1957
Centuries:
19th century -
20th century -
21st century
Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s - 1950s - 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
Years: 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 - 1957 - 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962
- January 2 - San Francisco and Los Angeles stock exchanges merge.
- January 3 - Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.
- January 4 - After 69 years the last issue of Collier's magazine is published.
- January 10 - Harold Macmillan becomes the prime minister of the United Kingdom.
- January 13 - Wham-O Company produces the first Frisbee
- January 16 - The Cavern Club opens in Liverpool
- January 22 - Israel withdraws from the Sinai Peninsula (they invaded Egypt on October 29, 1956)
- January 22 - The New York City "Mad Bomber," George P. Metesky, is arrested in Waterbury, Connecticut and is charged with planting more than 30 bombs.
- March 6 - United Kingdom colonies Gold Coast and Togoland become the independent Republic of Ghana.
- March 8 - Egypt re-opens the Suez Canal
- March 13 - The FBI arrests Jimmy Hoffa and charges him with bribery.
- March 25 - Treaty of Rome (patto di Roma) establishes the European Economic Community (EEC); see EU
- April 5 - First elected government of Kerala. CPI won the elections and E. M. S. Namboodiripad became the first chief minister of united Kerala.
- June 9 - First ascent of Broad Peak
- June 21 - John Diefenbaker becomes Canada's thirteenth prime minister.
- July - International Geophysical Year begins
- July 16 - United States Marine Major John Glenn flies a F8U supersonic jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds setting a new transcontinental speed record.
- July 29 - The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.
- September 4 - American Civil Rights Movement: Little Rock Crisis - Orville Faubus, governor of Arkansas, calls out the National Guard to prevent black students from enrolling in Central High School in Little Rock.
- September 4 - Ford Motor Company introduces the Edsel.
- October 4 - launch of Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.
- October 9 - Neil H. McElroy was sworn in as the 6th Secretary of Defense of United States.
- October 10 - US President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologizes to the finance minister of Ghana, Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, after he was refused service in a Dover, Delaware restaurant.
- November 1 - Michigan's Mackinac Bridge opened.
- November 3 - Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2. On board is the first animal to enter space - a dog named Laika (she was kept alive for several days in space with a sophisticated life-support system).
- November 7 - Cold War: In the United States, the Gaither Report calls for more American missiles and fallout shelters.
- November 16 - Serial killer Edward Gein murders Bernice Worden of Plainfield, Wisconsin (this was his last murder).
- December 6 - First US attempt to launch a satellite fails, blowing up on the launchpad
- Project Orion begins, a U.S. program to build a spacecraft powered by nuclear explosions.
- Civil Rights Commission established under the Civil Rights Act
Year in topic
Births
- January 6 - Nancy Lopez, golfer
- January 7 - Katie Couric, television host
- January 15 - Mario Van Peebles, actor, director
- January 15 - Julian Sands, actor
- January 22 - Mike Bossy, ice hockey player
- January 23 - Earl Falconer, bassist
- January 23 - Princess Caroline of Monaco
- February 6 - Kathy Najimy, actress, comedian
- February 6 - Robert Townsend, comedian, actor, director, producer
- February 8 - Cindy Wilson, singer, of The B-52s
- February 16 - LeVar Burton, actor
- February 16 - James Ingram, singer
- February 18 - Vanna White, game show presenter
- February 19 - Falco, singer († 1998)
- March 10 - Osama bin Laden, terrorist
- March 12 - Steve Harris, bassist/leader of Iron Maiden
- March 20 - Spike Lee, film director, actor
- March 29 - Christopher Lambert, actor
- March 30 - Paul Reiser, actor
- April 4 - Aki Kaurism�ki, Finnish film director
- April 29 - Daniel Day-Lewis, actor
- May 7 - Sinjin Smith, volleyball player
- May 10 - Sid Vicious, bassist of The Sex Pistols († 1979)
- May 27 - Siouxsie Sioux, lead singer of Siouxsie and the Banshees
- June 11 - Jamaaladeen Tacuma, jazz musician
- June 19 - Anna Lindh, Swedish politician and minister of foreign affairs († 2003)
- August 24 - Stephen Fry, English comedian, author, and actor
- September 1 - Gloria Estefan, singer
- September 12 - Rachel Ward, actress
- December 9 - Donny Osmond, singer
- December 20 - Billy Bragg, singer
- December 30 - Matt Lauer, NBC newscaster
Deaths
- January 14 - Humphrey Bogart, actor
- February 8 - John von Neumann, Hungarian-American mathematician
- February 9 - Miklos Horthy, Hungarian admiral and longtime Regent
- February 10 - Laura Ingalls Wilder, author
- February 18 - Henry Norris Russell, astronomer
- March 11 - Admiral Richard E. Byrd, explorer
- March 16 - Constantin Brancusi, sculptor
- March 17 - Ramon Magsaysay, President of the Philippines
- March 25 - Max Oph�ls, director, writer
- May 2 - Joseph McCarthy, US senator
- May 9 - Ezio Pinza, opera singer
- May 14 - Marie Vassilieff, artist
- May 16 - Eliot Ness, federal agent
- June 27 - Malcolm Lowry, novelist (* 1909)
- August 7 - Oliver Hardy, American actor
- August 19 - David Bomberg, painter
- September 1 - Dennis Brain, French horn player
- September 20 - Jean Sibelius, composer
- September 21 - Haakon VII of Norway
- October 25 - Edward Plunkett, Baron Dunsany, Irish author
- November 24 - Diego Rivera, painter
- November 30 - Beniamino Gigli, tenor
- Joyce Cary, author
- Albert Woolson, last surviving Union veteran of the American Civil War
Incumbents
Religious leaders
National Leaders
Awards/Prizes
Winner of Eurovision Song Contest 1957: Corry Brokken with Net Als Toen
Nobel Prizes: