The following events occurred in January 1959:
January 1, 1959 (Thursday) Cuban President Fulgencio Batista fled to the Dominican Republic as the forces of Fidel Castro closed in. Before leaving, Batista named Judge Carlos Manuel Piedra as provisional president. Piedra ordered a cease-fire moments after taking office. At , the ships , and were directed to sail to Cuba to evacuate Americans if necessary. Cultivars of plants, such as new varieties of roses, could no longer bear a Latin name, as of this date, based on an amendment to the ICNCP, the International Code of Nomenclature of Cultivated Plants. Born: Azali Assoumani, President of the Comoros 1999–2002; in Mitsoudjé
January 2, 1959 (Friday) The Soviet Union successfully launched the Luna 1 satellite from Baikonur Cosmodrome. Luna 1 would become the first man-made object to escape the pull of the Earth's gravity and the first man-made object to orbit the Sun. As Castro's rebel forces rolled into Havana, the 32-year-old leader named Dr. Manuel Urrutia Lleo as President of Cuba. CBS Radio canceled four of its daytime soap operas: Backstage Wife, Our Gal Sunday, The Road of Life, and This Is Nora Drake. Died: William Douglas Francis, 69, Australian botanist
January 3, 1959 (Saturday)
Separatists in the Maldivian islands of Suvadiva, Addu and Fua Mulaku declared independence. Abdullah Aleef proclaimed the United Suvadive Republic, which Maldivian troops would crush later that year.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower proclaimed Alaska as the 49th U.S. state at in Washington. A new American flag, with seven staggered rows, each with seven stars, was introduced. Given that a 50th state might soon be admitted, the 49-state flag was not widely produced, and Eisenhower added, "With limited exceptions, agencies of the Federal Government will continue to display the 48-star flag so long as it is still in good condition and until existing stocks of unused flags are exhausted. It is appropriate for all citizens to do the same." Died: Edwin Muir, 71, Scottish poet, novelist and translator
January 4, 1959 (Sunday) At 0259 GMT, the Luna 1 satellite became the first man-made object to enter into an orbit around the Sun, making it our solar system's first artificial planet. Because the second-stage engine shutdown command from the Soviet space center was received slightly late, Luna 1 did not land on the Moon as planned but passed within before passing into heliocentric orbit. U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower congratulated Soviet scientists on achieving "a great stride forward in man's advance into the infinite reaches of outer space", while House leader John W. McCormack commented that "it is time America awoke to its peril"."Eisenhower Congratulates Red Scientists", Id. Russian astrophysicist Ivan Shevchenko would comment nearly 60 years later, "[W]ho cares at present where is Luna-1... called a man-made 'tenth' planet? Of course, this remark does not mean that a study of the long-term motion of Luna-1 may lead to a theoretical breakthrough." Riots broke out in Léopoldville (now Kinshasa) in the Congo after police broke up a meeting of the independence group ABAKO. After two days, at least 49 people had been killed.
January 5, 1959 (Monday) Four British balloonists were rescued at sea, 19 days after contact was lost during their attempt to sail across the Atlantic. The Small World had set off from the Canary Islands on December 12, bound for Barbados. A fishing vessel located the floating gondola and brought the three men and one woman the rest of the way. Qualifications were established for Project Mercury pilot selection in a meeting at the NASA Headquarters. These qualifications were as follows: age, less than 40; height, less than ; excellent physical condition; bachelor's degree or equivalent; graduate of test pilot school; 1,500 hours flight time; and a qualified jet pilot. New York Herald-Tribune columnist Marie Torre went to jail for a 10-day sentence for contempt of court rather than reveal her source for a 1957 story about Judy Garland. Torre was imprisoned on the seventh floor of the Hudson County Jail in Jersey City. She was released on her tenth day on January 14, without disclosing her information. Torre, later to become a television anchorperson in Pittsburgh, would be recalled after her death in 1997 as "the first reporter to gain national attention for going to jail for refusing to identify a news source." Democrat Pat Brown took office as Governor of California, succeeding Republican Goodwin Knight. Born: Clancy Brown, American actor (Carnivàle); in Urbana, Ohio
January 6, 1959 (Tuesday) In Bowling Green, Virginia, Mildred and Richard Loving were found guilty of a felony for violating Virginia Code §20-59, the law against miscegenation. Richard was white, Mildred was black, and they had married in Washington, D.C., on June 2, 1958, then returned to live with her parents in Central Point. They were arrested ten days later. Judge Leon M. Bazile sentenced them each to a year in jail, suspending the sentence on condition that they leave Virginia for 25 years. Mr. and Mrs. Loving moved to Washington, D.C., but in 1963 they filed a motion in the court to vacate the judgment. After Virginia's highest court upheld the law, the Lovings appealed to the United States Supreme Court. On June 12, 1967, in the case of Loving v. Virginia, the Court ruled as unconstitutional the Virginia law, and similar laws in 15 other states.Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967) In the House of Representatives, Joseph W. Martin's 20-year reign as leader of the House Republicans ended by a 74–70 vote of the GOP caucus. Martin, who had been Speaker of the House from 1947 to 1949, was replaced by Charles A. Halleck of Indiana. A meeting was held at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Headquarters to discuss the method for spacecraft heat protection. Two plans were considered: beryllium heat sink and ablation. Based on this meeting a decision was made to modify the spacecraft structure in order to accommodate interchangeably ablation heat shields and beryllium heat sinks, and orders were placed for 12 and 6, respectively.
