Chronology of Major Events in 1957

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JANUARY

1 The Saar was formally reunited with West Germany.
1 Florida Governor LeRoy Collins ordered the suspension of bus service in Tallahassee to prevent violence over racial desegregation of passengers.

3 "Sugar Ray" Robinson lost his World Middleweight crown to Gene Fulmer.

5 U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower personally delivered a message to Congress requesting authority to use armed forces against any Communist aggression in the Middle East.
5 A Brazilian-American company shipped the first manganese ore from a rich deposit north of the Amazon, near the river's mouth.
5 President Theodor Körner of Austria died.

8 The National Geographic Society announced the election of Melville B. Grosvenor to succeed John O. La Gorce as president.

9 British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden resigned on grounds of ill health.

10 Queen Elizabeth II named Harold Macmillan to succeed Sir Anthony Eden as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
10 Poet T.S. Eliot married Valerie Fletcher, his secretary, in London, England.
10 Poet Gabriela Mistral died.

12 A U.S. Air Force plane crashed and exploded at Fairbanks, Alaska, killing all 12 persons aboard.

14 Actor Humphrey Bogart died.

15 The Egyptian government announced the immediate nationalization of all British and French banks and insurance companies in Egypt.

16 Conductor Arturo Toscanini died.
16 German General Hans Speidel was appointed Supreme Commander of NATO forces in central Europe.

18 Three U.S. Air Force Stratofortresses landed at March Field, California, after a record non-stop flight around the world in 45 hours 19 minutes.

19 New Jersey Governor Robert Meyner married Helen Day Stevenson.

20 India's first nuclear reactor was inaugurated at Trombay.

21 Brazil granted the United States the right to operate a missile-tracking station on Fernando de Noronha Island.
21 The largest U.S.-built oil tanker, World Beauty, was launched.

22 Meade Alcorn was elected chairman of the Republican National Committee.
22 Israeli forces completed their withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula.

23 A baby girl (Caroline) was born to Prince Rainier of Monaco and his wife Grace Kelly.
23 A Nicaraguan airliner crashed into Concepcion volcano, on Ometepe Island in Lake Nicagaua, killing all 16 persons aboard.

24 Fire destroyed a four-story factory building in New Haven, Connecticut. Fifteen persons were killed and 31 were injured.

25 The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested three people in New York, New York, on charges of spying for the Soviet Union.
25 The first section of the Sunshine State Parkway opened.

26 Kashmir formally united with India.

27 An entire block of businesses in Saratoga Springs, New York, was destroyed by a fire that left one person dead and another four injured.

29 Ten persons were killed and another 47 injured when a boiler exploded on the oil tanker Jeanny while she was moored at a shipyard in Alameda, California.
29 Prince Charles became the first heir to the British throne to ever enter a preparatory school.

31 A DC-7 crashed into a schoolyard in Pacoima, California, killing 8 persons.

FEBRUARY

1 Twenty passengers were killed when a Northeast Airliner crashed onto Rikers Island, New York.

2 Actress Elizabeth Taylor married theatrical producer Mike Todd in Acapulco, Mexico.

4 Imam Ahmed, ruler of Yemen, claimed Aden Protectorate.
4 Thirty-seven miners were killed in a gas explosion inside a coal mine near Bishop, Virginia.

6 Prisoners at Utah's State Prison seized control of much of the prison.

7 A joint session of the Haitian National Assembly elected Franck Sylvain as provisional President to replace Joseph N. Pierre-Louis, who had resigned.

8 Actress Susan Hayward and attorney Floyd Eaton Chalkley were married in Phoenix, Arizona.

9 The Soviet Union became the first nation to ratify the charter of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
9 The Argonaut nuclear reactor at Argonne National Laboratory began operating.

12 The International Longshoremen's Association went on strike along the eastern coast of the United States.

13 Fourteen persons died when the Council Bluffs, Iowa, rest home in which they lived was destroyed by fire; another 13 were injured.

15 Andrei Gromyko replaced Dmitri Shepilov as Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union.

17 The Katie Jane Memorial Home for the Aged in Warrenton, Missouri, was destroyed by a fire that killed 72 residents.

22 Commercial air service over the North Pole was inaugurated between Tokyo, Japan, and Copenhagen, Denmark.
22 A U.S. Air Force plane crash-landed near Kimpo Air ForceBase in South Korea, killing 22 of the 159 persons aboard.

25 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that professional football is subject to the federal antitrust laws.
25 Nobusuke Kishi was elected to succeed Tanzan Ishibashi as Premier of Japan.

MARCH

5 A Royal Air Force transport plane crashed into a residential area near Drayton, England, killing 17 persons.

6 The former British colony of the Gold Coast and the trust territory of British Togoland formally gained their independence as the nation of Ghana.
6 A ferryboat capsized on the Elbe River in East Germany. A reported 28 Russian soldiers were drowned and another 8 were missing and presumed dead.

7 Units of the United Nations Emergency Force took over administration of the Gaza Strip.
7 Ghana became a member of the United Nations.
7 The tanker Mission San Francisco was struck by the freighter Elna II off New Castle, Delaware. Ten crewmen aboard the tanker were missing and presumed dead.

