1957

1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar.

Events

January

• January 1 - Saarland joins West Germany. IRA attack on Brookeborough police barracks leads to the deaths of Seán South and Fergal O'Hanlon.
• January 1 - Legendary Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini suffers the stroke that will lead to his death a little over two weeks later.
• January 2 - San Francisco and Los Angeles stock exchanges merge to form Pacific Coast Stock Exchange.
• January 3 - Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.
• January 4 - After 69 years the last issue of Collier's Weekly magazine is published.
• January 5 - Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be dismissed handled the ball in test match cricket.
• January 9 - Anthony Eden resigns.
• January 10 - Harold Macmillan becomes the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• January 11 - The African Convention is founded in Dakar.
• January 13 - Wham-O Company produces the first Frisbee.
• January 14 - Humphrey Bogart dies of throat cancer at age 58.
• January 16 - The Cavern Club opens in Liverpool.
• January 16 - Arturo Toscanini dies of a stroke at age 89.
• January 20 - Dwight D. Eisenhower inaugurated for second term as President of the United States.
• January 22 - Israel withdraws from the Sinai Peninsula (they captured it from Egypt in a battle on October 29, 1956).
• January 22 - The New York City "Mad Bomber," George P. Metesky, is arrested in Waterbury, Connecticut and is charged with planting more than 30 bombs.
• January 23 - Ku Klux Klan members force truck driver Willie Edwards to jump off a bridge into the Alabama River - he drowns as a result.
• January 31 - Three students on a junior high school playground in Pacoima, California are among the eight persons killed following the mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet in the skies above the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles.

February

• February 4 - France prohibits UN involvement in Algeria.
• February 15 - Andrei Gromyko becomes foreign minister of Soviet Union.

March

Flag of Ghana, the first country in colonial Africa to gain independence

• March 1 - U Nu becomes Prime Minister of Burma.
• March 1 - Arturo Lezama becomes President of the National Council of Government of Uruguay.
• March 1 - Sud Aviation forms from a merger between SNCASE (Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud Est) and SNCASO (Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud Ouest).
• March 3 - Net als toen by Corry Brokken (music by Guus Jansen, text by Willy van Hemert) wins Eurovision Song Contest 1957 for Netherlands
• March 6 - United Kingdom colonies Gold Coast and British Togoland become the independent Republic of Ghana.
• March 7 - Congress approves the Eisenhower Doctrine.
• March 8 - Egypt re-opens the Suez Canal.
• March 10 - Floodgates of The Dalles Dam are closed inundating Celilo Falls and ancient Indian fisheries along the Columbia River in Oregon.
• March 13 - The FBI arrests Jimmy Hoffa and charges him with bribery
• March 14 - President Sukarno declares martial law in Indonesia.
• March 20 - French newspaper L'Express reveals that the French army tortures Algerian prisoners.
• March 25 - Treaty of Rome (patto di Roma) establishes the European Economic Community (EEC); see EU.

April

• April 1 - The first new conscripts join the Bundeswehr.
• April 5 - First elected government of Kerala. CPI won the elections and E. M. S. Namboodiripad became the first chief minister of united Kerala.
• April 9 - Egypt reopens Suez Canal for all shipping.
• April 12 - United Kingdom announces that Singapore will gain self rule January 1 1958.
• April 12 - Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl, printed in England, is seized by U.S. customs officials on the grounds of obscenity.
• April 17 - Brecon Beacons is designated a national park.

May

• May 2 - Vincent Gigante fails to assassinate mafioso Frank Costello. Senator Joseph McCarthy dies.
• May 3 - Walter O'Malley, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, agrees to move the team from Brooklyn, New York, to Los Angeles, California.
• May 15 - Stanley Matthews plays his final international game, ending an English record international career of almost 23 years.
• May 16 - Paul-Henri Spaak becomes the new Secretary General of NATO.

June

• June 9 - First ascent of Broad Peak.
• June 15 - Eindhoven University of Technology is founded.
• June 21 - John Diefenbaker becomes Canada's thirteenth prime minister.
• June 25 - United Church of Christ formed in Cleveland, Ohio by merger of Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church.
• June 27 - Hurricane Audrey demolishes Cameron, Louisiana, killing 400 people.

July

• July - International Geophysical Year begins.
• July 16 - United States Marine Major John Glenn flies an F8U supersonic jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds setting a new transcontinental speed record.
• July 25 - Tunisia becomes a republic.
• July 29 - The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.

August

• August 4 - Juan Manuel Fangio, driving for Maserati, wins the Formula One German Grand Prix, clinching (with 4 wins that season) his record fifth world drivers championship, including his fourth consecutive championship (also a record); these two records would endure for nearly half a century.
• August 21 - Eisenhower announces a 2-year suspension of nuclear testing.
• August 31 - The Federation of Malaya gains independence from the United Kingdom. Tuanku Abdul Rahman ibni Almarhum Tuanku Muhammad, Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan becomes the first Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaya.

September

• September 4 - American Civil Rights Movement: Little Rock Crisis - Orville Faubus, governor of Arkansas, calls out the US National Guard to prevent black students from enrolling in Central High School in Little Rock.
• September 4 - The Ford Motor Company introduces the Edsel on what the company proclaims as "E Day."
• September 5 - The first edition of Jack Kerouac's On the Road went on sale.
• September 21 - Olav V becomes King of Norway on the death of Haakon VII.

October

• October 4 - Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth.
• October 9 - Neil H. McElroy was sworn in as the 6th Secretary of Defense of United States.
• October 10 - US President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologizes to the finance minister of Ghana, Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, after he was refused service in a Dover, Delaware restaurant.
• October 11 - Radio telescope of Jodrell Bank, Cheshire, UK, opened.
• October 23 - Morocco begins its invasion of Ifni.
• October 25 - Assassination of a Mafia boss Albert Anastasia in a barber shop in Park Sheraton Hotel.
• October 27 - Celal Bayar re-elected president of Turkey.

November

• November 1 - The Mackinac Bridge, the world's longest suspension bridge between anchorages at the time, opens to traffic connecting Michigan's two peninsulas.
• November 3 - Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2. On board is the first animal to enter space - a dog named Laika.
• November 6 - Jailhouse Rock opens nationally and Elvis Presley continues to gain more notoriety.
• November 7 - Cold War: In the United States, the Gaither Report calls for more American missiles and fallout shelters.
• November 13 – Invention of the laser by Gordon Gould.
• November 13 - Flooding in the Po River valley of Italy leads to the flooding also in Venice.
• November 14 - Apalachin Meeting - The leaders of the American Mafia meet at a convention in Apalachin, New York at the house of Joseph Barbara. It is broken up by a curious patrolman.
• November 15 - Plane crash in the Isle of Wight leaves 43 dead.
• November 16 - Serial killer Edward Gein murders his last victim, Bernice Worden of Plainfield, Wisconsin.
• November 25 - President Eisenhower has a stroke.
• November 30 - Grenade attack against Indonesian president Sukarno in Cikini School in Jakarta. Six children are killed, Sukarno survives unscathed.

December

• December 1 - In Indonesia, Sukarno announces nationalization of 246 Dutch businesses.
• December 4 - Lewisham train disaster in UK leaves 92 dead.
• December 5 - All 326,000 Dutch nationals are expelled from Indonesia.
• December 6 - First U.S. attempt to launch a satellite fails, the rocket blowing up on the launch pad.

Undated

• Consumers' Association founded (UK).
• Project Orion begins, a U.S. program to build a spacecraft powered by nuclear explosions.
• Civil Rights Commission established under the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
• IBM makes FORTRAN scientific programming language available to customers. It becomes the most widely used computer language for technical work.
• Citroën stops production of its Traction Avant motor car (production started in 1934).
• The Piña Colada was invented by Ramon Marrero, a bartender at Puerto Rico's Caribe Hilton. [1]
• SPUR is founded
• In December of that year, the CBS afternoon anthology series Seven Lively Arts presents Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker on television for the first time.

Environmental change

• The Africanized bee is accidentally released in Brazil.
• The Asian Flu pandemic begins in China.

Births

January

• January 6 - Nancy Lopez, American golfer
• January 7 - Nicholson Baker, American novelist
• January 7 - Katie Couric, American television host
• January 7 - Julian Solis, Puerto Rican boxer
• January 11 - Robert Earl Keen, American musician and singer
• January 12 - John Lasseter, American director, writer, and animator
• January 15 - Mario Van Peebles, Mexican-born actor and director
• January 15 - Patrick Dixon, British business guru and author
• January 19 - Katey Sagal, American actress, singer, and writer
• January 22 - Mike Bossy, Canadian hockey player
• January 23 - Princess Caroline of Monaco
• January 24 - Adrian Edmondson, British comedian
• January 29 - Grazyna Miller, Polish poet
• January 30 - Payne Stewart, American golfer (d. 1999)

February

• February 4 - Don Davis, American composer
• February 4 - Harry G. Pellegrin, American musician and novelist
• February 5 - Jackie Woodburne, Australian actress
• February 6 - Kathy Najimy, American actress and comedian
• February 6 - Robert Townsend, American comedian, actor, director, and producer
• February 8 - Cindy Wilson, American singer (The B-52's)
• February 9 - John Axon, British railwayman
• February 9 - Gordon Strachan, Scottish footballer and manager
• February 16 - LeVar Burton, American actor
• February 16 - James Ingram, American singer
• February 18 - Vanna White, American game show presenter
• February 19 - Falco, Austrian musician (d. 1998)
• February 27 - Viktor Markin, Russian athlete
• February 28 - Ian Smith, New Zealand cricketer

March

• March 3 - Eric Walters, Canadian author
• March 5 - Ray Suarez, American journalist
• March 10 - Osama bin Laden, Saudi-born Islamic extremist
• March 12 - Steve Harris, British bassist (Iron Maiden)
• March 17 - Mal Donaghy, Northern Irish footballer
• March 20 - Spike Lee, American film director and actor
• March 29 - Christophe Lambert, American-born actor
• March 30 - Paul Reiser, American actor
• March 31 - Marc McClure, American actor

April

• April 4 - Aki Kaurismäki, Finnish film director
• April 4 - Nobuyoshi Kuwano, Japanese television performer and musician (Rats & Star)
• April 5 - Ivan Corea, Sri Lankan autism campaigner
• April 8 - Henry Cluney, Irish musician
• April 9 - Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer
• April 29 - Daniel Day-Lewis, English-born actor

May

• May 3 - William Clay Ford, Jr., American automobile executive
• May 3 - Jo Brand, English comedian
• May 10 - Sid Vicious, English bassist (Sex Pistols) (d. 1979)
• May 21 - Judge Reinhold, American actor
• May 21 - Renée Soutendijk, Dutch actress
• May 22 - Gary Sweet, Australian actor
• May 26 - Margaret Colin, American actress
• May 27 - Siouxsie Sioux, British singer (Siouxsie and the Banshees)
• May 28 - Kirk Gibson, baseball player
• May 29 - Jeb Hensarling, American politician

June

• June 1 - Dorota Kędzierzawska, Polish film director
• June 2 - King Lizzard, American entertainer
• June 3 - Horst-Ulrich Hänel, German field hockey player
• June 8 - Scott Adams, American cartoonist
• June 10 - Hidetsugu Aneha, Japanese architect
• June 11 - Jamaaladeen Tacuma, American musician
• June 12 - Javed Miandad, Pakistani cricketer
• June 19 - Anna Lindh, Swedish politician (d. 2003)
• June 23 - Frances McDormand, American actress
• June 27 - Georgi Parvanov, President of Bulgaria

July

• July 2 - Bret Hart, Canadian professional wrestler
• July 3 - Laura Branigan, American singer (d. 2004)
• July 11 - Peter Murphy, British singer (Bauhaus)
• July 13 - Cameron Crowe, American writer and film director
• July 17 - Fern Britton, British television presenter
• July 23 - Theo van Gogh, Dutch film director (d. 2004)
• July 26 - Nana Visitor, American actress
• July 27 - Bill Engvall, American comedian
• July 29 - Nellie Kim, Russian gymnast

August

• August 6 - Jim McGreevey, Governor of New Jersey
• August 7 - Mark Bagley, American comic book artist
• August 7 - Alexander Dityatin, Soviet gymnast
• August 9 - Melanie Griffith, American actress
• August 11 - Richie Ramone, American drummer (The Ramones)
• August 17 - Robin Cousins, British figure skater
• August 18 - Carole Bouquet, French actress
• August 19 - Li-Young Lee, Indonesian-born poet
• August 18 - Denis Leary, American comedian and actor
• August 22 - Steve Davis, British snooker player
• August 24 - Stephen Fry, British comedian, author, and actor
• August 27 - Bernhard Langer, German golfer
• August 28 - Daniel Stern, American actor

September

• September 1 - Gloria Estefan, Cuban-born singer
• September 12 - Rachel Ward, British actress
• September 16 - David McCreery, Irish footballer
• September 19 - Chris Daniel, President of Torrid (retail chain president)
• September 22 - Nick Cave, Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter and actor

October

• October 4 - Alexander Tkachev, Soviet gymnast
• October 7 - Jayne Torvill, British ice skater
• October 11 - Dawn French, British comedian
• October 14 - Kenny Neal, American guitarist
• October 21 - Wolfgang Ketterle, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• October 26 - Bob Golic, American football player
• October 27 - Jeff East, American actor
• October 31 - Robert Pollard, American musician

November

• November 6 - Klaus Kleinfeld, German business executive
• November 7 - Christopher Knight, American actor
• November 15 - Kevin Eubanks, American jazz guitarist
• November 24 - Denise Crosby, American actress
• November 27 - Kenny Acheson, Irish race car driver
• November 30 - Colin Mochrie, Scottish-born comedian

December

• December 6 - Thomas Brinkman, American politician
• December 8 - Phil Collen, British singer and guitarist (Def Leppard)
• December 9 - Donny Osmond, American singer
• December 10 - Michael Clarke Duncan, American actor
• December 13 - Steve Buscemi, American actor
• December 13 - Morris Day, American musician (The Time (Band))
• December 13 - Jean-Marie Messier, French businessman
• December 20 - Billy Bragg, British singer
• December 20 - Joyce Hyser, American actress
• December 20 - Anna Vissi, Greek singer
• December 21 - Tom Henke, baseball player
• December 21 - Ray Romano, American actor and comedian
• December 24 - Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan
• December 25 - Shane McGowan, Irish singer and songwriter (The Pogues)
• December 30 - Matt Lauer, American newscaster

Unknown date

• Walter Moers, German comic artist and writer
• Eugene Spafford, American computer scientist

Deaths

January

• January 10 - Gabriela Mistral, Chilean writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1889)
• January 14 - Humphrey Bogart, American actor (b. 1899)
• January 16 - Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor (b. 1867)

February

• February 1 - Friedrich Paulus, German field marshall (b. 1890)
• February 8 - Walther Bothe, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)
• February 8 - John von Neumann, Hungarian-born mathematician (b. 1903)
• February 9 - Miklós Horthy, Hungarian admiral and regent (b. 1868)
• February 9 - John Axon, British railwayman and hero
• February 10 - Laura Ingalls Wilder, American author (b. 1867)
• February 16 - Józef Hofmann, Polish-born pianist and composer (b. 1876)
• February 18 - Henry Norris Russell, American astronomer (b. 1877)
• February 25 - Bugs Moran, American gangster (b. 1893)

March

• March 11 - Richard E. Byrd, American explorer (b. 1888)
• March 16 - Constantin Brancusi, Romanian sculptor (b. 1876)
• March 17 - Ramon Magsaysay, President of the Philippines (b. 1907)
• March 25 - Max Ophüls, German film director and writer (b. 1902)
• March 29 - Joyce Cary, Irish author (b. 1888)

April-May

• April 4 - E. Herbert Norman, Canadian diplomat
• April 15 - Pedro Infante, Mexican actor and singer (b. 1917)
• May 2 - Joseph McCarthy, U.S. Senator (b. 1908)
• May 9 - Ezio Pinza, Italian bass (b. 1892)
• May 14 - Marie Vassilieff, Russian artist (b. 1884)
• May 16 - Eliot Ness, American Federal Bureau of Investigation agent (b. 1903)
• May 31 - Leopold Staff, Polish poet (b. 1878)

June

• June 17 - Dorothy Richardson, English feminist writer (b. 1873)
• June 21 - Johannes Stark, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)
• June 26 - Alfred Döblin, German writer (b. 1878)
• June 27 - Malcolm Lowry, English novelist (b. 1909)
• June 27 - Hermann Buhl, Austrian mountaineer (b. 1924)

July

• July 4 - Judy Tyler, American actress (b. 1933)
• July 24 - Sacha Guitry, Russian-born playwright, actor, and director (b. 1885)
• July 28 - Edith Abbott, American social worker, educator, and author (b. 1876)

August

• August 5 - Heinrich Otto Wieland, German chemist, Nobel Prize larueate (b. 1877)
• August 7 - Oliver Hardy, American actor (b. 1892)
• August 16 - Irving Langmuir, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)
• August 19 - David Bomberg, English painter (b. 1890)

September

• September 1 - Dennis Brain, English French horn player (b. 1921)
• September 20 - Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer (b. 1865)
• September 21 - Haakon VII of Norway (b. 1872)
• September 22 - Toyoda Soemu, Japanese admiral (b. 1885)

October

• October 25 - Albert Anastasia, American gangster (b. 1902)
• October 25 - Edward Plunkett, Baron Dunsany, Irish author (b. 1878)
• October 26 - Gerty Cori, Austrian-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1896)
• October 29 - Louis B. Mayer, American film producer (b. 1885)

November

• November 4 - William Haywood, British architect (b. 1876)
• November 4 - Shoghi Effendi, Lebanese Bahá'í leader (b. 1897)
• November 24 - Diego Rivera, Mexican painter (b. 1886)
• November 29 - Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Austrian composer (b. 1897)
• November 30 - Beniamino Gigli, Italian tenor (b. 1890)

December

• December 21 - Eric Coates, English composer (b. 1886)

Nobel prizes

• Physics - Chen Ning Yang, Tsung-Dao Lee
• Chemistry - Lord Alexander R. Todd
• Physiology or Medicine - Daniel Bovet
• Literature - Albert Camus
• Peace - Lester Bowles Pearson

Ship events

• List of ship launches in 1957
• List of ship commissionings in 1957
• List of ship decommissionings in 1957

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