WORLD HISTORY · 1959 日本語
Events of 1959Showa 34 (Japan) · Year of the Pig
What happened in 1959?
In 1959, Tokyo was chosen to host the 1964 Olympics, and the Isewan Typhoon caused devastating damage in the Tokai region of central Japan. Abroad, the Cuban Revolution succeeded and Luna 2 reached the Moon.
- Measurement Act makes metric system standardAsia
- Cuban Revolution succeedsLatin America
- De Gaulle becomes French presidentEurope
- Kilby receives integrated circuit patentNorth America
- Shonen Sunday and Shonen Magazine manga weeklies launchAsia
- Tokyo chosen to host OlympicsAsia
- Luna 2 becomes first to reach the MoonEurope
- Isewan Typhoon strikes Tokai regionAsia
Tap an event to jump to it in the timeline below.
1959 at a glance
| Japanese era | Showa 34 |
|---|---|
| Chinese zodiac | Year of the Pig |
| Age of people born in 1959 | Turn 67 in 2026 |
| Previous / next year | 1958 (Showa 33) ／ 1960 (Showa 35) |
| Events | 92 |
| AP World History | Unit 8 (Cold War and Decolonization) |
| AP U.S. History | Period 8 |
Famous people born in 1959
Our birthday pages list 695 people born in 1959. Here are some of them.
- John McEnroeBorn February 16 · turns 67 this year · American tennis champion who won seven Grand Slam singles titles and later beca…
- Magic JohnsonBorn August 14 · turns 67 this year · American basketball Hall of Fame point guard who led the Los Angeles Lakers to…
- Ryne SandbergBorn September 18 · turns 67 this year · Hall of Fame second baseman who starred for the Chicago Cubs and won the 1984 N…
- Ken WatanabeBorn October 21 · turns 67 this year
- Carlo AncelottiBorn June 10 · turns 67 this year
- Emma ThompsonBorn April 15 · turns 67 this year
- Val KilmerBorn December 31 · turns 67 this year
- Abdul Ahad MohmandBorn January 1 · turns 67 this year
- Adrian HallBorn January 1 · turns 67 this year
- Azali AssoumaniBorn January 1 · turns 67 this year
- Panagiotis GiannakisBorn January 1 · turns 67 this year
- Clancy BrownBorn January 5 · turns 67 this year
Show 28 more
- Nancy DelahuntBorn January 5 · turns 67 this year
- Kapil DevBorn January 6 · turns 67 this year
- Angela Smith, Baroness Smith of BasildonBorn January 7 · turns 67 this year
- Kathy ValentineBorn January 7 · turns 67 this year
- Paul HesterBorn January 8 · turns 67 this year
- Rigoberta MenchúBorn January 9 · turns 67 this year
- Chandra CheeseboroughBorn January 10 · turns 67 this year
- Chris Van HollenBorn January 10 · turns 67 this year
- Fran WalshBorn January 10 · turns 67 this year
- Brett BodineBorn January 11 · turns 67 this year
- B. Brian BlairBorn January 12 · turns 67 this year
- Per GessleBorn January 12 · turns 67 this year
- Sergey IvanenkoBorn January 12 · turns 67 this year
- Winnie ByanyimaBorn January 13 · turns 67 this year
- Geoff TateBorn January 14 · turns 67 this year
- Greg DowlingBorn January 15 · turns 67 this year
- Pavle KozjekBorn January 15 · turns 67 this year
- Lisa MilroyBorn January 16 · turns 67 this year
- SadeBorn January 16 · turns 67 this year
- Susanna HoffsBorn January 17 · turns 67 this year
- Danese CooperBorn January 19 · turns 67 this year
- Jeff PilsonBorn January 19 · turns 67 this year
- Tami HoagBorn January 20 · turns 67 this year
- Alex McLeishBorn January 21 · turns 67 this year
- Sergei AlifirenkoBorn January 21 · turns 67 this year
- Linda BlairBorn January 22 · turns 67 this year
- Clive BullBorn January 23 · turns 67 this year
- Akira MaedaBorn January 24 · turns 67 this year
Events of 1959 (timeline · 92)
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.
Cuban Revolution: Fulgencio Batista, dictator of Cuba, is overthrown by Fidel Castro's forces.
Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the Soviet Union.
Charles de Gaulle is proclaimed as the first President of the French Fifth Republic.
The Vega de Tera dam fails, triggering a disastrous flood that nearly destroys the town of Ribadelago and kills 144 residents.
36 people are killed when Lufthansa Flight 502 crashes on approach to Rio de Janeiro/Galeão International Airport in Brazil.
Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 205 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean near Astor Piazzolla International Airport in Mar del Plata, Argentina, killing 51.
The 41-acre (17 ha) Chain Island is listed for sale by the California State Lands Commission, with a minimum bid of $5,226.
MS Hans Hedtoft, specifically designed to operate in icebound seas, strikes an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sinks, killing all 95 aboard.
The forces of the Sultanate of Muscat occupy the last strongholds of the Imamate of Oman, Saiq and Shuraijah, marking the end of Jebel Akhdar War in Oman.
Nine experienced ski hikers in the northern Ural Mountains in the Soviet Union die under mysterious circumstances.
Rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson are killed in a plane crash along with the pilot near Clear Lake, Iowa, an event later known as The Day the Music Died.
Sixty-five people are killed when American Airlines Flight 320 crashes into the East River on approach to LaGuardia Airport in New York City.
Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments files the first patent for an integrated circuit.
At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.
The R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile, becomes operational at Plesetsk, USSR.
The Federation of Arab Emirates of the South is created as a protectorate of the United Kingdom.
Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1.
A Turkish Airlines Vickers Viscount crashes near Gatwick Airport, killing 14; Turkish prime minister Adnan Menderes survives the crash.
Project Vanguard: Vanguard 2: The first weather satellite is launched to measure cloud-cover distribution.
The United Kingdom grants Cyprus independence, which is formally proclaimed on August 16, 1960.
The Avro Arrow program to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate.
Discoverer 1, an American spy satellite that is the first object intended to achieve a polar orbit, is launched but fails to achieve orbit.
The Barbie doll makes its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York.
Tibetan uprising: Fearing an abduction attempt by China, thousands of Tibetans surround the Dalai Lama's palace to prevent his removal.
Chain Island is sold by the State of California to Russell Gallaway III, a Sacramento businessman who plans to use it as a "hunting and fishing retreat", for $5,258.20 ($58,072 in 2025).
The State Council of the People's Republic of China dissolves the government of Tibet.
The 14th Dalai Lama crosses the border into India and is granted political asylum.
A team of computer manufacturers, users, and university people led by Grace Hopper meets to discuss the creation of a new programming language that would be called COBOL.
The Organization of American States drafts an agreement to create the Inter-American Development Bank.
Project Mercury: NASA announces the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the "Mercury Seven".
The Saint Lawrence Seaway, linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opens to shipping.
In Cuba, the First Agrarian Reform Law – a cornerstone of the Cuban Revolution – is signed by Fidel Castro, aiming to eliminate large foreign-owned estates and redistribute land to over 100,000 peasants.
The North Vietnamese Army establishes Group 559, whose responsibility is to determine how to maintain supply lines to South Vietnam; the resulting route is the Ho Chi Minh trail.
The Auckland Harbour Bridge, crossing the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand, is officially opened by Governor-General Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham.
USS Barbero and the United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.
The USS George Washington is launched. It is the first nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine.
Disneyland Monorail System, the first daily operating monorail system in the Western Hemisphere, opens to the public in Anaheim, California.
Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after only nine years in prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany where he resumes a scientific career.
Swedish boxer Ingemar Johansson becomes world champion of heavyweight boxing, by defeating American Floyd Patterson on technical knockout after two minutes and three seconds in the third round at Yankee Stadium.
A United States Air Force F-100 Super Sabre from Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, crashes into a nearby elementary school, killing 11 students plus six residents from the local neighborhood.
Specific values for the international yard, avoirdupois pound and derived units (e.g. inch, mile and ounce) are adopted after agreement between the US, the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries.
Venus occults the star Regulus. This rare event is used to determine the diameter of Venus and the structure of the Venusian atmosphere.
