What Happened in 1959 — Events, Births & Deaths

Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the Soviet Union.

Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.

Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon.

The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.

Charles de Gaulle is proclaimed as the first President of the French Fifth Republic.

The Vega de Tera dam fails, triggering a disastrous flood that nearly destroys the town of Ribadelago and kills 144 residents.

36 people are killed when Lufthansa Flight 502 crashes on approach to Rio de Janeiro/Galeão International Airport in Brazil.

Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 205 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean near Astor Piazzolla International Airport in Mar del Plata, Argentina, killing 51.

The 41-acre (17 ha) Chain Island is listed for sale by the California State Lands Commission, with a minimum bid of $5,226.

The first Melodifestivalen is held at Cirkus in Stockholm, Sweden.

The forces of the Sultanate of Muscat occupy the last strongholds of the Imamate of Oman, Saiq and Shuraijah, marking the end of Jebel Akhdar War in Oman.

MS Hans Hedtoft, specifically designed to operate in icebound seas, strikes an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sinks, killing all 95 aboard.

Nine experienced ski hikers in the northern Ural Mountains in the Soviet Union die under mysterious circumstances.

Rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson are killed in a plane crash along with the pilot near Clear Lake, Iowa, an event later known as The Day the Music Died.

Sixty-five people are killed when American Airlines Flight 320 crashes into the East River on approach to LaGuardia Airport in New York City.

Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments files the first patent for an integrated circuit.

At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.

The R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile, becomes operational at Plesetsk, USSR.

The Federation of Arab Emirates of the South is created as a protectorate of the United Kingdom.

Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1.

Project Vanguard: Vanguard 2: The first weather satellite is launched to measure cloud-cover distribution.

A Turkish Airlines Vickers Viscount crashes near Gatwick Airport, killing 14; Turkish prime minister Adnan Menderes survives the crash.

The United Kingdom grants Cyprus independence, which is formally proclaimed on August 16, 1960.

The Avro Arrow program to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate.

Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.

Discoverer 1, an American spy satellite that is the first object intended to achieve a polar orbit, is launched but fails to achieve orbit.

The Barbie doll makes its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York.

Tibetan uprising: Fearing an abduction attempt by China, thousands of Tibetans surround the Dalai Lama's palace to prevent his removal.

The Hawaii Admission Act is signed into law.

Chain Island is sold by the State of California to Russell Gallaway III, a Sacramento businessman who plans to use it as a "hunting and fishing retreat", for $5,258.20 ($58,072 in 2025).

The State Council of the People's Republic of China dissolves the government of Tibet.

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, flees Tibet for India.

The 14th Dalai Lama crosses the border into India and is granted political asylum.

A team of computer manufacturers, users, and university people led by Grace Hopper meets to discuss the creation of a new programming language that would be called COBOL.

The Organization of American States drafts an agreement to create the Inter-American Development Bank.

Project Mercury: NASA announces the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the "Mercury Seven".

The Saint Lawrence Seaway, linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opens to shipping.

The 1st Annual Grammy Awards are held.

The Tritons' Fountain in Valletta, Malta is turned on for the first time.

In Cuba, the First Agrarian Reform Law – a cornerstone of the Cuban Revolution – is signed by Fidel Castro, aiming to eliminate large foreign-owned estates and redistribute land to over 100,000 peasants.

The North Vietnamese Army establishes Group 559, whose responsibility is to determine how to maintain supply lines to South Vietnam; the resulting route is the Ho Chi Minh trail.

The Auckland Harbour Bridge, crossing the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand, is officially opened by Governor-General Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham.

The first government of Singapore is sworn in.

USS Barbero and the United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.

The USS George Washington is launched. It is the first nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine.

Disneyland Monorail System, the first daily operating monorail system in the Western Hemisphere, opens to the public in Anaheim, California.

A rare June hurricane strikes Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence killing 35.

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.

Swedish boxer Ingemar Johansson becomes world champion of heavyweight boxing, by defeating American Floyd Patterson on technical knockout after two minutes and three seconds in the third round at Yankee Stadium.

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.

Specific values for the international yard, avoirdupois pound and derived units (e.g. inch, mile and ounce) are adopted after agreement between the US, the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries.

Venus occults the star Regulus. This rare event is used to determine the diameter of Venus and the structure of the Venusian atmosphere.

NS Savannah, the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, is launched as a showcase for Dwight D. Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" initiative.

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.

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".

The Continental League is announced as baseball's "third major league" in the United States.

Portugal's state police force PIDE fires upon striking workers in Bissau, Portuguese Guinea, killing over 50 people.

Explorer program: Explorer 6 launches from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Sheremetyevo International Airport, the second-largest airport in Russia, opens.

Founding and first official meeting of the American Football League.

American Airlines Flight 514, a Boeing 707, crashes near the Calverton Executive Airpark in Calverton, New York, killing all five people on board.

Quake Lake is formed by the magnitude 7.2 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake near Hebgen Lake in Montana.

United States 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.

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.

A parcel bomb sent by Ngô Đình Nhu, younger brother and chief adviser of South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm, fails to kill King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.

The Soviet Union launches a large rocket, Lunik II, at the Moon.

Bonanza, the first regularly scheduled TV program presented in color, is launched in the United States.

Nikita Khrushchev becomes the first Soviet leader to visit the United States.

The first successful photocopier, the Xerox 914, is introduced in a demonstration on live television from New York City.

TAI Flight 307 crashes during takeoff from Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport in Bordeaux, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France, killing 55 people.

S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Ceylon, is mortally shot by a Buddhist monk, Talduwe Somarama, and dies the next day.

Typhoon Vera, the strongest typhoon to hit Japan in recorded history, makes landfall, killing 4,580 people and leaving nearly 1.6 million others homeless.

Typhoon Vera kills nearly 5,000 people in Japan.

A Lockheed L-188 Electra crashes in Buffalo, Texas, killing 34 people.

The Soviet probe Luna 3 transmits the first-ever photographs of the far side of the Moon.

At the national congress of the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance in Peru, a group of leftist radicals are expelled from the party who later form APRA Rebelde.

In New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opens to the public.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower approves the transfer of all US Army space-related activities to NASA, including most of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency.

Aeroflot Flight 200 crashes while attempting to land at Vnukovo International Airport, killing 28.

Piedmont Airlines Flight 349 crashes on approach to Charlottesville–Albemarle Airport in Albemarle County, Virginia, killing 26 of the 27 on board.

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.

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.

Four members of the Clutter family are murdered near Holcomb, Kansas, by Perry Smith and Richard Hickock, a crime later detailed by Truman Capote in his 1966 non-fiction novel In Cold Blood.

National Airlines Flight 967 explodes in mid-air over the Gulf of Mexico, killing all 42 aboard.

Aeroflot Flight 315 crashes on approach to Lviv Airport, killing all 40 people on board.

The Declaration of the Rights of the Child is adopted by the United Nations.

French President Charles de Gaulle declares in a speech in Strasbourg his vision for "Europe, from the Atlantic to the Urals".

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.

The current flag of Singapore is adopted, six months after Singapore became self-governing within the British Empire.

Archbishop Makarios III becomes the first President of Cyprus.