1959 in the United States

← 1958 1957 1956 1959 in the United States → 1960 1961 1962
Decades:	1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
See also:	History of the United States (1945–1964) Timeline of United States history (1950–1969) List of years in the United States

Dwight Eisenhower, Nikita Khrushchev and their wives at a state dinner, 1959.

Events from the year 1959 in the United States. With the admittance of Alaska and Hawaii, this is the last year in which states are added to the union.

Incumbents

Federal Government

• President: Dwight D. Eisenhower (R-Pennsylvania)
• Vice President: Richard Nixon (R-California)
• Chief Justice: Earl Warren (California)
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Sam Rayburn (D-Texas)
• Senate Majority Leader: Lyndon B. Johnson (D-Texas)
• Congress: 85th (until January 3), 86th (starting January 3)

Governors and Lieutenant Governors

Governors Governor of Alabama: Jim Folsom (Democratic) (until January 19), John M. Patterson (Democratic) (starting January 19) Governor of Alaska: Waino Edward Hendrickson (Republican) (until January 3), William A. Egan (Democratic) (starting January 3) Governor of Arizona: Ernest McFarland (Democratic) (until January 5), Paul Fannin (Republican) (starting January 5) Governor of Arkansas: Orval Faubus (Democratic) Governor of California: Goodwin Knight (Republican) (until January 5), Pat Brown (Democratic) (starting January 5) Governor of Colorado: Stephen L. R. McNichols (Democratic) Governor of Connecticut: Abraham A. Ribicoff (Democratic) Governor of Delaware: J. Caleb Boggs (Republican) Governor of Florida: LeRoy Collins (Democratic) Governor of Georgia: Marvin Griffin (Democratic) (until January 13), Ernest Vandiver (Democratic) (starting January 13) Governor of Hawaii: William F. Quinn (Republican) (starting August 21) Governor of Idaho: Robert E. Smylie (Republican) Governor of Illinois: William G. Stratton (Republican) Governor of Indiana: Harold W. Handley (Republican) Governor of Iowa: Herschel C. Loveless (Democratic) Governor of Kansas: George Docking (Democratic) Governor of Kentucky: Happy Chandler (Democratic) (until December 8), Bert T. Combs (Democratic) (starting December 8) Governor of Louisiana: Earl K. Long (Democratic) Governor of Maine: until January 2: Edmund Muskie (Democratic) January 2-January 7: Robert Haskell (Republican) January 7-December 30: Clinton Clauson (Democratic) starting December 30: John H. Reed (Republican) Governor of Maryland: Theodore R. McKeldin (Republican) (until January 14), J. Millard Tawes (Democratic) (starting January 14) Governor of Massachusetts: Foster Furcolo (Democratic) Governor of Michigan: G. Mennen Williams (Democratic) Governor of Minnesota: Orville L. Freeman (Democratic) Governor of Mississippi: James P. Coleman (Democratic) Governor of Missouri: James T. Blair, Jr. (Democratic) Governor of Montana: J. Hugo Aronson (Republican) Governor of Nebraska: Victor E. Anderson (Republican) (until January 8), Ralph G. Brooks (Democratic) (starting January 8) Governor of Nevada: Charles H. Russell (Republican) (until January 5), Grant Sawyer (Democratic) (starting January 5) Governor of New Hampshire: Lane Dwinell (Republican) (until January 1), Wesley Powell (Republican) (starting January 1) Governor of New Jersey: Robert B. Meyner (Democratic) Governor of New Mexico: Edwin L. Mechem (Republican) (until January 1), John Burroughs (Democratic) (starting January 1) Governor of New York: Nelson Rockefeller (Republican) (starting January 1) Governor of North Carolina: Luther H. Hodges (Democratic) Governor of North Dakota: John E. Davis (Republican) Governor of Ohio: C. William O'Neill (Republican) (until January 12), Michael DiSalle (Democratic) (starting January 12) Governor of Oklahoma: Raymond D. Gary (Democratic) (until January 12), J. Howard Edmondson (Democratic) (starting January 12) Governor of Oregon: Robert D. Holmes (Democratic) (until January 12), Mark Hatfield (Republican) (starting January 12) Governor of Pennsylvania: George M. Leader (Democratic) (until January 20), David L. Lawrence (Democratic) (starting January 20) Governor of Rhode Island: Dennis J. Roberts (Democratic) (until January 6), Christopher Del Sesto (Republican) (starting January 6) Governor of South Carolina: George Bell Timmerman, Jr. (Democratic) (until January 20), Ernest Hollings (Democratic) (starting January 20) Governor of South Dakota: Joe Foss (Republican) (until January 6), Ralph Herseth (Democratic) (starting January 6) Governor of Tennessee: Frank G. Clement (Democratic) (until January 19), Buford Ellington (Democratic) (starting January 19) Governor of Texas: Price Daniel (Democratic) Governor of Utah: George Dewey Clyde (Republican) Governor of Vermont: Joseph B. Johnson (Republican) (until January 8), Robert T. Stafford (Republican) (starting January 8) Governor of Virginia: James Lindsay Almond, Jr. (Democratic) Governor of Washington: Albert D. Rosellini (Democratic) Governor of West Virginia: Cecil H. Underwood (Republican) Governor of Wisconsin: Vernon W. Thomson (Republican) (until January 5), Gaylord A. Nelson (Democratic) (starting January 5) Governor of Wyoming: Milward L. Simpson (Republican) (until January 5), John J. Hickey (Democratic) (starting January 5) Lieutenant Governors Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: William G. Hardwick (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Albert B. Boutwell (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Alaska: Hugh Wade (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas: Nathan Green Gordon (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of California: Harold J. Powers (Republican) (until January 5), Glenn Malcolm Anderson (Democratic) (starting January 5) Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: Frank L. Hays (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Robert Lee Knous (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Charles W. Jewett (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), John N. Dempsey (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: David P. Buckson (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Georgia: S. Ernest Vandiver (Democratic) (until January 13), Garland T. Byrd (Democratic) (starting January 13) Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii: James Kealoha (Republican) (starting August 21) Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: J. Berkeley Larsen (Republican) (until January 5), W. E. Drevlow (Democratic) (starting January 5) Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: John William Chapman (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Crawford F. Parker (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: William H. Nicholas (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Edward J. McManus (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Joseph W. Henkle, Sr. (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Harry Lee Waterfield (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Wilson W. Wyatt (political party unknown) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Lether Frazar (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Robert F. Murphy (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Philip A. Hart (Democratic) (until January 1), John B. Swainson (Democratic) (starting January 1) Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Karl Rolvaag (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: Carroll Gartin (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Edward V. Long (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Montana: Paul Cannon (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: Dwight W. Burney (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Rex Bell (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico: vacant (until January 1), Ed V. Mead (Democratic) (starting January 1) Lieutenant Governor of New York: Malcolm Wilson (Republican) (starting January 1) Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Luther E. Barnhardt (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Francis Clyde Duffy (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Clarence P. Dahl (Republican) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Paul M. Herbert (Republican) (until January 12), John W. Donahey (Democratic) (starting January 12) Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma: Cowboy Pink Williams (Democratic) (until January 12), George Nigh (Democratic) (starting January 12) Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Roy E. Furman (Democratic) (until January 20), John Morgan Davis (Democratic) (starting January 20) Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Armand H. Cote (Democratic) (until January 6), John A. Notte, Jr. (Democratic) (starting January 6) Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Ernest Hollings (Democratic) (until January 20), Burnet R. Maybank, Jr. (Democratic) (starting January 20) Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: L. Roy Houck (Republican) (until January 6), John F. Lindley (Democratic) (starting January 6) Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: Jared Maddux (Democratic) (until January 19), William D. Baird (Democratic) (starting January 19) Lieutenant Governor of Texas: Ben Ramsey (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Robert T. Stafford (Republican) (until January 8), Robert S. Babcock (Republican) (starting January 8) Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Allie Edward Stokes Stephens (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Washington: John Cherberg (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Warren P. Knowles (Republican) (until January 5), Philleo Nash (Democratic) (starting January 5)

