1957 Jan 3, The Hamilton Watch Company was the first to introduce
an electric watch.
(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)
1957 Jan 9, Anthony Eden resigned as British prime minister.
(AP, 1/9/99)
1957 Jan 10, Harold Macmillan became prime minister of Britain,
following the resignation of Anthony Eden.
(AP, 1/10/98)
1957 Jan 12, Harry Belafonte recorded "The Banana Boat Song."
(SFC, 7/11/97, p.D18)
1957 Jan 21, US Pres. Eisenhower was inaugurated.
(EWH, 1968, p.1210)
1957 Jan 22, Suspected "Mad Bomber" George P. Metesky, accused
of planting more than 30 explosive devices in the New York City area, was
arrested in Waterbury, Conn.
(AP, 1/22/98)
1957 Jan 22, Israel completed its evacuation of Egyptian territory,
excepting the Gaza Strip and the area of Aqaba.
(EWH, 1968, p.1242)
1957 Jan 23, Princess Caroline of Monaco, was born.
(HN, 1/23/99)
1957 Feb 14, The Georgia Senate outlawed interracial athletics.
(HN, 2/14/98)
1957 Feb 15, Andrei Gromyko replaced Dmitri T. Shepilov as the
Soviet Foreign Minister.
(HN, 2/15/98)
1957 Feb 16, A U.S. flag flew over an outpost in Wilkes Land,
Antarctica.
(HN, 2/16/98)
1957 Feb 18, Robert Mitchum recorded "Robert Mitchum Calypso -
Is Like So," with Mitchum singing a kind of pidgin English.
(SFC, 7/11/97, p.D18)
1957 Feb 22, A skull was found by a crew digging a trench for
an air conditioning system in downtown LA. The site was later planned to
be used for a new Roman Catholic cathedral. An anthropologist identified
the skull onsite as characteristic of native Americans prior to the Spanish
arrival. Native Indian groups later contended the site a possible ancient
burial ground and held up the construction plans. In 1997 the skull was
reported lost.
(SFC,10/27/97, p.C2)
1957 Mar 5, Britain adopted a plan to triple nuclear energy production
by 1965.
(HN, 3/5/98)
1957 Mar 6, The former British African colonies of the Gold Coast
and Togoland became the independent state of Ghana. Ghana, led by Kwame
Nkrumah, gained independence from Britain. Martin Luther King attended
the independence ceremony.
(SFC, 12/6/96, p.B1)(SFEM, 2/2/97, p.15)(AP, 3/6/98)
1957 Mar 9, Egyptian leader Nasser barred U.N. plans to share
the tolls for the use of the Suez Canal.
(HN, 3/9/98)
1957 Mar 13, The FBI arrested Jimmy Hoffa on bribery charges.
(HN, 3/13/98)
1957 Mar 15, Burton Abbot was executed for the 1955 abduction
and killing of 14-year-old Stephanie Bryan.
(SFEC, 11/17/96, p.C17)
1957 Mar 21, Vice President Nixon returned to the U.S. after spending
three weeks on a tour of Africa.
(HN, 3/21/98)
1957 Mar 25, The European Economic Community was founded by the
Treaty of Rome with 4 fundamental freedoms enabling people, goods, services
and money to move unchecked throughout the Union. The Council of Ministers
represents the governments of the members. Major decisions are made by
the Council of Foreign Ministers. A 20-member Commission composed of appointed
representatives of each member state serves as the administrative arm and
members
represent the Union. The Commission proposes and executes laws and policies.
A European Parliament is composed of 626 members elected by the electorates
of the member states and they sit in party groups. The Commission proposes,
the Parliament advises, and the Council decides. The goal was to create
a common market for all products but especially coal and steel. Article
48 guaranteed equal pay and privileges for members.
(Hem., 7/96, p.37)(AP, 3/25/97)(HN, 3/24/98)(WSJ, 12/2/98, p.A1)
1957 Mar 30, Tunisia and Morocco signed a friendship treaty in
Rabat.
(HN, 3/30/98)
1957 Apr 7, The last of New York City's electric trolleys completed
its final run from the city's borough of Queens to Manhattan.
(AP, 4/7/97)
1957 May 2, Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy (48), the controversial Republican
from Wisconsin, died at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland. McCarthy drank
himself to death.
(AP, 5/2/97)(WSJ, 2/9/00, p.A26)
1957 May 28, The National League approved the move of the Brooklyn
Dodgers and New York Giants baseball teams to Los Angeles and San Francisco.
(AP, 5/28/97)
1957 Jun 19, Walt Disney's movie "Johnny Tremain" was released
in movie theaters.
(DT, 6/19/97)
1957 Jun 27, More than 500 people were killed when Hurricane Audrey
slammed through coastal Louisiana and Texas.
(AP, 6/27/97)
1957 Jun 30, The American occupation headquarters in Japan was
dissolved.
(HN, 6/30/98)
1957 Jul 6, Althea Gibson became the first black tennis player
to win a Wimbledon singles title, defeating fellow American Darlene Hard
6-3, 6-2.
