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Year 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

[edit] Events of 1956

[edit] January

• January 1 - The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan.
• January 8 - Operation Auca: Five U.S. missionaries are killed by the Huaorani of Ecuador shortly after making contact with them.
• January 16 - Egyptian leader Gamal Abdal Nasser vows to reconquer Palestine.
• January 25–26 - Finnish troops re-occupy Porkkala after Soviet troops vacate its military base. Civilians can return February 4.
• January 26 - The 1956 Winter Olympic Games open in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.

A 1956 Chevrolet

[edit] February

• February 11 - British spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean resurface in the Soviet Union after being missing for 5 years.
• February 14 - 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union starts.
• February 16 - The film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel, starring Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones, is released.
• February 22 - Elvis Presley enters the United States music charts for the first time, with Heartbreak Hotel.
• February 23 - Norma Jean Mortenson legally changes her name to Marilyn Monroe.
• February 25 - Nikita Khrushchev attacks the veneration of Joseph Stalin as a "cult of personality."
• February 26 - 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ends.

[edit] March

• March 1 - The International Air Transport Association finalizes a draft of the Radiotelephony spelling alphabet for the International Civil Aviation Organization.
• March 2 - Morocco declares its independence from France.
• March 9 - The British deport Archbishop Makarios from Cyprus to the Seychelles.
• 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 matinee. It is one of the first such experiments of its kind. Olivier is later nominated for an Oscar for his performance.
• March 12 - 96 U.S. Congressmen sign the Southern Manifesto, a protest against the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling (Brown vs. Board of Education) desegregating public education.
• March 12 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 500 for the first time rising 2.40 points, or 0.48%, to 500.24.
• 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 19 - At age 48, Dutch boxer Bep van Klaveren contests his last match in Rotterdam.
• March 20 - Tunisia gains independence from France.
• March 21 - The 28th Academy Awards ceremony is held.
• March 23 - Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic, and a national holiday is observed in the country including the former East Pakistan state.

[edit] April

• April 7 - Spain relinquishes its protectorate in Morocco.
• April 9 - Habib Bourgiba is elected prime minister of Tunisia. ^{Confirmation needed}
• 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 17 - Queen Elizabeth II inaugurates Chew Valley Lake.
• April 18 - Maria Desylla-Kapodistria is elected mayor of Corfu and becomes the first female mayor in Greece.
• April 19 - British diver Lionel Crabb dives into the Portsmouth harbor to investigate a visiting Soviet cruiser and vanishes.
• April 19 - Actress Grace Kelly marries Rainier III, Prince of Monaco.
• April 21 - Former U.S. First Daughter Margaret Truman marries Clifton Daniel.

[edit] May

• May 2 - The United Methodist Church in America decides at its General Conference to grant women full ordained clergy status. It also calls for an end to racial segregation in the denomination.
• May 8 - Austria and Israel form diplomatic relations. ^{Confirmation needed}
• May 8 - The constitutional union between Indonesia and the Netherlands is dissolved.
• May 8 - John Osborne's Look Back in Anger opens at the Royal Court Theatre, changing the scope of theatrical and other forms of drama in England.
• May 9 - Manaslu, 8th highest mountain in the world, is first ascended.
• May 18 - Lhotse (main), the 4th highest mountain, is first ascended.
• May 23 - French minister Pierre Mendès-France resigns due to his government's policy on Algeria.
• May 24 - The first Eurovision Song Contest is broadcast from Lugano, Switzerland. The winning song is Refrain by Lys Assia (music by Géo Voumard, text by Émile Gardaz).
• May 25 - India announces the institution of diplomatic relations with Spain (still under Franco's rule)

[edit] June

• June 1 - Vyacheslav Molotov resigns as foreign minister of the Soviet Union; he later becomes ambassador in Mongolia.
• June 3 - British Rail renames 'Third Class' passenger facilities as 'Second Class' (Second Class facilities had been abolished in 1875, leaving just First Class and Third Class).
• June 6 - In Singapore, chief minister David Marshall resigns after the breakdown of talks about internal self government in London.
• June 8 - General Electric/Telechron introduces model 7H241 "The Snooz Alarm", first snooze alarm clock ever. ^{Confirmation needed}
• June 10 - 1956 Summer Olympics: Equestrian events open in Stockholm, Sweden (all other events are held in November in Melbourne, Australia).
• June 14 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the phrase "under God" to be added to the Pledge of Allegiance.
• June 14 - The Flag of the United States Army is formally dedicated.^{[citation needed]}
• June 15 - Eindhoven University of Technology is founded in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
• June 18 - The last foreign troops leave Egypt.
• June 23 - Gamal Abdel Nasser becomes the 2nd president of Egypt.
• June 28 - MP Sydney Silverman's bill for the abolition of the death penalty passes the British House of Commons.
• June 28 - Labour riots in Poznań, Poland, are crushed with heavy loss of life. Soviet troops fire at a crowd that protests high prices, killing 53.
• 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.
• June 29 - Actress Marilyn Monroe marries playwright Arthur Miller.
• June 29 - 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 and crash. All 128 people aboard the 2 aircraft are killed in the disaster. The accident leads to tighter air traffic control in the United States.

