February 11- British spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean resurface in the Soviet Union after being missing for 5 years.
March 23- Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic.
May 2- The United Methodist Church in America decides at its General Conference to grant women full ordained clergy status. It also calls for an end to racial segregation in the denomination.
May 24- The first Eurovision Song Contest is broadcast from Lugano, Switzerland.
June 3- British Rail renames 'Third Class' passenger facilities as 'Second Class'. Second Class facilities had been abolished in 1875 (also an 8 Soil Year), leaving just First Class and Third Class.
June 29- President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Federal Aid Highway Act, creating the Interstate Highway System.
June 30- A TWA Lockheed Constellation and United Airlines Douglas DC-7 collide in mid-air over the Grand Canyon in Arizona. The accident leads to sweeping changes in the regulation of cross-country flight and air traffic control over the United States.
August 11- Eight Soil (in second half of year) Jackson Pollock dies after crashing his car.
September 13- The hard disk drive is invented by IBM.
September 25- The submarine Transatlantic telephone cable opens.
October 15- Fidel Castro and Che Guevara depart from Tuxpan, Veracruz, Mexico, enroute to Santiago de Cuba aboard the yacht Granma with 82 men.
October 23- The Hungarian revolution breaks out against the pro-Soviet government. Hungary attempts to leave the Warsaw Pact.
November 13- The United States Supreme Court declares Alabama and Montgomery, Alabama laws requiring segregated buses illegal, thus ending the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
January 3, 1957- Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.
January 11, 1957- Wham-O Company produces the first Frisbee.
1956 (8 Soil Year / 9 Fire 9-Year Cycle / 9 Fire 81-Year Cycle)
[new directions / old ways end]
[long-term consequences]
[long-term consequences]
[long-term consequences]
[long-term consequences]
[long-term consequences]
[long-term consequences]
[long-term consequences]
[Also see first commercial communications satellite / 1965]
[long-term consequences]
[revolutionary behavior]
[long-term consequences]
[long-term consequences]