April 1959

• Kazuo Inamori founded worldwide office copy complex machine and solar panel brand Kyocera in Japan; the predecessor name was Kyoto Ceramic.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}
• After the Soviet Union restricted travel of American diplomats, the U.S. did the same for the Soviets in America.{{cite news |title=U.S. Defies Russia on Berlin; Soviet Travel Ban Matched |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=April 1, 1959 |page=1}}
• The Research Steering Committee on Manned Space Flight, chaired by Harry J. Goett of the Ames Research Center, was created to assist NASA in long-range planning and basic research on human spaceflight. The Goett Committee would meet for the first time on May 25 to concentrate on NASA's long-range objectives, particularly the issue of a flight program to follow Project Mercury. H. Kurt Strass of the Space Task Group (STG) at Langley Field envisioned that the next project would include an enlarged Mercury capsule to place two astronauts in orbit for three days, or accompanied by a large cylindrical structure to support a two-week mission.{{Source attribution}} {{cite book |title=SKYLAB: A CHRONOLOGY |chapter=PART I: Early Space Station Activities -1923 to December 1962. |last1=Brooks |first1=Courtney G. |last2=Ertel |first2=Ivan D. |last3=Newkirk |first3=Roland W. |series=NASA Special Publication-4011 |chapter-url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4011/part1a.htm |publisher=NASA |page=8 |access-date=7 June 2024}}
• The Navajo Nation Supreme Court came into existence, along with a set of district courts with jurisdiction in Navajo territory in Arizona and New Mexico.{{cite book |first=Laurence |last=French |title=Native American Justice |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2003 |pages=151–152}}
• A U.S. Air Force cargo plane crashed at Orting, Washington, killing all four of the crew on board. Witnesses reported that the C-118 had collided with another object in midair, and the incident has become part of UFO lore.{{cite web |url=http://www.ufosnw.com/history.htm |title=Air Force C-118 Aircraft Has Airborne Collision and Then Crashes - Killing Crew of Four |website=UFOs Northwest}} The pilot, Lt. Robert R. Dimmick, radioed, "We have hit something, or something has hit us", moments before the crash.{{cite news |title=4 Die in Fiery Crash of Plane |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=April 2, 1959 |page=28}}

• The Soviet Union's Council for Russian Orthodox Church Affairs advised the Russian Orthodox patriarch of new measures to reduce the number of convents, followed by property and income tax increases on the convents.{{cite book |first=Nathaniel |last=Davis |author-link=Nathaniel Davis |title=Long Walk to Church: A Contemporary History of Russian Orthodoxy |publisher=Westview Press |year=2003 |page=34}}
• NASA completed the selection of seven men as astronauts for Project Mercury.{{Source attribution}} {{cite book |title=Project Mercury - A Chronology |chapter=PART II (A) Research and Development Phase of Project Mercury October 3, 1958 through December 1959 |last=Grimwood |first=James M. |series=NASA Special Publication-4001 |chapter-url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4001/p2a.htm |publisher=NASA |access-date=2 February 2023}} Originally planning to pick only six men, the STG screened 508 records and found 110 candidates who met the minimum standards. STG interviewed 69, invited 32 to go through tests and then narrowed the number down to 18. Deputy Administrator Robert Gilruth suggested picking the seven finalists with the most flying experience.{{cite book |first1=Leslie |last1=Haynsworth |first2=David M. |last2=Toomey |title=Amelia Earhart's Daughters |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2000 |pages=190–191}}
• At the same meeting, prospective bidders from 20 companies were briefed on construction of the worldwide tracking range for Project Mercury. The preliminary plan called for an orbital mission tracking network of 14 sites. Contacts had not been made with the governments of any proposed locations except for Bermuda. All sites would have facilities for telemetry, voice communications with the pilot, and teletype (wire or radio) communications with centers in the United States for primary tracking. The tracking sites would provide the Mercury Control Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, with trajectory predictions; landing-area predictions; and vehicle, systems, and pilot conditions.
• After the initial meeting with contractors, plans were made for the Project Mercury animal payload program with monkeys used to cover nine flights, involving four different rocket launch vehicles (Little Joe, Redstone, Jupiter and Atlas).
• The U.S. Navy Chief of Naval Operations directed the Atlantic Fleet to support Project Mercury's recovery operations.
• A superbolt, more powerful than an ordinary lightning bolt, struck a cornfield near Leland, Illinois, leaving a crater {{convert|1|ft}} deep, and breaking windows in homes almost {{convert|1|mi}} away.{{cite book |first=Christopher C. |last=Burt |title=Extreme Weather: A Guide & Record Book |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |year=2007 |page=149}}
• Born: Juha Kankkunen, Finnish rally car driver and four-time world champion; in Laukaa

• Vito Genovese, New York Mafia don and boss of the Genovese Crime Family, was convicted on federal narcotics conspiracy charges, but was released three days later after posting $150,000 bond.Sam Roberts, A Kind of Genius: Herb Sturtz and His Work on Society's Toughest Problems (PublicAffairs, 2009), p25
• Elmer David Bruner died in the electric chair at the West Virginia Penitentiary in Moundsville, West Virginia, becoming the last person to be executed in that state, which abolished the death penalty in 1965.[http://www.wvculture.org/HiStory/wvhs941.html "'Thy Brother's Blood'": Capital Punishment in West Virginia"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080810024302/http://www.wvculture.org/history/wvhs941.html |date=2008-08-10 }}, by Stan Bumgardner and Christine Kreiser, West Virginia Historical Society Quarterly (March 1996)
• Born: David Hyde Pierce, American television actor known for Frasier; in Saratoga Springs, New York

