Historical Events for Year 1956

Months in Year 1956: January February March April May June July August September October November December

Events 1 - 150 of 555

Jan 1st - KHAS TV channel 5 in Hastings, NB (NBC) begins broadcasting
Jan 1st - KOSA TV channel 7 in Odessa, TX (CBS) begins broadcasting
Jan 1st - Sudan (Anglo-Egyptian Sudan) declares independence from Egypt & UK
Jan 1st - WREC (now WREG) TV channel 3 in Memphis, TN (CBS) begins broadcasting
Jan 1st - A new year event causes panic and stampedes at Yahiko Shrine, Yahiko, central Niigata, Japan, killing at least 124 people.
Jan 2nd - Poujadists/communists win French parliamentary elections
Jan 3rd - A fire damages the top part of the Eiffel Tower.
Jan 6th - KGNS TV channel 8 in Laredo, TX (NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting
Jan 6th - Federal court bars former Little League Commissioner Carl Stotz from forming a rival group
Jan 7th - Vinoo Mankad scores 231 v NZ, 413 opening stand with Roy
Jan 8th - Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to Conrad Aiken
Jan 8th - Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog," single goes to #1 & stays #1 for a record 11 weeks (for a single)
Jan 8th - Operation Auca: Five U.S. missionaries are killed by the Huaorani of Ecuador shortly after making contact with them.
Jan 9th - Abigail Van Buren's "Dear Abby" column 1st appears in newspapers
Jan 9th - Samir el-Rifai forms government in Jordan
Jan 10th - Elvis records "Heartbreak Hotel"
Jan 14th - Jordan government refuses to join Pact of Baghdad
Jan 14th - Little Richard releases "Tutti Frutti"
Jan 15th - Bauer Marlene wins LPGA Sea Island Golf Open
Singer & Cultural Icon Elvis Presley Jan 15th - D Shostakovitch appointed honorary member of Academia Santa Cecilia
Jan 15th - KWAB TV channel 4 in Big Spring, TX (NBC) begins broadcasting
Jan 15th - NFL Pro Bowl: East beats West 31-30
Jan 16th - Egyptian pres Nasser pledges to reconquer Palestine
Jan 18th - German DR forms own army (National People's Army)
Jan 19th - Hoboken dedicates a plaque honoring achievements of Alexander Cartwright in organizing early baseball at Elysian Field
Jan 20th - Buddy Holly records "Blue Days Black Night" in Nashville
Jan 21st - "Comedy in Music (Victor Borge)" closes at Golden NYC after 849 perfs
Jan 21st - William Shawn succeeds Harold Ross as editor of New Yorker
Jan 22nd - 30 die in a train crash in Los Angeles
Jan 22nd - Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Tampa Golf Open
Jan 22nd - Canadian Football Council forms
Jan 24th - 96.5 cm precipitation at Kilauea Plantation, Hawaii (state record)
Jan 25th - 96.5 cm (38.0") of rainfall, Kilauea Plantation, HI (state record)
Jan 26th - 7th Winter Olympic games open in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
Singer Buddy Holly Jan 26th - Buddy Holly's 1st formal recording session
Jan 26th - Hank Greenberg & Joe Cronin are elected to Hall of Fame
Jan 26th - Porkkala military base returned to Finland by USSR
Jan 27th - NFL's NY Giants switches games from Polo Grounds to Yankee Stadium
Jan 28th - Elvis Presley's 1st TV appearance (Dorsey Bros Stage Show)
Jan 29th - F Durrenmatt's "Der Besuch der Alten Dame," premieres in Zurich
Jan 30th - Elvis Presley records his version of "Blue Suede Shoes"
Jan 30th - KRMA TV channel 6 in Denver, CO (PBS) begins broadcasting
Jan 30th - KTXS TV channel 12 in Sweetwater-Abilene, TX (ABC) begins broadcasting
Jan 30th - Martin Luther King Jr's home bombed
Jan 31st - French government of Mollet forms
Jan 31st - Juscelino Kubitschek becomes president of Brazil
Jan 31st - Guy Mollet becomes Prime Minister of France.
