Events from the year 1956 in the United States .
January 1 – Carl Perkins ' record "Blue Suede Shoes " is released by Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee .
January 3 – Peter Pan Mary Martin , is restaged live by Producers' Showcase on NBC television by popular demand.
January 8 – Operation Auca : Five U.S. missionaries are killed by the Huaorani of Ecuador shortly after making contact with them.
January 22 – Redondo Junction train wreck in Los Angeles kills thirty people.
January 28 – Elvis Presley makes his national television debut on CBS in the United States on the program Stage Show
c. January – The first book in Ed McBain 's long-running 87th Precinct police procedural series, Cop Hater
February 14 – Dwight D. Eisenhower 's doctors say that he is healthy enough to seek another term at the White House .
February 16 – Only a little more than four months after the release of the 70 mm version of Oklahoma! Rodgers and Hammerstein 's Carousel Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones , is released in CinemaScope 55 . MacRae and Jones had previously starred in Oklahoma! Carousel , intended for showing in 55 mm, ends up being shown only in 35 mm.
February 22 – Elvis Presley enters the U.S. music charts for the first time with "Heartbreak Hotel ".
February 23 – Norma Jean Mortenson legally changes her name to Marilyn Monroe .
February 24 – Doris Day records her most famous song, "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be) "; it is from Alfred Hitchcock 's The Man Who Knew Too Much James Stewart .
February 29 – Dwight D. Eisenhower announces he will seek re-election as President.
March 11 – Laurence Olivier 's film, Richard III Shakespeare 's play, premieres in the U.S. in theaters and on NBC Television, on the same day as an afternoon matinée . It is one of the first such experiments of its kind. Olivier is later nominated for an Oscar for his performance.
March 12
March 13 – Elvis Presley releases his first Gold Album titled "Elvis Presley".
March 15 – The Broadway musical My Fair Lady
March 21 – The 28th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Jerry Lewis , is held at RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood , Los Angeles , with the television broadcast hosted by Claudette Colbert and Joseph L. Mankiewicz in New York . Delbert Mann 's Marty Best Motion Picture and Best Director for Mann. The film is also tied for the most nominations with eight, along with Henry King 's Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing Daniel Mann 's The Rose Tattoo June 29: Interstate Highway System authorized July 2 – Sylvania Electric Products explosion : A laboratory experiment involving scrap thorium at Sylvania Electric Products in Bayside, New York , results in an explosion.
July 4 – A U.S. Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft makes its first flight over the Soviet Union .
July 13
July 16 – With the closing of its "Big Tent" show in Pittsburgh , Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus announces all subsequent circuses will be "arena shows" due to changing economics.
July 24 – At New York City's Copacabana Club, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis perform their last comedy show together (their act started on July 25, 1946).
July 25 – 72 kilometers (45 mi) south of Nantucket Island , the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria sinks after colliding with the Swedish ship MS Stockholm in heavy fog, killing 51 people.
July 29 – McKee refinery fire kills 19 in Texas.
July 30 – A Joint Resolution of Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower , authorizing "In God We Trust " as the U.S. national motto .
August 6 – After going bankrupt in 1955, the American broadcaster DuMont Television Network has its final broadcast, a boxing match from St. Nicholas Arena.
August 11 – Painter Jackson Pollock dies in a car crash in Springs, New York .
September 9 – Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show
September 13 – The hard disk drive is invented by an IBM team led by Reynold B. Johnson .
September 27 – The Bell X-2 becomes the first manned aircraft to reach Mach 3. November 6: Eisenhower re-elected October 5 – Cecil B. DeMille 's epic film The Ten Commandments Charlton Heston as Moses , is released in the U.S. It will be in the top ten of the worldwide list of highest-grossing films of all time, adjusted for inflation.[ 3]
October 8 – Baseball pitcher Don Larsen of the New York Yankees throws the only perfect game in World Series history in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers . Yogi Berra catches the game. Dale Mitchell is the final out. The New York Yankees win the series. Larsen is named series MVP.
October 10 – The prototype Lockheed L-1649 Starliner , the final Lockheed Constellation model, makes its first flight.
October 17 – The Game of the Century: 13-year-old Bobby Fischer beats GM Donald Byrne in the NY Rosenwald chess tournament.
October 29 – The Huntley-Brinkley Report NBC -TV.
October 31 – A U.S. Navy team becomes the third group to reach the South Pole (arriving by air) and commences construction of the first permanent Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station .
October – The Ladder lesbian magazine in the U.S.
November 1
November 3 – MGM 's screen classic, The Wizard of Oz CBS , as the final installment of their Ford Star Jubilee
November 6 – 1956 United States presidential election : Republican incumbent Dwight D. Eisenhower defeats Democratic challenger Adlai E. Stevenson in a rematch of their contest four years earlier.
November 13 – Browder v. Gayle United States Supreme Court declares Alabama laws requiring segregated buses illegal, thus ending the Montgomery bus boycott .
