Also Within This Year in History:
1957
In 1957, the Soviet Union shot its Sputnik satellite into orbit, launching a space race with the U.S. The Little Rock Nine integrated an Arkansas high school to fierce local opposition, forcing President Eisenhower to send in federal troops to escort them. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first such law since Reconstruction. In Liverpool, England, 16-year-old John Lennon and 15-year-old Paul McCartney met for the first time at a church fair. In the U.S., frisbees flew into popularity.
Arkansas governor Orval Faubus enlists the National Guard to prevent nine African American students from entering Central High School in Little Rock. The armed Arkansas militia troops surrounded the school while…
On September 5, 1957, New York Times writer Gilbert Millstein gives a rave review to On the Road, the second novel (hardly anyone had read the first) by a 35‑year‑old…
On September 8, 1957, 30‑year‑old Althea Gibson becomes the first African American to win the U.S. Open, beating Louise Brough, 6‑3, 6‑2. Afterward, vice president Richard Nixon presents her with…
On September 19, 1957, the United States detonates a 1.7‑kiloton nuclear weapon in an underground tunnel at the Nevada Test Site (NTS), a 1,375‑square‑mile research center located 65 miles north…
Under escort from the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division, nine Black students enter all‑white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas on September 25, 1957. Three weeks earlier, Arkansas Governor Orval…
On September 26, 1957, West Side Story, composed by Leonard Bernstein, opens at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway. For the groundbreaking musical, Bernstein provided a propulsive and rhapsodic score…
The Soviet Union inaugurates the “Space Age” with its launch of Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite, on October 4, 1957. The spacecraft, named Sputnik after the Russian word for…
On this day in 1957, the Soviet Union inaugurates the “Space Age” with its launch of Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite. The spacecraft, named Sputnik after the Russian word…
On October 8, 1957, bible‑school‑dropout‑tuned‑rockabilly‑pianist Jerry Lee Lewis laid down the definitive version of “Great Balls Of Fire,” amid a losing battle with his conscience—and with the legendary Sam Phillips,…
In the conclusion to an extremely embarrassing situation, President Dwight D. Eisenhower offers his apologies to Ghanian Finance Minister, Komla Agbeli Gbedemah, who had been refused service at a restaurant…
On October 14, 1957, the Everly Brothers, one of the most important and influential groups in the history of rock and roll, have their first #1 song: “Wake Up Little…
U.S. military personnel suffer their first casualties in the war when 13 Americans are wounded in three terrorist bombings of Military Assistance Advisory Group and U.S. Information Service installations in…
Movie audiences in New York City are treated to the science‑fiction thriller The Amazing Colossal Man on October 25, 1957. The film revolves around a character named Colonel Manning, who…
The Soviet Union launches the first animal to orbit the earth into space—a dog nicknamed Laika—aboard the Sputnik 2 spacecraft. Laika, part Siberian husky, lived as a stray on the…
In a long and rambling interview with an American reporter, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev claims that the Soviet Union has missile superiority over the United States and challenges America to…
On November 16, 1957, the body of Bernice Worden of Plainfield, Wisconsin, is found, the final victim of infamous killer Edward Gein. His grave robbing, necrophilia and copious corpse trophies…
On December 20, 1957, while spending the Christmas holidays at Graceland, his newly purchased Tennessee mansion, rock‑and‑roll star Elvis Presley receives his draft notice for the United States Army. With…