Feb 1st - Hague Daily Newspaper reveals war crimes of Hague mayor Schokking
Feb 1st - WSAV TV channel 3 in Savannah, GA (NBC) begins broadcasting
Feb 2nd - Coasters sign with Atlantic Records
Feb 3rd - Autherine J Lucy admitted to U of Alabama, suspended 2/7 after a riot
Feb 3rd - Toni Sailor becomes 1st Olympic skier to sweep 3 alpine events
Feb 4th - AL plans to test automatic intentional walk during spring training
Feb 5th - 7th Winter Olympic games close at Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
Feb 5th - Louise Suggs wins LPGA Havana Golf Open
Feb 5th - NY Mayor Robert Wagner & Bkln Boro Pres Frank Cashmore sponsor a bill to create a $30M Brooklyn Sports Center Authority to build
Feb 6th - Chicago's Daily Defender, begins publishing
Feb 6th - French premier Guy Mollet pelted with tomatoes in Algiers
Feb 6th - U of Alabama refuses admission to Autherine Lucy (because he's black)
Feb 7th - Autherine Lucy, 1st black admitted to U of Alabama, is expelled
Feb 8th - Mine disaster in Quaregnon Belgium, 8 die
Feb 9th - -5°F (15°C) in Sicily
Feb 9th - KHPL (now KWNB) TV channel 6 in Hayes Center, NB (ABC) 1st broadcast
Feb 9th - R Lacoste follows Catroux as premier of Algeria
Feb 10th - "My Friend Flicka" premieres on CBS (later NBC) TV
Feb 12th - Fay Crocker wins LPGA Miami Beach Golf Open
Feb 13th - KYW-AM in Philadelphia Penn gives calls to WTAM (now WWWE) Cleveland
Feb 14th - 20th Congress of CPSU opens in Moscow
Feb 14th - Indonesia withdraws from Neth Indonesian Union
Feb 14th - Verhoeven/Nauta/De King/Wijnhout win Dutch 11 city skate
Feb 15th - Urho Kekkonen appointed president of Finland
Feb 15th - Pirates & KC A's cancel an exhibition game in Birmingham Alabama, because of local ordinance barring black from playing against white
Feb 16th - Britain abolishes death penalty
Feb 17th - Ice Dance Championship at Garmisch won by Pamela Weight/P Thomas GRB
Feb 17th - Ice Pairs Championship at Garmisch won by Schwarz & Oppelt of AUT
Feb 17th - Ladies Figure Skating Championship in Garmisch won by Carol Heiss USA
Feb 17th - Men's Figure Skating Championship in Garmisch won by H A Jenkins USA
Feb 19th - Kathy Cornelius wins LPGA St Petersburg Golf Open
Feb 20th - WOSU TV channel 34 in Columbus, OH (PBS) begins broadcasting
Feb 22nd - 1st British soccer match at Kunstlicht: Portsmouth vs Newcastle United
Feb 22nd - Elvis Presley's 1st hit in Billboard's top 10: "Heartbreak Hotel"
Feb 23rd - 20th Congress of CPSU closes in Moscow
First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev Feb 23rd - Russian party leader Khrushchev attacks memory of Stalin
Feb 25th - Khrushchev denounces Stalin at 20th Soviet Party Conference
Feb 26th - Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Sarasota Golf Open
Feb 26th - Writers Sylvia Plath & Ted Hughes meet at a party in Cambridge
Feb 27th - Elvis Presley's releases "Heartbreak Hotel"
Feb 27th - Female suffrage in Egypt
Feb 28th - 13 die in a train crash in Swampscott Mass
Feb 28th - Forrester issued a patent for computer core memory
Feb 29th - Islamic Republic forms in Pakistan
Feb 29th - Pres Eisenhower announces he would seek a 2nd term
Mar 1st - The International Air Transport Association finalizes a draft of the Radiotelephony spelling alphabet for the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Mar 2nd - Morocco tears up the Treaty of Fez, declares independence from France
Mar 3rd - Cockie Gastelaars swims world record 100 m freestyle (1:04.2)
Mar 3rd - Indonesian government of Harahap resigns
Mar 3rd - Morocco gains independence from France (Anniversary of throne)
Mar 3rd - Manhattan Borough President Hulan Jack makes plans for a new 110,000-seat stadium to entice Giants to stay in NY
