Top News Stories from 1956

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). Background: Arab-Israeli Wars
• Soviet troops and tanks crush anti-Communist uprisings in Hungary (November).

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). Background: nuclear weapons

Economics

Sports

World Series

NBA Championship

Stanley Cup

Wimbledon

Kentucky Derby Champion

NCAA Basketball Championship

NCAA Football Champions

Entertainment

Events

• With many hit singles (including "Heartbreak Hotel"), Elvis Presley emerges as one of the world's first rock stars. The gyrating rocker enjoys fame on the stages of the Milton Berle, Steve Allen and Ed Sullivan shows, as well as in the first of his many movies, Love Me Tender.
• Kay Thompson's Eloise, the Plaza Hotel's most famous guest, is a bestseller.
• Grace Metalious's steamy Peyton Place is a bestseller.
• The Wizard of Oz has its first airing on TV.

Movies

• The Seventh Seal, Giant, The Searchers, Around the World in 80 Days, The King and I, Friendly Persuasion

Music

• Woody Guthrie, "This Land is Your Land"

Books

• John Barth, The Floating Opera
• James Baldwin, Giovanni's Room
• Allen Ginsburg, Howl
• John F. Kennedy, Profiles in Courage
• Lewis Mumford, The Transformations of Man
• William Styron, The Long March

Science

• Felix Wankel (Germany) develops the rotary internal combustion engine.
• The DNA molecule is first photographed. Background: genetic engineering
• The neutrino is first observed at Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Death

• Tommy Dorsey
• Connie Mack
• Jackson Pollock

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