1957 Events & Facts

Soviet Union inaugurates the "Space Age" by launching Sputnik I, the world’s first artificial satellite. A month later Sputnik II carries a dog into orbit, making that dog the first living being to enter space.
President Eisenhower announces "Eisenhower Doctrine," pledging defense of Miulle Eastern nations against communism
Federal troops ordered to enforce integration of schools in Little Rock, Arkansas
Israel withdraws from Sinai Peninsula
European Common Market created
Britain detonates hydrogen bomb; U.S. conducts first underground nuclear test
Despite record-setting filibuster by Sen. Strom Thurmond, Congress approves the first significant civil rights legislation since the Civil War

Teamsters union expelled from the AFL-CIO for failing to deal with organized crime

Successful Sputnik satellites mark the beginning of the "Space Race," with intensive efforts by both the U.S. and Soviet Union to achieve space milestones.
67 nations participate in International Geophysical Year of earth science research
Growth-producing hormone discovered
Interferon discovered

Movies: The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Prince and the Showgirl, Twelve Angry Men, Love in the Afternoon
Songs: Young Love, Tonight, Wake Up Little Susie, That’ll Be the Day, Jailhouse Rock
TV Shows: Phil Silvers Show, Father Knows Best, Price is Right, American Bandstand, Twenty-One, Leave it to Beaver, Nat "King" Cole Show
Books: On the Road, Jack Kerouac; Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand; The Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss
West Side Story and The Music Man open in New York
And God Created Woman, a film starring Bridgette Bardot, becomes a controversial sensation; many communities ban the film based on its supposed sexual content
Humphrey Bogart dies

"Beatnik" enters the vernacular as a description of the emerging "Beat Generation" counterculture movement

71 cities have populations of one million or more in 1957; 40 years earlier such cities numbered only 16

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