• In a speech at Gettysburg College, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced the first American commitment to keeping South Vietnam as a separate, non-Communist nation. "We reach the inescapable conclusion", said Eisenhower, "that our own national interests demand some help from us in sustaining in Vietnam the morale, the economic progress, and the military strength necessary to its continued existence in freedom."{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QK0-G8oH60YC&pg=PA51 |last=Kalb |first=Marvin L. |author-link=Marvin Kalb |title=The Road to War: Presidential Commitments Honored and Betrayed |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Brookings Institution Press |year=2013 |pages=51–52 |isbn=978-0-8157-2493-3 |access-date=3 February 2023 |via=Google Books}}

• In Dortmund, West Germany, Rong Guotuan of Communist China defeated Ferenc Sido of Hungary to win the 25th World Table Tennis Championships, becoming the first Chinese player to do so.
• At the Southmoor Hotel in Chicago, black nationalist S.A. Davis, Chairman of the Joint Council of Repatriation, and eight of his associates met with George Lincoln Rockwell, white supremacist, and two of his associates in the American Nazi Party, to discuss a joint resolution in support of government-supported "repatriation" of African-Americans to a homeland on the African continent.E. U. Essien-Udom, Black Nationalism: A Search For an Identity in America (1962)

• The Academy Awards ceremony took place at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. Gigi won a record nine Oscars, including the award for Best Picture.Gene Lees, The Musical Worlds of Lerner and Loewe (University of Nebraska Press, 2005), pp166–67
• Texas A&M University won in its fight against admitting women as students, as the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by two women from a state court decision."College Wins Fight to Keep Women Out", Oakland Tribune, April 6, 1959, p1
• Robert Sobukwe founded the Pan Africanist Congress as a black African alternative to the African National Congress.John J. Ansbro, The Credos of Eight Black Leaders: Converting Obstacles Into Opportunities (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005), p153
• Hal Holbrook began his career of portraying a retired author, with his first performance of Mark Twain Tonight! at the Forty-first Street Theatre in Manhattan."Holbrook, Hal", Current Biography Yearbook: 1998 (H.W. Wilson Company, 1999)
• The "escudo" was created as the new currency of the South American nation of Chile, with the signing by President Jorge Alessandri of Law 13,305 in response to runaway inflation. The new escudo was worth 1,000 old pesos, which would be completely replaced by January 1, 1960. The "new peso" would replace the Chilean escudo on September 29, 1975, at a rate of one new peso for every 1,000 escudos (or every one million "old pesos").

• In Washington, the National Safety Council first warned parents about the risk of suffocation posed by plastic bags, particularly those used by dry cleaners."Plastic Bags Cause Deaths", UPI rept in Albuquerque Tribune, April 8, 1959, p1 The AMA, as well as a trade association of dry-cleaning stores, joined in the warning. In January, Dr. Paul B. Jarrett of Phoenix had begun a campaign to educate the public after five children had suffocated in the previous year."Plastic Bags Deadly Toy", Tucson Daily Citizen, January 21, 1959, p1
• The first photograph of a falling meteorite was taken in Příbram, Czechoslovakia.{{Cite web|url=http://fireball.meteorite.free.fr/index_en.html|title = Fireball, meteorite, bolide, meteor in video, footage and photo}}
• For the first time, a radar signal was sent between the Earth and the Sun. A team led by Dr. Von R. Eshleman, Lt. Col. Robert C. Barthle, and Dr. Philip B. Gallagher, transmitted the beam from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, and received the return 17 minutes later. The morning experiments were repeated on April 10 and April 12, and the data was published in the journal Science on February 5, 1960."Sun Reached With Radar At Stanford", Oakland Tribune, February 5, 1960, p1
• By a margin of 386,845 to 314,380 voters in Oklahoma elected to repeal the state's constitutional prohibition on the sale of alcohol, leaving Mississippi as the only dry American state. Liquor sales began on September 1.Arrell Morgan Gibson, Oklahoma: A History of Five Centuries (University of Oklahoma Press, 1981), p247
• The town of Jackpot, Nevada, was founded. Located a few miles south of the border with Idaho, the gambling center was created after Idaho banned gambling.{{Cite web |url=http://www.jackpot-nevada.net/ |title=Jackpot Nevada Tourism |access-date=2009-03-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081119152941/http://www.jackpot-nevada.net/ |archive-date=2008-11-19 |url-status=dead }}
• Israel created the first Holocaust Memorial Day by vote of the Knesset in Tel Aviv, to be observed on the 27th day of Nisan, which fell on May 5 in 1959. If the 27th falls on a Friday, the observation is held on the 26th. In 2009, Nisan 27 was on April 21.James E. Young, "Mandating the National Memory of Catastrophe", in Law and Catastrophe (Stanford University Press, 2007), p139
• The Philippine government began use of the presidential yacht, the R.P.S. Lapu-Lapu (PY-77).http://www.gov.ph/news/printerfriendly.asp?i=23792 {{dead link|date=May 2020|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

