Last updated
01/06/16
Synoptic of Events during 1956
World Statistics
Population: 2.833 billion population by decade
World Events
Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of USSR Communist Party, denounces
Stalin's excesses (Feb. 24).
Morocco gains independence from France (March 1) and Spain (April 7).
Workers' uprising against Communist rule in Poland is crushed (June 28-30).
Egypt takes control of Suez Canal (July 26). Israel launches attack on
Egypt's Sinai peninsula and drives toward Suez Canal (Oct. 29).
British and
French invade Egypt at Port Said (Nov. 5). Cease-fire forced by US pressure
stops British, French, and Israeli advance (Nov. 6).
Soviet troops and tanks crush anti-Communist uprisings in Hungary
(November).
U.S. Events
President: Dwight D. Eisenhower
Vice President: Richard M. Nixon
Population: 168,903,031
Life expectancy: 69.7 years
Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 4.6
More U.S. Events
Autherine Lucy, the first black student at the University of Alabama, is
suspended after riots (March 1).
U.S. tests the first aerial hydrogen bomb over Namu islet, Bikini Atoll
with the force of 10 million tons TNT (May 21).
Miss America: Sharon Ritchie (CO)
Economics
US GDP (1998 dollars): $438 billion
Federal spending: $70.64 billion
Federal debt: $272.7 billion
Consumer Price Index: 27.2
Unemployment: 4.4%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.03
Sports
World Series; NY Yankees d. Brooklyn Dodgers (4-3)
NBA Championship; Philadelphia Warriors d. Ft. Wayne Pistons (4-1)
Stanley Cup; Montreal d. Detroit (4-1)
Wimbledon:
Women; Shirley Fry d. A. Buxton (6-3 6-1)
Men; Lew Hoad d. K. Rosewall (6-2 4-6 7-5 6-4)
Kentucky Derby Champion; Needles
NCAA Basketball Championship; San Francisco d. Iowa (83-71)
NCAA Football Champions; Oklahoma (10-0-0)
1956 Summer Olympics
1956 Winter Olympics
Pulitzer Prizes
Academy Award Best Picture: Marty, Harold
Hecht, producer (United Artists)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Juan Ramón Jiménez (Spain)
1956 Emmy Awards
1956 Tony Awards
Entertainment
Movies
Music
Books
Nobel Prizes in Science
Events of 1956