News and Events of 1959

Year by Year: 1900-2012 View a 1959 calendar

World Events

World Statistics

Population: 2.997 billion
population by decade

Nobel Peace Prize:
Philip John Noel-Baker (UK)

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Cuban President Batista resigns and flees (Jan. 1). Fidel Castro assumes power (Feb. 16).
Tibet's Dalai Lama escapes to India (Mar. 31).
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev tours the United States, meeting with Eisenhower at Camp David.
Britain recognizes the independence of Cyprus.

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U.S. Events

U.S. Statistics

President: Dwight D. Eisenhower
Vice President: Richard M. Nixon
Population: 177,829,628
Life expectancy: 69.9 years
Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 4.6

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Alaska (Jan. 3) and Hawaii (Aug. 21) become the 49th and 50th states.
St. Lawrence Seaway opens, allowing ocean ships to reach Midwest (April 25).

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Economics

US GDP (1998 dollars):   $507.2 billion
Federal spending:   $92.10 billion
Federal debt:   $287.5 billion
Consumer Price Index:   29.1
Unemployment:   6.8%
Cost of a first-class stamp:   $0.04

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Sports

Sports Links

Pro Football Summary

Pro Basketball Summary

Pro Baseball Summary

World Series

LA Dodgers d. Chicago White Sox (4-2)

NBA Championship

Boston d. Minneapolis Lakers (4-0)

Stanley Cup

Montreal d. Toronto (4-1)

Wimbledon

Women: Maria Bueno d. D. Hard (6-4 6-3)
Men: Alex Olmedo d. R. Laver (6-4 6-3 6-4)

Kentucky Derby Champion

Tomy Lee

NCAA Basketball Championship

California d. West Virginia (71-70)

NCAA Football Champions

Syracuse (11-0-0)

Entertainment

Entertainment Awards

Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, Robert Lewis Taylor
Music: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, John La Montaine
Drama: J. B. Archibald MacLeish

Oscars awarded in 1959
Academy Award, Best Picture: Gigi, Arthur Freed, producer (MGM)

Nobel Prize for Literature: Salvatore Quasimodo (Italy)

1959 Emmy Awards

1959 Tony Awards

Grammys awarded in 1959
Record of the Year: "Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu" (Volare), Domenico Modugno
Album of the Year: The Music From Peter Gunn, Henry Mancini (RCA)
Song of the Year: "Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu," Domenico Modugno, songwriter

Miss America: Mary Ann Mobley (MS)

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Events

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences sponsors the first Grammy Award ceremony for music recorded in 1958.
Frank Sinatra wins his first Grammy Award -- Best Album for Come Dance with Me.
Rumors of cheating on quiz shows erupt into a national scandal.

Movies

Some Like It Hot, North by Northwest, Ben-Hur, Anatomy of a Murder, Room at the Top

Books

William Burroughs, Naked Lunch
D. H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley's Lover
Robert Lowell, Life Studies
Norman Mailer, Advertisements for Myself
James A. Michener, Hawaii
Grace Paley, The Little Disturbances of Man
Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago
Philip Roth, Goodbye Columbus and Five Short Stories

Science

Nobel Prizes in Science

Chemistry: Jaroslav Heyrovsky (Czechoslovakia), for development of polarography, an electrochemical method of analysis

Physics: Emilio Segre and Owen Chamberlain (both US), for demonstrating the existence of the anti-proton

Physiology or Medicine: Severo Ochoa and Arthur Kornberg (both US), for discoveries related to compounds within chromosomes that play a vital role in heredity

Jack S. Kilby of Texas Instruments (US) supervises the development of the first integrated circuit. Background: Computers and Internet
The US Navy launches the Vanguard satellite.
The Lunik II probe (USSR) reaches the moon; Lunik III photographs the dark side of the moon for the first time. Background: Space Exploration