• Grace Hopper and others met at the University of Pennsylvania to discuss a computer programming language that would be more applicable to programming for business than FORTRAN. Following the meeting, a task force overseen by Hopper created COmmon Business Oriented Language, or COBOL.{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Slater |author-link=Robert Slater |title=Portraits in Silicon |publisher=MIT Press |year=1989 |pages=225–226}}
• The Inter-American Development Bank was founded in Washington as an initiative by the Organization of American States to distribute financial aid to OAS member nations.{{cite book |first=Salvatore |last=Bizzarro |title=Historical Dictionary of Chile |url=https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio00bizz |url-access=limited |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=2005 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio00bizz/page/n441 380] |isbn=9780810840973 |via=Internet Archive}}
• As many as 250 delegates to a conference of the AFL-CIO got food poisoning after eating dinner on board a train bound from Toledo to Washington.{{cite news |title=Food Poisons At Least 100 In Union Meet |journal=Oakland Tribune |date=April 8, 1959 |page=1}}
• One day before the press conference introducing the members of NASA Astronaut Group 1, USAF test pilot Capt. Halvor M. Ekeren, Jr., who had been one of the 32 astronaut finalists earlier in the year, died in the crash of his Convair JF-106A-50 Delta Dart near Indian Springs AFB in Nevada.{{cite book |last=Burgess |first=Colin |author-link=Colin Burgess (author) |title=Selecting the Mercury Seven: The Search for America's First Astronauts |publisher=Springer Science+Business Media |year=2011 |location=Chichester, UK |pages=98–104, 273–274 |isbn=978-1-4419-8404-3}}
• Died: Marios Makrionitis, 45, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Athens, was killed in an automobile accident.{{cite news |title=Greek Archbishop Dies |newspaper=The Los Angeles Times |date=April 9, 1959 |page=I-7}}

File:Mercury Seven astronauts at NASA press conference in 1959.jpg

• NASA Administrator T. Keith Glennan introduced the Mercury Seven astronauts at a press conference in Washington, D.C.{{cite news |title=U.S. Bares Names of 7 Spacemen |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=April 9, 1959 |page=1}} By rank, they were Lt. Col. John Glenn, Lieutenant Commanders Wally Schirra and Alan Shepard, Air Force Captains Gordon Cooper, Gus Grissom and Deke Slayton, and Navy Lt. Scott Carpenter.
• The first hijacking of an airliner to Cuba took place after six Haitian rebels killed the pilot of a Coahata Airlines flight bound from Aux Cayes to Port-au-Prince, then flew the DC3 to Havana.{{cite news |title=Haiti Rebels Slay Pilot, Fly to Cuba |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=April 10, 1959 |page=1}}
• Comedian Lenny Bruce made his national television debut, as a guest on The Steve Allen Show.{{cite web |url=http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/bruce/bruceaccount.html |title=The Trials of Lenny Bruce |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090328040103/http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/bruce/bruceaccount.html |archive-date=28 March 2009 |first=Doug |last=Lender}}
• The Boston Celtics beat the Minneapolis Lakers 118–113 to sweep the four-game NBA championship series, in the first of the Celtics-Lakers title matches.{{cite news |title=Celts Beat Lakers 4th Straight Time For Pro Cage Title |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=April 10, 1959 |page=52}}
• Actor George Reeves, who portrayed Superman on television, was injured when the brakes failed on his Jaguar automobile, and he crashed into a light pole near his home in Beverly Hills. Reeves suffered regular headaches after the accident, and would die from a gunshot wound on June 16.{{cite book |first=E. J. |last=Fleming |title=The Fixers: Eddie Mannix, Howard Strickling, and the MGM Publicity Machine |publisher=McFarland |year=2004 |page=256}}

File:Frank Lloyd Wright portrait.jpg

• Died: Frank Lloyd Wright, 91, American architect, died in Phoenix, three days after intestinal surgery.{{cite news |title=Frank Lloyd Wright Dies In Phoenix |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=April 9, 1959 |page=1}}

File:Crown Prince & Princess & Emperor Showa & Empress Kojun wedding 1959-4.jpg

File:Wedding of Crown Prince Akihito Stamp of 30Yen.jpg

• Japan's Crown Prince Akihito married Michiko Shōda in a 15-minute Shinto ceremony, at {{Nowrap|10:00 a.m.}} in Tokyo.{{cite news |title=Japan Prince To Wed in Tokyo Today |journal=Oakland Tribune |date=April 9, 1959 |page=1}} She was the first commoner to marry into the Imperial House of Japan. After the wedding, Kensetsu Makayama, 19, tried to climb into the royal coach after throwing a rock at the couple.{{cite news |title=Student Attacks Royal Newlyweds |journal=Oakland Tribune |date=April 10, 1959 |page=1}}
• Thirty-four people, mostly children, were killed by a bomb left over from World War II. Fishermen had retrieved the {{convert|500|lb|adj=on}} weapon from a sunken ship in Lingayen Gulf near Dagupan in the Philippines, and were taking apart the device while curious onlookers watched.{{cite news |title=Salvaged Bomb Blast Kills 34 Filipinos |journal=Fresno Bee |date=April 10, 1959 |page=1}}
• A sniper attempted to shoot Virginia Governor J. Lindsay Almond outside the Executive Mansion in Richmond. The Governor was unhurt, and the would-be assassin was not found.{{cite news |title=Sniper Tries to Ambush Gov. Almond |journal=Oakland Tribune |date=April 11, 1959 |page=1}}
• Born:
• Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, songwriter/musician; in Indianapolis
• Brian Setzer, American rock musician for the band Stray Cats; in Massapequa, New York
• Died: Leonard Shockley, 17, became the last juvenile to be executed in the United States. Shockley, who was 16 when he committed a murder by cutting the throat of a shopkeeper, was put to death in the gas chamber at the Maryland State Penitentiary at {{Nowrap|10:02 pm}}.{{cite news |title=Youth, 17 Dies in Gas Chamber |journal=The Baltimore Sun |date=April 11, 1959 |page=28}} For nearly 40 years, he would also be the last person to be executed for a crime committed as a minor. On February 4, 1999, Sean Sellers would be put to death in Oklahoma for a 1985 murder committed when he was 16.{{cite book |first1=Marilyn D. |last1=McShane |first2=Franklin P. |last2=Williams |title=Youth Violence and Delinquency: Juvenile Treatment and Crime Prevention |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |year=2007 |page=172}}

