WHAT ALL HAPPENED APRIL TO NOVEMBER 1959
Find out what all happened April to November 1959

The St. Lawrence Seaway, linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opens to shipping. (25. April 1959)

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. (30. June 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)

The first government of the State of Singapore is sworn in. (5. June 1959)

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

Sheremetyevo International Airport, the second-largest airport in Russia, opens. (11. August 1959)

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. (2. November 1959)

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

The first successful photocopier, the Xerox 914, is introduced in a demonstration on live television from New York City. (16. September 1959)

In New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opens to the public. (21. October 1959)

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

Project Mercury: NASA announces the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the "Mercury Seven". (9. April 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)

American disc jockey Alan Freed, who had popularized the term "rock and roll" and music of that style, is fired from WABC-AM radio for refusing to deny allegations that he had participated in the payola scandal. (21. November 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)

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)

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 Soviet probe Luna 2 crashes onto the Moon, becoming the first man-made object to reach it. (14. September 1959)

The Ford Motor Company announces the discontinuation of the unpopular Edsel. (19. November 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)