(AP, 7/6/97)
1957 Jul 12, The U.S. surgeon general, Leroy E. Burney (d.1998
at 91), reported that there is a direct link between smoking and lung cancer.
(HN, 7/12/98)(SFC, 8/5/98, p.A17)
1957 Jul 16, Marine Maj. John Glenn set a transcontinental speed
record when he flew a jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes
and 8 seconds.
(AP, 7/16/97)
1957 Jul 26, Pres. Carlos Castillo Armas of Guatemala was assassinated.
(WUD, 1994, p.1685)
1957 Jul 29, The International Atomic Energy Agency was established.
(AP, 7/29/97)
1957 Jul 29, Jack Paar made his debut as host of NBC's late-night
TV show "Tonight" and stayed on till 1962..
(WSJ, 5/1/97, p.A16)(SFC, 5/7/97, p.E1)(AP, 7/29/97)
1957 Jul, Two "unarmed" nuclear bombs were dropped off Cape May,
N.J., by a cargo plane that developed engine trouble. They were never found.
(SFEC, 11/22/98, Par p.22)
1957 Aug 1, The United States and Canada reached agreement to
create the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).
(AP, 8/1/97)
1957 Aug 5, "American Bandstand," hosted by Dick Clark in Philadelphia,
made its network debut on ABC-TV.
(AP, 8/5/97)(SFC, 11/10/99, p.E3)
1957 Aug 15, The musical "West Side Story," composed by Leonard
Bernstein and based on a concept by Jerome Robbins, first opened in Washington
D.C. The story was by Arthur Laurents and the lyrics were by Stephen Sondheim.
(SFEM, 5/23/99, p.18)
1957 Aug 26, Ford Motor Company revealed the Edsel, its latest
luxury car.
(HN, 8/26/99)
1957 Aug 26, The Soviet Union announced it had successfully tested
an intercontinental ballistic missile.
(AP, 8/26/97)
1957 Aug 29, South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond (then a Democrat)
ended a filibuster against a civil rights bill after talking for more than
24 hours. Arnold Aronson (d.1998 at 86) help to lobby for the bill.
(AP, 8/29/97)(SFC, 2/20/98, p.A23)
1957 Aug 31, Malaya (Malaysia) gained independence from Britain
(National Day).
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)(YN, 8/31/99)
1957 Sep 4, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus called out the National
Guard to prevent nine black students from entering Central High School
in Little Rock and Pres. Eisenhower responded with Federal troops to enforce
federal law for integration. The nine went on to lead very productive lives
as detailed in a 1997 retrospective.
(TMC, 1994, p.1957)(SFC, 5/19/95, C-15)(SFC, 7/13/96, p.A5)(AP,
9/4/97)(SFEC, 9/21/97, p.A3)
1957 Sep 4, Ford Motor Co. introduced the 1958 Edsel. It was designed
by Roy Brown and sold only 173,000 units through 1960.
(SFEC, 8/31/97, p.D12)(AP, 9/4/97)
1957 Sep 5, "On the Road" by author Jack Kerouac was first published.
In 1997 his book of notes from the early 1950s: "Some of the Dharma" was
published.
(AP, 9/5/97)(SFEC, 8/31/97, BR p.8)
1957 Sep. 9, President Eisenhower signed into law the first civil
rights bill to pass Congress since Reconstruction.
(AP, 9/9/97)
1957 Sep 17, The Thai army seized power in Bangkok.
(HN, 9/17/98)
1957 Sep 19, The United States conducted its first underground
nuclear test, in the Nevada desert.
(AP, 9/19/97)(HN, 9/19/98)
1957 Sep 21, "Perry Mason," starring Raymond Burr, premiered on
CBS-TV. The show ran to 1965 and returned in 1985.
(AP, 9/21/97)(SFC, 8/20/99, p.D6)
1957 Sep 23, Nine black students who had entered Little Rock Central
High School in Arkansas were forced to withdraw because of a white mob
outside.
(AP, 9/23/97)
1957 Sep 24, The Brooklyn Dodgers played their last game at Ebbets
Field, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-to-0.
(AP, 9/24/97)
1957 Sep 24, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent federal troops
into Little Rock, Arkansas, to protect nine black students entering its
newly integrated high school.
(HN, 9/24/98)
1957 Sep 25, With 300 U.S. Army troops standing guard, nine black
children forced to withdraw from Central High School in Little Rock, Ark.,
because of unruly white crowds, were escorted to class. Vice principle
Elizabeth Huckaby (d.1999 at 93) escorted the children and in 1980 published
"Crisis at Central High."
(AP, 9/25/97)(SFC, 3/26/99, p.D5)
1957 Sep 26, The musical "West Side Story" by Leonard Bernstein
and Jerome Robbins opened on Broadway.
(SFC, 8/9/96, p.D1)(AP, 9/26/97)
1957 Sep 29, The New York Giants played their last game at the
Polo Grounds, losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-to-1. (The Giants moved
to San Francisco.)
