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 57.
• 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 26 - The Planetarium of the Park of Ibirapuera, which was the first Planetarium in the Southern Hemisphere, is inaugurated in the city of São Paulo, Brazil.
• 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.
• February 16 - The "Toddlers' Truce", a controversial television closedown between 6.00pm and 7.00pm was abolished in the United Kingdom

March

• 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 1 - Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat is published.
• 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 nation 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.
• April 17 - suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams found not guilty of murder at the Old Baley.

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.
• May 16 - Elliot Ness dies

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 6 - John Lennon and Paul McCartney meet for the very first time, as teenagers, three years before forming the Beatles.
• 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 - Habib Bourguiba becomes the first president of Tunisia. 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 28 - Senator Strom Thurmond (R-SC) set the record for the longest filibuster with his 24-hour, 18-minute speech railing against a civil rights bill.
• 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 1 - 175 die in Jamaica's worst railway disaster.
• September 4 - American Civil Rights Movement: Little Rock Crisis - Orville Faubus, governor of Arkansas, calls out the US National Guard to prevent African-American 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 9 - Catholic Memorial opened it's doors for the first time in Boston.
• September 21 - Olav V becomes King of Norway on the death of Haakon VII.
• September 23 - Academy Award-winning The Three Faces of Eve is released.
• September 24 - President Eisenhower sends federal troops to Arkansas to provide safe passage into Central High School for the Little Rock Nine.

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 21 - 95 die as two trains collide in Turkey.
• 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.
• Foundation of the Confederation of African Football

Environmental change

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

Births

January

• January 1 - Ewa Kasprzyk, Polish actress
• January 1 - Luis Guzmán, Puerto Rican actor
• January 6 - Nancy Lopez, American golfer
• January 7 - Nicholson Baker, American novelist
• January 7 - Katie Couric, American television host
• January 7 - Hannu Kamppuri, Finnish ice hockey goaltender
• 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 13 - Lorrie Moore, American writer
• January 14 - Anchee Min, Chinese writer
• January 15 - Mario Van Peebles, Mexican-born actor and director
• January 15 - Patrick Dixon, British business guru and author
• 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 - 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 4 - Rick Mast, former American NASCAR driver
• March 4 - Jim Dwyer, American journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner
• March 5 - Ray Suarez, American journalist
• March 9 - Mark Mancina, American composer
• March 9 - Faith Daniels, American journalist
• March 9 - Mona Sahlin, Swedish politician
• March 10 - Osama bin Laden, Saudi-born Islamic extremist
• March 11 - Rupert Murdoch, Australian-born media mogul
• March 12 - Steve Harris, British bassist (Iron Maiden)
• March 17 - Mal Donaghy, Northern Irish footballer
• March 18 - György Pazdera, Hungarian bassist (Pokolgép)
• March 20 - Spike Lee, American film director and actor
• March 20 - Genie Davis, American writer
• March 29 - Christopher Lambert, American-born actor
• March 30 - Paul Reiser, American actor
• March 31 - Marc McClure, American actor

April

• April 1 - Denise Nickerson, American child actress
• 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 11 - Michael Card, American musician
• April 13 - Gary Kroeger, American comedian
• 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 23 - Jimmy McShane (aka. Baltimora) Northern Irish dancer (d. 1995)
• May 22 - Gary Sweet, Australian actor
• May 26 - Margaret Colin, American actress
• May 26 - Pontso S.M. Sekatle, Lesotho academic and politician
• May 27 - Siouxsie Sioux, British singer (Siouxsie and the Banshees)