Mar 5th - "King Kong," 1st televised
Mar 5th - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Jacksonville Golf Open
Mar 9th - Archbishop Makarios of Cyprus arrested & exiled to Seychelles
Mar 9th - Weather forecasting phone line set up in London England
Mar 10th - General strike in Cyprus protesting exile of archbishop Makarios
Mar 10th - Peter Twiss sets new world air record 1,132 mph (1,823 kph)
Mar 11th - Louise Suggs wins LPGA Titleholders Golf Championship
Mar 12th - Dow Jones closes above 500 for 1st time (500.24)
Mar 13th - NZ bowl out WI for 77 at Eden Park to score their 1st Test Cricket win
Mar 14th - Satchel Paige signs with the Birmingham Black Barons (Negro League)
Mar 15th - "My Fair Lady" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 2,715 perfs
Mar 15th - Whipper Billy Watson beats Lou Thesz in Toronto, to become NWA champ
Mar 16th - US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Tenley Albright
Mar 16th - US Mens Figure Skating championship won by Hayes A Jenkins
Mar 17th - 8th Emmy Awards: Ed Sullivan Show, Phil Silvers Show & Lucy Ball
Mar 19th - Biggest NBA margin of victory - Minn Lakers-133, St Louis Hawks-75
Mar 20th - 156-day strike against Westinghouse ends
Mar 20th - E Ochab succeeds Beirut as 1st secretary of Polish CP
Mar 20th - Mount Bezymianny on Kamchatka Peninsula (USSR) explodes
Mar 20th - Tunisia gains independence from France
Mar 20th - USSR performs nuclear test
Mar 20th - Union workers ended a 156-day strike at Westinghouse Electric Corp
Mar 21st - 28th Academy Awards - "Marty," Anna Magnani & Ernest Borgnine win
Mar 22nd - "Mr Wonderful" opens at Broadway Theater NYC for 383 performances
Mar 22nd - Death penalty against KPM-director Leon Jungschlaeger
Mar 22nd - Musical "Mr Wonderful" with Sammy Davis Jr premieres in NYC
Mar 23rd - 18th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: SF beats Iowa 83-71
Mar 23rd - Pakistan proclaimed an Islamic republic in Commonwealth (Natl Day)
Mar 23rd - Sudan becomes independent
Mar 26th - Medic Alert Foundation forms
Mar 26th - Red Buttons debuts on TV in Studio One
Mar 27th - French commandos land in Algeria
Mar 27th - US seizes US communist newspaper "Daily Worker"
Mar 30th - USSR performs nuclear test
Apr 1st - 10th Tony Awards: Diary of Anne Frank & Damn Yankees win
Apr 1st - KPIC TV channel 4 in Roseburg, OR (CBS) begins broadcasting
Apr 1st - Violent clashes in Algeria, kills at least 380
Apr 2nd - Peter Ustinovs' "Romanoff & Juliet," premieres in Manchester
Apr 2nd - Soap operas "As the World Turns" & "Edge of Night" premieres on TV
Apr 3rd - "Silk Stockings" closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 461 performances
Apr 3rd - Bulgarian vice premier Traitsjo Kostov rehabilitated
Apr 3rd - German war criminals Hinrichsen/Ruhl/Siebens/Viebahn freed
Apr 3rd - Hudsonville-Standale Tornado: The western half of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan is struck by a deadly F5 tornado.
Apr 4th - Enid Bagnold's "Chalk Garden," premieres in London
Apr 5th - In Sri Lanka, the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna win the general elections in a landslide and S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike is sworn in as the Prime Minister.
Apr 6th - Polish communist Gomulka freed from prison
Apr 7th - 10th NBA Championship: Ph Warriors beat Ft Wayne Pistons, 4 games to 1
Apr 7th - Spain relinquishes her protectorate in Morocco
Apr 8th - 20th Golf Masters Championship: Jack Burke Jr wins, shooting a 289
Apr 8th - 6 marine recruits drown during exercise at Paradise Is SC
Apr 8th - M Bandaranaike's People's front wins election in Ceylon
Apr 10th - Philips broadcasts 1st Dutch color TV programs