(AP, 9/29/97)
1957 Sep 29, A train disaster killed 250 people in Montgomery,
West Pakistan, (renamed to Sahiwal, Pakistan).
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A15)
1957 Oct 4, The television series "Leave It to Beaver" premiered
on CBS.
(AP, 10/4/97)
1957 Oct 4, The Space Age began as the Soviet Union launched
Sputnik, the first man-made space satellite. They used their new intercontinental
ballistic missile to launch it. The event was timed to celebrate the 40th
anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution
(WSJ, 10/7/96, p.B4)(SFC, 8/2/97, p.A12)(SFEC, 9/28/97, p.A14)(WSJ,
10/3/97, p.A8)(AP, 10/4/97)
1957 Oct 7, A fire in the Windscale plutonium production reactor
(later called Sellafield) north of Liverpool, England, spread radioactive
iodine and polonium through the countryside and into the Irish Sea.
(HN, 10/7/98)
1957 Oct 10, President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologized to Komla
Agbeli Gbdemah, the finance minister of Ghana, after the official had been
refused service in a Dover, Del., restaurant.
(AP, 10/10/97)
1957 Oct 17, French author Albert Camus was awarded the Nobel
Prize in literature.
(WUD, 1994, p.524)(AP, 10/17/97)
1957 Oct 26, The Russian government announced that Marshal Georgi
Zhukov, the nation's most prominent military hero, had been relieved of
his duties as Minister of Defense. Khrushchev accused Zhukov of promoting
his own "cult of personality" and saw him as a threat to his own popularity.
(AP, 10/26/97)(HN, 10/26/98)
1957 Nov 3, The Soviet Union launched into orbit Sputnik Two,
the second manmade satellite; a dog on board named Laika was sacrificed
in the experiment.
(TMC, 1994, p.1957)(AP, 11/3/97)
1957 Nov 15, Soviet Premier Khrushchev asserted Soviet superiority
in missiles, challenging the U.S. to a rocket-range shooting match.
(HN, 11/15/98)
1957 Nov 25, President Eisenhower suffered a slight stroke. [see
Nov 26]
(AP, 11/25/97)
1957 Nov 26, President Eisenhower suffers a minor stroke. [see
Nov 25]
(HN, 11//99)
1957 Nov 28, "Look Homeward, Angel" with Anthony Perkins premiered
in NYC.
(DT, 11/28/97)
1957 Dec 6, AFL-CIO members voted to expel the International Brotherhood
of Teamsters. The Teamsters were readmitted in 1987. The Teamsters union
had been expelled from the AFL-CIO because of racketeering by its executives,
including union president Dave Beck and vice president James R. Hoffa.
The criminal activity was disclosed during a special Senate committee investigation
of racketeering and organized crime in labor-management relations.
(AP, 12/6/97)(HNQ, 1/8/99)
1957 Dec 6, America's first attempt at putting a satellite into
orbit blew up on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Fla.
(AP, 12/6/97)
1957 Dec 17, The United States successfully test-fired the Atlas
intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time.
(AP, 12/17/97)
1957 Dec 18, Alex Guinness, William Holden and Jack Hawkins starred
in the film "Bridge on the River Kwai." It premiered at the RKO Palace
Theater in New York City and later won multiple Oscars.
(WSJ, 2/27/96, p.A19)(SFEC, 9/8/96, DB p.8)(AP, 12/18/97)
1957 Dec 18, The Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania,
the first nuclear facility to generate electricity in the United States,
went online. (It was taken out of service in 1982.)
(AP, 12/18/97)
1957 Dec 19, The musical play "The Music Man," starring Robert
Preston, with book and songs by Meredith Willson, opened on Broadway.
(AP, 12/19/97)
1957 Dec 29, Singers Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme were married
in Las Vegas.
(AP, 12/29/97)
1957 Francis Bacon painted his "Study for Portrait of Van Gogh,
V."
(SFEC, 5/30/99, DB p.29)
1957 Alexander Calder (1898-1976) made his black standing piece
"Seven-Foot Beastie."
(SFC,11/15/97, p.C1)
1957 Roy De Forest painted the racially charged "It's a Long Way
to Alabama."
(SFEC, 9/29/96, DB p.44)
1957 Don Martin (d.2000 at 68), one of Mad's maddest cartoonists,
began working for Mad. Martin left Mad in 1987 and published his Don Martin
cartoon magazine in 1994.
(SFC, 1/8/00, p.A20)
1957 Alberto Giacometti made a bronze portrait bust of his brother
Diego.
(SFC, 6/5/98, p.A17)
1957 Jasper Johns painted "Drawer" and "Book."
(SFEC, 11/24/96, C15)
1957 David Park painted his classic "Canoe."
(SFC, 10/22/98, p.E6)
1957 Ted Hughes, British poet, published his first book of poetry
"Hawk in the Rain."
