March 1956
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The following events occurred in March 1956:
- The NATO phonetic alphabet (the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet) was drafted by the International Air Transport Association for the International Civil Aviation Organization.[1]
- In Washington, D.C., United States, a replica of the Discus Thrower was dedicated; it was a gift from the Italian government to acknowledge the return of art objects looted during World War II.[2]
- The National People's Army of East Germany was formed.[citation needed]
- Born:
- Tim Daly, US actor; in New York City[3]
- Dalia Grybauskaitė, Lithuanian politician, President (2009-2019); in Vilnius[4]
- Morocco reached agreement with France, ending the protectorate, to become the independent "Kingdom of Morocco".[5]
- While rehearsing for a coming air show, four Canadair Sabre fighter planes of the Sky Lancers aerobatics team of No. 4 Wing, Royal Canadian Air Force, based in West Germany, crashed in the Upper Rhine Valley southwest of Strasbourg, France, while performing a loop in formation; all four pilots were killed, and RCAF aerobatic flying stopped.[6][7]
- Born: Eduardo Rodríguez, Bolivian politician, President 2005–06; in Cochabamba[8]
- Died: Fred Merkle, 67, American baseball player whose failure to touch second base on what should have been a game-winning hit in a September 1908 game against the Chicago Cubs cost the New York Giants the National League pennant that year.[citation needed]
- A state election in New South Wales, Australia, resulted in the Australian Labor Party, under incumbent Premier Joseph Cahill, retaining a majority over a coalition of the Liberal and Country parties.[9]
- Popular demonstrations began in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, protesting against Nikita Khrushchev's de-Stalinization policy.[10]
- Elections to the National Constituent Assembly took place in South Vietnam. President Ngo Dinh Diem's party won 90 of the 123 seats.[11]
- The last steam locomotive to have been purchased new by Southern Pacific Railroad was retired from service.[12]
- Born: Teena Marie, US singer-songwriter; in Santa Monica, under the name Mary Christine Brockert (died 2010)[13]
- West Germany's Bundestag approved 14 constitutional amendments which allowed for rearmament and civilian control over the armed forces, re-introducing conscription.[14]
- Avalanches in Norway's Nordland and Troms regions caused 21 deaths and heavy damage.[citation needed]
- Born: Bryan Cranston, US actor; in Hollywood, Los Angeles[15]
- In the Hong Kong municipal election, the Reform Club of Hong Kong won four of the six seats, while the new Hong Kong Civic Association won the other two.[16]
- British security forces deported Archbishop Makarios III from Cyprus; he arrived in Mahe Island, Seychelles, as a "guest" of Governor Sir William Addis.[17]
- In Tbilisi, where pro-Stalin protests continued, Soviet troops fired on a demonstrating crowd,[10] resulting in at least 100 casualties.[18]
- A Fairey Delta 2 research aircraft, developed by the Fairey Aviation Company, broke the World Air Speed Record, achieving a speed of 1,132 mph (1,822 km/h) as 300 mph (480 km/h) over the previous record. It became the first aircraft to exceed 1,000 mph (1,600 km/h) in level flight, with permission, but no active support, from the British government.[19]
- A United States Air Force Boeing B-47 Stratojet and its 3-man crew disappeared over the Mediterranean Sea. The wreckage has to date not been located.[20]
- The Belgian ship MV Prince de Liege caught fire off the coast of Spain and was abandoned by its crew. The ship was towed by a Spanish naval tug, then by the Swedish salvage ship Herakles to Gibraltar.[21]
- 101 members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives signed the Southern Manifesto, in protest against the 1954 Supreme Court ruling Brown v. Board of Education, opposing racial integration in public places.[22]
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 500 for the first time, rising 2.40 points, or 0.48%, to 500.24.[citation needed]
- In the United States New Hampshire Democratic Party primary, Estes Kefauver of Tennessee defeated Adlai Stevenson, the eventual winner of the Democratic nomination.[23]
- Born: Motoharu Sano, Japanese musician and singer-songwriter; in Taitō, Tokyo[citation needed]
- Died: David Browning, 24, 1952 Olympic diving gold medalist from the United States, died in a jet fighter crash near Rantoul, Kansas during a training flight.[24]
- The French fishing trawler Vert Prairial was driven ashore at Wireless Point, Porthcurno, Cornwall, UK. All 17 on board died.[25]
- Harry Pollitt, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain, unveiled a memorial to Karl Marx at Highgate Cemetery, London, UK, following the reburial of Marx and his family a few months earlier.[26]
- A general election was held in Nyasaland (later Malawi) for the first time ever. The newly elected Legislative Council consisted of eleven officials (five indirectly-elected seats for Africans and six elected seats for non-Africans).[27]
- The musical My Fair Lady received its Broadway première at the Mark Hellinger Theatre, with Rex Harrison in the role of Higgins and Julie Andrews as Eliza. It would run for a record 2,717 performances.[28]