• Bill Pickering, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, announced America's plans for a crewed lunar mission "within the next 5 to 10 years". Speaking to a group of Caltech alumni, Pickering said that the Nova rocket, once perfected, would "be able to transport two or three men to the moon and return them to earth."{{cite news |title=U.S. Plans Manned Round Trip to Moon |newspaper=Sunday Express and News |location=San Antonio, Texas |date=April 12, 1959 |page=1}}

• The body of former Haitian presidential candidate Clement Jumelle was hijacked from the funeral procession in Port-au-Prince. It has been speculated that Haitian dictator François Duvalier wanted to use the brain in a voodoo ceremony.[http://www.fordi9.com/Pages/AffairClemJumelleHonoree.htm Fordi9.com]
• The myth of the Chinese word for "crisis" was perpetuated by Senator John F. Kennedy, who said, "When written in Chinese, the word crisis is composed of two characters—one represents danger and the other represents opportunity."{{cite book |first=Jay M. |last=Shafritz |title=Dictionary of Public Policy and Administration |publisher=Westview Press |date=August 27, 2004 |page=81}}
• NASA's STG conducted the second full-scale beach abort test on Wallops Island. After a deliberate thrust misalignment of {{Convert|1|in}} was programmed into the escape combination, the test was fully successful. Two further tests were conducted the next day.

• The United States and Britain asked the Soviet Union to join in a moratorium on above-ground nuclear weapons testing.{{cite news |title=Surface Nuclear Test Ban Offered by West to Russia |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=April 13, 1959 |page=1}}{{cite news |title=Ike Offers Russ New A-Ban Plan |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=April 21, 1959 |page=1}}
• Singer Mario Lanza gave his final concert, in Kiel, West Germany. He would die on October 7 of the same year.{{cite web |url=http://www.sicilianculture.com/people/lanza.htm |title=Mario Lanza, 1921-1959 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215031643/http://sicilianculture.com/people/lanza.htm |archive-date=15 February 2009 |website=Sicilian Culture}}
• The United States launched the Discoverer II satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at {{Nowrap|1:20 pm}}. The capsule was successfully ejected but lost after a timing error sent it to Norway rather than Hawaii.
• NASA asked the U.S. Navy for use of the "human centrifuge" at the Aviation Medical Acceleration Laboratory (AMAL) at Johnsville, Pennsylvania, for the Mercury program.
• Died: Eduard van Beinum, 57, Dutch conductor, collapsed of a heart attack while rehearsing with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. Van Beinum was reportedly leading the orchestra in playing Brahms' First Symphony in C Minor "when he lowered his baton and called for a pause", then fell to the floor.{{cite news |title=Baton in Hand, Van Beinum, 58, Dies on Podium— Conductor Stricken at Rehearsal |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=April 14, 1959 |pages=2–11}}

• The Robert A. Taft Memorial, a carillon with 27 bells, was dedicated in Washington. President Eisenhower and former president Hoover delivered remarks before a crowd of 5,000 people.{{cite web |url=http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/senate/notabledays/chap6.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=28 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090509032120/http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/senate/notabledays/chap6.pdf |archive-date=9 May 2009 |url-status=dead}}
• The Atlas D missile was launched from Cape Canaveral in its first test. With a range of {{Convert|10,360|mi}}, the missile could travel farther than any previously produced in the United States. The rocket exploded soon after launch, as did two other Atlas D launches, until succeeding on July 29, 1959.{{cite web |url=http://www.strategic-air-command.com/missiles/Atlas/Atlas_Missile_Performance.htm |title=Atlas Missile Performance - Strategic Air Command - Nuclear Warhead}}
• The Grumman OV-1 Mohawk, built as the U.S. Army's reconnaissance airplane, made its first flight.{{cite magazine |url=http://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/mohawk.html |title=The Last of The Mohawks |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090426180226/http://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/mohawk.html |archive-date=26 April 2009 |first=John |last=Sotham |magazine=Air & Space |date=March 1997}}

• Four men hijacked a Cuban airliner to the United States. They landed the plane at {{Nowrap|8:55 a.m.}} in Miami.
• Fidel Castro arrived in Washington for an 11-day tour of the United States.{{cite news |url=http://miamiherald.typepad.com/cuban_colada/2008/04/anniversary-of.html |title=Anniversary of Fidel Castro U.S. visit 49 years ago |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720045957/http://miamiherald.typepad.com/cuban_colada/2008/04/anniversary-of.html |archive-date=20 July 2011 |website=Miami Herald}}
• U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles resigned after the metastasizing of his abdominal cancer. Choking back tears, President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced the news at a press conference in Augusta, Georgia.{{cite news |title=New Cancer Forces Secy. Dulles to Quit |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=April 15, 1959 |page=1}}
• Hundreds turned out in Oklahoma City to see whether Otis T. Carr would launch a flying saucer to fly {{Convert|400|ft}} off the ground.{{cite web |url=http://www.world-mysteries.com/doug_rr.htm |title=The Ring of Truth: Interview With a Man Who Flew a Real Saucer |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081106185138/http://www.world-mysteries.com/doug_rr.htm |archive-date=6 November 2008 |first=Doug |last=Yurchey}} Carr rescheduled the launch several times, but it never took place.
• Born: Emma Thompson, English actress, in Paddington, London