(SFC, 10/30/98, p.A17)
1957 John Osborne wrote his play "The Entertainer."
(WSJ, 11/27/96, p.A10)
1957 Rolf Blomberg published "Buried Treasure and the Anacondas,"
an account of the search for Inca treasure in the Llanganati Mountains
of Ecuador.
(SFEC, 7/5/98, p.A10)
1957 Herb Caen, SF newspaper columnist, wrote his 5th book "Caen's
Guide to San Francisco."
(SFEC, 2/2/97, p.A13)
1957 John Fleming (d.1997 at 77), an int'l. legal scholar, wrote
"The Law of Torts," a classic work on personal injury law.
(SFC, 9/27/97, p.C2)
1957 E. Franklin Frazier published his work: "Black Bourgeoisie."
(Civilization, July-Aug, 1995, p. 37)
1957 Arthur Frommer published his first travel book "Europe on
$5 a Day." It had begun as a guidebook for GI's.
(SFEC, 11/10/96, p.T2)
1957 Stanford Prof. Edward Gintzton (d.1998 at 82) wrote his textbook
"Microwave Measurement." He was a pioneer in the development of medical
linear accelerators for the treatment of cancer and co-founded Varian Associates.
(SFC, 8/18/98, p.A18)
1957 Martin Luther King wrote his autobiography "Stride Toward
Freedom."
(SFEM, 2/2/97, p.14)
1957 "The Copernican Revolution" by Thomas Samuel Kuhn (1923-1996)
was published.
(SFC, 6/21/96, p.E2)
1957 Theodore Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) wrote "The Cat in the Hat"
and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."
(SFC, 3/28/97, p.D2)(WSJ, 12/24/98, p.B1)
1957 William Gibson published "The Miracle Worker," the story
of Helen Keller.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, BR p.3)
1957 Max Lerner authored "America as a Civilization."
(WSJ, 11/10/98, p.A20)
1957 Norman Mailer published his essay "The White Negro" in Dissent.
(WSJ, 2/24/97, p.A20)
1957 Wright Morris won the National Book Award for his epic novel
"The Field of Vision."
(SFC, 5/1/98, p.D7)
1957 Vance Packard (1914-1996) wrote "Hidden Persuaders," a critique
of advertising and the consumer society.
(SFC, 12/13/96, p.B6)
1957 Darcy Ribeiro, anthropologist (1923-1997), wrote "Indigenous
Language and Cultures in Brazil."
(SFC, 2/20/96, p.A20)
1957 Shusaku Endo (1923-1996) wrote "Umi to Dokuyaku." It was
published in English as "The Sea and Poison" in 1972.
(SFEC, 9/30/96, p.A23)
1957 James Michener (d.1997 at 90) wrote his novel "The Bridge
at Andau," and co-authored "Rascals in Paradise." He also published his
"Selected Writings."
(SFC,10/17/97, p.A17)
1957 English writer John Osborne wrote "Look Back in Anger."
(WSJ, 5/16/97, p.A16)
1957 Ayn Rand wrote her novel "Atlas Shrugged."
(SFEC, 7/26/98, BR p.3)
1957 Martin Russ authored "The Last Parallel," an memoir of combat
in the Korean War.
(SFEC, 4/25/99, Par p.18)
1957 Ian Pierre Watt (d.1999 at 82), professor at Stanford, authored
"The Rise of the Novel." His work also included "Myths of Modern Individualism"
and "Essays on Conrad." A collection of his essays, "Critical History:
The Career of Ian Watt," was published after his death.
(SFC, 12/16/99, p.A33)
1957 "The Bald Singer" began running at the La Huchette theater
in Paris. It was still being performed in 1996.
(SFEC, 10/20/96, T9)
1957 Beckett's "Endgame" was produced in London.
(V.D.-H.K.p.369)
1957 The first Lithuanian Folk Dance Festival in the US was held.
(Dr, 7/96, V1#1, p.5)
1957 The ballet "Sonate a trois" by Maurice Bejart was based on
Jean-Paul Sartre's play "No Exit." The music was from the "Sonata for Piano
and Percussion" by Bela Bartok.
(SFC, 11/8/96, p.C5)
1957 The ballet "Agon" was produced by George Balanchine.
(WSJ, 6/19/97, p.A16)
1957 Benjamin Britten wrote his ballet "The Prince of the Pagoda's."
(SFEC, 1/17/99, DB p.29)
1957 The Broadway show "Square Root of Wonderful" by Carson McCullers
featured the debut of Mark Lenard (1918-1996), later Sarek of Vulcan, the
father of Mr. Spock.
(SFC, 11/27/96, p.B2)
1957 The Broadway musical "Jamaica" with Lena Horne was directed
by Robert Lewis.
(SFC,11/25/97, p.A22)
1957 "Eugenia" with Tallulah Bankhead was produced on Broadway
by Randolph Carter.
(SFC, 10/24/98, p.A22)
1957 American Bandstand with Dick Clark began on TV.
(WSJ, 3/24/97, p.B1)
1957 "Half Gun, Will Travel" began to run on TV and continued
for 6 years.