8 The United Nations Emergency Force assumed full control of the Sharm el Sheikh area at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba.
8 Singer Harry Belafonte married dancer Julie Robinson in Tecate, Mexico.

9 Actor Henry Fonda married Italian Contessa Afdera Franchetti.

11 The Burmese Parliament unanimously elected U Win Maung to a 5-year term as President.
11 Antarctic explorer Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd died.

12 Billionaire Howard Hughes married actress Jean Peters.

13 More than 40 people were killed in Havana in an attempt to overthrow the government of Cuba.
13 Danish physicist Niels Bohr was named the recipient of the first Atoms for Peace award.

14 Egypt assumed control of the Gaza Strip.
14 President Sukarno of Indonesia declared a state of siege.
14 Twenty-two persons were killed when a British European airliner on approach to Manchester (England) Airport crashed into a house in Wythenshawe, England.

15 A head-on collision of two trains between Tampere and Haemeenlinna, Finland, killed 24 persons and injured 51.

17 Philippine President Ramón Magsaysay and 24 others were killed in a plane crash near Cebu City, Philippines.

18 Vice-President Carlos P. Garcia was sworn in to succeed Ramón Magsaysay as President of the Philippines.
18 A Bolivian airliner crashed into the Andes about 100 miles northeast of Cochabamba, Bolivia, killing all 19 persons aboard.

19 The U.S. Senate confirmed the appointments of William J. Brennan, Jr., and Charles E. Whittaker as Associate Justices of the Supreme Court.

20 Eamon de Valera was chosen to replace John A. Costello as Prime Minister of Ireland.

21 A U.S. Air Force plane with 67 persons aboard disappeared en route from Wake Island to Tokyo, Japan.

22 An earthquake with an estimated 5.7 magnitude struck the San Francisco, California, area.

25 Six nations signed treaties to create the European Economic Community and the European Community of Atomic Energy.

26 Former French Premier Eduoard Herriot died.

27 An explosion in a Mexico City, Mexico, fireworks factory killed 16 persons, injured 235, and destroyed a city block.

28 A ferryboat capsized in the Tjitarum River near Jakarta, Indonesia. Forty persons drowned.
28 Archbishop Makarios was released from exile in the Seychelles Islands.

30 The USS Seawolf was commissioned as the second nuclear submarine in the U.S. Navy fleet.

APRIL

1 The Jamestown (Virginia) Festival began.

2 The Golden Spike National Historic Site was established in Utah.
2 A U.S. Navy bomber crashed into a field shortly after taking off from Chincoteague Naval Air Station in Virginia, killing all 11 persons aboard.
2 A tornado that struck Dallas, Texas, killed 10 persons.

3 Manuchehr Ikbal was named to succeed Hussein Ala as Premier of Iran.
3 A state of siege and curfew were imposed throughout Chile following several days of severe rioting.

4 E. Herbert Norman, Canadian ambassador to Egypt, jumped from the roof of a nine-story building.

7 Doug Ford won the Masters Tournament at Augusta, Georgia.
7 All 40 persons aboard a Brazilian airliner were killed when the plane crashed soon after taking off from Bago, Brazil.

8 Clearing of the Suez Canal was completed.
8 Pedro Cardinal Segura y Saenz, the Archbishop of Seville, died.
8 An Air France passenger plane crashed soon after taking off from Biskra, Algeria, killing all 34 persons aboard.

10 The government of Jordanian Premier Suleiman Nabulsi resigned, per King Hussein's request.
10 A Brazilian airliner crashed into a mountain soon after taking off from São Paulo, Brazil, killing 26 of the 30 persons aboard.
10 Two boats loaded with pilgrims sank in the Godavari River in central India; 150 persons were killed.

11 The Ryan X-13 "Vertijet" became the first aircraft to complete a vertical-conventional-vertical flight.

12 Ninety-six persons died when a ferryboat ran onto a reef and capsized off Onomichi, Japan.

13 Fourteen elderly men and women were killed when a flash electrical fire destroyed a 220-year-old rest home in Pointe-aux-Trembles, Quebec, Canada.

14 The United States World Trade Fair opened in New York City, New York.
14 A tugboat capsized in the Yellow Sea off Wolmi Island, South Korea, killing 27 persons.

15 Hussein Fakhri Khalidi became Premier of Jordan.

17 A British Royal Air Force plane crashed and burned minutes after taking off from Aqaba Air Base in Jordan, killing all 24 persons aboard.
17 Nine lives were lost when a barge capsized near the mouth of the Mississippi River (near New Orelans, Louisiana) during a storm.

22 The Oklahoma Semi-Centennial Celebration opened.

23 Ten-year-old Robert Strom of New York City won a record $192,000 on a national television quiz program.

24 Actress Nanette Fabray married screenwriter Ranald MacDougall.

25 U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower deployed the Sixth Fleet to the eastern Mediterranean Sea to provide assistance to Jordan if necessary.