January 7, 1959 (Wednesday) Cuba's new government announced the first executions of former officials of Fulgencio Batista. Ten officers were executed at Santiago including Col. Arcadio Casillas, who oversaw Santiago. The same day, the United States recognized the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.p155 At 12:39, the U.S. Congress gained three new members. Bob Bartlett and Ernest Gruening took the oath as Senators, and Ralph J. Rivers became Alaska's lone U.S. Representative.
January 8, 1959 (Thursday) Four Egyptian MiG-17 jets penetrated Israeli airspace near Beersheba before Israeli fighters drove them off.
Charles de Gaulle was inaugurated President of France, the first under the new constitution as the Fifth Republic, while Michel Debré became Prime Minister, the office formerly held by de Gaulle. Cheering crowds greeted Fidel Castro as he made a triumphant entry into Havana. Born: Paul Hester, Australian musician (Split Enz, Crowded House) and television personality (d. 2005, suicide by hanging)
January 9, 1959 (Friday) The Vega de Tera disaster killed 144 people in the village of Ribadelago in Spain's province of Zamora. At 12:30 in the morning, the dam holding back the lake waters of Lago de Sanabria burst, causing 1.7 billion U.S. gallons (6.5 billion liters) of water to sweep through the town. The Source Selection Board at NASA Headquarters completed their findings. McDonnell Aircraft Corporation was selected as the prime contractor to develop and produce the Mercury spacecraft. Born: Rigoberta Menchú, Guatemalan writer, 1992 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, in Laj Chimel
January 10, 1959 (Saturday) The U.S. District Court in Atlanta ordered the University System of Georgia to admit qualified African-Americans in its segregated colleges, striking down a requirement that at least two college alumni had to sign for a student to enroll. Meanwhile, the federal court in Little Rock ordered the school board to integrate and reopen the Arkansas city's high schools, which had been closed for four months. Born: Mark Martin, American NASCAR stock car racing driver, five-time IROC champion (1995 to 1998, and 2005) and NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee; in Batesville, ArkansasMark Martin, Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, mshf.com Chris Van Hollen, U.S. Senator for Maryland since 2017; in Karachi, Pakistan, where his father, U.S. diplomat Christopher Van Hollen Sr. was stationed
January 11, 1959 (Sunday) All 36 people on Lufthansa Flight 502 were killed when the L-1049G Super Constellation airliner crashed at Rio de Janeiro. The airliner was attempting to land in on the fifth stop of a flight from Hamburg to Buenos Aires, plowing into Flecheiras Beach after striking the water.Aviation-Safety.net A nine-day-old baby girl, who had been kidnapped from a hospital three hours after her birth, was found safe at a Brooklyn apartment. Mrs. Jean Iavarone was arrested on charges of having stolen Lisa Chionchio from St. Peter's Hospital in New York on January 2, prompting a citywide hunt. In Carmel, California, retired movie actress Claire Delmar was found stabbed to death in her home. Delmar, whose real name was Claire Mohr, had appeared in silent films with Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer and with Rudolph Valentino in The Four Horsemen. Born: Majed Abdullah, Saudi Arabian footballer with 117 caps and 72 goals for the Saudi Arabia national team; in Jeddah (d.2006)
January 12, 1959 (Monday) In Spain, five boys who wanted to go hunting for bats discovered the Caves of Nerja. The caves, blocked by stalactites, had been sealed for more than 3,000 years and were a trove of Paleolithic artifacts. In the largest mass execution of former officials since Castro's victory, Cuban communists shot 71 supporters of Fulgencio Batista over a seven-hour period, then buried them in a mass grave. Motown Records, a major force in discovering and promoting the music of numerous African-American singers and bands, was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. in Detroit, Michigan, with the original name of "Tamla Records". On April 14, 1960, in honor of Detroit, "The Motor Town", Gordy would rename "Tamla" and incorporate Motown Record Corporation. Born: Per Gessle, Swedish singer-songwriter and Roxette guitarist; in Halmstad
January 13, 1959 (Tuesday) Forty people were missing after the explosion of the tanker Mirador as it was being towed into the harbor at Iskenderun, Turkey. All 34 of the crew of the tugboat Imroz were presumed dead. Voters in the California towns of Decoto and Alvarado, in Alameda County, overwhelmingly (by a total margin of 837 to 220) approved a referendum to merge the two unincorporated communities into a municipality. The union of the two was incorporated as Union City on January 26. The town of 6,000 would grow to almost 70,000 within 50 years.
January 14, 1959 (Wednesday) Antarctic explorers from Japan were stunned to find alive two of the 15 Karafuto husky dogs that they had abandoned eleven months earlier. A six-man advance party had helicoptered from the ship Soya to reopen the base on Ongul Island. Masami Muriyama radioed back that the dogs greeted them with tails wagging, and were in good condition. The next day, Japan was in celebration, with hourly updates on the radio, and a headline "in type normally reserved for the outbreak of war" announcing "TWO DOGS SURVIVE!" The story was recounted in the 1983 film Nankyoku Monogatari and the inspiration for the 2006 Disney film Eight Below. Japan's Crown Prince and future Emperor, Prince Akihito, announced his engagement to commoner Michiko Shoda, breaking tradition. His proposal included traditional gifts of sea bream, rice wine, and five rolls of silk, and was sealed by a prayer to his ancestors in three Shinto shrines.