1956 Swedish general election
The tendencies of the previous election continued, with both governing parties losing seats, the Farmers league more so than the Social democrats. The election triggered a discussion within the farmers league about parting from the governing coalition, as the governing parties had a difference of opinion on several issues since the past election. In the end however the farmers league decided to stay in government with the Social democrats, with the coalition breaking up over the question of pension reform in 1957, leading to the formation of Tage Erlander's third government and a snap election in 1958


1956 Swiss referendums
Five referendums were held in Switzerland during 1956. The first was held on 4 March on a federal resolution on a limited extension of price controls, and was approved by voters. The second and third were held on 13 May on a popular initiative "on the grant of concessions for water usage" and a federal resolution on government efforts to strengthen the economy of Graubünden, both of which were rejected by voters. The fourth and fifth were held on 30 September on a federal resolution on changing the breadstuffs law and a petition about decisions on expenditure taken by the Federal Assembly, both of which were also rejected.


1956 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
The 1956 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, was the 12th annual running of the "blue water classic" Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.


1956 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
Hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia based in Sydney, New South Wales, the 1956 edition began on Sydney Harbour, at noon on Boxing Day (26 December 1955), before heading south for 630 nautical miles (1,170 km) through the Tasman Sea, past Bass Strait, into Storm Bay and up the River Derwent, to cross the finish line in Hobart, Tasmania.


1956 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
The 1956 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race comprised a fleet of 28 competitors, an increase of 11 yachts compared to the number in the 1955 race. Line-honours were awarded to Kurrewa IV, which raced out of New South Wales and was owned and skippered by brother's J. & F. Livingston.


1956 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, 1956 fleet
28 yachts registered to begin the 1953 Sydney to Hobart Yacht race. They are:


1956 Sylvania Television Awards
The 1956 Sylvania Television Awards were presented on December 6, 1955, at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Don Ameche was the master of ceremonies. The Sylvania Awards were established by Sylvania Electric Products. Deems Taylor was the chairman of the committee of judges.


1956 Syracuse Grand Prix
The 1956 Syracuse Grand Prix was a motor race, set to Formula One rules, held on 15 April 1956 at the Syracuse Circuit, Sicily. The race was won by Argentinean Juan Manuel Fangio, in his Scuderia Ferrari entered Lancia D50.


1956 Syracuse Orangemen football team
The 1956 Syracuse Orangemen football team represented Syracuse University in the 1956 NCAA University Division football season. The Orangemen were led by eighth-year head coach Ben Schwartzwalder and played their home games at Archbold Stadium in Syracuse, New York. Syracuse finished the regular season with a record of 7–1, and were ranked 8th in both final polls. They were awarded the Lambert Trophy, which signified them as champions of the East. Syracuse was invited to the 1957 Cotton Bowl, where they were defeated by TCU.


1956 Syracuse Orangemen football team
The team was led by unanimous All-American halfback Jim Brown. Brown set school records in average yards-per-carry (6.2), single-season rushing yards (986), single-game rushing touchdowns (6, vs. Colgate), and most points scored in a game (43, vs. Colgate). He was drafted sixth overall in the 1957 NFL Draft and went on to become one of the most celebrated professional athletes of all time.


1956 São Paulo FC season
The 1956 football season was São Paulo's 27th season since club's existence.


1956 TANFL season
The 1956 Tasmanian Australian National Football League (TANFL) premiership season was an Australian rules football competition staged in Hobart, Tasmania over fifteen (15) roster rounds and four (4) finals series matches between 31 March and 8 September 1956.


1956 TANFL season, 1956 TANFL Ladder, Round 1
(Saturday, 31 March. Monday, 2 April & Saturday 7 April 1956)


1956 TANFL season, 1956 TANFL Ladder, Round 15
Note: Final senior TANFL match staged at New Town Oval, New Town relocated to Glenorchy after this season, moving to KGV Park.


1956 TANFL season, 1956 TANFL Ladder, Grand Final
Source: All scores and statistics courtesy of the Hobart Mercury and Saturday Evening Mercury (SEM) publications.


