| 1959-06-23
A fire in a resort hotel in Stalheim (Norway) kills 34 people.
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| 1959-09-27
Nearly 5000 people die on the main Japanese island of Honshū as the result of a typhoon.
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| 1959-01-20
The first flight of the Vickers Vanguard.
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| 1959-02-16
Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1.
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| 1959-11-19
The Ford Motor Company announces the discontinuation of the unpopular Edsel.
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| 1959-08-17
Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, the much acclaimed and highly influential best selling jazz recording of all time, is released.
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| 1959-03-18
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill into law allowing for Hawaiian statehood, which would become official on August 21.
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| 1959-07-15
The steel strike of 1959 begins, leading to significant importation of foreign steel for the first time in United States history.
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| 1959-09-23
Iowa farmer Roswell Garst hosts Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev.
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| 1959-04-25
The St. Lawrence Seaway, linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opens to shipping.
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| 1959-08-21
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union. Hawaii's admission is currently commemorated by Hawaii Admission Day
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| 1959-03-24
The Party of the African Federation is launched by Léopold Sédar Senghor and Modibo Keita.
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| 1959-03-09
The Barbie doll makes its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York.
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| 1959-08-07
Explorer program: Explorer 6 launches from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
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| 1959-05-18
Launch of the National Liberation Committee of Côte d'Ivoire in Conakry, Guinea.
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| 1959-07-25
SR-N1 hovercraft crosses the English Channel from Calais to Dover in just over 2 hours.
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| 1959-09-18
Vanguard 3 is launched into Earth orbit.
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| 1959-06-14
A group of Dominican exiles with leftist tendencies that departed from Cuba land in the Dominican Republic with the intent of deposing Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina. Save for four of them, all are killed and/or executed by Trujillo's army.
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| 1959-07-29
First United States Congress elections in Hawaii as a state of the Union.
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| 1959-06-18
Governor of Louisiana Earl 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.
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| 1959-09-14
The Soviet probe Luna 2 crashes onto the Moon, becoming the first man-made object to reach it.
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| 1959-07-01
The Party of the African Federation holds its constitutive conference.
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| 1959-06-26
The Saint Lawrence Seaway opens, opening North America's Great Lakes to ocean-going ships.
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| 1959-10-19
The first discothèque opens.
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| 1959-11-01
In Rwanda, Hutu politician Dominique Mbonyumutwa is beaten up by Tutsi forces, leading to a period of violence known as the wind of destruction.
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| 1959-06-30
A United States Air Force F-100 Super Sabre from Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, crashes into a nearby elementary school, killing 11 students plus six residents from the local neighborhood.
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| 1959-12-01
Cold War: Opening date for signature of the Antarctic Treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on the continent.
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| 1959-07-07
14:28 UT Venus occults the star Regulus. This rare event is used to determine the diameter of Venus and the structure of the Venusian atmosphere.
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| 1959-02-19
The United Kingdom grants Cyprus independence, which is then formally proclaimed on August 16, 1960.
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| 1959-06-08
The USS Barbero and United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.
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| 1959-08-17
Quake Lake: Quake Lake is formed by the magnitude 7.5 1959 Yellowstone earthquake near Hebgen Lake in Montana.
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| 1959-09-15
Nikita Khrushchev becomes the first Soviet leader to visit the United States.
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| 1959-05-26
Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Harvey Haddix retires the first 36 Milwaukee Braves batters to face him, only to lose his bid for a perfect game in the 13th inning.
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| 1959-11-02
The first section of the M1 motorway, the first inter-urban motorway in the United Kingdom, is opened between the present junctions 5 and 18, along with the M10 motorway and M45 motorway
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| 1959-07-04
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.
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| 1959-04-09
Project Mercury: NASA announces the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the "Mercury Seven".
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| 1959-09-08
The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) is established.
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| 1959-01-03
Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. State.
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| 1959-09-12
Premiere of Bonanza, the first regularly-scheduled TV program presented in color.
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| 1959-03-31
The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, crosses the border into India and is granted political asylum.
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| 1959-11-02
Quiz show scandals: Twenty One game show contestant Charles Van Doren admits to a Congressional committee that he had been given questions and answers in advance.
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| 1959-08-07
The Lincoln Memorial design on the U.S. penny goes into circulation. It replaces the "sheaves of wheat" design and is still in use.
