successful videotape format known as 2" Quadruplex.
• April 21 – Former U.S. First Daughter Margaret Truman marries Clifton Daniel.
• June 5 – Elvis Presley performs "Hound Dog" on The Milton Berle Show, scandalizing the audience with his suggestive hip movements.
• June 8 – General Electric/Telechron introduces model 7H241 "The Snooz Alarm", first snooze alarm clock ever.^{Confirmation needed}
• June 14
  • President of the United States Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the phrase "under God" to be added to the Pledge of Allegiance.
  • The Flag of the United States Army is formally dedicated.^[1]
• June 29
  • Actress Marilyn Monroe marries playwright Arthur Miller.
  • President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Federal Aid Highway Act, creating the Interstate Highway System
• June 30 – 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.

July–September

• July 13 – Elvis Presley's recording of "Hound Dog" is released by RCA Records.
• July 24 – At New York City's Copacabana Club, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis perform their last comedy show together (their act started on July 25, 1946).
• July 25 – 72 kilometers (45 mi) south of Nantucket Island, the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria sinks after colliding with the Swedish ship MS Stockholm in heavy fog, killing 51.
• July 30 – A Joint Resolution of Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing "In God We Trust" as the U.S. national motto.
• August 6 – After going bankrupt in 1955, the American broadcaster DuMont Television Network has its final broadcast, a boxing match from St. Nicholas Arena.
• August 11 – Artist Jackson Pollock dies in a car crash in Springs, New York.
• September 9 – Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time.

October–December

November 6: Eisenhower re-elected

• 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 caught the game. Dale Mitchell was the final out. The New York Yankees won the series. Larsen was named series MVP.
• October 17 – The Game of the Century: 13-year-old Bobby Fischer beats GM Donald Byrne in the NY Rosenwald chess tournament.
• October 29 – The Huntley-Brinkley Report debuts on NBC-TV.
• November 3 – MGM's screen classic, The Wizard of Oz, is shown on television for the first time by CBS, as the final installment of their Ford Star Jubilee.
• November 6 – United States presidential election, 1956: Republican incumbent Dwight D. Eisenhower defeats Democrat challenger Adlai E. Stevenson in a rematch of their contest 4 years earlier.
• November 13 – Browder v. Gayle: The United States Supreme Court declares Alabama and Montgomery, Alabama laws requiring segregated buses illegal, thus ending the Montgomery bus boycott.
• December 2 – A pipe bomb planted by George Metesky explodes at the Paramount Theater in Brooklyn, New York, injuring 6 people.
• December 18 – To Tell the Truth debuts on CBS-TV.
• December 31 – Bob Barker makes his TV debut as host of the game show Truth or Consequences.

Ongoing

• Cold War (1945–1991)
• Second Red Scare (1947–1957)

Births

Deaths

• April 30 – Alben W. Barkley, 35th Vice President of the United States from 1949 to 1953 (born 1877)
• July 4 – Udo Keppler, cartoonist (Puck), born 1872
• August 11 – Jackson Pollock, artist (born 1912)
• August 13 – Lyonel Feininger, German-American painter
• August 16 – Bela Lugosi, actor (born 1882 in Hungary)

See also

• List of American films of 1956

References

External links

• Media related to 1956 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons