1959 in the United States

Events from the year 1959 in the United States. With the admittance of Alaska and Hawaii, this is the last year in which states are added to the union.

Incumbents

Federal government">Federal government of the United States">Federal government

President: Dwight D. Eisenhower
[Vice President of the United States|President of the United States|Vice President]: Richard Nixon
Chief Justice: Earl Warren
Speaker of the House of Representatives: Sam Rayburn
Senate Majority Leader: Lyndon B. Johnson
Congress: 85th, 86th

Events

January–March

January 2 — CBS Radio ends four soap operas: Backstage Wife, Our Gal Sunday, The Road of Life and This is Nora Drake.
January 3 — Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
January 7 — The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.
January 12 – The Motown record label is founded as Tamla by Berry Gordy in Detroit.
January 22 — Knox Mine Disaster: Water breaches the River Slope Mine near Pittston City in Port Griffith, Pennsylvania; 12 miners are killed.
January 29 — Walt Disney releases his 16th animated film, Sleeping Beauty, in Beverly Hills. It is the final fairy tale adaptation released by Disney during his lifetime and the last the studio will produce until 1989's The Little Mermaid; also Disney's first animated film to be shown in 70mm and modern 6-track stereophonic sound. Also on the program is Disney's new "pictorial interpretation" Grand Canyon, which uses the music of Ferde Grofé's Grand Canyon Suite. Grand Canyon wins an Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject).
February 3
* A chartered plane transporting musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper crashes in foggy conditions near Clear Lake, Iowa, killing all four occupants on board, including pilot Roger Peterson. The tragedy is later termed "The Day the Music Died", popularized in Don McLean's 1971 song "American Pie". Future country star Waylon Jennings was scheduled to be on the plane, but gave up his seat to The Big Bopper.
* 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 13 — TAT-2, AT&T's second transatlantic telephone cable, goes into operation.
February 17 — The Vanguard II weather satellite is launched to measure cloud cover for the United States Navy.
February 22 — Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.
March 1 —,, and are stricken from the Naval Vessel Register.
March 3 — Lunar probe Pioneer 4 becomes the first American object to escape dominance by Earth's gravity.
March 11 — A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry opens on Broadway in New York City.
March 18 — U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill allowing for Hawaiian statehood.
March 31 — The first Busch Gardens amusement park, in Tampa, Florida, is dedicated and opens its gates.

April–June

April 6 — The 31st Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Jerry Lewis, Mort Sahl, Tony Randall, Bob Hope, David Niven and Laurence Olivier, is held at Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. Vincente Minnelli's Gigi wins a record nine awards, including Best Motion Picture and Best Director for Minnelli. The film's clean sweep of all nine of its nominations will not be tied again until 1988, and will not be broken until 2004. Gigi is also equalled in nominations by Stanley Kramer's The Defiant Ones.
April 9 — NASA announces its selection of the "Mercury Seven", seven military pilots to become the first U.S. astronauts.
April 25 — The Saint Lawrence Seaway linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean officially opens to shipping.
May 8 — The first Little Caesars pizza restaurant is opened by Mike Ilitch and his wife Marian in Garden City, Michigan.
May 21 — Gypsy: A Musical Fable, starring Ethel Merman in her last new musical, opens on Broadway and runs for 702 performances.
May 28 — Jupiter AM-18 rocket launches two primates, Miss Baker and Miss Able, into space from Cape Canaveral along with living microorganisms and plant seeds. Successful recovery makes them the first living beings to return safely to Earth after space flight.
June 8 — and the United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.
June 9 — The USS George Washington is launched at Groton, Connecticut, as the first submarine to carry ballistic missiles.
June 14 – At Disneyland in Anaheim, California, new rides are opened in the Tomorrowland area:
* The Disneyland Monorail, the world's first regularly operating passenger-carrying monorail, dedicated by U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon.
* The Matterhorn Bobsleds, the world's first tubular steel roller coaster.
June 23 — Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after nine years in a British prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany.
June 25 — A KH-1 Corona satellite, believed to be the first operational spy satellite, is launched as science mission 'Discoverer 4' from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, aboard a Thor-Agena rocket.
June 26
* Queen Elizabeth II and U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower open the Saint Lawrence Seaway.
* Darby O'Gill and the Little People, a film based on Herminie T. Kavanagh's short stories, is released in the U.S. by Walt Disney, two days after its world premiere in Ireland.

