What Happened in 1957?

MAJOR EVENTS:

• 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

BUSINESS & ECONOMY:

• Teamsters union expelled from the AFL-CIO for failing to deal with organized crime
• Toyota starts selling cars in the US

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY:

• 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
• Ultrasound scanning pioneered in Scotland

SPORTS:

• World Series: Milwaukee over New York Yankees, 4-3
• At age 13, Bobby Fischer becomes a chess champion
• New York Giants move to San Francisco; Brooklyn Dodgers move to Los Angeles

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT:

• 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
• Elvis Presley purchases Graceland

EVERYDAY LIFE:

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

FUN FACTS:

• 71 cities have populations of one million or more in 1957; 40 years earlier such cities numbered only 16
• Frisbees are released and become wildly popular