- Efforts at school desegregation in the southern U.S. are met with impassioned resistance
- U.S. launches its first satellite, Explorer I; NASA established
- Vice President Richard Nixon’s goodwill tour of South America sparks open protests and rioting
- Egypt and Sudan form the United Arab Republic
- U.S. Marines intervene in Lebanon to bolster government
MAJOR EVENTS:
- Economic slowdown in U.S. causes sharp rise in unemployment
BUSINESS & ECONOMY:
- Nuclear submarine U.S.S. Nautilus makes the first underwater crossing of the North Pole
- U.S. launches satellites that detect the Van Allen radiation belts around the earth, and determine that the earth is not perfectly round
- Experimental nuclear power plant goes into operation
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY:
- World Series: New York Yankees over Milwaukee, 4-3
- Arnold Palmer wins his first Masters golf tournament
SPORTS:
- Movies: Gigi, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Me and the Colonel
- Songs: Catch a Falling Star, Chipmunk Song, Volare, The Purple People Eater, At the Hop
- TV Shows: You Asked for It, Wagon Train, To Tell the Truth, The Rifleman, Donna Reed Show, Have Gun Will Travel
- Books: A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry; Exodus, Leon Uris; Dr. Zhivago, Boris Pasternak; Masters of Deceit, J. Edgar Hoover; Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Truman Capote; The Affluent Society, John K. Gailbraith
- The "Cha Cha" becomes a dance craze
- New York’s Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opens
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT:
- Stereo recordings become available
- "Barbie" doll introduced, becoming an instant success
EVERYDAY LIFE:
- "Hula Hoops" become a national craze
