The Year 1956 From The People History

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 revolutionaries 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 Dissapears on May 9th "Buster" Crabb is later 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