• The United States deployed the first Thor missiles in Great Britain, under the command of Royal Air Force crews. The nuclear warheads on the missiles remained under American control.{{cite web |url=http://projectemily.com/Thor_Missile_in_the_UK.html |title=Thor Missile in the UK |access-date=28 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715120719/http://projectemily.com/Thor_Missile_in_the_UK.html |archive-date=15 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}
• At an altitude of {{Convert|11,700|m}}, an Air France flight from Paris to Dijon lost power {{Convert|265|km}} from its destination. The crew glided the plane the rest of the way.{{cite web |url=http://www.airfrancelasaga.com/spip.php?article104 |title=Air France tops the charts - Air France la saga |access-date=28 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081114045036/http://www.airfrancelasaga.com/spip.php?article104 |archive-date=14 November 2008 |url-status=dead}}
• NASA asked the U.S. Air Force to furnish two TF-102B and two T-33 aircraft for the Project Mercury astronauts for training in order to maintain their proficiency in high performance aircraft.
• Voters in Harlem Heights, a neighborhood near Chicago, elected in a referendum to incorporate as the city of Palos Heights, Illinois.{{cite web |url=http://www.palosheights.org/visitors/aboutpalosheights.asp |title=Yesterday was 1959 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090628140527/http://www.palosheights.org/visitors/aboutpalosheights.asp |archive-date=28 June 2009 |website=PalosHeights.org}}
• Rioters at the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge took 16 guards and 7 other people hostage. The disturbance broke out at 4:30. Two hostages were released the next day.{{cite news |title=Prisoners Threaten To Kill Hostages-- Some By Hanging |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=April 17, 1959 |page=1}}
• "Judgment at Nuremberg" was telecast as a live television broadcast on Playhouse 90. According to reviewer William Ewald, who described "one of the most disturbing cases of commercial censorship," commenting that "part of a Claude Rains speech which referred to Nazi 'gas chambers' was blipped out. Why? Well, one of the sponsors of Playhouse 90 is the American Gas Assn. Shame on everybody concerned.""TV in Review: Nazi Trials Drama Tough", UPI story by William Ewald in The Oregon Daily Journal, April 17, 1959, p.19 It would later be adapted to a 1961 film."'Nuremberg' Judgment Gives Film Top Rank", by Elston Brooks, Fort Worth (TX) Star-Telegram, December 18, 1961, p.7

• Twenty-six people died in the crash of a Mexican C-46 airplane, en route from Mexicali to Guayama. The Tigres Voladores Airlines plane exploded in midair as it made its approach.
• Born: Sean Bean, English actor; in Handsworth, South Yorkshire

File:1959 Corvette XP-87 Stingray.jpg

• The Corvette Stingray was introduced, racing at Marlboro Raceway and finishing in fourth place.[http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z6401/Chevrolet-Corvette-Stingray-Racer.aspx ConceptCarz.com]
• The Montreal Canadiens beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5–3 to win their fourth straight Stanley Cup, in the fifth game of the series.{{Cite web |url=http://ourhistory.canadiens.com/greatest-moment/Stanley-Cup-No-11 |title=Montreal Canadiens historical website |access-date=2009-04-18 |archive-date=2009-04-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416080344/http://ourhistory.canadiens.com/greatest-moment/Stanley-Cup-No-11 |url-status=dead }}
• At 3:45 a.m., fifty members of the Montana National Guard stormed the Montana State Prison at Deer Lodge, rescued the 16 remaining hostages, and ended the prison revolt there after 36 hours.{{cite news |title=Troops Smash Mutiny With Bazookas, Free All Hostages |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=April 18, 1959 |page=1}}

• For the first time in Switzerland's history, a woman was allowed to cast a vote. Although the nation's male voters had rejected universal suffrage on February 1, the Swiss canton of Vaud approved female participation in local elections. Mrs. Ida Pidoux became the first woman to exercise the new right, casting a ballot for candidates of her choice in Oulens-sur-Lucens.{{cite news |title=Swiss Woman Votes |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=April 20, 1959 |page=2}}
• Fidel Castro appeared on Meet the Press and denied that Cuba would turn to communism.{{cite book |first=Thomas M. |last=Leonard |title=Fidel Castro: A Biography |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2004 |page=48}} Later that day, the Cuban premier met with U.S. Vice-President Richard M. Nixon.{{cite web |url=http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-castro-years-pg,0,1775718.photogallery?index=10 |title=Fidel Castro through the years |website=Los Angeles Times|date=16 September 2014 }}
• Born: Donald Markwell, Australian social scientist and educator, and Warden of Rhodes House, Oxford; in Quilpie, Queensland
• Died: Alfred Steele, 57, Chairman of the Pepsi Cola Company and husband of Joan Crawford. Christina Crawford would later claim, in an updated version of Mommie Dearest, that she believed that her mother murdered her stepfather.{{cite news |url=http://www.albionmich.com/history/histor_notebook/980301.shtml |title=Pepsi Cola, Joan Crawford, and Albion |newspaper=Albion Morning Star |location=Albion, Michigan |date=March 1, 1998 |page=6}}

• The Ilyushin Il-18, a turboprop airliner that could carry 95 passengers, was put into service by the Soviet national airline, Aeroflot.[http://www.airliners.net/aircraft-data/stats.main?id=249 "The Ilyushin Il-18"] Airliners.net"95-Seat Plane In Russian Service", Arizona Republic (Phoenix), April 2, 1959, p. 19

