What Happened in 1957 — Events, Births & Deaths

The Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.

In a speech given to the United States Congress, United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces the establishment of what will later be called the Eisenhower Doctrine.

British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden resigns from office following his failure to retake the Suez Canal from Egyptian sovereignty.

The African Convention is founded in Dakar, Senegal.

Kripalu Maharaj is named fifth Jagadguru (world teacher) after giving seven days of speeches before 500 Hindu scholars.

Israel withdraws from the Sinai Peninsula.

American inventor Walter Frederick Morrison sells the rights to his flying disc to the Wham-O toy company, which later renames it the "Frisbee".

Eight people (five total crew from two aircraft and three on the ground) in Pacoima, California are killed following the mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet.

Northeast Airlines Flight 823 crashes on Rikers Island in New York City, killing 20 people and injuring 78 others.

Kenyan rebel leader Dedan Kimathi is executed by the British colonial government.

Walter James Bolton becomes the last person legally executed in New Zealand.

Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam survives a communist shooting assassination attempt in Buôn Ma Thuột.

The S&P 500 stock market index is introduced, replacing the S&P 90.

Sutton Wick air crash: A Blackburn Beverley of 53 Squadron, Royal Air Forces, crashes into the village of Sutton Wick, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), killing most of the crew and passengers and two local residents.

the Ghana Independence Act 1957 is passed in the United Kingdom resulting in Ghana gaining independence from the British.

The 8.6 Mw Andreanof Islands earthquake shakes the Aleutian Islands, causing over $5 million in damage from ground movement and a destructive tsunami.

Cuban student revolutionaries storm the presidential palace in Havana in a failed attempt on the life of President Fulgencio Batista.

A plane crash in Cebu, Philippines kills Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others.

A United States Air Force aircraft disappears with all 67 people on board somewhere over the Pacific Ocean.

United States Customs seizes copies of Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" on obscenity grounds.

The European Economic Community is established with West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg as the first members.

The New York, Ontario and Western Railway makes its final run, the first major U.S. railroad to be abandoned in its entirety.

Elections to the Territorial Assembly of the French colony Upper Volta are held. After the elections PDU and MDV form a government.

The flag carrier airline of Greece for decades, Olympic Airways, is founded by Aristotle Onassis following the acquisition of "TAE - Greek National Airlines".

The Suez Canal in Egypt is cleared and opens to shipping following the Suez Crisis.

United Kingdom agrees to Singaporean self-rule.

Suez Crisis: The Suez Canal is reopened following the introduction of UNEF peacekeepers to the region.

Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery enters into force.

A Vickers VC.1 Viking crashes while attempting to return to Blackbushe Airport in Yateley, killing 34.

Walter O'Malley, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, agrees to move the team from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.

South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem begins a state visit to the United States, his regime's main sponsor.

At Malden Island in the Pacific Ocean, Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb in Operation Grapple.

South Africa's government approves of racial separation in universities.

First ascent of Broad Peak by Fritz Wintersteller, Marcus Schmuck, Kurt Diemberger, and Hermann Buhl.

John Diefenbaker leads the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada to a stunning upset in the 1957 Canadian federal election, ending 22 years of Liberal Party government.

Ellen Fairclough is sworn in as Canada's first female Cabinet Minister.

In Roth v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment.

Hurricane Audrey makes landfall near the Texas–Louisiana border, killing over 400 people, mainly in and around Cameron, Louisiana.

The International Geophysical Year begins.

Althea Gibson wins at the Wimbledon Championships, becoming the first black athlete to do so.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney meet for the first time, as teenagers at Woolton Fete, three years before forming the Beatles.

Prince Karim Husseini Aga Khan IV inherits the office of Imamat as the 49th Imam of Shia Imami Ismai'li worldwide, after the death of Sir Sultan Mahommed Shah Aga Khan III.

Rawya Ateya takes her seat in the National Assembly of Egypt, thereby becoming the first female parliamentarian in the Arab world.