- Mount Lebanon Governorate, Lebanon, was struck by a magnitude 5.3 earthquake, followed 11 minutes later by a magnitude 5.5 quake in Beqaa Governorate. Overall, 148 people were killed.[29] The second quake was located under Lebanon at a depth of 15.0 kilometres (9.3 mi).[30]
- The South African government passed the Riotous Assemblies Act no. 17, prohibiting any outside gathering that the Minister of Justice considered a threat to public peace. Nelson Mandela would later become one of many charged with offences under the Act.[31]
- Died:
- Fred Allen, 61, US comedian, died of a heart attack.[32]
- Irène Joliot-Curie, 58, French physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, died of leukaemia.[33]
- The US navy destroyer USS Willis A. Lee (DD-929) was driven onto rocks at Jamestown, Rhode Island, in a storm. It would be repaired and returned to service later in the year.[34]
- The Italian cargo ship SS Etrusco ran aground at Scituate, Massachusetts, United States. All 30 crew members were rescued by breeches buoy.[34]
- 48-year-old Dutch boxer Bep van Klaveren contested his last match in Rotterdam, losing to Werner Handtke.[35]
- Born: Yegor Gaidar, Russian economist, politician and author; in Moscow (died 2009)[citation needed]
- Tunisia gained independence from French rule as an independent kingdom under Muhammad VIII al-Amin, the country's last bey.[36]
- A 2-day nor'easter, affecting the US Mid-Atlantic States and southern New England, came to an end, leaving an estimated 162 people dead.[37]
- Died:
- Fanny Durack, 66, Australian swimmer[38]
- Wilhelm Miklas, 83, 3rd President of Austria[39]
- At the 28th Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, United States, Marty became the shortest film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Its star, Ernest Borgnine, won the Academy Award for Best Actor.[40]
- Born: Ingrid Kristiansen, Norwegian athlete; in Trondheim[41][42]
- In the early hours of the morning, US singer Carl Perkins was injured in a car accident near Wilmington, Delaware, on his way to New York City to make an appearance on The Perry Como Show. Perkins suffered three fractured vertebrae in his neck, a severe concussion, a broken collar bone, and multiple lacerations; he remained unconscious for an entire day.[43]
- Pakistan adopted a new constitution, becoming the world's first Islamic republic, although it would not adopt a state religion until 1973.[44]
- In the UK's Grand National steeplechase, Devon Loch, a horse owned by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and ridden by Dick Francis, inexplicably collapsed 50 yards (45 m) from the finish while leading the race. The jockey later suggested that the horse was distracted by the cheers of the crowd.[45][46]
- Born: Steve Ballmer, US entrepreneur; in Detroit[citation needed]
- Died:
- Robert Newton, 50, English actor, died of a heart attack.[citation needed]
- Lou Moore, 51, American race car driver and team owner, died of a brain hemorrhage.[47]
- Colonel Tom Parker was formally appointed as Elvis Presley's manager.[48]
- The United States Internal Revenue Service raided the offices of the Communist newspaper The Daily Worker in New York and other locations, for non-payment of taxes. The editor claimed that the paper lost $200,000 in the previous year and therefore owed no taxes.[49]
- Four Israeli soldiers captured by Syria in the Golan Heights in 1954 were returned to Israel, in exchange for forty Syrian soldiers captured during Operation Olive Leaves.[51]
- US President Dwight D. Eisenhower declared the giant sequoia, General Grant, located in Kings Canyon National Park, United States, a "National Shrine".[52]
- Bezymianny, a volcano in Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, erupted, destroying the summit and forming a horseshoe-shaped crater.[53]
- Typhoon Sarah approached the Philippines but changed direction at the last moment and dissipated within a few days.[citation needed]
References
[edit]- ^ "The postal History of the ICAO". ICAO. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
- ^ "Discus Thrower (sculpture)". Art Inventories Catalog. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
- ^ "UPI Almanac for Monday, March 1, 2021". United Press International. 1 March 2021. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
... actor Tim Daly in 1956 (age 65)
- ^ Turner, Barry (2010). The statesman's yearbook 2011 : the politics, cultures and economies of the world. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 802. ISBN 9781349586356.
- ^ "Déclaration commune" (in French). Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development (France). 2 March 1956.
- ^ "Sky Lancers". aerobaticteams.net.
- ^ "1 Air Division Aerobatic Display Teams Sky Lancers – 1956". Archived from the original on 25 December 2014.
- ^ East, Roger (2006). Profiles of people in power : the world's government leaders. London, New York: Routledge. p. 68. ISBN 9781857433463.
- ^ McMullin, Ross (1991). The Light on the Hill: The Australian Labor Party 1891-1991. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-554966-X.
- ^ a b Kozlov, Vladimir A (2002). Mass Uprisings in the USSR: Protest and Rebellion in the Post-Stalin Years. Translated by MacKinnon, Elaine McClarnand. M.E. Sharpe. pp. 112–136. ISBN 0-7656-0668-2.
- ^ "Vietnam War Timeline: 1956-1967". vietnamgear.com. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
- ^ Diebert, Timothy S.; Strapac, Joseph A. (1987). Southern Pacific Company Steam Locomotive Compendium. Shade Tree Books. ISBN 978-0-930742-12-6.
