Business: Legos invented Crayola introduces box of 64 crayons with sharpener
Entertainment: Guggenheim Museum by Frank Lloyd Wright opened, Fire at Museum of Modern Art
Writers include Boris Pasternak (Dr. Zhivago), Truman Capote (Breakfast at Tiffany's), TS Eliot, Graham Greene, J Edgar Hoover, Kafka,
Lorraine Hansberry (Raisin in the Sun), Eugene O'Neill (posth) Boris Pasternak receives Nobel Prize for literature
Medicine: Thalidomide proven to cause specific birth defects in limbs Wilson Greatbatch invents implantable pacemaker
Politics: Gentleman's agreement in UN to not test nuclear devices
Religion: Pope Pius XII dies and Pope John XXIII appointed (Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli Sotto il Monte) Opened Second Vatican Council (sometimes called "Good Pope John")
Science: American scientist Lerner discovers the pineal body synthesizes melatonin which was made from serotonin
Space probes reveal Van Allen radiation belts that impede travel
Sports: First hula hoop fad begins to decline Eddie Arcaro becomes third jockey to attain over 4 thousand wins
Technology: Silicon chip invented - TI develops first integrated circuit First Atomic submarine USS Nautilus voyages under N Pole
First Boeing 707
Deaths: Rosalind Franklin, Leopold Ziegler, Pope Pius XII, French painter Georges Rouault
Africa
General: French colonies in Africa hold referenda on independence
Egypt: Joins with Sudan and Yemen to form United Arab Republic USSR grants loan to United Arab Republic for building Aswan Dam
Guinea: French colony chooses independence
Middle Congo: Independence
Nigeria: Independence begins
Somalia: Independence begins
Sudan: Coup
Zaire: Independence
Americas
General: Formation of Federation of British West Indies in Caribbean Heavy snow and zero visibility in Gulf of Mexico
Colombia: Bogota Christmas fire kills 84
Cuba: Castro begins to overthrow Batista regime West Indian Federation forms to protect trade in Cuba
Jamaica: Vote to separate from West Indies Federation
Mexico: Mateos becomes president
Asia
Burma: New Burmese regime halts Communism
China: Mao Tes-tung restricts family life and freedoms Mao's "Great Leap Forward" establishes agrarian and industrial communes
Khrushchev visits Peking Start of Great Chinese Famine killing 20-43 million by 1961
East Indonesia: Smallpox and cholera
East Pakistan: Smallpox and cholera
India: Smallpox and cholera
Japan: Typhoon kills 615 Mt. Aso erupts
Laos: Adoption anti-Communism with US support
North Korea: Agricultural collectivization
Papua New Guines: Republic established
Europe
General: Beatnik movement spreads throughout US and Europe England and Spain sign trade pact European Common Market comes into being
Belgium: Brussels World Exhibition
East Germany: Berlin Crisis begins as USSR attempts to force allies out of West Berlin
France: Charles de Gaulle elected first president of the French Fifth Republic to 1969 End of Fourth Republic
Great Britain: First parking meters in London London bus strike First life peerages in Britain
Last debutantes presented at British court Prince Charles made Prince of Wales First superhighway opens in Britain
US-born serial killer Peter Manuel hung for seven murders Actor Gareth Jones dies while in make-up in between scenes in Manchester and the play goes on with improvisation
Hungary: Imre Nagy executed after secret trial
Soviet Union: Khrushchev ousts Bulganin taking control of USSR Complete works of Tolstoy published in USSR
Khrushchev succeeds Bulganin as Chairman of Council of USSR Ministers
Vatican City: Death of Pope Pius XII – Cardinal Roncalli elected Pope John XXIII - announced with tiny grey puff of smoke instead of white plume
Middle East
Iraq: Nationalist revolution led by Abdul Kassem overthrows monarchy and establishes republic
Israel: Supreme Religious Center for World Jewry dedicated in Jerusalem
Jordan: Britain moves troops in
Lebananon: US moves troops in
Pakistan: Ayub Khan assumes presidency Pakistani cricket team tours US Cholera and Smallpox
Saudi Arabia: King Saud transfers power to brother Emir Faisal Kind Faisal II assassinated and republic declared
Syria: Joins United Arab Republic
United Arab Republic: Organized from Syria and Egypt with Yemen loosely aligned
Business: Ford Edsel with "lemon" grill debuts - is a flop
Crime: Nathon Leopold paroled (see 1924)
Culture: Beatnik movement spreads throughout US CBS airs Mike Wallace and Louis Lomax's documentary The Hate that Hate Produced giving the Nation of Islam and Malcolm X prominence
Entertainment: Marilyn Monroe stars in Some Like it Hot Dr. Zhivago book smuggled into and published in US
Chipmunk Song reaches top of music charts
Finance: Unemployment in US reaches almost 5.2 million
Military: 300 Navy members exposed to radiation in Pacific
Politics: Vice President Nixon tours S America and Eisenhower sends troops to Caribbean
Science: NASA established to explore space US launches first moon rocket – fails to reach moon but travels 79k miles out
First US Satellite (Explorer I)
Sports: Arnold Palmer US golfer wins his first Masters tournament "Sugar" Ray Robinson regains middleweight boxing title
Technology: First US satellite launched First Atomic submarine USS Nautilus voyages under N Pole
East
General: Northeast US has storms that kill 500,
New York: Love Canal residents begin to complain of skin problems and nausea Nelson A. Rockefeller elected Governor
Pennsylvania: Blizzard hits Allentown
Midwest
Nebraska: Start of killing spree of Charles Starkweather
South
Arkansas: Tension grows as southern schools desegregated - Governor Orval Faubus defies supreme court by closing schools in Little Rock and reopening them as private schools
Florida: 2500 gallon tank blown 1 mile in FL tornado, Jun - First tornado seen on Doppler radar
West and Pacific
Alaska: Statehood at #49 Radioactive materials dropped over Point Hope Alaska by US Atomic Energy Commission
Lituya Bay (AK) mega tsunami - landslide causes mega-tsunami which reaches 164 stories high, fortunately only in AK Quakes
California: New York Dodgers and Giants move to California