Events from the year 1957 in the United States.
Incumbents
Federal government President: Dwight D. Eisenhower (R-Kansas/New York then Kansas/Pennsylvania) Vice President: Richard Nixon (R-California) Chief Justice: Earl Warren (California) Speaker of the House of Representatives: Sam Rayburn (D–Texas) Senate Majority Leader: Lyndon B. Johnson (D-Texas) Congress: 84th (until January 3), 85th (starting January 3)
State governments Governors and lieutenant governors Governors
Lieutenant governors
Events
January
January 2 – The San Francisco and Los Angeles stock exchanges merge to form the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange. January 6 – Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show for the third and final time. He is only shown from the waist up, even during the gospel segment, singing "Peace In The Valley". Ed Sullivan describes Elvis thus: "This is a real decent, fine boy. We've never had a pleasanter experience on our show with a big name than we've had with you. You're thoroughly alright." January 16 – Global hotel brand Marriott opens its first hotel, the Marriott Motor Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. January 20 – Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon are inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States and Vice President of the United States respectively. January 22 – The New York City "Mad Bomber", George Metesky, is arrested in Waterbury, Connecticut, and charged with planting more than 30 bombs. January 23 – Ku Klux Klan members force truck driver Willie Edwards to jump off a bridge into the Alabama River; he drowns as a result. January 31 – Pacoima aircraft accident: Three students on a junior high school playground in Pacoima, California, are among the 8 persons killed following a mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet, in the skies above the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles.
February February 4 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, , logs its 60,000th nautical mile, matching the endurance of the fictional Nautilus described in Jules Verne's 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas. February 17 – The Warrenton Nursing Home fire in Missouri kills 72 people. February 23 – Charlie Brandt, serial killer (d. 2004) February 25 – The "Boy In The Box" is discovered along a sidewalk in Philadelphia. The murder victim is described as Caucasian in appearance and 4 to 6 years old; the boy was identified as Joseph Augustus Zarelli in 2022.
March
March 4 – Standard & Poor's first publishes the S&P 500 Index in the United States. March 7 – The United States Congress approves the Eisenhower Doctrine on assistance to Communist-threatened foreign regimes. March 10 – Floodgates of The Dalles Dam are closed, inundating Celilo Falls and ancient Native American fisheries along the Columbia River in Oregon. March 13 – The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation arrests Jimmy Hoffa and charges him with bribery. March 22 – The 5.7 San Francisco earthquake shook the Bay Area in California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong), causing $1 million in losses, one death and forty injuries. March 25 – Copies of Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems (first published November 1, 1956), printed in the UK, are seized by United States Customs Service officials in San Francisco, on the grounds of obscenity. On October 3, in People v. Ferlinghetti, a subsequent prosecution of publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the work is ruled not to be obscene. March 26 – 22-year-old Elvis Presley buys Graceland on 3734 Bellevue Boulevard (Highway 51 South) for $100,000. He and his family move from the house on 1034 Audubon Drive. March 27 – The 29th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Jerry Lewis and Celeste Holm, is held at RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. The ceremony started a trend toward blockbusters and colorful spectaculars, with Michael Anderson's Around the World in 80 Days winning Best Motion Picture chief among them. The film is tied with Walter Lang's The King and I for the most awards with five, while George Stevens' Giant receives the most nominations with ten, including Stevens' second Best Director win. March 31 – Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, the team's only musical written especially for television, is telecast live and in color by CBS, starring Julie Andrews in the title role. The production is seen by millions, but this 1957 version is not telecast again for more than 40 years, when a kinescope of it is shown.
April April 12 – Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl, printed in the United Kingdom, is seized by U.S. customs officials on the grounds of obscenity.
May May 2 Iron Liege, at 8–1, wins the Kentucky Derby in one of the most eventful Derbys ever. Vincent Gigante fails to assassinate mafioso Frank Costello in Manhattan. May 3 – Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley agrees to move the team from Brooklyn, to Los Angeles. May 16 – Walt Whitman Bridge opens between Philadelphia and New Jersey.
June June 1 – Three-year-old thoroughbred Gallant Man wins the Peter Pan Stakes, at Belmont Park. June 15 – Oklahoma celebrates its semi-centennial statehood. A brand new 1957 Plymouth Belvedere is buried in a time capsule (to be opened 50 years later on June 15, 2007). June 20 – The 1957 Fargo Tornado caused 12 deaths. June 23 – Royal Ice Cream sit-in June 25 – The United Church of Christ is formed in Cleveland, Ohio, by the merger of the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church. June 27 – Hurricane Audrey demolishes Cameron, Louisiana, killing 400 people.
July July 9 – Elvis Presley's Loving You opens in movie theaters. July 16 – United States Marine Major John Glenn flies an F8U supersonic jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds, setting a new transcontinental speed record.
August August 5 – American Bandstand, a local dance show produced by WFIL-TV in Philadelphia, joins the ABC Television Network. August 21 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces a 2-year suspension of nuclear testing. August 28 – United States Senator Strom Thurmond (D-SC) sets the record for the longest filibuster with his 24-hour, 18-minute speech railing against a civil rights bill.