July–September

July 8 — Charles Ovnand and Dale R. Buis become the first Americans killed in action in Vietnam.
July 15 — Steel strike of 1959: Labor union strike in the U.S. steel industry.
July 21 — Grove Press, Inc. v. Christenberry decided, affirming that copies of Lady Chatterley's Lover may be distributed in the U.S. under the First Amendment.
July 24
* At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and USSR Premier Nikita Khrushchev have a "kitchen debate."
* 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.
August 7
* Explorers program: Launch of Explorer 6 satellite 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 17
* The 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake in southwest Montana kills 28.
* Miles Davis' influential jazz album Kind of Blue is released.
August 21 — Hawaii is admitted as the 50th and last U.S. state.
August 22 — American Football League founded by Lamar Hunt
August 28–September 7 — The 1959 Pan American Games are held in Chicago.
September 15-28 — Premier of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev and his wife tour the U.S. at the invitation of President 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.

October–December

October 2 — Rod Serling's classic anthology series The Twilight Zone premieres on CBS.
October 8 — The Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Chicago White Sox, 4 games to 2, to win their 2nd World Series Title in baseball.
October 13 — Launch of Explorer 7 satellite.
October 21 — The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of modern art opens to the public in New York City.
November 15 — The brutal Clutter family murders are committed in Holcomb, Kansas.
November 18 — MGM's widescreen, multimillion-dollar, Technicolor version of Ben-Hur, starring Charlton Heston, is released and becomes the studio's greatest hit up to this time. It is critically acclaimed and eventually wins 11 Academy Awards — a record held until 1998.
November 22 — Boston Patriots founded by William H. Sullivan
November 25 — Nick Van Til and Ernie Strack open the first Strack & Van Til grocery store in Highland, Lake County, Indiana.
November — The MOSFET, also known as the MOS transistor, is invented by Mohamed Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs.
December 1 — Cold War: Antarctic Treaty — 12 countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union, sign a landmark treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on that continent.
December 13 — Three years after its first telecast, MGM's The Wizard of Oz (1939 film) is shown on television for the second time, but gains a larger viewing audience than its first television outing, spurring CBS to make it an annual tradition.

Undated

The Supremes girl group is founded as The Primettes in Detroit.
Car tailfin design reaches its apex with such as the Cadillac Eldorado, Chevrolet Impala second generation model, Dodge Silver Challenger and Imperial Crown Sedan.
The Henney Kilowatt goes on sale in the U.S., becoming the first production electric car in almost three decades, but only 47 models will be sold in its 2-year production run.
Nylon pantyhose are first sold on the open market as 'Panti-Legs' by Glen Raven Knitting Mills.
First femur of Arlington Springs Man is found on Santa Rosa Island, California, by Phil C. Orr. The remains are subsequently dated to 13,000 years BP, making them potentially the oldest known human remains in North America.

Ongoing

Births

January

January 1 - Andy Andrews, tennis player
January 2 - Joe Bevilacqua, radio producer and dramatist
January 5 - Clancy Brown, actor and voice actor
January 9
* Mark Martin, race car driver and coach
* Otis Nixon, baseball player
January 10 - Larry McReynolds, auto racing commentator
January 15 - Kenny Easley, American football player
January 27 - Keith Olbermann, television sports and political commentator
January 28 - Megan McDonald, children's author
January 29 - Michael Sloane, actor, director and screenwriter

February

February 1 - Wade Wilson, American football player and coach
February 4
* Pamelyn Ferdin, actress and activist
* Lawrence Taylor, American football player and sportscaster
February 14 - Renée Fleming, soprano
February 16 - John McEnroe, tennis player
February 18 - James Metzger, businessman and philanthropist
February 19 - Roger Goodell, businessman and football administrator
February 22 - Kyle MacLachlan, actor

March

March 6 - Lars Larson, conservative talk show host
March 8
*Lester Holt, journalist and news anchor
*Kato Kaelin, witness in the O. J. Simpson murder case
March 16 – Flavor Flav, rapper
March 17
* Christian Clemenson, actor
* Danny Ainge, basketball player, coach and baseball player
March 18 - Irene Cara, singer-songwriter and film actress
March 20 - Sting, pro wrestler
March 22 - Matthew Modine, actor
March 31 - Arun Raha, executive director and chief economist for Washington state

April

April 3 - David Hyde Pierce, actor
April 13 - Kim Guadagno, first Lt. Governor of New Jersey
April 15 - Thomas F. Wilson, actor, writer, musician, painter, voice-over artist, stand-up comedian and podcaster
April 18 - Susan Faludi, feminist
April 25 — Tony Phillips, baseball player

May

May 5 - Brian Williams, television journalist
May 8 - Ronnie Lott, American football player and sportscaster
May 12
* Dave Christian, ice hockey player
* Ray Gillen, rock singer-songwriter
* Ving Rhames, African-American actor
May 17 - Jim Nantz, sportscaster
May 19
* Nicole Brown Simpson, second wife of O. J. Simpson and murder victim
* Jim Ward, voice actor
May 21 - Loretta Lynch, 83rd U.S. Attorney General from 2015 to 2017.
May 22 - David Blatt, Israeli-American professional basketball player and coach
May 26 - Kevin Gage, actor
May 25 - Jim Ardis, corporate executive and politician