- ^ Laing, Dave (27 December 2010). "Teena Marie obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
- ^ Gunlicks, Arthur B. (2003). The Länder and German federalism. Manchester University Press. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-7190-6533-0 – via Google Books.
- ^ Chase's Calendar of Events 2019 : the ultimate go-to guide for special days, weeks and months. Bernan Press. 2018. p. 165. ISBN 9781641432641.
- ^ "The Election". The China Mail. 8 March 1956. p. 1.
- ^ Fitchett, Joseph (4 August 1977). "Makarios: Cypriot Nationalism Incarnate". The Washington Post. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
- ^ Berets, Sergey (6 March 2006). "Кризис коммунистического движения" [Crisis of the Communist movement] (in Russian). BBC News.
- ^ Wood, Derek (1975). Project Cancelled. Macdonald and Jane's Publishers. p. 78. ISBN 0-356-08109-5.
- ^ "Broken Arrow Nuclear Weapon Accidents". Aerospaceweb.org.
- ^ "Belgian Merchant P-Z" (PDF). Belgische Koopvaardij. Retrieved 1 December 2010.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Badger, Tony (June 1999). "Southerners Who Refused to Sign the Southern Manifesto". The Historical Journal. 42 (2): 517–534. doi:10.1017/S0018246X98008346. JSTOR 3020998. S2CID 145083004.
- ^ Gorman, Joseph Bruce (1971). Kefauver: A Political Biography. New York: Oxford University Press.
- ^ Anonymous. "Browning, David Greig, Jr.". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 24 April 2025.
- ^ "French Trawler Wrecked On Cornish Coast". The Times. No. 53480. London. 15 March 1956. col A-E, p. 20.
- ^ "The posthumous life of Karl Marx, Highgate Cemetery". The London Dead. 7 July 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
- ^ "News in Brief". The Times. 24 February 1956.
- ^ Suskin, Steven (2010). "'My Fair Lady', 1956, 1976, and 1981". Show tunes: the songs, shows, and careers of Broadway's major composers (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 224. ISBN 0-19-531407-7 – via Google Books.
- ^ "M 5.3 - Lebanon - Syria region". United States Geological Survey. 16 March 1956. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
- ^ "M 5.5 - Lebanon - Syria region". United States Geological Survey. 16 March 1956. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
- ^ "Riotous Assemblies Act". nelsonmandela.org.
- ^ "Fred Allen Dies While on Stroll. Won Fame as Wit on Radio After a Stage Career". The New York Times. 18 March 1956.
Fred Allen, the humorist, collapsed and died late last night while taking a customary nightly stroll.
- ^ "Q&A: Polonium-210". Chemistry World. Royal Society of Chemistry. 27 November 2006. Retrieved 4 September 2008.
- ^ a b "Blizzard Havoc On U.S. Coast". The Times. No. 53483. London. 19 March 1956. col D, p. 10.
- ^ "Bep van Klaaveren's laatste wedstrijd" [Bep van Klaaveren's last match]. Leydse Courant (in Dutch). 20 March 1956. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
- ^ Perkins, Kenneth J. (2004). A History of Modern Tunisia. Cambridge University. pp. 125–129, 131–133.
- ^ Hutchings, Harold (21 March 1956). "Snow Battered East Digs Out; Count 162 Dead". The Chicago Daily Tribune. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
- ^ "Fanny Durack". Olympedia. OlyMADMen. Retrieved 24 April 2025.
- ^ "Wilhelm Miklas, Biografie" [Wilhelm Miklas, Biography]. Parlament Österreich (in German).
- ^ "The 28th Academy Awards (1956) Nominees and Winners". Oscars.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
- ^ "Ingrid Kristiansen official website". Archived from the original on 8 December 2013. Retrieved 24 April 2025.
- ^ "Ingrid Kristiansen". Olympedia. OlyMADMen. Retrieved 24 April 2025.
- ^ Perkins, Carl; McGee, David (1996). Go, Cat, Go!. New York: Hyperion Press. ISBN 0-7868-6073-1. OCLC 32895064.
- ^ The First Islamic Republic
- ^ Philip, Robert (5 April 2002). "Grand National: Devon Loch's place in history". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
- ^ Hayler, Will (14 February 2010). "Scars of Devon Loch's Grand National never healed for Dick Francis". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
- ^ "Lou Moore". champcarstats.com. Retrieved 24 April 2025.
- ^ Guralnick, Peter (1994). Last Train to Memphis. Little, Brown. p. 258. ISBN 9780316332200 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Warden, Philip (5 April 1956). "Tax Raids on Daily Worker Planned 3 Yrs". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
- ^ "Telegrams in Brief". The Times. No. 53501. London. 10 March 1956. col C, p. 9.
- ^ "Timeline: Israeli prisoner exchanges". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011.
- ^ National Park Service. "Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks Information Page". Archived from the original on 28 March 2007. Retrieved 6 March 2007.
- ^ Loen, J.S.; Wallace, C.A.; Mehnert, H.H.; Schmidt, Robert George (1983). U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin. U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 1– – via Google Books.