1959

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Events

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Map of the world in 1959, highlighting the main world affairs of the year

January

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January 8: Fidel Castro arrives in Havana

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January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
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.
January 3
- Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
- The southernmost island of the Maldives archipelago, Addu Atoll, declares its independence from the Kingdom of the Maldives, initiating the United Suvadive Republic.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
January 4
- In Cuba, rebel troops led by Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos enter the city of Havana.
- 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.
January 6 – The International Maritime Organization is inaugurated.
January 7 – The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.
January 8 – Charles de Gaulle is inaugurated as the first president of the French Fifth Republic.
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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
January 10 – The Soviet government recognizes the new Castro government of Cuba.
January 11 – The Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques is founded in Monaco.
January 12 – The Motown record label is founded as Tamla by Berry Gordy in Detroit.
January 15 – The Soviet Union conducts its first census after World War II.
January 21 – The European Court of Human Rights is established.
January 22 – Knox Mine disaster: Water breaches the River Slope Mine in Port Griffith, near Pittston, Pennsylvania, United States; 12 miners are killed.
January 25
- American Airlines begins the first U.S. domestic jet service with a Boeing 707 airliner flight between New York and Los Angeles.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Pope John XXIII announces that the Second Vatican Council will be convened in Rome.
January 30 – Danish passenger/cargo ship Template:MS, 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

February

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February 17: Technical drawing of Vanguard 2

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.
February 3
- A chartered plane transporting musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper with pilot Roger Peterson goes down in foggy conditions near Clear Lake, Iowa, killing all four on board. The tragedy is later termed "The Day the Music Died", popularized in Don McLean's 1971 song "American Pie".
- 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.
February 6 – At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.
February 9 – Yugoslavia and Spain set trade relations (not diplomatic ones).
February 13 – TAT-2, AT&T's second transatlantic telephone cable goes into operation between Newfoundland and France.
February 16 – Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba.
February 17 – Vanguard 2, the first weather satellite, is launched to measure cloud cover for the United States Navy.
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.
- Women in Nepal vote for the first time.
February 19 – First of the London and Zürich Agreements under which the United Kingdom agrees to grant independence to Cyprus.
February 20 – The Canadian Government cancels the Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow interceptor aircraft project.

March

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March 1
- The Template:USS, Template:USS, Template:USS and Template:USS are stricken from the United States Naval Vessel Register.
- Archbishop Makarios returns to Cyprus from exile.
March 3 – Lunar probe Pioneer 4 becomes the first American object to escape dominance by Earth's gravity.
March 9 – Mattel's Barbie doll debuts in the United States.
March 10 – The Tibetan uprising erupts in Lhasa when Chinese officials attempt to arrest the Dalai Lama.
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).
March 17 – Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama escapes Tibet and arrives in India.
March 18 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Hawaii Admission Act, granting statehood to Hawaii.
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).
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.
March 31 – The Dalai Lama is granted asylum in India.

April

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April 6 – The 31st Academy Awards ceremony is held in Hollywood. Musical film Gigi receives a record 9 Oscars.
April 8 – The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) is established.
April 9 – NASA announces its selection of seven military pilots to become the first U.S. astronauts, later known as the 'Mercury Seven'.
April 10 – Crown Prince Akihito of Japan marries Shōda Michiko, the first commoner to marry into the Imperial House of Japan.
April 25 – The Saint Lawrence Seaway linking the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean officially opens to shipping.
April 27 – National People's Congress elects Liu Shaoqi as Chairman of the People's Republic of China, as a successor of Mao Zedong.

May

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May 28: Miss Baker awaits launch.

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May – In the United Kingdom:
- Import tariffs are lifted.
- The first Ten Tors event is held on Dartmoor.
May 2 – 1959 FA Cup Final: Nottingham Forest defeat Luton Town 2–1 at Wembley Stadium.
May 18 – The National Liberation Committee of Côte d'Ivoire is launched in Conakry, Guinea.
May 21 – Gypsy: A Musical Fable, starring Ethel Merman in her last new musical, opens on Broadway and runs for 702 performances.
May 23 – In Laos the Laotian Civil War begins between the Kingdom of Laos and communist rebels, the Pathet Lao.
May 24 – British Empire Day is renamed Commonwealth Day.
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.