November 30 – African American boxer Floyd Patterson wins the world heavyweight championship that is vacant after the retirement of Rocky Marciano .
December 2 – A pipe bomb planted by George Metesky explodes at the Paramount Theater in Brooklyn, New York , injuring 6 people.
December 3 – The 1956 Bush Terminal explosion occurs in Brooklyn.
December 4 – The Million Dollar Quartet (Elvis Presley , Jerry Lee Lewis , Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash ) get together at Sun Studio for the only time.
December 18 – To Tell the Truth CBS -TV.
December 31 – Bob Barker makes his TV debut as host of the game show Truth or Consequences
Mel Gibson David Caruso Bill Maher Geena Davis Mimi Rogers Nathan Lane Tim Daly Bryan Cranston April 1 – Jeffrey Beecroft , production designer and art director
April 3 – Ray Combs , game show host and comedian (d. 1996)
April 4 – David E. Kelley , writer and television producer
April 5 – Diamond Dallas Page , professional wrestler
April 6 – Michele Bachmann , politician
April 7 – Christopher Darden , lawyer
April 14 – Barbara Bonney , soprano
April 16 – David M. Brown , astronaut (Space Shuttle Columbia disaster ) (d. 2003)
April 18
April 21 – Phillip Longman , demographer
April 23 - Greg Colson , American artistApril 27 – Bryan Harvey , American musician (d. 2006 ) Sugar Ray Leonard Bob Saget La Toya Jackson May 4 – David Guterson , writer
May 5 – Lisa Eilbacher , actressMay 6 – Cindy Lovell , educator and writerMay 7
May 10 – Paige O'Hara , actress, voice actress, singer and painterMay 12 – Greg Phillinganes , keyboardist
May 15 – Dan Patrick , sports commentator
May 17
May 19 – Steven Ford , actorMay 20 – Dean Butler , actor and producerMay 23 – Buck Showalter , baseball player and manager
May 26 – Lisa Niemi , actress and dancer, spouse of Patrick Swayze
May 28 – Jerry Douglas , dobro player
May 29 – La Toya Jackson , singer Joe Montana Tim Russ Randy Jackson Anthony Bourdain June 1 – Lisa Hartman Black , actress, singer
June 3
June 4 – Keith David , actorJune 5 – Kenny G , grammy-award-winning saxophonist
June 7 – L.A. Reid , record executive
June 9 – Patricia Cornwell , novelist
June 11
June 14 – Fred Funk , golfer and coach
June 15 – Robin Curtis , actress
June 17 – Kelly Curtis , actor
June 19 – Danny Chauncey , guitarist
June 21 – Thomas James O'Leary , American actor
June 22 – Tim Russ , actor, film director, screenwriter and musician
June 23 – Randy Jackson , musician and talent judge
June 25 – Anthony Bourdain , chef, author and television personality (died 2018 )[ 4]
June 26 – Chris Isaak , musician
June 30
Tom Hanks Sela Ward July 1 – Alan Ruck , actor
July 2 – Jerry Hall , model and actress
July 5 – Louis Herthum , actor and producer
July 9 – Tom Hanks , actor and director
July 11 – Sela Ward , actress
July 12
July 13 – Michael Spinks , African-American boxerJuly 16 – Tony Kushner , playwright
July 18
July 24
July 25 – Frances Arnold , biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2018
July 30 – Delta Burke , actress
July 31
Maureen McCormick Kevin Dunn August 1 – Steve Green , Christian musician
August 2 – Jim Neidhart , professional wrestler
August 4 – Gerry Cooney , boxer
August 5 – Maureen McCormick , actress (The Brady Bunch )
August 6 – Stepfanie Kramer , actress (Hunter )
August 10
August 14 – Jackée Harry , actress and television personality
August 18
August 19 – Adam Arkin , actor
August 20 – Joan Allen , actress
August 21 – Jon Tester , U.S. Senator from Montana
August 22 – Paul Molitor , baseball player
August 24
August 26 – Mark Mangino , football coach
August 29 – Mark Morris , choreographer Gary Cole Linda Hamilton September 1 – Bernie Wagenblast , editor and broadcaster
September 6 – Bill Ritter , 41st Governor of Colorado September 7 – Michael Feinstein , singer and pianistSeptember 8 – Maurice Cheeks , basketball player and coachSeptember 11 – Phillip D. Bissett , politician
September 12
September 15 – George Howard , jazz saxophone musician (d. 1998)
September 16 – David Copperfield , illusionist
September 17 – Brian Andreas , writer, sculptor, painter and publisher
September 20
September 21 – Jack Givens , basketball player
September 24 – Gregory Peter Panos , futurist, writer, inventor, virtual reality expert, human simulation visionary
September 25 – Jamie Hyneman , television co-host (MythBusters
September 26 – Linda Hamilton , actress (The Terminator