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| 1959-10-07
U.S.S.R. probe Luna 3 transmits first ever photographs of the far side of the moon.
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| 1959-06-20
A rare June hurricane struck Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence killing 35.
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| 1959-01-01
Fulgencio Batista, president of Cuba, is overthrown by Fidel Castro's forces during the Cuban Revolution.
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| 1959-09-25
Solomon Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka is mortally wounded by a Buddhist monk, Talduwe Somarama, and dies the next day.
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| 1959-10-02
The anthology series The Twilight Zone premieres on CBS television.
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| 1959-09-23
The MS Princess of Tasmania, Australia’s first passenger roll-on/roll-off diesel ferry, makes her maiden voyage across Bass Strait.
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| 1959-05-30
The Auckland Harbour Bridge, crossing the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand, is officially opened by Governor-General Lord Cobham.
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| 1959-11-15
Four members of the Herbert Clutter Family are murdered at their farm outside Holcomb, Kansas.
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| 1959-11-23
General Charles de Gaulle, President of France, declares in a speech in Strasbourg his vision for a "Europe, "from the Atlantic to the Urals."
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| 1959-02-06
Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments files the first patent for an integrated circuit.
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| 1959-11-01
Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jacques Plante wears a protective mask for the first time in an NHL game.
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| 1959-10-12
At the national congress of APRA in Peru a group of leftist radicals are expelled from the party. They will later form APRA Rebelde.
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| 1959-04-10
Akihito, future Emperor of Japan, weds Michiko.
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| 1959-07-31
The Basque separatist organisation ETA is founded.
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| 1959-06-05
The first government of the State of Singapore is sworn in.
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| 1959-02-06
At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.
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| 1959-10-26
The world sees the far side of the Moon for the first time.
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| 1959-01-04
Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon.
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| 1959-10-31
Lee Harvey Oswald attempts to renounce his American citizenship at the US Embassy in Moscow, USSR.
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| 1959-02-22
Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.
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| 1959-03-17
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, flees Tibet for India.
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| 1959-01-02
Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the U.S.S.R.
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| 1959-02-03
A plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa kills Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper, and pilot Roger Peterson and the incident becomes known as The Day the Music Died.
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| 1959-12-29
The Lisbon Metro begins operation.
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| 1959-07-01
Specific values for the international yard, avoirdupois pound and derived units (e.g. inch, mile and ounce) are adopted after agreement between the U.S.A., the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries.
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| 1959-04-27
The last Canadian missionary leaves the People's Republic of China.
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| 1959-06-09
The USS George Washington is launched. It is the first submarine to carry ballistic missiles.
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| 1959-07-21
Elijah Jerry "Pumpsie" Green becomes the first African-American to play for the Boston Red Sox, the last team to integrate. He came in as a pinch runner for Vic Wertz and stayed in as shortstop in a 2-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox.
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| 1959-03-10
Tibetan uprising: Fearing an abduction attempt by China, 300,000 Tibetans surround the Dalai Lama's palace to prevent his removal.
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| 1959-01-08
Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution is completed with the takeover of Santiago de Cuba.
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| 1959-03-16
EUROAVIA, the European Association of Aerospace students is founded, which is the very first initiative towards European cooperation in Aerospace.
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| 1959-10-21
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order transferring Wernher von Braun and other German scientists from the United States Army to NASA.
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| 1959-02-17
Project Vanguard: Vanguard 2 – The first weather satellite is launched to measure cloud-cover distribution.
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| 1959-10-21
In New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opens to the public.
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| 1959-07-24
At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev have a "Kitchen Debate".
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| 1959-01-22
Knox Mine Disaster: Water breaches the River Slope Mine near Pittston City, Pennsylvania in Port Griffith; 12 miners are killed.
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| 1959-06-23
Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after only nine years in prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany where he resumes a scientific career.
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| 1959-12-13
Archbishop Makarios becomes the first President of Cyprus.
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| 1959-02-20
The Avro Arrow program to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate.
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| 1959-08-14
Founding and first official meeting of the American Football League.
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| 1959-09-12
The Soviet Union launches a large rocket, Lunik II, at the moon.
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| 1959-09-19
Nikita Khrushchev is barred from visiting Disneyland.
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| 1959-01-07
The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.
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| 1959-07-20
The Organization for European Economic Cooperation admits Spain.
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