Events

January–March

January 3: Alaska admitted as 49th state

• January 2 – CBS Radio cuts four soap operas: Backstage Wife, Our Gal Sunday, The Road of Life and This is Nora Drake.
• January 3 – Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state (see History of Alaska).
• January 7 – The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.
• January 22 – Knox Mine Disaster: Water breaches the River Slope Mine near Pittston City, Pennsylvania in Port Griffith; 12 miners are killed.
• January 29 – Walt Disney releases his 16th animated film, Sleeping Beauty in Beverly Hills.
• February 3 – A chartered plane transporting musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper crashes in foggy conditions near Clear Lake, Iowa, killing all four occupants on board, including pilot Roger Peterson. The tragedy is later termed "The Day the Music Died", popularized in Don McLean's 1972 song "American Pie".
• February 6 – At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.
• February 17 – The United States launches the Vanguard II weather satellite.
• February 22 – Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.
• March 1 – USS Tuscaloosa, USS New Orleans, USS Tennessee and USS West Virginia are struck from the Naval Vessel Register.
• March 3 – Lunar probe Pioneer 4 becomes the first American object to escape dominance by Earth's gravity.
• March 11 – A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry opens on Broadway in New York City.
• March 18 – American President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill allowing for Hawaiian statehood.
• March 31 – The first Busch Gardens amusement park, in Tampa, Florida, is dedicated and opens its gates.