September 30 – Carol Jenkins Barnett , businesswoman and philanthropist (d. 2021)[ 5] Mae Jemison Carrie Fisher Rita Wilson Sinbad Bo Derek William Fichtner November 3 – Dru C. Gladney , anthropologist (d. 2022)November 7 – Judy Tenuta , American comedian and musician (d. 2022)November 8 – Steven Miller , record producerNovember 10 – Sinbad , stand-up comedian and actorNovember 13
November 14
November 15
November 16 – Terry Labonte , Race Car DriverNovember 17 – Kelly Ward , actor
November 18 – Warren Moon , football player
November 20 – Bo Derek , actress and model
November 21 – Terri Welles , actress and adult modelNovember 22
November 26 – Dale Jarrett , race car driver
November 27 – William Fichtner , actor
November 29
Larry Bird
January 9 – Marion Leonard , stage & silent film actress (born 1881 )
January 10 – Zonia Baber , geographer and geologist (born 1862 )
January 12 – Norman Kerry , silent film actor (born 1894 )
January 29 – H. L. Mencken , writer (born 1880 )
February 2
February 3 – Robert Yerkes , psychologist and ethologist (born 1876 )
February 8
February 15 – J. H. Smith , politician and pioneer (born 1858 )
February 26 – Elsie Janis , singer and actress (born 1889 )
March 13 – David Browning , Olympic diver; in aviation accident (born 1931 )
March 17 – Fred Allen , comedian (born 1894 )
March 18 – Louis Bromfield , writer and conservationist (born 1896 )
March 21 – Edwin Thanhouser , actor, businessman and film producer (born 1865 )
March 22 – George Sarton , historian of science (born 1884 in Belgium)
March 25
March 31 – Ralph DePalma , racing driver (born 1882 )
April 14 – Christian Rub , actor (born 1886 )
April 15 – Kathleen Howard , opera singer and film actress (born 1884 in Canada )
April 21
April 24 – Henry Stephenson , British actor (born 1871 )
April 26 – Edward Arnold , film actor (born 1890 )
April 30 – Alben W. Barkley , 35th vice president of the United States from 1949 to 1953 (born 1877 )
May 11 – Walter Sydney Adams , astronomer (born 1876 )
May 12 – Louis Calhern , actor (born 1895 )
May 15 – Arthur Talmage Abernethy , poet, journalist, theologian and minister (born 1872 )
May 24 – Guy Kibbee , actor (born 1882 )
May 26 – Al Simmons , baseball player (Philadelphia Athletics ) (born 1902 )
June 1 – Jesse H. Jones , entrepreneur, 9th United States Secretary of Commerce (born 1874 )
June 2 – Richard S. Edwards , admiral (born 1885 )
June 4 – Katherine MacDonald , silent film actress (born 1891 )
June 6
June 11 – Ralph Morgan , character actor (born 1883 )
June 19 – Thomas J. Watson , businessman and chairman of IBM (born 1874 )
June 25 – Ernest King , Fleet Admiral (born 1878 )
June 26 – Clifford Brown , jazz trumpeter (born 1930 )
July 4 – Udo Keppler , cartoonist (Puck 1872 )
July 10 – Joe Giard , baseball player born 1898 )
August 1 – Johnny Murray , voice actor
August 2 – Albert Woolson , last surviving Union veteran of the American Civil War (born 1850 )
August 11 – Jackson Pollock , painter (born 1912 )
August 13 – Lyonel Feininger , German American painter (born 1871 )
August 16
August 23 – Peaches Browning , divorcee and vaudeville actress (born 1910 )
August 24 – Mitchell Lewis , actor (born 1880 )
August 25 – Alfred Kinsey , sex researcher (born 1894 )
September 6 – Felix Borowski , composer and teacher (born 1872 in the United Kingdom )
September 27
September 28 , aviation pioneer (born 1881 )October 1 – Albert Von Tilzer , songwriter (born 1878 )
October 2 – George Bancroft , film actor (born 1882 )
October 6 – Charles E. Merrill , philanthropist, stockbroker, and co-founder of Merrill Lynch (born 1885 )
October 7 – Clarence Birdseye , (born 1886 )
October 9 – Marie Doro , stage & silent film actress (born 1882 )
October 18 – Charles Strite , inventor (born 1878 )
October 19 – Isham Jones , bandleader (born 1894 )
October 27 – Charles S. Johnson , sociologist (born 1893 )
November 1 – Tommy Johnson , Delta blues falsetto singer & guitarist (born 1896 )
November 5 – Art Tatum , jazz pianist (born 1909 )
November 6 – Paul Kelly , actor (born 1899 )
November 10
November 26 – Tommy Dorsey , trombonist and bandleader (born 1905 )
November 27 – Hugo Ballin , artist, film production designer and director (born 1879 )
December 9 – Charles Joughin , baker on RMS Titanic (born 1878 in the United Kingdom )
December 17 – Eddie Acuff , actor (born 1903 )
December 21 – Lewis Terman , psychologist (born 1877 )
December 26
December 30 – Ruth Draper , monologuist (born 1884 )
Media related to 1956 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons