WORLD HISTORY · 1957 日本語
Events of 1957Showa 32 (Japan) · Year of the Rooster
What happened in 1957?
In 1957, a Japanese Antarctic expedition landed on East Ongul Island and named its base Showa Station, and Japan's first nuclear reactor reached criticality at Tokai Village. Abroad, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite.
- Antarctic team lands, names Showa StationAsia
- First Kishi cabinet takes officeAsia
- Ghana gains independence from BritainEurope
- Treaty of Rome signedEurope
- Anti-Prostitution Act takes effectAsia
- Japan's first nuclear reactor reaches criticalityAsia
- Little Rock school integration crisisNorth America
- Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1Europe
Tap an event to jump to it in the timeline below.
1957 at a glance
| Japanese era | Showa 32 |
|---|---|
| Chinese zodiac | Year of the Rooster |
| Age of people born in 1957 | Turn 69 in 2026 |
| Previous / next year | 1956 (Showa 31) ／ 1958 (Showa 33) |
| Events | 89 |
| AP World History | Unit 8 (Cold War and Decolonization) |
| AP U.S. History | Period 8 |
Famous people born in 1957
Our birthday pages list 679 people born in 1957. Here are some of them.
- LeVar BurtonBorn February 16 · turns 69 this year · American actor and literacy advocate known for Roots, Star Trek: The Next Gener…
- Frances McDormandBorn June 23 · turns 69 this year · American actress who won Best Actress Oscars for Fargo, Three Billboards Outsid…
- Gloria EstefanBorn September 1 · turns 69 this year · Cuban American singer who led Miami Sound Machine to hits like "Conga" and "Rhy…
- Yoshihiko NodaBorn May 20 · turns 69 this year
- Masayoshi SonBorn August 11 · turns 69 this year
- Osama bin LadenBorn March 10 · turns 69 this year
- Bob HornerBorn August 6 · turns 69 this year
- Rumiko TakahashiBorn October 10 · turns 69 this year
- Evangelos VenizelosBorn January 1 · turns 69 this year
- Dave DobbynBorn January 3 · turns 69 this year
- Patty LovelessBorn January 4 · turns 69 this year
- George MorokoBorn January 5 · turns 69 this year
Show 28 more
- Kevin HastingsBorn January 5 · turns 69 this year
- Michael FoaleBorn January 6 · turns 69 this year
- Nancy LopezBorn January 6 · turns 69 this year
- Katie CouricBorn January 7 · turns 69 this year
- Nicholson BakerBorn January 7 · turns 69 this year
- Calvin NattBorn January 8 · turns 69 this year
- Dwight ClarkBorn January 8 · turns 69 this year
- Nacho DuatoBorn January 8 · turns 69 this year
- Ron Cephas JonesBorn January 8 · turns 69 this year
- Phil LewisBorn January 9 · turns 69 this year
- Bryan RobsonBorn January 11 · turns 69 this year
- Darryl DawkinsBorn January 11 · turns 69 this year
- Peter MooreBorn January 11 · turns 69 this year
- Jeremy SamsBorn January 12 · turns 69 this year
- John LasseterBorn January 12 · turns 69 this year
- Claudia EmersonBorn January 13 · turns 69 this year
- Lorrie MooreBorn January 13 · turns 69 this year
- Mark O'MearaBorn January 13 · turns 69 this year
- Mary GlindonBorn January 13 · turns 69 this year
- Anchee MinBorn January 14 · turns 69 this year
- Andrew TyrieBorn January 15 · turns 69 this year
- David IgeBorn January 15 · turns 69 this year
- Mario Van PeeblesBorn January 15 · turns 69 this year
- Marty LyonsBorn January 15 · turns 69 this year
- Jurijs AndrejevsBorn January 16 · turns 69 this year
- Ricardo DarínBorn January 16 · turns 69 this year
- Ann NocentiBorn January 17 · turns 69 this year
- Steve HarveyBorn January 17 · turns 69 this year
Events of 1957 (timeline · 89)
Tip: the PC view is best for studying
On a computer, each region has its own vertical line, so you can follow the flow of events and see what was happening in different parts of the world at the same time.
George Town, Penang, is made a city by a royal charter of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
Lèse majesté in Thailand is strengthened to include "insult" and changed to a crime against national security, after the Thai criminal code of 1956 went into effect.
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.
Kripalu Maharaj is named fifth Jagadguru (world teacher) after giving seven days of speeches before 500 Hindu scholars.
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.
Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam survives a communist shooting assassination attempt in Buôn Ma Thuột.
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.
The European Economic Community is established with West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg as the first members.
United States Customs seizes copies of Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" on obscenity grounds.
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.
Suez Crisis: The Suez Canal is reopened following the introduction of UNEF peacekeepers to the region.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pamir, a four-masted barque, was shipwrecked and sank off the Azores during Hurricane Carrie.
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 California State Superior Court rules that the book Howl and Other Poems is not obscene.
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologizes to Ghanaian finance minister Komla Agbeli Gbedemah after he is refused service in a Delaware restaurant.
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.
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.
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.
Source: Wikipedia date pages ("January 1" … "December 31") / CC BY-SA 4.0. Regions are assigned by the site editors.
FAQ
What year was 1957 in the Japanese calendar?
1957 was Showa 32 in the Japanese era system.
What Chinese zodiac animal is 1957?
1957 is the Year of the Rooster.
How old is someone born in 1957?
They turn 69 on their birthday in 2026.
What happened in 1957?
In 1957, a Japanese Antarctic expedition landed on East Ongul Island and named its base Showa Station, and Japan's first nuclear reactor reached criticality at Tokai Village. Abroad, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite.
Dates and events are based on Wikipedia and other references. Summaries and regions are written by the site editors.