(SFC,10/24/97, p.E5)
1957 The Hanna-Barbera TV cartoon program "Ruff & Reddy" began.
(SFC, 6/3/97, p.B4)
1957 Sea Hunt with Lloyd Bridges (d.1998) began as a TV series.
It ran to 1961. It was mostly filmed at the Marineland of the Pacific in
LA.
(SFC, 3/11/98, p.A4)
1957 Elvis Presley appeared a 2nd time on the Ed Sullivan TV Show.
(SFC,1/22/97, p.A20)
1957 Stripper Tempest Storm, born as Annie Banks in Eastman, Georgia,
signed a $100,000 contract in SF to tour the burlesque circuit. In 1987
she published her autobiography: "The Lady Is a Vamp."
(SFC, 7/15/99, p.B7)
1957 Barney Wilen, French saxophonist, sat in with Miles Davis
on a session for "Ascenser pour l'Echafaud" (Elevator for the Scaffold),
a classic film by Louis Malle.
(SFC, 5/28/96, p.A15)
1957 Harry Belafonte sang his "Banana Boat Song."
(SFEC, 9/8/96, DB p.64)
1957 Sammy Cooke made a hit with "You Send Me." He had just switched
from gospel music to pop. Clifton White (d.1998 at 76), guitarist and band
leader, led the band behind Cooke's music.
(SFC, 4/798, p.A21)
1957 Johnny Heartsman recorded "Johnny's House Party," a top 20
R&B hit.
(SFC, 1/1/97 p.C2)
1957 Bobby Helms recorded "Jingle Bell Rock."
(SFC, 12/24/99, p.C8)
1957 The Kingston Trio singing group formed in and around Palo
Alto, Calif.
(SFEC, 8/11/96, DB, p.52)
1957 Buddy Knox had a hit with his song "Party Doll."
(SFC, 8/12/96, p.D1)
1957 Frank Sinatra sang "All the Way."
(SFC, 11/2/96, p.E4)
1957 Don Stover (1928-1996), blue grass banjo player, recorded
"Knee Deep in Bluegrass," with Bill Monroe. His bands included the Coal
River Valley Boys, the Lilly Brothers Band and the White Oak Mountain Boys
with whom he recorded "Things in Life."
(SFC, 11/13/96, p.C3)
1957 Richard Berry recorded "Louie, Louie" with the Pharaohs on
Flip Records. It was intended as the B-side of "You Are My Sunshine." It
sold about 130,000 copies.
(SFC, 1/25/97, p.A19)(SFC, 4/11/98, p.C5)
1957 Margaret Hillis (d.1998 at 76) founded the Chicago Symphony
Chorus.
(SFC, 2/7/98, p.21)
1957 The Santa Fe Opera opened with its first season.
(WSJ, 8/15/96, p.A10)
1957 Martin Stone (d.1998 at 83) founded WVIP Radio in Mount Kisco,
N.Y. He produced "Howdy Doody" at NBC in the late 40s and early 50s and
"Author Meets the Critics."
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.B6)
1957 In Toledo, Ohio the Craig Memorial Bridge, a drawbridge over
the Maumee River, became a major link for trucks between Ohio and Michigan.
(USAT, 10/9/98, p.20A)
1957 Eichler Homes in California began to offer an atrium as a
sales booster.
(SFEM, 11/3/96, p.14)
1957 In California the first American plastic home was exhibited
in Disneyland's Tomorrowland.
(WSJ, 1/22/99, p.W10)
1957 The United Church of Christ was formed as a combination of
the Congregational-Christian Church, the Evangelical Church and the Reformed
Church. These were outgrowths of the German Reformed Church (1793) and
the German Evangelical Synod of North America (1872).
(SFC, 7/21/97, p.A11)
1957 Rev. Billy Graham led a New York Crusade at Madison Square
Garden that was televised coast-to-coast.
(SFEC, 9/21/97, Z1 p.3)
1957 Martin Luther King helped found the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference.
(WSJ, 11/3/97, p.A20)
1957 On the West Coast the Beat Generation wore beards and sandals
and experimented with Zen and pot with Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" (1956)
as their Bible. The character Elmo Hassel was Herbert Huncke, beat poet
and addict.
(TMC, 1994, p.1957)(SFC, 8/9/96, p.D1)
1957 Leo Castelli (d.1999 at 91) opened his art gallery on East
77th Street in NYC. He became the arbiter of a new movement, Neo-Dada,
that quickly transformed to the Pop Art scene.
(WSJ, 8/25/99, p.A16)
1957 National Geographic Magazine published a picture of flamingos
that inspired Donald Featherstone of Leominster, Mass., to start a business
making plastic models for yard ornaments. The plastic flamingo was designed
at Union Products in Mass. In 1958.
(SFEC, 11/24/96, zone 1 p.2)(SFC, 7/14/99, p.8)
1957 Tatyana (d.1982) and Maurice Grosman set up the Universal
Limited Art Editions lithography workshop (ULAE) in a Long Island carriage
house.
(SFC, 3/31/97, p.E6)
c1957 Newspaper columnist Herb Caen coined the term "beatnik"
to describe the Beat poets of San Francisco.
(SFEC, 4/6/97, p.C4)
1957 Commercial jet travel began to grow.
(SFEC,12/797, p.T3)
1957 Tang, a dry breakfast beverage in crystal form, was introduced.
(SFEC, 1/3/99, DB p.27)
1957 Boxer Middleweight Sugar Ray Robinson lost, won and lost
his title.
(SFC, 11/2/96, p.E4)
1957 Reporters William Lambert (d.1998 at 78) and Wallace Turner
won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting for their series on Dave
Beck, the president of the Int'l. Brotherhood of Teamsters. They exposed
that Teamsters and racketeers had combined forces to take over the Portland
City government. The articles in the Oregonian were later used by Robert
Kennedy for his probe on the Teamsters.
(SFC, 2/10/98, p.A22)
1957 Mr. Magoo, a near-sighted cartoon character, won his 2nd
academy award.
(WSJ, 7/31/97, p.A1)
1957 A group of scientists and supporters from around the world
gather in Pugwash, Nova Scotia, to call attention to the risks of nuclear
war.
(WSJ, 10/16/95, p. A-15)
1957 Pres. Eisenhower named Elbridge Durbrow (d.1997 at 93) as
ambassador to South Vietnam, the newly divided southern portion of Indochina.
He served there until 1961.
(SFC, 5/24/97, p.A20)
1957 Pres. Eisenhower gave authority to senior military commanders
to retaliate with nuclear weapons if the president could not be reached
or was unable to respond to a nuclear attack against the US in a policy
known as "pre-delegation authority." A memo to this effect was dated Dec
19, 1958.
(SFC, 3/21/98, p.A2)(SFC, 9/2/98, p.A5)
1957 Vice-president Richard Nixon was stoned in Caracas.
(TMC, 1994, p.1957)
1957 Pres. Eisenhower appointed Dr. Katherine B. Oettinger (d.1997
at 94) chief of the Children's Bureau in the Dept. of Health, Education
and Welfare (HEW). The bureau was abolished in 1967 under Pres. Johnson.
(SFC,10/20/97, p.A19)
1957 The US began its Corona project, an attempt to put a reconnaissance
satellite into orbit. The first 12 launch attempts failed. In 1998 2 books
were published on the project: "Eye in the Sky" a collection of essays
edited by 3 experts and "The Corona Project" by Curtis Peebles.
(WSJ, 7/6/98, p.A13)
1957 The US Mail Special Delivery increased to $.30 for the guaranteed
immediate delivery.
(SFC, 6/7/97, p.A6)
1957 In the US Arkansas Gov. Orville Faubus called out the National
Guard to prevent school integration at Little Rock High School and Eisenhower
responded with Federal troops to enforce federal law for integration.
(TMC, 1994, p.1957)(SFC, 5/19/95, C-15)
1957 The US Senate investigated the Teamsters and leaders Dave
Beck and Jimmy Hoffa.
(TMC, 1994, p.1957)
1957 The legal term "informed consent" was first used by attorney
Paul Gebhard (d.1997 at 69) in a court proceeding of Salgo vs. Leland Stanford
Jr. Univ. The ruling in the case defined the term "full disclosure."
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.A22)
1957 The FBI closed its investigation on Jay Lovestone (d.1999),
a former Communist turned CIA informer, after 6 years of wiretaps. Lovestone
worked as an executive secretary for the AFL's Free Trade Union Committee
which was primarily supported by CIA funds.
(WSJ, 5/19/99, p.A20)
1957 A shipment of "Howl" by Allen Ginsberg was seized by customs
officials on its arrival in San Francisco. The book was published as part
of the Pocket Poets Series by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and printed by the
British printer Villiers.
(SFC, 5/16/96, p.A-12)
1957 Mississippi created the Sovereignty Commission to fight against
the Civil Rights movement. It informed the police about planned marches
and encouraged police harassment of African-Americans who cooperated with
civil rights groups.
(WSJ, 6/11/99, p.A8)
1957 The founders of Insta Burger King in Miami changed its name
to Burger King and introduced the broiled Whopper.
(SFC, 8/10/96, p.A20)
1957 Chrysler pioneered a Highway Hi-Fi system that actually played
records.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)
1957 Ford introduced the Edsel. It was the first car designed
using market research. Americans rejected the car.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)
1957 Fritz Wankel brought out his rotary engine.
(SFC, 11/2/96, p.E4)
1957 Jackie Robinson, baseball star, became vice president of
Chock Full O'Nuts. In 1996 his widow, Rachel, co-wrote with Lee Daniels:
"Jackie Robinson: An Intimate Portrait." In 1997 Arnold Rampersad published
Jackie Robinson, A Biography."