June

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June 3
- Singapore becomes a self-governing crown colony of Britain with Lee Kuan Yew as Prime Minister.
- Real Madrid beat Stade Reims 2–0 at Neckarstadion, Stuttgart and win the 1958–59 European Cup (Association football).
June 5 – A new government of the State of Singapore is sworn in by Sir William Goode. Two former ministers are re-elected to the Legislative Assembly.
June 8 – The USS Barbero and United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.
June 9 – The USS George Washington is launched as the first submarine to carry ballistic missiles.
June 14 – A 3-front invasion of the Dominican Republic by exile forces backed by Fidel Castro and Venezuela attempts to overthrow Rafael Trujillo.
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.
June 23
- Seán Lemass becomes the third Taoiseach of Ireland.
- 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.
June 26 – Elizabeth II (as monarch of Canada) and United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower open the Saint Lawrence Seaway.
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.<ref>"21 Die as Jet Hits School on Okinawa", Oakland Tribune, June 30, 1959, p1</ref>

July

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July 24: Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and USA Vice President Richard Nixon engage in the Kitchen Debate

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July 2 – Prince Albert of Belgium marries Italian Donna Paola Ruffo di Calabria.
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.
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.
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
July 14 – Groups of Kurdish and communist militias rebel in Kirkuk, Iraq against the central government.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
July 17 – The first skull of Australopithecus is discovered by Louis Leakey and his wife Mary in the Olduvai Gorge of Tanzania.
July 22 – A Kumamoto University medical research group studying Minamata disease concludes that it is caused by mercury.
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".
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.

August

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August 7: Launch of Explorer 6

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August 4 – Martial law is declared in Laos.
August 7
- Explorer program: The United States launches Explorer 6 from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
- The Roseburg Blast in Oregon, caused when a truck carrying explosives catches fire, kills 14 and causes $12 million worth of damage.
August 8 – A flood in Taiwan kills 2,000.
August 14 – Explorer 6 sends the first picture of Earth from orbit.
August 15 – Cyprus gains independence.
August 17 – In the United States:
- The 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake in southwest Montana kills 28.
- Miles Davis' influential jazz album Kind of Blue is released.
August 19 – The Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) is established.
August 21 – Hawaii is admitted as the 50th and last U.S. state.
August 26 – The original Mini car, designed by Sir Alec Issigonis, is launched in England.
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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
August 31 – The Workers' Stadium sports venue in Beijing (China) is officially opened.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

September

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September 14 – Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 becomes the first human-made object to crash on the Moon.
September 15–28 – USSR Premier Nikita Khrushchev and his wife tour the United States, at the invitation of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
September 16 – The Xerox 914, the first plain paper copier, is introduced to the public.
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.
September 23 – The Template:MS, Australia's first passenger roll-on/roll-off diesel ferry, makes her maiden voyage across the Bass Strait.
September 26
- Typhoon Vera hits central Honshū, Japan, as a Template:Convert 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.
- 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".
September 30 – Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev meets Mao Zedong in Beijing.

October

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October 21: Atrium of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

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October 1 – The 10th anniversary of the People's Republic of China is celebrated with pomp across the country.
October 7 – The Soviet probe Luna 3 sends back the first ever images of the far side of the Moon.
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.
October 13 – The United States launches research satellite Explorer 7.
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.
October 29 – First appearance of Astérix the Gaul, in a French comic magazine.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
October 31 – Riots break out in the Belgian Congo.

November

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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.
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.
November 15 – The brutal Clutter family murders are committed in Holcomb, Kansas, inspiring Truman Capote's In Cold Blood (1966).
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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
November 20 – The Declaration of the Rights of the Child is adopted by the United Nations.
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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Bassett22">Template:Cite book</ref> It revolutionizes the electronics industry,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> becomes the fundamental building block of the Information Age<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and goes on to become the most widely manufactured device in history.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

December

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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).
December 2 – Malpasset Dam in southern France collapses and water flows over the town of Fréjus, killing 412.
December 8 – The life-boat Mona, based at Broughty Ferry in Scotland, capsizes during a rescue attempt with the loss of 8 lives.
December 11 – Charles Robberts Swart is appointed the 11th Governor-General of the Union of South Africa.
December 14 – Makarios III is selected as the first president of Cyprus.

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The Supremes girl group is founded as The Primettes in Detroit.
Nylon pantyhose, or sheer tights, are first sold on the open market as 'Panti-Legs' by Glen Raven Knitting Mills in the United States.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The first known human with HIV dies in the Congo.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The current (as of 2024) design of the Japanese 10 yen coin is put into circulation.
The Caspian tiger becomes extinct in Iran.
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.
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.