Elijah Jerry "Pumpsie" Green becomes the first African-American to play for the Boston Red Sox, the last team to integrate. He came in as a pinch runner for Vic Wertz and stayed in as shortstop in a 2–1 loss to the Chicago White Sox.
NS Savannah, the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, is launched as a showcase for Dwight D. Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" initiative.
At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, U.S. vice president Richard Nixon and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev have a "Kitchen Debate".
The Continental League is announced as baseball's "third major league" in the United States.
Portugal's state police force PIDE fires upon striking workers in Bissau, Portuguese Guinea, killing over 50 people.
Explorer program: Explorer 6 launches from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Sheremetyevo International Airport, the second-largest airport in Russia, opens.
American Airlines Flight 514, a Boeing 707, crashes near the Calverton Executive Airpark in Calverton, New York, killing all five people on board.
Quake Lake is formed by the magnitude 7.2 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake near Hebgen Lake in Montana.
United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union. Hawaii's admission is currently commemorated by Hawaii Admission Day.
South Vietnamese opposition figure Phan Quang Dan is elected to the National Assembly despite soldiers being bussed in to vote for President Ngo Dinh Diem's candidate.
A parcel bomb sent by Ngô Đình Nhu, younger brother and chief adviser of South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm, fails to kill King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.
Bonanza, the first regularly scheduled TV program presented in color, is launched in the United States.
The first successful photocopier, the Xerox 914, is introduced in a demonstration on live television from New York City.
TAI Flight 307 crashes during takeoff from Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport in Bordeaux, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France, killing 55 people.
S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Ceylon, is mortally shot by a Buddhist monk, Talduwe Somarama, and dies the next day.
Typhoon Vera, the strongest typhoon to hit Japan in recorded history, makes landfall, killing 4,580 people and leaving nearly 1.6 million others homeless.
The Soviet probe Luna 3 transmits the first-ever photographs of the far side of the Moon.
At the national congress of the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance in Peru, a group of leftist radicals are expelled from the party who later form APRA Rebelde.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower approves the transfer of all US Army space-related activities to NASA, including most of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency.
Aeroflot Flight 200 crashes while attempting to land at Vnukovo International Airport, killing 28.
Piedmont Airlines Flight 349 crashes on approach to Charlottesville–Albemarle Airport in Albemarle County, Virginia, killing 26 of the 27 on board.
Quiz show scandals: Twenty-One game show contestant Charles Van Doren admits to a Congressional committee that he had been given questions and answers in advance.
The first section of the M1 motorway, the first inter-urban motorway in the United Kingdom, is opened between the present junctions 5 and 18, along with the M10 motorway and M45 motorway.
Four members of the Clutter family are murdered near Holcomb, Kansas, by Perry Smith and Richard Hickock, a crime later detailed by Truman Capote in his 1966 non-fiction novel In Cold Blood.
National Airlines Flight 967 explodes in mid-air over the Gulf of Mexico, killing all 42 aboard.
Aeroflot Flight 315 crashes on approach to Lviv Airport, killing all 40 people on board.
American disc jockey Alan Freed, who had popularized the term "rock and roll" and music of that style, is fired from WABC radio over allegations he had participated in the payola scandal.
French President Charles de Gaulle declares in a speech in Strasbourg his vision for "Europe, from the Atlantic to the Urals".
Cold War: Opening date for signature of the Antarctic Treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on the continent.
The current flag of Singapore is adopted, six months after Singapore became self-governing within the British Empire.
Source: Wikipedia date pages ("January 1" … "December 31") / CC BY-SA 4.0. Regions are assigned by the site editors.
FAQ
What year was 1959 in the Japanese calendar?
1959 was Showa 34 in the Japanese era system.
What Chinese zodiac animal is 1959?
1959 is the Year of the Pig.
How old is someone born in 1959?
They turn 67 on their birthday in 2026.
What happened in 1959?
In 1959, Tokyo was chosen to host the 1964 Olympics, and the Isewan Typhoon caused devastating damage in the Tokai region of central Japan. Abroad, the Cuban Revolution succeeded and Luna 2 reached the Moon.
Dates and events are based on Wikipedia and other references. Summaries and regions are written by the site editors.