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Fidel Castro becomes leader of
Cuba after
long struggle with existing government --True Fact: Ernesto "Che" Guevara, who
figures prominently in the Cuban Revolution, drives a `59 Chevy.
The car is currently on display in a Cuban Museum.
-
Alaska
becomes a state on January 3rd.
-
January 25 --
The first non-stop Jet Airliner flight from Los Angeles to New York
is done by American Airlines with a Boeing 707 named the Flagship
California.
-
Lou Costello,
part of the Abbott and Costello comedy team, dies March 3rd of a
heart attack in Los Angeles CA.
-
Hawaii becomes a
state on August 21st.
-
Buddy Holly, the
Big
Bopper, and
Ritchie Valens die in a tragic plane crash while enroute to a concert.
-
Cadillac utilizes the
largest
fins in history.
-
State College of Washington becomes
Washington State
University.
-
The first Daytona 500 is run at the
new
Daytona International Speedway.
Lee Petty, father to the legendary Richard Petty, came away with the
trophy. As of the year 2002, there has been
only one caution-free race, and that was in 1959.
-
Chevrolet introduces the Corvair.
The car becomes the biggest-selling model in the nation and helps GM
surpass Ford as the nation's biggest carmaker. A poor safety record
later shows that the auto industry is more interested in profits than
customer safety. As the highlight of Ralph Nader's "Unsafe at Any
Speed," published six years later, the Corvair becomes the focal
point in a movement for better-built cars with more safety features. GM
discontinues the model in 1969. Data courtesy
of About.com
-
86% of U.S.
households have television sets in 1959.
-
GoKarts become all the
rage.
-
Federico Bahamontes
-- a master at hillclimbing and known as the
Eagle of Toledo -- becomes the first Spaniard to win the Tour De France.
-
UK's Philip J.
Noel-Baker (1889 - 1982) wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his decades
of effort towards international peace.
-
Frank Lloyd Wright,
famous American Architect, dies at the age of 91. Noted for his
love for nature and penchant for natural design, Wright has been
heralded as one of the most important designers of the 20th Century. The
last major building he designed is
Grady Gammage Auditorium on the campus of Arizona State University.
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In December 1959, President Eisenhower visits India.
-
"Wheatback Pennies" are retired after being in
circulation from 1909 to 1958. They are replaced with pennies
displaying a portrait of the Lincoln Memorial in 1959.
-
Cape Canaveral -- The United States successfully test-fires a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile
for the first time.
-
Keel is laid for the USS Enterprise on February 4th, the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier,
in Newport News, VA.
-
Tang! Instant flavored drink is introduced to the U.S. retail
market.
-
Two 15-ounce cans of Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee Spaghetti (with meat balls) cost 45 cents.
-
Doris Day and Rock Hudson star in the movie Pillow
Talk.
-
Charlton Heston
stars in the 3 1/2 hour epic
Ben Hur.
-
Cary Grant stars
in Hitchcock's suspense thriller
North By Northwest.
-
Marilyn Monroe,
Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon star in
Some Like It Hot.
-
Campbell introduces two new soups to their extensive lineup - "Tomato Rice" and "Cream of Vegetable."
-
After playing nearly non-stop for 33 years, the Harlem Globetrotters play their 7,000th career game and experience their first undefeated season with 441 wins.
-
Edward E. Carlson, President of Western International
Hotels, draws the initial artist's rendition of Seattle's
Space Needle on a restaurant placemat. Three years later the
resulting structure towers 600 feet above the 1962 World's Fair, at a
cost of $4.5 million.
-
Dawn Wells --
daughter of a prominent Las Vegas businessman and the actress who
played Maryann on TV's Gilligan's Island -- was Miss Nevada in 1959.
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