April–June

April 9: NASA announces the "Mercury Seven"

• April 6 – The 31st Academy Awards ceremony is held; Gigi wins Best Picture.
• April 9 – NASA announces its selection of the "Mercury Seven", seven military pilots to become the first U.S. astronauts.
• April 25 – The Saint Lawrence Seaway linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean officially opens to shipping.
• May 8 – The first Little Caesars pizza restaurant is opened by Mike Ilitch and his wife Marian in Garden City, Michigan.
• May 21 – Gypsy: A Musical Fable, starring Ethel Merman in her last new musical, opens on Broadway and runs for 702 performances.
• May 28 – Jupiter AM-18 rocket launches two primates, Miss Baker and Miss Able, into space from Cape Canaveral along with living microorganisms and plant seeds. Successful recovery makes them the first living beings to return safely to Earth after space flight.
• June 8 – USS Barbero and United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.
• June 9 – USS George Washington is launched as the first submarine to carry ballistic missiles.
• June 23 – Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after only nine years in a British prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany (where he resumes a scientific career).
• June 26
  • Queen Elizabeth II and U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower open the Saint Lawrence Seaway.
  • Darby O'Gill and the Little People, a film based on H. T. Kavanagh's short stories, is released in the U.S. by Walt Disney, two days after its world premiere in Ireland.

July–September

August 21: Hawaii admitted as 50th state

• July 8 – Charles Ovnand and Dale R. Buis become the first Americans killed in action in Vietnam.
• July 15 – Steel strike of 1959: Labor union strike in the U.S. steel industry.
• July 24
  • At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and USSR Premier Nikita Khrushchev have a "kitchen debate."
  • With the admission of Alaska as the 49th U.S. state earlier in the year, the 49-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• August 7
  • Explorers program: Launch of Explorer 6 from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
  • The Roseburg Oregon Blast kills 14 and causes $12 million worth of damage.
• August 17
  • The 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake in southwest Montana kills 28.
  • Miles Davis' influential jazz album Kind of Blue is released.
• August 21 – Hawaii is admitted as the 50th and last U.S. state (see History of Hawaii).

October–December

October 21: The Guggenheim opens

• October 2 – Rod Serling's classic anthology series The Twilight Zone premieres on CBS.
• October 8 - The Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Chicago White Sox, 4 games to 2, to win their 2nd World Series Title.
• October 13 – Launch of Explorer 7.
• October 21 – In New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright) opens to the public.
• November 15 – The Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas is brutally murdered.
• November 18 – MGM's widescreen, multimillion-dollar, Technicolor version of Ben-Hur, starring Charlton Heston, is released and becomes the studio's greatest hit up to that time. It is critically acclaimed and eventually wins 11 Academy Awards – a record held until 1998, when 1997's Titanic becomes the first film to equal the record.
• December 1 – Cold War – Antarctic Treaty: 12 countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union, sign a landmark treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on that continent (the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War).
• December 13 – Three years after its first telecast, MGM's The Wizard of Oz is shown on television for only the second time, but it gains an even larger viewing audience than its first television outing, spurring CBS to make it an annual tradition.

File:Potamkin Chevrolet, Philadelphia PA, 1959.jpg

1959: Potamkin Chevrolet, Philadelphia

Undated

• The Henney Kilowatt goes on sale in the United States, becoming the first mass-produced electric car in almost three decades.

Ongoing

• Cold War (1947–1991)
• Space Race (1957–1975)

Births

• January 1 – Andy Andrews, American tennis player
• January 2 – Joe Bevilacqua, radio producer and dramatist
• January 5 – Clancy Brown, actor and voice actor
• January 8 – Keith Rodden, NASCAR crew chief
• January 10 – Larry McReynolds, auto racing commentator
• January 27 – Keith Olbermann, television sports and political commentator
• January 28 – Megan McDonald, children's author
• January 29 – Michael Sloane, actor, director and screenwriter
• February 4 – Pamelyn Ferdin, actress and activist
• February 14 – Renée Fleming, soprano
• February 22 – Kyle MacLachlan, actor
• March 17 – Christian Clemenson, actor
• March 22 – Matthew Modine, actor
• April 3 – David Hyde Pierce, actor
• April 15 – Thomas F. Wilson, actor, writer, musician, painter, voice-over artist, stand-up comedian and podcaster
• May 5 – Brian Williams, television journalist
• May 8 – Ronnie Lott, American football player and sportscaster
• May 17 – Jim Nantz, sportscaster
• May 19 – Nicole Brown Simpson, second wife of American football player and actor O. J. Simpson and murder victim (k. 1994)
• May 21 – Loretta Lynch, 83rd U.S. Attorney General from 2015 to 2017.
• June 3
  • John Carlson, radio host
  • Sam Mills, American football player
• June 6 – Paul Germain, television screenwriter and producer
• June 7 – Mike Pence, 50th Governor of Indiana 2013–2017, 48th Vice President of the United States from 2017
• June 10 – Eliot Spitzer, Governor of New York from 2007 to 2008
• June 11 – Magnum T.A. (Terry Allen), wrestler
• June 14 – Marcus Miller, African American jazz musician
• July 5, Jack Alvis, Legend, Golf expert, and Automobile Doctor
• July 6 – Glenn Kessler, journalist
• July 7 – Ben Linder, engineer (d. 1987)