1956 TCU Horned Frogs football team
The 1956 TCU Horned Frogs football team represented Texas Christian University (TCU) in the 1956 NCAA University Division football season. The Horned Frogs finished the season 8–3 overall and 5–1 in the Southwest Conference. The team was coached by Abe Martin in his fourth year as head coach. The Frogs played their home games in Amon G. Carter Stadium, which is located on campus in Fort Worth, Texas. They were invited to the Cotton Bowl Classic where they won against Syracuse by a score of 28–27.


1956 TCU Horned Frogs football team
Following the 1955 season, TCU expanded Amon G. Carter stadium with the addition of a two-level press box and upper deck area. The upper deck area introduced a large, block-letter stylization of the TCU logo on the seats, which measured approximately 60' x 120' feet in design. The design is visible to the opposing stands, as well as to planes descending into the DFW International Airport. Upon completion of the expansion, the official seating capacity of the stadium was raised from 37,000 to 46,083.


1956 Tampa Spartans football team
The 1956 Tampa Spartans football team represented the University of Tampa as an independent during the 1956 NCAA College Division football season. It was the Spartans' 20th season. The team was led by head coach Marcelino Huerta, in his fifth year, and played their home games at Phillips Field in Tampa, Florida. They finished with a record of seven wins and two losses (7–2).


1956 Tangerine Bowl
The 1956 Tangerine Bowl was an American college football bowl game played after the 1955 season, on January 2, 1956, at the Tangerine Bowl stadium in Orlando, Florida. The Juniata Indians  with a record of 8–0 faced the Missouri Valley Vikings with a record of 9–1. Juniata had outscored their regular season opponents 240–32 with 4 shutouts, and had a 23-game winning streak, while Missouri Valley had outscored their opponents 207–84 with 2 shutouts. The teams played to a 6–6 tie.


1956 Tangerine Bowl, Game summary
All scoring took place in the first quarter, with each team scoring a touchdown via a passing play, and both teams missing their extra point attempts. Despite other scoring chances, including Juniata having two first-and-goal opportunities in the fourth quarter, the game ended in a 6–6 tie.


1956 Tasmanian state election
The Tasmanian state election, 1956 was held on 13 October 1956  in the Australian state of Tasmania to elect 30 members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly. The election used the Hare-Clark proportional representation system — six members were elected from each of five electorates.


1956 Tasmanian state election, Background
The 1955 election had resulted in a parliamentary deadlock between the Labor and Liberal parties, although Robert Cosgrove remained Premier of Tasmania. On 11 September 1956, Cosgrove's minister for housing, Carrol Bramich, resigned from the ALP following an internal row, party switching and giving the Liberal opposition a majority. Cosgrove obtained a dissolution of parliament from the Governor of Tasmania, and an election was called for 13 October.


1956 Tasmanian state election, Background
The electorate of Darwin had been renamed in 1955 to Braddon, after former Premier Sir Edward Braddon.


1956 Tasmanian state election, Results
Following the 1956 election, the ALP and Liberals remained in a 15-seat deadlock. Despite Bramich's defection to the Liberals, Labor picked up a seat in Bramich's electorate of Braddon, maintaining the status quo with Cosgrove and the ALP still in power.


1956 Tasmanian state election, Results
Tasmanian state election, 13 October 1956House of Assembly << 1955–1959 >>


1956 Tasmanian state election, Aftermath
The subsequent election in 1959 saw the number of seats in the Tasmanian House of Assembly increased to 35, which would prevent the kind of deadlock which resulted from having an even number of seats in the house.


1956 Taunton by-election
The 1956 Taunton by-election was held on 14 February 1956. It was held due to the elevation to a hereditary peerage of the Conservative MP, Henry Hopkinson. The seat was retained by the Conservative candidate Edward du Cann, albeit with a narrow majority of 657 votes.


1956 Taça de Portugal Final
The 1956 Taça de Portugal Final was the final match of the 1955–56 Taça de Portugal, the 16th season of the Taça de Portugal, the premier Portuguese football cup competition organized by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). The match was played on 27 May 1956 at the Estádio Nacional in Oeiras, and opposed two Primeira Liga sides: Porto and Torreense. Porto defeated Torreense 2–0 to claim their first Taça de Portugal.


1956 Team Speedway Polish Championship
1956 Team Speedway Polish Championship season was the ninth season and is used to determine the Team Polish Champion.


1956 Team Speedway Polish Championship, First League
In First League, matches were played with part two teams, with it playing it matches return. Teams were made up of six drivers plus one reserve. The score of heat: 3-2-1-0. Mecz consisted with 12 heats. For winning a game a team received 2 points, draw - 1 point, lost - 0 points. The drivers from main squad started in match four times. The quantity of small points was added up.


1956 Team Speedway Polish Championship, First League
The 2 competing teams shall each consist of 7 drivers: 6 drivers having programmed drivers and the seventh driver being a substitute, as follows:


1956 Team Speedway Polish Championship, Second League
In Second League, matches were played with part two teams, with it playing it matches return. Teams were made up of six riders plus two reserve. The scoring of a heat: 3-2-1-0. Mecz consisted with 9 heats. For winning a  game a team received 2 points, draw - 1 point, loss - 0 points. The riders from the main squad started in the match three times. The quantity of small points was added up.


1956 Temple Owls football team
The 1956 Temple Owls football team was an American football team that represented Temple University as an independent during the 1956 NCAA College Division football season. In its first season under head coach Peter P. Stevens, the team compiled a 3–5 record. The team played its home games at Temple Stadium in Philadelphia.


1956 Tennessee A&I Tigers football team
The 1956 Tennessee A&I Tigers football team represented Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State College as a member of the Midwest Athletic Association (MAA) during the 1956 NCAA College Division football season. In their second season under head coach Howard C. Gentry, the Tigers compiled a perfect 10–0 record, won the MAA championship, shut out five of ten opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 394 to 64. The team was also recognized as black college national champion.


1956 Tennessee A&I Tigers football team
The team was led by halfbacks Jesse Wilburn and Ray Mitchell, quarterback Robert Crawford, ends Don Taylor and Leon Jamison, and tackle Charles Gavin. Allowing only 25 points in nine regular season games, the team had the best scoring defense in the country.


1956 Tennessee Volunteers football team
The 1956 Tennessee Volunteers football team (variously Tennessee, UT, or the Vols) represented the University of Tennessee in the 1956 NCAA University Division football season. Playing as a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), the team was led by head coach Bowden Wyatt, in his second year, and played their home games at Shields–Watkins Field in Knoxville, Tennessee. They finished the season with a record of ten wins and one loss (10–1 overall, 6–0 in the SEC), as SEC Champions and with a loss against Baylor in the Sugar Bowl. The Volunteers offense scored 275 points while the defense allowed 88 points.


1956 Texas A&M Aggies football team
The 1956 Texas A&M Aggies football team represented Texas A&M University in the 1956 NCAA University Division football season. The team won the Southwest Conference and compiled an overall record of 9–0–1, including a 6–0 record in conference play. The team was coached by Paul "Bear" Bryant.


1956 Texas Longhorns football team
The 1956 Texas Longhorns football team represented the University of Texas at Austin during the 1956 NCAA University Division football season. In 1956, the Texas A&M Aggies were the first Aggie football team to beat the Texas Longhorns at Memorial Stadium. The win was Bear Bryant's only victory versus a University of Texas football team.


1956 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team
The 1956 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team represented Texas Tech University as an independent during the 1956 NCAA University Division football season. In their sixth season under head coach DeWitt Weaver, the Red Raiders compiled a 2–7–1 record and were outscored by opponents by a combined total of 216 to 117. The team's statistical leaders included Buddy Hill with 326 passing yards, Doug Duncan with 360 rushing yards, and Ken Vakey with 180 receiving yards. The team played its home games at Clifford B. and Audrey Jones Stadium.


1956 Texas Western Miners football team
The 1956 Texas Western Miners football team was an American football team that represented Texas Western College (now known as University of Texas at El Paso) as a member of the Border Conference during the 1956 NCAA University Division football season. In its seventh and final season under head coach Mike Brumbelow, the team compiled a 9–2 record (5–0 against Border Conference opponents), won the conference championship, and outscored all opponents by a total of 305 to 78.


1956 Texas Western Miners football team
The team's statistical leaders included quarterback Bob Laraba with 568 passing yards and 743 yards of total offense, Jimmy Bevers with 606 rushing yards and 54 points scored, halfback Don Maynard with 275 receiving yards, and end Bob Forrest with 849 all-purpose yards. Maynard later played 17 years of professional football and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.


1956 Texas Western Miners football team
Five Texas Western players received first-team honors on the 1956 All-Border Conference team: Laraba; Maynard; Forrest; guard Ken George; and tackle Keith Wharton. Mike Brumbelow was also named Border Conference Coach of the Year.


1956 Texas gubernatorial election
The 1956 Texas gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1956, to elect the Governor of Texas. Incumbent Democratic Governor Allan Shivers did not run for a fourth term. Senator Price Daniel won the election with over 78% of the vote.


1956 The Citadel Bulldogs football team
The 1956 The Citadel Bulldogs football team represented The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina in the 1956 NCAA University Division football season. John Sauer served as head coach for the second season. The Bulldogs played as members of the Southern Conference and played home games at Johnson Hagood Stadium.


1956 Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship
The 1956 Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship was the 66th staging of the Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Tipperary County Board in 1887.


1956 Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship
On 30 September 1956, Thurles Sarsfields won the championship after a 3-08 to 1-04 defeat of Lorrha in the final at Thurles Sportsfield. It was their 19th championship title overall and their second title in succession.


1956 Titleholders Championship
The 1956 Titleholders Championship was contested from March 8–11 at Augusta Country Club. It was the 17th edition of the Titleholders Championship.


1956 Toledo Rockets football team
The 1956 Toledo Rockets football team was an American football team that represented Toledo University in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) during the 1956 NCAA University Division football season. In their first and only season under head coach Jack Morton, the Rockets compiled a 1–7–1 record (1–5 against MAC opponents), finished in seventh place in the MAC, and were outscored by their opponents by a combined total of 250 to 118.


1956 Toledo Rockets football team
The team's statistical leaders included Sam Tisci with 354 passing yards, Don Wright with 498 rushing yards, and Dan Howell with 218 receiving yards.


1956 Tonbridge by-election
The 1956 Tonbridge by-election was held on 7 June 1956 due to the resignation of the Conservative MP, Gerald Williams. It was retained by the Conservative candidate Richard Hornby. Although Tonbridge was usually a safe Conservative seat this election was fought with a local Labour politician and against the backdrop of Anthony Eden's unpopular government so the Conservative majority was cut to barely 1,600 votes.


1956 Torneo Godó
The 1956 Torneo Godó was the fourth edition of the Torneo Godó annual tennis tournament played on clay courts in Barcelona, Spain and it took place from May 28 to June 3, 1956.


1956 Torneo di Viareggio
The 1956 winners of the Torneo di Viareggio (in English, the Viareggio Tournament, officially the Viareggio Cup World Football Tournament Coppa Carnevale), the annual youth football tournament held in Viareggio, Tuscany, are listed below.


1956 Torneo di Viareggio, Format
The 16 teams are organized in knockout rounds, all played single tie.


1956 Toronto Argonauts season
The 1956 Toronto Argonauts finished in fourth place in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union with a 4–10 record and failed to make the playoffs.


1956 Toronto municipal election
Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on December 3, 1956. Incumbent mayor Nathan Phillips was easily reelected. Jean Newman became the first woman elected to the Board of Control, and topped the poll to become budget chief.


1956 Toronto municipal election, Toronto mayor
Nathan Phillips, elected two years earlier, faced only limited opposition from Trotskyist Ross Dowson and was easily reelected.


1956 Toronto municipal election, Board of Control
All four sitting Board of Control members chose to run for re-election. Controller and former mayor Leslie Saunders was pushed off the board by Jean Newman's victory. Newman is the first woman to be elected to the Board of Control or to win a city-wide election in Toronto. The most senior two Controllers in terms of votes also sat on Metro Toronto Council.


1956 Toronto municipal election, City council
Two aldermen were elected per Ward. The alderman with the most votes was declared Senior Alderman and sat on both Toronto City Council and Metro Council.


1956 Toronto municipal election, City council
Results are taken from the December 4, 1956 Toronto Star and might not exactly match final tallies.


1956 Toronto municipal election, Changes
Ward 7 Alderman John Kucherepa resigned January 6, 1958 having been elected in the 1957 Federal Election; Thomas Wilson was appointed replacement on January 20.


1956 Toronto municipal election, Suburbs, East York
Jack R. Allen defeated business executive C. Howard Chandler. Source:


1956 Toronto municipal election, Suburbs, Etobicoke
Deputy Reeve Waffle defeated Bennett, a former Toronto alderman to replace retiring reeve Bev Lewis.