June

June 3
*John Carlson, radio host
*Sam Mills, American football player
June 6 - Paul Germain, television screenwriter and producer
June 7 - Mike Pence, 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021
June 8 - C.T. Fletcher, powerlifter and bodybuilder
June 9 - Miles O'Brien, television news anchor, pilot
June 10
* Anjani, singer-songwriter and pianist
* Eliot Spitzer, Governor of New York from 2007 to 2008
June 11
* Magnum T. A., wrestler
* Stephen Sweeney, politician
June 13 - Jim Irsay, businessman
June 14 - Marcus Miller, African American jazz musician
June 15 - Eileen Davidson, actress and author
June 16 - The Ultimate Warrior, professional wrestler
June 27 - Jeff Miller, politician

July

July 1 - Dale Midkiff, actor
July 5 - Marc Cohn, singer-songwriter
July 6 - Glenn Kessler, journalist
July 7 - Ben Linder, engineer
July 8 - Robert Knepper, actor
July 9 - Kevin Nash, pro wrestler
July 12 - Rolonda Watts, actress, producer, voiceover artist, novelist, motivational speaker, and television and radio talk show host
July 14 - Susana Martinez, Governor of New Mexico from 2011 to 2019
July 16 - Bob Joles, voice actor and musician
July 21 - Terry Long, football player
July 22 - Ed Tarver, lawyer
July 23 - Carl Phillips, poet
July 26
* Rick Bragg, journalist
* Kevin Spacey, actor and director
July 27 - Hugh Green, American football player
July 28 - Mark Meadows, politician
July 31 - Scott Pilarz, Jesuit priest and academic

August

August 4 - Robbin Crosby, rock guitarist
August 10 - Rosanna Arquette, actress
August 13 - Danny Bonaduce, actor
August 14
* Marcia Gay Harden, actress
* Magic Johnson, African American basketball player
August 15 - Scott Altman, astronaut
August 17
* Jonathan Franzen, novelist
* David Koresh, spiritual leader of the Branch Davidian religious cult
* Brad Wellman, baseball player
August 18 - Dorothy Bush Koch, author and philanthropist
August 19 - Anthony Sowell, serial killer
August 21 - Jim McMahon, American football player
August 26 - Stan Van Gundy, basketball coach
August 29
* Jeff Adachi, attorney
* Timothy Shriver, disability rights activist, film producer, educator and Chairman of Special Olympics

September

September 1
* Keith Clearwater, golfer
* Kenny Mayne, American football player and journalist
* Joe Jusko, illustrator and painter
September 10 - Michael Earl, puppeteer
September 11 - Robert Wrenn, golfer and sportscaster
September 12 - Scott Brown, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts from 2010 to 2013
September 13 - Chris Hansen, journalist
September 14
* Mary Crosby, actress
* Haviland Morris, actress
September 15
* Mark Kirk, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 2010 to 2017
* Mike Reiss, television comedy writer
September 18
* Mark Romanek, filmmaker
* Ryne Sandberg, baseball player
September 21 - Dave Coulier, actor and comedian
September 22 - Saul Perlmutter, astrophysicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2011
September 23 - Jason Alexander, actor
September 24 - Steve Whitmire, puppeteer
September 28
* Steve Hytner, actor
* Laura Bruce, artist

October

October 1 - Brian P. Cleary, humorist, author and poet
October 3
* Fred Couples, golfer
* Greg Proops, comedian
* Jack Wagner, actor
October 5
* Maya Lin, architect and sculptor, designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Civil Rights Memorial
* Kelly Joe Phelps, singer-songwriter and guitarist
* David Shannon, writer and illustrator
October 7 - Clayton Weishuhn, football player
October 8
* Nick Bakay, actor, producer and screenwriter
* Brad Byers, entertainer
* Tim Flakoll, national education expert and politician
* Mike Morgan, baseball player and coach
October 13 - Marie Osmond, country pop singer
October 17 - Richard Roeper, film critic
October 23
* Nancy Grace, television host
* Sam Raimi, film producer, writer and director
* Tommy Vigorito, American football player
* "Weird Al" Yankovic, singer, accordionist and parodist
October 24
* Mike Brewer, baseball player
* Michelle Lujan Grisham, lawyer and politician
* Dave Meltzer, journalist and historian
October 25 - Collette Sunderman, voice director
October 26 - Paul Farmer, anthropologist and physician
October 29 - Jesse Barfield, baseball player and sportscaster

November

November 14 - Bryan Stevenson, lawyer and social justice activist
November 16 - RaeAnn Kelsch, politician
November 17 - William R. Moses, actor
November 19
* Robert Barron, bishop, author and theologian
* Jo Bonner, U.S. Representative for Alabama's 1st congressional district
* Allison Janney, actress
November 20
* Raffi Hovannisian, American-born Armenian politician
* James McGovern, lawyer and politician
* Sean Young, actress

December

December 2 - David Alward, 32nd Premier of New Brunswick
December 10 - Mariann Budde, Episcopal Bishop of Washington
December 13 - Johnny Whitaker, actor
December 15 - Betsy Arakawa, musician, wife of Gene Hackman
December 21 - Florence Griffith Joyner, African American athlete
December 24 - Lee Daniels, African American film director
December 25 - Michael P. Anderson, astronaut
December 31
*Al Giordano, journalist and political activist
*Val Kilmer, actor

Deaths

January 21
* Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, actor
* Cecil B. DeMille, film director
January 22 - Elisabeth Moore, tennis player
January 28 - Walter Beall, baseball player
February 3 - "The Day the Music Died" plane crash
*The Big Bopper, disc jockey and singer-songwriter
*Buddy Holly, singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll
*Ritchie Valens, Mexican-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
February 4
* Robert Emerson, scientist
* Una O'Connor, Irish-born American actress
February 7 - Nap Lajoie, baseball player and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame
February 11 - Marshall Teague, race car driver
February 14 - Baby Dodds, jazz drummer
February 20 - Ray McDonald, dancer,
February 22 - Helen Parrish, film actress, cancer
February 23 - Joseph DuMoe, football coach
February 28
* Beatrix Farrand, landscape gardener and architect
* Maxwell Anderson, playwright, author, poet, journalist, and lyricist
* Mack Gordon, lyricist
March 3 - Lou Costello, actor and comedian, part of Abbott & Costello team
March 4 - Maxie Long, track athlete
March 15 - Duncan Hines, author and food critic
March 16 - John Sailing, last documented Civil War veteran
March 26 - Raymond Chandler, American-British novelist and screenwriter
March 27 - Grant Withers, American actor
March 30 - Reginald R. Belknap, United States Navy rear admiral
April 9 - Frank Lloyd Wright, architect, interior designer, writer and educator
April 13 - James Gleason, actor, playwright, and screenwriter
April 17 - Cecil Cunningham, American actress
April 18 - Irving Cummings, actor and director
April 27 - Gordon Armstrong, inventor of the baby incubator
May 3 - Troy Sanders, film score composer
May 4 - William S. Pye, admiral
May 14 - Sidney Bechet, jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer
May 15 - Joe Cook, actor
May 23 - Earl D. Hall, Wisconsin politician
May 24 - John Foster Dulles, politician, lawyer, and diplomat
May 26 - Ed Walsh, baseball player
June 2 - Orelia Key Bell, poet
June 12 - Clyde E. Elliott, American director, producer and writer
June 16 - George Reeves, actor
June 18 - Ethel Barrymore, actress
June 22 - Bruce Harlan, diver
June 25 - Charles Starkweather, spree killer, judicially executed by electrocution
July 8 - 1st Americans killed in Vietnam War
*Dale R. Buis, military advisor
*Chester M. Ovnand, military advisor
July 17 - Billie Holiday, jazz singer
July 20 - William D. Leahy, naval officer
July 30 - Heinie Conklin, actor
August 6 - Preston Sturges, playwright, screenwriter, and film director
August 8 - Henry St. George Tucker, Episcopal bishop and reverend
August 16
* Benny Fields, singer
* William Halsey Jr., U.S. vice-admiral
August 16 - Blind Willie McTell, blues and ragtime singer and guitarist
September 1 - Jack Norworth, songwriter, singer, and vaudeville performer
September 6 - Edmund Gwenn, British actor
September 11 - Paul Douglas, actor
September 13 - Adrian, costume designer
September 14 - Wayne Morris, actor and flying ace
September 24 - James V. Allred, politician, 33rd Governor of Texas
September 25 - Helen Broderick, actress
September 28 - Vincent Richards, tennis player
September 30 - Taylor Holmes, actor
October 7 - Mario Lanza, opera singer
October 11 - Bert Bell, 2nd commissioner of the National Football League
October 12 - Edward Keane, actor
October 14 - Errol Flynn, film actor, heart attack
October 16
* Minor Hall, jazz musician
* George C. Marshall, U.S. army general
October 18 - Edward Hanson, 28th Governor of American Samoa
October 25 - Genevieve R. Cline, jurist
November 4 - Lefty Williams, baseball player
November 7 - Victor McLaglen, British-American actor and boxer
November 21 - Max Baer, heavyweight boxing champion
November 30 - Arthur Q. Bryan, actor, voice actor, comedian and radio personality
December 7 - Charlie Hall, British actor
December 9 - Donald MacDonald, actor
December 12
* Marcella Craft, soprano
* Russell Simpson, actor
December 14 - Edna Wallace Hopper, actress
December 24 - Edmund Goulding, director