26 A reported 100 persons died in the burning and sinking of a river boat in the Yangtze River near Wuhan, China.

27 Bob Gutowski broke a 15-year-old pole vault record by clearing 15 feet 9-3/4 inches.

30 Singapore attained internal self-rule.

MAY

1 James H. Douglas became Secretary of the U.S. Air Force.
1 General Nathan F. Twining became the first U.S. Air Force officer to be appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
1 A British air liner crashed while attempting to make an emergency return to Blackbushe, England, killing 32 of the 33 persons aboard.

2 U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy died.
2 "Sugar Ray" Robinson reclaimed his World Middleweight Championship from Gene Fulmer.

4 Iron Liege, Willie Hartack up, won the Kentucky Derby.

5 Vice Chancellor Adolf Schärf was elected President of Austria by popular vote.

6 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in two cases that a license to practice law may not be refused solely on the grounds of past membership in the Communist party.
6 Italian Premier Antonio Segni and his Cabinet resigned.

7 Lieutenant General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla had himself re-elected President of Colombia.

9 A Spanish airliner crashed while landing at Barajas, Spain, killing all 37 persons aboard.

10 Colombian President Rojas Pinilla was ousted by a 5-man military junta headed by Major General Gabriel Paris.

12 The Marquis Alfonso de Portago, his co-driver Edmund Nelson, and ten spectators (five of whom were children) were killed during the Mille Miglia race near Milan, Italy.

13 Three U.S. Air Force pilots flew nonstop from London to Los Angeles, the longest single-engine jet flight ever made.
13 A total lunar eclipse was observed by most of the world.
13 An Argentine airliner crashed into the Andes Mountains southwest of San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina, killing all 15 persons aboard.

15 The United Kingdom exploded its first hydrogen bomb.
15 Billy Graham began a 100-day series of revival meetings in New York City, New York.

16 The Walt Whitman Bridge was opened.
16 The U.S.S. Skate, the third U.S. nuclear-powered submarine, was launched at Groton, Connecticut.
16 The Territorial Assembly of French Cameroun elected André Marie M'Bida as the first Prime Minister under the new self-government statute.
16 A tornado that struck the Silverton, Texas, area killed a reported 21 persons and injured 58.

19 Adone Zoli became Premier of Italy.

20 A tornado that tore through the Ruskin Heights area of Kansas City, Missouri, killed a reported 39 persons and injured 99.

21 The Haitian army, under Brigadier General Leon Cantave, took control of the government.
21 French Premier Guy Mollet submitted his resignation after a vote of "no confidence" by the National Assembly.
21 Tornadoes killed a reported 13 persons and injured 70 in the St. Louis, Missouri, area.

23 The Tidewater Oil Company's "refinery of the future" was dedicated in Delaware City, Delaware.

24 The Hagley Museum in Wilmington, Delaware, was opened to the public.

26 Daniel Fignole became Provisional President of Haiti.
26 Abd-ul-Majid Kubar formed a new Libyan cabinet to teplace that of Mustafa ben Halim, who had resigned.
26 An earthquake that struck the Seben-Bolu, Turkey, area killed a reported 53 persons and injured 119.

27 Senator Theodore F. Green (Rhode Island) became, at the age of 89 years 7 months 26 days, the oldet person ever to serve in the U.S. Congress.
27 Väinö J. Sukselainen formed a new Finnish coalition cabinet to teplace that of Karl-August Fagerholm.

28 National League team owners voted to allow the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New Yotk Giants to move to Los Angeles and San Francisco, California, respectively.

29 George M. Humphrey resigned as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.

30 Sam Hanks won the Indianapolis 500 with a record average speed of 135.6 miles per hour.

JUNE

2 U.S. Air Force Captain J.W. Kittinger, Jr., reached a record 96,000 feet over southern Minnesota in a balloon.

5 The first grandson of former U.S. President Harry Truman, Clifton Truman Daniel, was born.
5 The collision of two trains near Cortazar, Mexico, killed 14 persons and left 16 others missing and presumed dead.

10 Louise Suggs won the Ladies' Professional Golfers Association title.
10 The Conservative Party of John Diefenbaker won Canada's general election.

12 Mayflower II, a replica of the original Mayflower, arrived at Provincetown, Massachusetts, 53 days after leaving Plymouth, England.
12 Bandleader Jimmy Dorsey died.

13 Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury was confirmed as Premier of France.

14 A military junta seized power in Haiti.

15 Colter Bay in Grand Teton National Park was opened to the public.

16 Dick Mayer won the National Open golf title.

18 The Booker T. Washington National Monument was established.

19 The U.S. tanker Stony Point and the Greek freighter Ioannis collided in fog off the western coast of France. Fourteen men were presumed to have died, and 18 were injured.

20 Ten persons were killed and another 75 injured when a tornado struck Fargo, North Dakota.

23 Actor Rex Harrison and actress Kay Kendall were married.
23 A Pacific Western airliner crashed while attempting to make an emergency return to Port Hardy, British Columbia, Canada, killing 14 of the 18 persons aboard.

24 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in three cases that obscene literature falls outside the constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

26 A conference of Commonwealth Prime Ministers opened in London, England.

28 The Strategic Air Command took delivery of its first KC-135A Stratotanker.

[July-December]

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This page was last updated on March 21, 2018.