File:The Untouchables Desilu Playhouse 1959.jpg

• The pilot for what would become the ABC television series The Untouchables was first shown, appearing in the first of two installments as part of the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse anthology series CBS. The show was based on the autobiography of retired federal agent Eliot Ness, whose role was played by actor Robert Stack."Gripping TV Story of Capone", by Robert Anderson, Chicago Daily Tribune, April 21, 1959, p3-10 The ABC network picked up the contract to make a regular series that would premiere on October 15.
• Born: Clint Howard, American film and television actor; in Burbank, California
• Died: Morris K. Jessup, 59, American mathematician, astronomer, and authority on UFOs, was found dead in his car from carbon monoxide poisoning, an apparent suicide,"Saucer Man Suicide", The News-Press (Fort Myers, FL), April 22, 1959, p1 although some conspiracy theorists believe that he was murdered.Jonathan Vankin and John Whalen, The 80 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time: History's Biggest Mysteries, Coverups, and Cabals (Citadel Press, 2004) pp620–621

• Alfred Dean set a record by catching a {{Convert|2,664|lb|adj=on}} great white shark off the coast of Ceduna, South Australia.{{cite web |url=https://www.espn.com/espn/print?id=2918347&type=story |title=Fascinating Fishing Facts |first=Keith |last=Sutton |website=ESPN.com |date=June 27, 2007}}
• The tradition of a cannon firing at noon in Rome was started again after a 20-year hiatus.{{cite web |url=http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome-144659/Off_the_Beaten_Path-Rome-BR-6.html |title=Rome Off The Beaten Path |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090319063956/http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome-144659/Off_the_Beaten_Path-Rome-BR-6.html |archive-date=19 March 2009 |website=VirtualTourist.com}}

• In a game between the Kansas City Athletics and the Chicago White Sox, the Sox scored 11 runs in the seventh inning on only one base hit, and went on to win 20–6. John Callison singled to bring in two players who had reached base on Athletics' errors. After the bases were loaded, eight other players (including Callison) scored from third base by a player being walked, while another scored from third after a batter was struck by a pitch.{{cite news |via=Google News |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=jvrRlaHg2sAC&dat=19590423&printsec=frontpage&hl=en |title=Big Inning Wrap-up: 11 Runs on One Hit |journal=Milwaukee Journal |date=April 23, 1959 |page=17}}
• In 1955, Florence Houteff, whose husband Victor had founded the Branch Davidian sect in Waco, Texas, had predicted that God would establish the Kingdom of Palestine on April 22, 1959. The prophecy failed, but the Davidians continued, dying in a fire at Waco in 1993.{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,977958,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071226084237/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,977958,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 26, 2007 |title=Cult of Death |magazine=Time |date=March 15, 1993}}{{cite book |first=Robert P. |last=Sutton |title=Modern American Communes: A Dictionary |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2005 |page=39}}
• Norman Rosen filed a patent for the mesh crib bumper, designed to prevent infant suffocation by providing an alternative to the traditional cloth or vinyl sides within a crib. Rosen would receive U.S. Patent No. 3,018,492 on January 30, 1962, for his invention.{{cite web |url=http://meshcribbumper.com/ |title=Mesh Crib Bumper.com |access-date=2009-03-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120115732/http://meshcribbumper.com/ |archive-date=2008-11-20 |url-status=dead}}

File:Mercury-Kapsel und Rettungssystem.jpg

• In a meeting at Langley, NASA officials concluded that the tower configuration was the best escape system for the Mercury spacecraft and development would proceed using this concept.
• The second of two recording dates of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue at Columbia Records' 30th Street Studio in New York City.
• Born:
• Terry Francona, American baseball player, coach, and manager who led the Boston Red Sox to win baseball's World Series in 2004 and 2007, and was recognized as the American League's Manager of the Year in 2013, 2016, and 2022); in Aberdeen, South Dakota{{cite news|url=http://kxrb.com/indians-manager-terry-francona-was-born-in-aberdeen-south-dakota/|title=Indians Manager Terry Francona Was Born In Aberdeen South Dakota|first=Randy|last=McDaniel|work=KXRB|publisher=Townsquare Media|location=Sioux Falls, South Dakota|date=October 31, 2016|access-date=July 8, 2017}}
• Ryan Stiles, American comedian; in Seattle{{cite web |title=Ryan Stiles |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/184864%7C0/Ryan-Stiles |website=Turner Classic Movies |access-date=April 24, 2022}}

• The press secretary for Ernesto de la Guardia, the President of Panama, charged that American actor John Wayne was financing an attempt by Roberto Arias to overthrow the government there. Wayne dismissed the accusations as ridiculous, and noted, "Roberto never talked politics, and I never heard him say anything about overthrowing the Panamanian government."{{cite news |title=John Wayne Link In Panama Plot |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=April 23, 1959 |page=1}}

