Fifty years ago this year, that is, 1959, was a busy year. Read on to learn what happened, and what was going on in 1959; some things are pretty significant, some not so.
January 3, 1959 Alaska becomes the 49th state.
January 12, 1959 Barry Gordy, Jr. founds Motown Records.
February 3, 1949 The plane carrying Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and The Big Bopper crashes in Iowa; all aboard are killed. The crash serves as the inspiration for Don McLean’s 1972 song ‘American Pie.
February 22, 1959 The first Daytona 500 race is held; Lee Petty wins.
March 9, 1959 Barbie makes her debut.
March 10, 1959 After 10 years of Chinese Occupation in Tibet, there is an uprising in Lhasa.
March 31, 1959 The Dalai Lama leaves Tibet, and is granted asylum in India. He remains in exile.
April 9, 1959 NASA announces the names of seven men who will become the first US astronauts. They are Alan Shepard, Jr., Virgil (Gus) Grissom, John Glenn, Jr., Malcolm Scott Carpenter, Walter (Wally) Schirra, Jr., Leroy Gordon Cooper, Jr., and Donald (Deke) Slayton. Shepard was the first person in space. Grissom was killed in 1967 during a training mission for Apollo 1, when the command module caught on fire. Glenn was the first person to orbit the earth, and the only to fly in the first and most recent US space programs.
May 4, 1959 The first Grammy Awards were given out. Henry Mancini won Album of the Year.
June 3, 1959 The first class graduated from the United States Air Force Academy; 207 officers were commissioned.
June 4, 1959 The last Three Stooges film, entitled ‘Sappy Bull Fighters,’ was released.
June 16, 1959 George Reeves, who starred in “The Adventures of Superman,’ was found dead at his home. The determination that he killed himself has been disputed for years; a 2006 movie, ‘Hollywoodland,’ presents an alternate theory of his death.
July 4, 1959 The 49-star flag debuts in Philadelphia. It soon becomes outdated.
July 13, 1959 An accident occurs at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, a nuclear power plant in California.
August 1, 1959 John Gotti is arrested for the first time at the age of 18.
August 21, 1959 Hawaii is admitted as the 50th state. William Quinn takes the oath of office and becomes governor. President Eisenhower signs the executive order to create the 50-star flag.
September 8, 1959 President Eisenhower signs a bill to protect wild Mustangs.
September 12, 1959 Bonanza premiered on NBC. It ran for 14 seasons.
October 2, 1959 The Twilight Zone premieres on CBS. It ran for 5 seasons, and can still be seen today.
October 21, 1959 The Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright opens in New York City.
November 15, 1959 The Clutter Family, Herb and his wife Bonnie, and their children Nancy and Kenyon, were murdered in Holcomb, Kansas. This murder was the basis for Truman Capote’s book, ‘In Cold Blood.’ His book was first published as a serial in ‘The New Yorker,’ starting in 1965.
December 13, 1959 ‘The Wizard of Oz’ is shown on television for the second time. It is a huge success, and thereafter becomes an annual occurrence.
Here are some other things that happened in 1959, but that cannot be attributed to a specific date.
Pantyhose was invented by Glen Raven Mills.
The Caspian Tiger, a Siberian Tiger , goes extinct in Iran.
The Los Angeles Dodgers were World Series Champs.
Robert Lewis Taylor won the Pulitzer Prize for “Travels of Jaimie McPheeters.’
Mary Ann Mobley was named Miss America.
Ben Hur won the Oscar as Best Picture.
Sources:
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1959
Remember When 1959 Memories, published by Seek Publishing