[edit] July

• July 2 A lab experiment at Sylvania Electric Products results in an explosion.
• July 8 - The mountain Gasherbrum II is first ascended.
• July 10 - The British House of Lords defeats the abolition of the death penalty.
• 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 miles) south of Nantucket Island, the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria sinks after colliding with the Swedish ship SS Stockholm in heavy fog, killing 51.
• July 26 - Egyptian leader Gamal Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal sparking international condemnation.
• July 30 - A Joint Resolution of the U.S. Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing "In God We Trust" as the U.S. national motto.
• July 31 - Cricket: Jim Laker sets an extraordinary record at Old Trafford in the fourth Test of taking 19 wickets in a first class match (the previous best was 17).

[edit] August

• The exhibition This Is Tomorrow opens at Whitechapel Art Gallery in London.
• 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 8 - 262 miners die in fire in a coal mine in Marcinelle, Belgium.
• August 11 - Jackson Pollock dies after crashing his car, aged 44.
• August 17 - West Germany bans the Communist Party of Germany.

[edit] September

• September 9 - Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time.
• September 13 - The Hard Disk Drive is invented by an IBM team led by Reynold B. Johnson.
• September 16 - Television broadcasting commences in Australia.
• September 21 - Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza García is assassinated.
• September 25 - The submarine Transatlantic telephone cable opens.

[edit] October

• 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 10 - Finland joins UNESCO.
• October 14 - Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Indian Untouchable leader, converts to Buddhism along with 385,000 followers (see Neo-Buddhism).
• October 15 - The RAF retires its last Lancaster bomber.
• October 15 - Fidel Castro and Che Guevara depart from Tuxpan, Veracruz, Mexico, enroute to Santiago de Cuba aboard the yacht Granma with 82 men.
• October 17 - The Game of the Century: 13-year-old Bobby Fischer beats GM Donald Byrne in the NY Rosenwald chess tournament.
• October 23 - The Hungarian revolution breaks out against the pro-Soviet government. Hungary attempts to leave the Warsaw Pact.
• October 26 - Red Army troops invade Hungary.
• October 29 - The Huntley-Brinkley Report debuts on NBC-TV.
• October 29 - Suez Crisis: Israel invades the Sinai Peninsula and push Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal.
• October 29 - Tangier Protocol: The international city Tangier is reintegrated into Morocco.
• October 29 - The first hard disk drive (5MB) is born at IBM.
• October 31 - Suez Crisis: The United Kingdom and France begin bombing Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal.

[edit] November

• November 1 - The States Reorganisation Act of India reforms the boundaries and names of Indian states.
• 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 4 - 1956 Hungarian Revolution: More Soviet troops invade Hungary to crush a revolt that started on October 23. Thousands are killed, more are wounded and nearly a quarter million leave the country.
• November 6 - U.S. presidential election, 1956: Republican incumbent Dwight D. Eisenhower defeats Democrat challenger Adlai E. Stevenson in a rematch of their contest 4 years earlier.
• November 6 - Enoch A. Holtwick is defeated as presidential candidate of theProhibition Party.
• November 7 - Suez Crisis: The United Nations General Assembly adopts a resolution calling for the United Kingdom, France and Israel to withdraw their troops from Arab lands immediately.
• November 13 - The United States Supreme Court declares Alabama and Montgomery, Alabama laws requiring segregated buses illegal, thus ending the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
• November 14 - Fighting ends in Hungary. ^{Confirmation needed}
• November 15 - Middle East Technical University is founded in Ankara, Turkey.
• November 20 - In Yugoslavia, former prime minister Milovan Djilas is arrested after he criticizes Josip Broz Tito.
• November 22 - The 1956 Summer Olympics begin in Melbourne, Australia.
• November 23 - The Suez Crisis causes petrol rationing in Britain.^[1]
• November 30-Floyd Patterson becomes champion after the retirement of Rocky Marciano.