July 9 - Renee M. Schwartz, A Force to be reckoned with.

• July 14 – Susana Martinez, Governor of New Mexico from 2011 to 2019
• July 23 – Carl Phillips, poet
• July 26 – Kevin Spacey, actor and director
• August 10 – Rosanna Arquette, actress
• August 13 – Danny Bonaduce, actor
• August 14
  • Marcia Gay Harden, actress
  • Magic Johnson, African American basketball player
• August 15 – Scott Altman, astronaut
• August 17
  • Jonathan Franzen, novelist
  • David Koresh, spiritual leader of the Branch Davidian religious cult (d. 1993)
  • Brad Wellman, baseball player
• August 19 – Anthony Sowell, serial killer
• August 21 – Jim McMahon, American football player
• August 26 – Stan Van Gundy, basketball coach
• September 12 – Scott Brown, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts from 2010 to 2013
• September 15 – Mark Kirk, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 2010 to 2017
• September 22 – Saul Perlmutter, astrophysicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2011
• September 23 – Jason Alexander, actor
• October 1 – Brian P. Cleary, humorist, author and poet
• October 3
  • Fred Couples, golfer
  • Greg Proops, comedian
  • Jack Wagner, actor
• October 5 – David Shannon, writer and illustrator
• October 10 – Maya Lin, designer and artist
• October 13 – Marie Osmond, country pop singer
• October 23
  • Nancy Grace, television host
  • Sam Raimi, film producer, writer and director
  • "Weird Al" Yankovic, singer, accordionist and parodist
• October 29 – Jesse Barfield, baseball player and sportscaster
• November 19 – Allison Janney, actress
• November 20 – Sean Young, actress
• December 2 – David Alward, 32nd Premier of New Brunswick 2010-2014
• December 10 – Mariann Budde, Episcopal Bishop of Washington
• December 21 – Florence Griffith Joyner, African American athlete (d. 1998)
• December 24 – Lee Daniels, African American film director
• December 25 – Michael P. Anderson, astronaut (d. 2003)

Deaths

• January 20 – Carl Switzer, actor, shot to death (born 1927)
• January 21 – Cecil B. DeMille, film director (born 1881)
• February 3 – "The Day the Music Died" plane crash
  • Big Bopper, disc jockey, singer and songwriter (born 1930)
  • Buddy Holly, singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll (born 1936)
  • Ritchie Valens, Mexican-American singer, songwriter and guitarist (born 1941)
• February 20 – Ray McDonald, dancer, barbiturate overdose (born 1920)
• February 22 – Helen Parrish, film actress, cancer (born 1924)
• March 3 – Lou Costello, actor and comedian, part of Abbott & Costello team (born 1906)
• March 4 – Maxie Long, track athlete (born 1878)
• March 16 – John Sailing, last documented Civil War veteran (age 111)
• April 9 – Frank Lloyd Wright, architect, interior designer, writer and educator (born 1867)
• April 27 – Gordon Armstrong, inventor of the baby incubator
• May 26 – Joe Kelly, TV host (Quiz Kids) (born 1902)
• June 2 – Orelia Key Bell, poet (born 1864)
• June 16 – George Reeves, actor, shot to death (born 1914)
• June 18 – Ethel Barrymore, actress (born 1879)
• June 25 – Charles Starkweather, spree killer, judicially executed by electrocution (born 1938)
• July 8 – 1st Americans killed in Vietnam War
  • Dale R. Buis, military advisor (born 1921)
  • Chester M. Ovnand, military advisor (born 1914)
• July 17 – Billie Holiday, jazz singer (born 1915)
• August 16 – William Halsey Jr., U.S. vice-admiral (Pacific War) (born 1882)
• October 7 – Mario Lanza, opera singer, heart attack (born 1921)
• October 14 – Errol Flynn, film actor, heart attack (born 1909 in Australia)
• October 16 – George Marshall, U.S. army general (born 1880)
• November 21 – Max Baer, heavyweight boxing champion (born 1909)

See also

• List of American films of 1959
• Timeline of United States history (1950–1969)

External links

• Media related to 1959 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons