WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO OCTOBER 1959
Find out what all happened January to October 1959

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". (24. July 1959)

The Saint Lawrence Seaway opens, opening North America's Great Lakes to ocean-going ships. (26. June 1959)

The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) is established. (8. September 1959)

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. (23. June 1959)

Disneyland Monorail System, the first daily operating monorail system in the Western Hemisphere, opens to the public in Anaheim, California. (14. June 1959)

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. (21. July 1959)

Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, the much acclaimed and highly influential best selling jazz recording of all time, is released. (17. August 1959)

Explorer program: Explorer 6 launches from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (7. August 1959)

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order transferring Wernher von Braun and other German scientists from the United States Army to NASA. (21. October 1959)

The USS George Washington is launched. It is the first submarine to carry ballistic missiles. (9. June 1959)

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. (19. May 1959)

The Auckland Harbour Bridge, crossing the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand, is officially opened by Governor-General Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham. (30. May 1959)

MS Hans Hedtoft, said to be the safest ship afloat and "unsinkable" like the RMS Titanic, strikes an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sinks, killing all 95 aboard. (30. January 1959)

A fire in a resort hotel in Stalheim (Norway) kills 34 people. (23. June 1959)

Deaths of rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa. (3. February 1959)

Akihito, future Emperor of Japan, marries Michiko. (10. April 1959)

The Soviet Union launches a large rocket, Lunik II, at the moon. (12. September 1959)

Specific values for the international yard, avoirdupois pound and derived units (e.g. inch, mile and ounce) are adopted after agreement between the U.S.A., the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries. (1. July 1959)

The Lincoln Memorial design on the U.S. penny goes into circulation. It replaces the "sheaves of wheat" design, and was minted until 2008. (7. August 1959)

Iowa farmer and corn breeder Roswell Garst hosts Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev. (23. September 1959)