(SFEC, 12/15/96, BR p.10)(SFEC,10/19/97, BR p.1)
1957 AT&T introduced its Touchtone phones.
(SFC,10/24/97, p.E5)
1957 Seymour Cray (1925-1996) co-founded Control Data Corp. where
he built the first computer to use radio transistors instead of vacuum
tubes.
(SFC, 9/24/96, p.A6)
1957 Jean A. Hoerni (1925-1997) was one of the "Fairchild Eight,"
founders of the Fairchild Semiconductor Corp. He was credited with building
the bridge from the transistor to the integrated circuit.
(SFC, 2/5/97, p.A20)
1957 The Hewlett-Packard Corp. went public and began operating
its new site at Stanford Research Park.
(SFC, 3/3/99, p.A11)
1957 A Monsanto sponsored all-plastic House of the Future became
part of Disney's Tomorrowland.
(SFC, 7/14/96, p.T3)
1957 The birth control pill developed by Dr. Djerassi in 1951
was approved in the US for treating menstrual problems.
(SJSVB, 4/8/96, p.8)
1957 Dr. Hilary Koprowski of the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia
developed an oral polio vaccine and tested it in Africa. He used monkey
and chimpanzee kidney tissue to develop the vaccine. Later Edward Hooper
in his book "The River," charged that this vaccine was contaminated with
the Simian AIDS virus and thus spread to humans. In 2000 a computerized
study indicated that the AIDS virus was introduced to humans about 1930.
(SFC, 2/2/00, p.A19)
1957 There was a big scare over swine flu when some soldiers got
sick at Fort Dix and one died. The government spent millions on a vaccine
that was never used.
(SFC,12/17/97, p.A2)
1957 The landmark paper "Synthesis of the Elements in Stars" was
published in the journal Reviews of Modern Physics by Burbidge, Burbidge,
Fowler and Hoyle.
(NH, 8/96, p.65)
1957 Roger Revelle and Hans Suess published a paper in which they
explained the resistance of seawater to absorb carbon dioxide.
(NOHY, Weiner, 3/90, p.30)
1957 Leo Esaki, Nobel laureate, discovered that electrons could
"tunnel" through solid barriers via tiny electrical devices and the "semiconductor
tunnel diode" was born.
(WSJ, 10/1/98, p.A1)
1957 James Lovelock, British scientist, built an electron capture
detector. Initially built to detect minute quantities of fatty acids, it
instead detected the impurities that lay in between the lipids. It thus
became useful for detecting traces of pesticides and CFCs.
(NOHY, 3/90, p.194)
1957 In California Iron Mountain mine owners blamed the federal
government for fish kills. They held that the Shasta federal dam caused
the buildup of pollutants and that previously flows from Spring Creek were
rendered harmless by dilution in the Sacramento River.
(SFEC,11/2/97, p.A13)
1957 A fire at the Colorado Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant
released some plutonium in the smoke. The fire was kept secret until 1969
when another fire released more plutonium.
(SFC, 8/27/99, p.A3)
1957 Sir Edmund Hillary was part of a joint New Zealand-British
ice trek that drove farm tractors on the Skelton Glacier to the South Pole.
(SFC, 1/14/99, p.C2)
1957 On the Gulf Coast a hurricane named Audrey killed over 500
people.
(TMC, 1994, p.1957)
1957 Mob boss Albert Anastasia of Murder Inc. was gunned down
by 2 hitmen in a New York barbershop.
(SFC, 11/2/96, p.E4)(WSJ, 5/1/97, p.B1)
1957 Edward Gein, a handyman in Plainfield, Wis., liked to dig
up fresh graves, cut the skin off corpses, wear the skin on his own body
and dance in the moonlight. He was picked up in this year and evidence
showed that he'd been collecting body parts for years. He had skulls on
bedposts, a human heart in a saucepan, and a lady out in his barn dressed
like a deer. The 1974 film "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" was based on his story.
(SFC, 5/18/96, p.E-4)
1957 Humphrey Bogart, actor (57), died of cancer of the esophagus.
(SFC, 12/29/96, DB p.49)(SFEC, 5/18/97, Par p.6)
1957 Christian Dior, fashion magnate and inventor of the postwar
"New Look," died. He was succeeded by his favorite assistant, Yves Saint
Laurent.
(SFC, 1/9/97, p.E7)(SFC, 6/9/98, p.D3)
1957 Harrison Ford, film actor from 1915-1932, died. Most of his
work was in silent films.
(SFEC, 4/25/99, Z1 p.8)
1957 Eliot Ness, former FBI agent, died at age 57 of a heart attack.
(SFC, 9/11/97, p.A3)
1957 Max Ophuls (b.1902), German born film director, died in France.
He made films in Germany, France, Netherlands and the US.
(SFEC, 9/5/99, DB p.50)
1957 Wilhelm Reich (b.1897), Austrian psychoanalyst, died in the
US. His work was based on the sexual energy in people that he called "Orgone."
In 1999 Farrar, Straus & Giroux published: "American Odyssey: Letters
and Journals 1940-1947."
