The Year 1956 From The People History

1956 the increase in living standards and the focus on education helped to fuel the increase in college education with 1 in 3 high school graduates now going off to college. TV shows included "As The World Turns" and "The Price is Right". Mothers could now buy disposable diapers and tefal non stick Frying Pans. Elvis Presley appears on the Ed Sullivan show and enters the music charts for the first time, with "Heartbreak Hotel".

What Events Happened in 1956

• Suez Crisis caused by the Egyptian Nationalization of the Suez Canal

• Israel attacks Egypt during Suez Crisis and Britain and France Bomb Egypt

• Following UN resolution condemning the invasion supported by the United States Britain, France and Israel Withdraw forces from Egypt.

• Suez Crisis causes petrol rationing in Britain.

• The First C.N.D. Marches take place at Aldermarston

• Rock and Roll Dance Craze sweeps the World

• Prince Ranier of Monaco marries Grace Kelly

• Pakistan becomes Islamic Republic

• Alabama Bus segregation laws declared illegal by US Supreme Court

• Cuban revoltionaries including Fidel Castro land in Cuba at the start of the Cuban Revolution

• Continued independence granted for colonies in Africa from Britain and France

• US Carries Out H Bomb Tests Bikini Atoll

• Warsaw Pact troops invade Hungary during the The Hungarian October Revolution .

• Elvis Presley releases his first hit

• Premium Bonds introduced in England to encourage saving

• British naval diver "Buster" Crabb Found Dead following covert diving operation on Russian Cruiser

• The Summer Olympics are held in Melbourne, Australia

• Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 signed into law on 29th June for the construction of 41,000 miles of interstate highways over a 20-year period

• 16 year old Pelejoins Brazil's Santos team

• Eight Negro students refused entry to Sturgis High School in Sturgis Kentucky,

• 52 people die when the Italian passenger liner S.S. Andrea Doria collides on July 25th off Nantucket Island, Mass. with the Swedish liner S.S. Stockholm.

• The Winter Olympic Games are held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy

Popular Culture

• Rocky Marciano retires as the only undefeated Heavyweight Champion of the world with a perfect record
• Elvis Presley enters the US music charts for the first time, with " Heartbreak Hotel. " the first of 170 hit singles
• Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time
• Elvis Presley's first movie, "Love Me Tender" opens in New York
• Diamonds Are Forever is published by Ian Fleming
• "My Fair Lady" opens on Broadway starring Julie Andrews as Eliza Doolittle and Rex Harrison as Professor Higgins.

The first half-hour serial "As the World Turns" begins on CBS.

Popular Films

• Guys and Dolls
• The King and I
• Trapeze
• High Society
• Around the World in Eighty Days

Popular Musicians

• Elvis Presley
• Bill Haley and the Comets
• Chuck Berry
• Jerry Lee Lewis
• Johnny Cash
• Ella Fitzgerald
• Dean Martin

Check out our TV Shows From The 50s whenever possible we have included a trailer to jog your memory. Series trailers and more information are found on the decade they started.

Technology 1956

• First hard disk (5MB) invented by IBM.



• Black-and-white portable TV sets hit the market



• The first Transatlantic Telephone Cable goes in operation



• The first commercial videotape recorder the VR-1000 from Ampex Corp goes on sale.



• Tefal starts producing non stick Frying Pans



• Oral Vaccine developed against Polio by Albert Sabin



• Sony exports it's first products to Canada a Transistor Radio


Inventions Invented by Inventors and Country ( or attributed to First Use )
Nuclear Power England first power station at Calder Hall
Video Tape USA
Video Recorder USA

Major World Political Leaders 1956

Australia Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies

Brazil President Nereu Ramos Till 31 January
Brazil President Juscelino Kubitschek From 31 January

Canada Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent

China Chairman of the People's Republic of China Mao Zedong

France President René Coty

Germany Chancellor Konrad Adenauer

India Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru

Italy Prime Minister Antonio Segni

Japan Prime Minister Ichiro Hatoyama Till 23 December
Japan Prime Minister Tanzan Ishibashi From 23 December

Mexico President Adolfo Ruiz Cortines

Russia / Soviet Union
First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev

South Africa Prime Minister Johannes Gerhardus Strijdom

United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower

United Kingdom Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden

Political Elections 1956

United States Presidential Election 1956 Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican) Defeats Adlai Stevenson (Democratic)


The Information above is taken from our new page that gives world leaders from 1920 to current.
WorldLeaders