KLM Flight 844 crashes off the Schouten Islands in present day Indonesia (then Netherlands New Guinea), killing 58 people.

The largely autobiographical novel The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold by Evelyn Waugh is published.

The Tunisian King Muhammad VIII al-Amin is replaced by President Habib Bourguiba.

Carlos Castillo Armas, dictator of Guatemala, is assassinated.

Heavy rain and a mudslide in Isahaya, western Kyushu, Japan, kills 992.

The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.

Tonight Starring Jack Paar premieres on NBC with Jack Paar beginning the modern day talk show.

The United States and Canada form the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

American Bandstand, a show dedicated to the teenage "baby-boomers" by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, debuts on the ABC television network.

The Soviet Union successfully conducts a long-range test flight of the R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile.

U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond begins a filibuster to prevent the United States Senate from voting on the Civil Rights Act of 1957; he stopped speaking 24 hours and 18 minutes later. This would remain the longest speech ever conducted by a single Senator until Cory Booker spoke for 25 hours and five minutes, beginning on March 31, 2025.

The Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia) gains its independence from the United Kingdom.

President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam becomes the first foreign head of state to make a state visit to Australia.

American Civil Rights Movement: Little Rock Crisis: The governor of Arkansas calls out the National Guard to prevent African American students from enrolling in Little Rock Central High School, resulting in the lawsuit Cooper v. Aaron the following year.

Cuban Revolution: Fulgencio Batista bombs the revolt in Cienfuegos.

Pamir, a four-masted barque, was shipwrecked and sank off the Azores during Hurricane Carrie.

In Haiti, François Duvalier is elected president.

Little Rock schools integration crisis: President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock, Arkansas, and federalizes the Arkansas National Guard, ordering both to support the integration of Little Rock Central High School.

President Eisenhower sends the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce desegregation.

Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, is integrated by the use of United States Army troops.

The Kyshtym disaster is the third-worst nuclear accident ever recorded.

The California State Superior Court rules that the book Howl and Other Poems is not obscene.

Sputnik 1 becomes the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologizes to Ghanaian finance minister Komla Agbeli Gbedemah after he is refused service in a Delaware restaurant.

The Windscale fire results in Britain's worst nuclear accident.

The 23rd Canadian Parliament becomes the only one to be personally opened by the Queen of Canada.

At least 81 people are killed in the most devastating flood in the history of the Spanish city of Valencia.

The United States Air Force starts the X-20 Dyna-Soar crewed space program.

Israel's prime minister David Ben-Gurion and five of his ministers are injured when Moshe Dwek throws a grenade into the Knesset.

The Mackinac Bridge, the world's longest suspension bridge between anchorages at the time, opens to traffic connecting Michigan's upper and lower peninsulas.

Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2. On board is the first animal to enter orbit, a dog named Laika.

Cold War: The Gaither Report calls for more American missiles and fallout shelters.

Pan Am Flight 7 disappears between San Francisco and Honolulu. Wreckage and bodies are discovered a week later.

Operation Grapple X, Round C1: The United Kingdom conducts its first successful hydrogen bomb test over Kiritimati in the Pacific.

The "Apalachin meeting" in rural Tioga County in upstate New York is raided by law enforcement; many high-level Mafia figures are arrested while trying to flee.

Short Solent 3 crashes near Chessell.

Vickers Viscount G-AOHP of British European Airways crashes at Ballerup after the failure of three engines on approach to Copenhagen Airport. The cause is a malfunction of the anti-icing system on the aircraft. There are no fatalities.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 126 relating to the Kashmir conflict is adopted.

Project Vanguard: A launchpad explosion of Vanguard TV3 thwarts the first United States attempt to launch a satellite into Earth orbit.

The Mw 6.5 Farsinaj earthquake strikes Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII, causing at least 1,119 deaths and damaging over 5,000 homes.

The United States successfully launches the first Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

A violent F5 tornado wipes out the entire community of Sunfield, Illinois.

The initial production version of the Boeing 707 makes its first flight.