[edit] December

• December 2 - Fidel Castro and his followers land in Cuba in the boat Granma.
• December 2 - A pipe bomb explodes at a movie theater in Brooklyn (work of George Metesky), injuring 6 people.^{Confirmation needed}
• December 5 - Rose Heilbron becomes Britain's first female judge.
• December 9 - Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810 crashes into a mountain in British Columbia. All 62 people on board die, making this one of the worst airline crashes in the world at that date.
• December 12 - Japan becomes a member of the United Nations.
• December 18 - To Tell The Truth debuts on CBS-TV.
• December 19 - John Bodkin Adams is arrested for the murder of 2 patients in Eastbourne, Great Britain.
• December 23 - British and French troops leave the Suez Canal region.
• December 31 - Bob Barker makes his TV debut as host of the Game Show Truth or Consequences.

[edit] Undated

• Minamata disease is discovered.
• The Alpine Club of Canada, Toronto section, is founded.

[edit] Ongoing

• Cold War

[edit] Births

[edit] January–February

• January 1 - Mark R. Hughes, American entrepreneur (d. 2000)
• January 1 - Kōji Yakusho, Japanese actor
• January 3 - Mel Gibson, Australian actor and director (Lethal Weapon)
• January 4 - Bernard Sumner, British rock guitarist (Joy Division, New Order)
• January 5 - Chen Kenichi, Japan-born Chinese chef
• January 7 - David Caruso, American actor (NYPD Blue)
• January 9 - Imelda Staunton, British actress
• January 10 - Shawn Colvin, American singer
• January 14 - Ben Heppner, Canadian tenor
• January 16 - Martin Jol, Dutch football manager
• January 17 - Paul Young, English musician
• January 20 - Bill Maher, American actor, comedian, and political analyst
• January 21 - Geena Davis, American actress
• January 24 - Lounès Matoub, Algerian Berber Kabyle singer
• January 25 - Bronwyn Pike, Australian politician
• January 27 - Mimi Rogers, American actress
• January 31 - Johnny Rotten, British rock singer (Sex Pistols)
• February 1 - Mike Kitchen, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• February 3 - Nathan Lane, American actor (The Birdcage)
• February 11 - Didier Lockwood, French jazz violinist
• February 11 - Catherine Hickland, American actress
• February 12 - Brian Robertson, British rock guitarist (Thin Lizzy, Wild Horses, and Motörhead)
• February 13 - Peter Hook, British rock bassist (Joy Division, New Order)
• February 13 - Yiannis Kouros, Greek-Australian ultramarathoner
• February 13 - Paul Stojanovich, American television producer
• February 14 - Tom Burlinson, Australian actor
• February 15 - Desmond Haynes, West Indian cricketer
• February 18 - Thomas Gradin, Swedish hockey player
• February 19 - Roderick MacKinnon, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• February 24 - Judith Butler, American philosopher
• February 24 - Paula Zahn, American television journalist (CBS News)
• February 25 - Davie Cooper, Scottish footballer (d. 1995)
• February 26 - Keisuke Kuwata, Japanese musician
• February 28 - Jimmy Nicholl, Canadian-born footballer
• February 29 - Bob Speller, Canadian politician
• February 29 - Aileen Carol Wuornos, American serial killer (d. 2002)

[edit] March–April

• March 1 - Tim Daly, American actor
• March 5 - Teena Marie, American singer (Lovergirl)
• March 11 - Rob Paulsen, American voice actor
• March 12 - Steve Harris, British rock bass player (Iron Maiden)
• March 18 - Ingemar Stenmark, Swedish alpine skier
• March 19 - Yegor Gaidar, Russian economist and politician
• March 21 - Ingrid Kristiansen, Norwegian runner
• March 23 - José Manuel Barroso, Prime Minister of Portugal
• March 23 - Win Lyovarin, Thai author, who won 2 times S.E.A. Write Award
• March 24 - Steve Ballmer, American CEO of Microsoft
• April 3 - Ray Combs, American game show host and comedian (d. 1996)
• April 3 - Boris Miljkovic, Serbian TV & theatre director and video artist
• April 4 - Kerry Chikarovski, Australian politician
• April 4 - David E. Kelley, American writer and television producer
• April 5 - Diamond Dallas Page, American professional wrestler
• April 6 - Dilip Vengsarkar, Indian cricketer
• April 12 - Andy Garcia, American actor
• April 12 - Yasuo Tanaka, Japanese politician, novelist
• April 13 - Peter 'Possum' Bourne, New Zealand rally car driver (d. 2003)
• April 14 - Barbara Bonney, American soprano
• April 16 - David M. Brown, American astronaut (Columbia Disaster) (d. 2003)
• April 16 - Lise-Marie Morerod, Swiss skier
• April 19 - Sue Barker, British tennis player and television presenter
• April 21 - Phillip Longman, American demographer
• April 23 - Judy Davis, Australian actress
• April 26 - Koo Stark, British actress
• April 28 - Jimmy Barnes, Australian musician
• April 28 - Paul Phillips, American conductor-composer
• April 30 - Lars von Trier, Danish film director

[edit] May–June

• May 1 - Alexander Ivanov, Russian-born American chess Grandmaster
• May 4 - David Guterson, American writer
• May 4 - Ulrike Meyfarth, German high jumper
• May 6 - Vladimir Lisin, Russian oligarch
• May 7 - Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
• May 7 - Jean Lapierre, Canadian politician and television host
• May 10 - Vladislav Nikolayevich Listyev, Russian journalist (d. 1995)
• May 11 - Andrew Hidalgo, American entrepreneur
• May 13 - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Indian guru
• May 13 - Steve Blackwood, American actor and musician
• May 13 - Kenneth Eriksson, Swedish rally driver
• May 15 - Dan Patrick, American sports commentator
• May 15 - Kjartan Poskitt, English author
• May 17 - Sugar Ray Leonard, African-American boxer
• May 17 - Bob Saget, American actor and television host (America's Funniest Home Videos)
• May 20 - Ingvar Ambjørnsen, Norwegian author
• May 23 - Buck Showalter, American baseball player and manager
• May 23 - Ursula Plassnik, Austrian politician
• May 24 - Michael Jackson, Irish Anglican bishop
• May 28 - Jerry Douglas, American dobro player
• June 3 - George Burley, current Scotland Football Manager
• June 6 - Björn Borg, Swedish tennis player
• June 9 - Patricia Cornwell, American novelist
• June 10 - Georg Borwin, Duke of Mecklenburg, German head of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
• June 11 - Joe Montana, American football player
• June 20 - Cho Chikun, Korean professional Go player
• June 23 - Glenn Danzig, American rock musician (Danzig)
• June 23 - Randy Jackson, African-American musician and talent judge (American Idol)
• June 25 - Boris Trajkovski, President of the Republic of Macedonia (d. 2004)
• June 26 - Chris Isaak, American musician
• June 27 - Heiner Dopp, German field hockey player
• June 28 - Noel Mugavin, Australian Rules Football player
• June 29 - Janet Tashjian, American novelist
• June 30 - Ronald Winans, African-American musician (d. 2005)

[edit] July–August

• July 2 - Jerry Hall, American model and actress
• July 3 - Rick Ducommun, Canadian actor and comedian
• July 5 - Sheila Walsh, Scottish Christian musician
• July 9 - Tom Hanks, American actor (Forrest Gump)
• July 11 - Sela Ward, American actress (Sisters)
• July 12 - Sandi Patty, American Christian musician
• July 14 - Vladimir Kulich, Czech actor
• July 14 - King Diamond, Danish heavy metal musician
• July 15 - Ian Curtis, British rock musician (Joy Division) (d. 1980)
• July 15 - Barry Melrose, Canadian hockey player, coach, and commentator
• July 15 - Marky Ramone, American rock drummer (The Ramones)
• July 15 - Toshihiko Seko, Japanese long-distance runner
• July 16 - Tony Kushner, American playwright
• July 18 - Sheila Aldridge, American singer (The Aldridge Sisters)
• July 19 - Yoshiaki Yatsu, Japanese professional wrestler
• July 20 - Thomas Nkono, Cameroonian footballer
• July 24 - Pat Finn, American game show host and producer
• July 26 - Andy Goldsworthy, British sculptor and photographer
• July 30 - Soraida Martinez, American painter (Verdadism)
• July 31 - Michael Biehn, American actor
• July 31 - Deval Patrick, African-American Governor of Massachusetts
• August 1 - Steve Green, American Christian musician
• August 5 - Maureen McCormick, American actress (The Brady Bunch)
• August 17 - Dave Jones, Cardiff City Manager
• August 20 - Joan Allen, American actress (Nixon)
• August 21 - Kim Cattrall, Canadian actress
• August 22 - Paul Molitor, American baseball player
• August 23 - Andreas Floer, German mathematician (d. 1991)
• August 23 - Arabella Kennedy, daughter of John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy, stillborn
• August 24 - John Culberson, American politician
• August 26 - Mark Mangino, American football coach
• August 29 - Mark Morris, American choreographer
• August 31 - Masashi Tashiro, Japanese television performer