September September 4 American Civil Rights Movement – Governor Orville Faubus of Arkansas calls out the National Guard of the United States to prevent the "Little Rock Nine" African American students from enrolling in Little Rock Central High School. The Ford Motor Company introduces the Edsel on what the company proclaims as "E Day". September 5 – Viking Press publishes On the Road by Jack Kerouac. September 9 Civil Rights Act of 1957 enacted, setting up the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Catholic Memorial High School opens its doors for the first time in Boston, Massachusetts. September 23 – The Academy Award-winning movie The Three Faces of Eve is released. September 24 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends federal troops to Arkansas to provide safe passage into Little Rock Central High School for the Little Rock Nine. September 26 – West Side Story, a new musical by Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Arthur Laurents and Stephen Sondheim opens at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway.
October October 4 – The sitcom Leave It to Beaver premieres on CBS. October 9 – Neil H. McElroy is sworn in as United States Secretary of Defense. October 10 U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologizes to the finance minister of Ghana, Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, after he is refused service in a restaurant in Dover, Delaware. Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged is published. The Milwaukee Braves defeat the New York Yankees, 4 games to 3, to win their 2nd World Series Title. October 11 – The orbit of the last stage of the R-7 Semyorka rocket (carrying Sputnik I) is first successfully calculated on an IBM 704 computer during Operation Moonwatch, Cambridge, Massachusetts. October 21 – The U.S. military sustains its first combat fatality in Vietnam, Army Capt. Hank Cramer of the 1st Special Forces Group. October 25 – Mafia boss Albert Anastasia is assassinated in a barber shop, at the Park Sheraton Hotel in New York City. October 31 – Toyota begins exporting vehicles to the U.S., beginning with the Toyota Crown and the Toyota Land Cruiser
November November 1 The Mackinac Bridge, the world's longest suspension bridge between anchorages at the time, opens to traffic connecting Michigan's two peninsulas. The first (westbound) tube of the Hampton Roads Bridge–Tunnel, linking Norfolk and Hampton, Virginia, opens at a cost of $44 million. November 6 – Jailhouse Rock opens nationally and Elvis Presley continues to gain more notoriety. November 7 – Cold War: In the United States, the Gaither Report calls for more American missiles and fallout shelters. November 8 – The film Jailhouse Rock opens across the U.S. to reach #3, and Elvis Presley continues to gain more notoriety. November 14 – Apalachin Meeting: American Mafia leaders meet in Apalachin, New York, at the house of Joseph Barbara; the meeting is broken up by a curious patrolman. November 16 Edward Gein murders his last victim, Bernice Worden of Plainfield, Wisconsin. Oklahoma celebrates its 50th anniversary of statehood. Notre Dame beats the Oklahoma Sooners 7–0 to end the longest winning streak in college football history at 47. November 25 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower suffers a stroke.
December
December 2 – Shippingport Atomic Power Station goes onstream; commercial operation begins on May 26, 1958. December 6 – Vanguard TV3, the first U.S. attempt to launch a satellite, fails with the rocket blowing up on the launch pad. December 18 A violent F5 tornado wipes out the entire community of Sunfield, Illinois. The Bridge on the River Kwai is released in the U.S. It goes on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Additional Oscars go to Alec Guinness (eh Actor) and David Lean (eh Director), among others. This is Lean's first Oscar for directing. December 19 – Meredith Willson's classic musical The Music Man, starring Robert Preston, is premièred on Broadway. December 20 – The Boeing 707 airliner flies for the first time. December 22 – The CBS afternoon anthology series The Seven Lively Arts presents Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker on U.S. television for the first time.
Undated Operation Dropshot, an all-out U.S. war with the Soviet Union, is expected to be triggered by the Soviet takeover of Western Europe, the Near East and parts of Eastern Asia, as it was anticipated in 1949.
Ongoing Cold War (1947–1991)
Births
January
January 1 Mark Hurd, American businessman (d. 2019) Karen Pence, American educator, and teacher, Second Lady of the United States January 4 – Patty Loveless, American country music singer January 6 Freddie Glenn, American spree killer and rapist Nancy Lopez, American golfer January 7 Nicholson Baker, American novelist Katie Couric, American television host Steve Janaszak, American professional ice hockey player January 8 Dwight Clark, American football player (d. 2018) David Lang, American composer January 12 – John Lasseter, American director, writer and animator January 13 Ralph DeLoach, American football player (d. 2022) Claudia Emerson, American poet, Pulitzer Prize winner in 2006 (d. 2014) Lorrie Moore, American writer January 15 Turk Schonert, American football player (d. 2019) Mario Van Peebles, African-American actor and director January 17 – Steve Harvey, African-American comedian, television host, radio personality and actor January 21 – Greg Ryan, American soccer coach January 22 – Brian Dayett, American baseball player (d. 2025) January 26 – Road Warrior Hawk, American professional wrestler (d. 2003) January 27 – Frank Miller, American comic book writer January 30 – Payne Stewart, American golfer (d. 1999)
February
February 6