(WUD, 1994, p.1209)
1957 Diego Rivera, artist, died in Mexico City.
(Hem., 1/96, p.50)
1957 Jean Sibelius, Finnish Composer (b.1865), died.
(SFC, 10/14/97, p.B3)
1957 Erich von Stroheim (b.1885), actor and director, died in
Paris. His films included "Grand Illusion," "The Merry Widow," and "Greed."
In 2000 Arthur Lennig published the biography "Stroheim."
(WSJ, 2/23/00, p.A20)
1957 James Whale (67), English director, died of suicide in Hollywood.
His films included "Frankenstein," "Show Boat" and "The Invisible Man."
Later biographies of Whale included: "James Whale: A New World of Gods
and Monsters" by James Curtis; "James Whale: A Biography, or The Would-Be
Gentleman" by Mark Gatiss; and "Father of Frankenstein" by Christopher
Bram. The 1988 film Gods and Monsters was a mixture of fact and fiction
about the last months of horror director James Whale.
(USAT, 9/15/98, p.1D)(SFEC, 11/1/98, Par p.18)
1957 In Britain Reg Smythe (d.1998 at 81), began the Andy Capp
comic strip in the northern editions of the Daily Mirror.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A22)
1957 In British Guyana the People's Progressive Party won elections
and Dr. Jagan and his wife won cabinet posts.
(SFC, 3/7/97, p.A24)
1957 Mao experimented under the slogan : Let a hundred flowers
bloom, and a hundred schools of thought contend.." Alarmed at the resulting
barrage of criticism, he reversed courses. Tens of thousands of intellectuals
were jailed or sent to the countryside to do manual labor.
(12/10/93 WSJ)
1957 Mao ordered an "anti-rightist" witch hunt and Deng Xiaoping
executed it.
(WSJ, 2/20/97, p.A20)
1957 In Haiti Francois Duvalier won the election for the presidency.
He spent 14 years in office.
(SFC,12/31/97, p.A17)
1957 The state of Kerala in southwest India elected a Communist
administration.
(NG, 5.1988, pp. 596)
1957 In Israel the Jewish town of Upper Nazareth was built on
confiscated Palestinian land for the purpose of domination over Palestinian
Nazareth. The 1997 book "Overlooking Nazareth: The Ethnography of Exclusion
in Jalilee" (sic) by Dan Rabinowitz describes the relations between Arabs
and Jews here.
(MT, Fall. '97, p.16)
1957 In Italy the Mille Miglia automobile race, begun in
1927, was ended with the crash of a Ferrari driven by the Marquis de Portago.
He and his co-driver were killed along with 10 bystanders when the car
ran off the road at 90 mph.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A13)
1957 Malaysia gained independence from Britain.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1957 Ernesto P. Uruchurtu, aka the Iron Mayor of Mexico City,
opened a new building for street vendors but left out fruit seller Rico
Guillermina (1933-1996) and hundreds of others. She began a crusade and
formed the Civic Association of Street Vendors which supported the PRI,
who in return disregarded the laws controlling street sales.
(SFC, 9/7/96, p.A19)
1957 No one in Monaco pays income taxes except French citizens
who arrived after this year.
(SFC, 1/8/97, p.C1)
1957 Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev allowed the Chechens back
to the Caucasus and the Checheno-Ingush republic was set up.
(SFC, 5/13/97, p.A12)
1957-1958 Henry Moore, sculptor, created his piece: "UNESCO Reclining
Figure."
(SFEC, 7/19/98, BR p.9)
1957-1958 Isaac Bashevis Singer published "Shadows on the Hudson," a
Yiddish novel in serial form in the Jewish Daily Forward. It was translated
to English in 1997 and covered a circle of Jewish refugees in NYC in 1947-49.
(WSJ, 12/30/97, p.A8)
1957-1958 The International Geophysical Year was organized by the International
Council on Scientific Unions.
(NOHY, 3/1990, p.235)
1957-1958 An English team including Sir Edmund Hillary traverses the
continent of Antarctica for the first time.
(Hem. 1/95, p. 28)
1957-1960 Miles Davis and Gill Evans collaborated to produce their masterpieces:
"Miles Ahead," "Porgy and Bess," and "Sketches of Spain."
(SFC, 9/1/96, DB p.42)
1957-1961 Gunsmoke is the top ranking network show on television for
four seasons with rankings of 43.1, 39.6, 40.3, and 37.3%.
(WSJ, 4/24/95, p.R-5)
1957-1963 The Sheri Lewis Show ran on NBC.
(SFC, 8/4/98, p.A1)
1957-1963 John Diefenbaker, Progressive Conservative Party, serves as
the Prime Minister of Canada.
(CFA, '96, p.81)(HN, 9/18/98)
1957-1964 In China Jean Pasqualini spent these years in a labor camp
after being sentenced to 12 years detention for "counter revolutionary
activities." His 1973 book "Prisoner of Mao" described his experiences.
(SFC, 10/14/97, p.A19)
1957-1967 Jimmy Hoffa led the Teamsters Union.
(SFEC, 11/17/96, p.C9)