• The 34 Shan States were merged into one region by the government of Burma (now Myanmar).{{cite web |url=http://www.ywam.no/shan/eng/i_historie.html |title=The Shans: People Forgotten By the World |access-date=28 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081009231439/http://www.ywam.no/shan/eng/i_historie.html |archive-date=9 October 2008 |url-status=dead}}
• The bond graph was invented, described as "one of the most effective and most elegant tools for modeling system dynamics".{{cite journal |last1=Gussn |first1=Nasser |last2=Cellier |first2=Francois |title=On the Extension of the Bondgraphic Power Postulate to some Relativistic Phenomena |url=https://people.inf.ethz.ch/fcellier/Pubs/BG/icbgm_95_gussn.pdf |journal=The Society for Computer Simulation}}
• DeMarquis D. Wyatt, NASA's Assistant to the Director of Space Flight Development, testified before Congress in support of a request for $3 million in Fiscal Year 1960 for research into techniques and problems of space rendezvous, which would be a goal of Project Gemini.{{Source attribution}} {{cite book |title=Project Gemini Technology and Operations - A Chronology |chapter=PART I (A) Concept and Design April 1959 through December 1961 |last1=Grimwood |first1=James M. |last2=Hacker |first2=Barton C. |last3=Vorzimmer |first3=Peter J. |series=NASA Special Publication-4002 |chapter-url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4002/p1a.htm |publisher=NASA |access-date=17 February 2023}}Brooks et al., pp. 8-9.
• Your Hit Parade was broadcast for the last time.{{cite news |title=A Nostalgic Finale |newspaper=The New York Times |date=April 24, 1959}}
• Died: Omaha, 27, American thoroughbred racehorse and winner of the 1935 Triple Crown, died at the age of 24 on a farm in Nebraska City, Nebraska. The horse was buried somewhere on the Ak-Sar-Ben Raceway grounds, but the location has been lost.{{cite news |url=http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/weekly-feature-articles/2005/September/03/Burial-site-of-Triple-Crown-winner-Omaha-shrouded-in-mystery.aspx |title=Burial site of Triple Crown winner Omaha shrouded in mystery |journal=Thoroughbred Times |date=September 3, 2006 |access-date=March 28, 2009 |archive-date=June 11, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611004446/http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/weekly-feature-articles/2005/september/03/burial-site-of-triple-crown-winner-omaha-shrouded-in-mystery.aspx |url-status=dead}}

• The St. Lawrence Seaway opened at {{Nowrap|8:00 a.m.}}. The icebreaker D'Iberville was at the front of 70 ships that would sail from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Ontario, starting at Montreal. At the same time, {{Convert|600|mi}} away in Ogdensburg, New York, 19 cargo ships began the journey from the other end of the seaway. The project had taken five years and cost $475,000,000 with a majority of the funding from Canada.{{cite news |title=St. Lawrence Seaway Gets First Ships |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=April 25, 1959 |page=1}} The Seaway was dedicated on June 26, 1959.
• At the Nazareth, Pennsylvania, Motor Speedway, 19-year-old Mario Andretti made his racing debut, winning the race in a 1948 Hudson.{{cite magazine |url=http://wardsautoworld.com/ar/auto_rearview_mirror_2/ |title=Rearview Mirror |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728080449/http://wardsautoworld.com/ar/auto_rearview_mirror_2/ |archive-date=28 July 2011 |first=Al |last=Binder |magazine=Ward's AutoWorld |date=April 1, 2002}}
• In Poplarville, Mississippi, a lynch mob kidnapped 23-year-old Mack Charles Parker from his jail cell.{{cite news |title=FBI Hunts Lynch Mob; Fear Dixie Victim Dead |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=April 25, 1959 |page=1}} His body was found on May 4 in the Pearl River, where he was thrown after being tortured and killed.
• A force of about 80 rebels invaded Panama from the Caribbean Sea in an attempt to overthrow the government there. Although Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro denounced the attack along with other OAS members, it was alleged that he had sponsored the attack.{{cite book |first1=Michael |last1=Brecher |author1-link=Michael Brecher |first2=Jonathan |last2=Wilkenfeld |author2-link=Jonathan Wilkenfeld |title=A Study of Crisis |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=1997 |page=505}}

• The Caravelle jet airliner, produced by the French manufacturer Sud Aviation, made its first commercial flight as the SE 210 began service with Scandinavian Airlines System.
• Reds pitcher Willard Schmidt became the first major league baseball player to be hit by a pitch twice in the same inning in a game against the Milwaukee Braves, once by Lew Burdette and once by Bob Rush. Later, he was struck by a line drive hit by Johnny Logan. Only two other major leaguers have repeated the result, Frank Thomas of the Mets in 1962, and Brady Anderson in 1999.{{Cite web |url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/al/scoreboards/1999/05/23/recap.BAL-TEX.html |title=CNN/SI - Baseball - AL Recap (Texas-Baltimore) - May 24, 1999 |access-date=2009-03-28 |archive-date=2011-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629123728/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/al/scoreboards/1999/05/23/recap.BAL-TEX.html |url-status=dead }}
• Born:
• John Corabi, heavy metal guitarist for Mötley Crüe; in Philadelphia
• Pedro Pierluisi, American politician who served as Puerto Rico's non-voting delegate to the United States House of Representatives from 2009 to 2017, and who was sworn in temporarily as Governor of Puerto Rico in August 2019 before his appointment as to the position was annulled five days later; in San Juan, Puerto Rico
• Died: Joe Clint Jenkins member of the Florida House of Representatives died in his sleep.{{cite news |title=Joe Jenkins, Ex-Legion Commander, Dies At 64 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tampa-tribune-joe-jenkins-ex-legion/124546707/ |access-date=23 February 2025 |work=The Tampa Tribune |date=27 April 1959 |pages=2}}

• Liu Shaoqi was named as the new President of the People's Republic of China, as Mao Zedong gave up the ceremonial post to concentrate on the job of First Secretary of the Communist Party.{{cite news |title=Red China Names New President |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=April 27, 1959 |page=1}}
• Philibert Tsiranana was elected the first president of the Malagasy Republic on the island of Madagascar.{{cite web |url=http://www.eisa.org.za/WEP/madoverview3a.htm |title=Madagascar: Late French Colonialism (1945-1960) |website=EISA.org}}
• At 7:00 a.m. Eastern time, NBC's national broadcasts were shut down by a walkout of engineering personnel. The dispute arose over the planned airing of a Today show segment that had been recorded without union personnel. Programming resumed three hours later.{{cite news |title=Walkout of Technicians Hits NBC-TV |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=April 27, 1959 |page=1}}
• The radio program One Man's Family was broadcast for the last time, after 27 years on NBC radio.[https://archive.org/details/OneMansFamily www.archive.org]
• The seven Project Mercury astronauts reported for duty and their training program was undertaken immediately. Actual training began the next day. Within 3 months the astronauts were acquainted with the various facets of the Mercury program.
• Born: Sheena Easton, Scottish-born pop singer; as Sheena Shirley Orr in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire

• Former President Harry S Truman told students at Columbia University that he had made the decision to drop nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and on Nagasaki because an invasion would have cost millions of lives.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
• Casa de las Americas was founded in Cuba by order of Fidel Castro.{{cite web |url=http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/culture/2009-02-03/preparations-for-havana-casa-literary-prizes-in-full-swing/ |title=Preparations for Havana Casa Literary Prizes in Full Swing |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718163522/http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/culture/2009-02-03/preparations-for-havana-casa-literary-prizes-in-full-swing/ |archive-date=18 July 2011 |website=JuventudRebelde.co.cu |date=February 3, 2009}}
• The Vatican announced that Roman Catholics worldwide would receive dispensation to eat meat on Friday during the May Day holiday.{{cite news |title=Pope Gives May Day Meat Dispensation |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=April 28, 1959 |page=1}}
• The U.S. Senate confirmed Clare Boothe Luce as ambassador to Brazil by a 79–11 vote, in spite of efforts by Senator Wayne Morse to block the nomination. In thanking the Senate, Mrs. Luce then caused an uproar when she said in a statement, "My difficulties, of course, go some years back and began when Senator Wayne Morse was kicked in the head by a horse",{{cite news |title=Ike Backs Mrs. Luce In Row With Morse |newspaper=Fresno Bee |date=April 29, 1959 |page=1}} referring to a 1951 accident in which the Senator's jaw had been broken, and calls were made for her resignation. Ambassador Luce quit on May 1.{{cite news |title=Mrs. Luce Quits As Envoy To Brazil; Blames Morse |newspaper=Fresno Bee |date=May 1, 1959 |page=1}} During the debate, Senator Everett Dirksen made a memorable gaffe in defending Mrs. Luce, saying "Why thresh old straws or beat an old bag of bones?"{{cite news |title=Did Senator Really Mean Clare Was 'An 'Old Bag of Bones'? |newspaper=El Paso Herald-Post |date=April 29, 1959 |page=1}}{{cite book |first=Dean L. |last=Yarwood |title=When Congress Makes a Joke: Congressional Humor Then and Now |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2004 |page=47}}

• The crash of an Iberia Airlines DC-3 killed all 28 people on board, including Joaquín Blume, 25, the 1957 European gymnastics champion. Blume and four other gymnasts had boarded the flight in Barcelona en route to Madrid and were scheduled to compete in a meet in the Canary Islands. Flying in a storm, the twin-engine plane struck the side of the {{Convert|5,900|foot|adj=on}} high Toba Peak in the Sierra de Valdemeca range, at a location near the city of Cuenca.{{cite news |title=28 Are Killed In Spanish Crash |newspaper=Albuquerque Journal |location=Albuquerque, New Mexico |date=April 30, 1959 |page=1}}
• The Las Vegas Convention Center opened.{{cite news |url=http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2006_1st/Feb06_LVConvCenter.html |title=The Las Vegas Convention Center Planning $737 million in Improvements, Expansion |newspaper=Las Vegas Review-Journal |date=February 12, 2006}}
• The fraternity Phi Kappa Theta was created by the merger of Phi Kappa and Theta Kappa Phi.{{cite web |url=http://phikaps.org/about-us/history/ |title=Phi Kappa Theta History |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120122035047/http://phikaps.org/about-us/history/ |archive-date=22 January 2012 |website=PhiKaps.org}}

• The Florianturm, a 720-foot (220-meter) television tower, opened in Dortmund, West Germany, to coincide with an international horticultural festival. Opening that day at the {{convert|450|foot|adj=on}} level was the world's first revolving restaurant.{{cite book |first=Chad |last=Randl |title=Revolving Architecture: A History of Buildings that Rotate, Swivel, and Pivot |publisher=Princeton Architectural Press |year=2008 |page=102}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20100409084725/http://www.reviermagazin.de/ausfluege/483-westfalenpark-dortmund RevierMagazin.de]
• Félix Houphouët-Boigny was inaugurated as the first African Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire.
• The Convair B-36 Peacemaker, in operation since 1946, was flown for the last time.{{cite web |url=http://thoughtcrimewave.blogspot.com/2008/06/graveyard-of-aluminum-overcast.html |title=Graveyard of the B-36 |date=7 June 2008}}
• The Lockheed Electra made its first flight, tested for delivery to Western Airlines.[http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Postcards/809.htm ThoughCrimeWave] blog, June 7, 2008
• Born:
• Stephen Harper, 22nd Prime Minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015; in Toronto
• Pamela Rabe, Canadian-born Australian stage actress; in Oakville, Ontario

{{Reflist|33em}}

{{Events by month links}}

1959

*1959-04