1956 Toronto municipal election, Suburbs, North York
Councillor Singer defeated former deputy reeve Hook to replace retiring reeve, Fred McMahon. Source:


1956 Tour de France
The 1956 Tour de France was the 43rd edition of the Tour de France, taking place from 5 to 28 July. It consisted of 22 stages over 4,498 km (2,795 mi).


1956 Tour de France
There was no previous Tour winner competing for the 1956 Tour, which had only previously happened in 1903 and 1927. An unknown rider from a regional team, Roger Walkowiak on the Northeast-Center French team, ended up winning the Tour. Many Tour fans dismissed the win as being lucky or unworthy at the time, which Walkowiak took hard; this made him not often speak of his win.


1956 Tour de France
The Tour was ridden at the fastest average speed so far, over 36 km/h. Walkowiak became only the second rider, after Firmin Lambot in the 1922 Tour de France, to win without taking a single stage.


1956 Tour de France, Innovations
In the previous years, a flat tyre had to be repaired, but from 1956 on, it was allowed to change wheels.


1956 Tour de France, Teams
As was the custom since the 1930 Tour de France, the 1956 Tour de France was contested by national and regional teams. Seven national teams were sent, with 10 cyclists each from France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and Luxembourg/Mixed (the latter a combined team of seven Luxembourgian cyclists added with one Portuguese, on British and one Italian cyclist). France additionally sent five regional teams from 10 cyclists each, divided into North-East/Centre, South-East, West, Île-de-France and South-West. In total, 120 cyclists started the race.


1956 Tour de France, Pre-race favourites
The winner of the three previous editions, Louison Bobet, was absent because he had surgery. Because there were less climbs and no mountain top finishes, cycling experts expected this edition to be too easy. No other former Tour de France winner started the race. This was the third time in history that the race started without former winners, after the initial 1903 Tour de France and the 1927 Tour de France.


1956 Tour de France, Pre-race favourites
Because Bobet was not there, the race was open, and there were many riders thought able to win the Tour. The most favourite of these was probably Charly Gaul, who had won the 1956 Giro d'Italia, although he was in a weak team, and would also be aiming for the mountains classification.


1956 Tour de France, Route and stages
The 1956 Tour de France started on 5 July, and had two rest days, in Bordeaux and Aix-les-Provence. The highest point of elevation in the race was 2,360 m (7,740 ft) at the summit of the Col d'Izoard mountain pass on stage 17.


1956 Tour de France, Race overview
The first stage was won by André Darrigade, one of the best sprinters of that time. In the third stage, a small group escaped and finished with a margin of fifteen minutes; Gilbert Desmet became the new leader. The time trial of stage four was won by Gaul. In the second part of the fourth stage, Roger Hassenforder escaped, and a took a group with him, including Darrigade. Desmet was not in that group, and lost more than 15 minutes, which made Darrigade leader again.


1956 Tour de France, Race overview
In the seventh stage, the peloton broke in two, and a large group of 31 cyclists finished more than 18 minutes ahead. This group included Roger Walkowiak, who had also been in the escaped group in the fourth stage, and became the new leader. Walkowiak's team manager, Sauveur Ducazeaux, advised Walkowiak that it would be too tough to try to remain the leader for the rest of the race, and suggested that Walkowiak lose the first place, and aim to regain it later in the race. In the tenth stage, Walkowiak lost time, and Gerrit Voorting who had also been part of the large breakaway group in stage seven, became the new leader. Voorting lost the lead in the next stage to Darrigade, who himself lost the lead to Jan Adriaensens in the twelfth stage.


1956 Tour de France, Race overview
In the fifteenth stage, the entire Belgian team was weak. Most Tour followers thought it was due to a doping practice that went wrong, but officially it was attributed to food poisoning. Adriaensens lost more than nine minutes, which made Wout Wagtmans the new leader. During the seventeenth stage, there was yet another escape, which included leader Wagtmans and Walkowiak, in fifth position in the general classification. The riders in second, third and fourth place were not in the escape, so Walkowiak moved up to the second place, more than four minutes behind Wagtmans.


1956 Tour de France, Race overview
The eighteenth stage was the last chance for the climbing specialists to win back time, and so Gaul, Bahamontes and Ockers were aiming to win back time. Gaul escaped, and won the stage alone, with Ockers in second place. During the last climb, Bahamontes dismounted and threw his bike down the ravine, wanting to stop the race. The Spanish team was able to retrieve the bike, and convince Bahamontes to continue. Bahamontes finished the race in the group behind Ockers. The surprise of the day was that Walkowiak had been able to remain with Bahamontes, whereas Wagtmans (normally a decent climber) lost eight minutes more. Walkowiak took the first place in the general classification, with a margin of almost 4 minutes to Gilbert Bauvin.


1956 Tour de France, Race overview
In the time trial of stage 20, Bauvin performed very well, finishing in fifth place. Walkowiak ended in 24th place, but this was enough to keep a 1'25" lead. In the 21st stage, Roger Hassenforder won his fourth stage of this Tour, after a solitary breakaway of 187 km.


1956 Tour de France, Classification leadership and minor prizes
The time that each cyclist required to finish each stage was recorded, and these times were added together for the general classification. If a cyclist had received a time bonus, it was subtracted from this total; all time penalties were added to this total. The cyclist with the least accumulated time was the race leader, identified by the yellow jersey. Of the 120 cyclists that started the 1956 Tour de France, 88 finished the race.


1956 Tour de France, Classification leadership and minor prizes
The points classification in 1956 was calculated in the same way as since the introduction in 1953, following the calculation method from the Tours de France from 1905 to 1912. Points were given according to the ranking of the stage: the winner received one points, the next cyclist two points, and so on. These points were added, and the cyclist with the fewest points was the leader of the points classification. In 1956, this was won by Stan Ockers with 280 points. Over 22 stages (including one split stage), this meant that his average stage finish was approximately place 13.


1956 Tour de France, Classification leadership and minor prizes
Points for the mountains classification were earned by reaching the mountain tops first. The system was almost the same as in 1955: there were three types of mountain tops: the hardest ones, in category 1, gave 10 points to the first cyclist, the easier ones, in category 2, gave 6 points to the first cyclist, and the easiest ones, in category 3, gave 3 points. Charly Gaul won this classification.


1956 Tour de France, Classification leadership and minor prizes
The team classification was calculated as the sum of the daily team classifications, and the daily team classification was calculated by adding the times in the stage result of the best three cyclists per team. It was won by the Belgian team, with a large margin over the Italian team. Every team finished with at least three cyclists, so all teams were included in the team classification.


1956 Tour de France, Classification leadership and minor prizes
In addition, there was a combativity award given after each stage to the cyclist considered most combative. The split stages each had a combined winner. The decision was made by a jury composed of journalists who gave points. The cyclist with the most points from votes in all stages led the combativity classification. André Darrigade won this classification, and was given overall the super-combativity award. After every stage, the jury also gave a prize to the cyclist with the most bad luck. The award for most bad luck during the entire Tour de France went to Fernand Picot. The Souvenir Henri Desgrange was given in honour of Tour founder Henri Desgrange to the first rider to pass a point on stage 2 in village of Cysoing in the far north, marking 200,000 kilometres travelled in Tour de France history. This prize was won by Pierre Pardoën.


1956 Tour de France, Aftermath
The cycling fans had not been happy to see unknown Walkowiak win the race, and he was not cheered for when the race finished in the Parc des Princes. Walkowiak was considered an unworthy winner, and never again was able to repeat such a win. His name entered the French language in the phrase "á la Walko", which means "won by an undeserving or unknown rider". The press gave many reasons for Walkowiak's victory: the French national team had had internal problems, Gaul and Bahamontes had been occupied with the mountains classification and Ockers with the team classification.


1956 Tour de France, Aftermath
Not all considered him unworthy; Five-time Tour winner Bernard Hinault praised his win saying: There are people who say that Walkowiak should not have won the Tour. They should have been on that Tour! He took the jersey, he lost it and he regained it. He was not a thief. The Tour is not a gift.


1956 Tour de France, Aftermath
Walkowiak was unhappy about how the people reacted to his Tour win, and for many years did not want to discuss it.


1956 Tour de France, Aftermath
The French team manager Marcel Bidot later criticized Darrigade for not helping Bauvin in the last stages; he thought that with the help of Darrigade, Bauvin might have been able to win back the 85 seconds on Walkowiak and win the race.


1956 Tour de France, Aftermath
This was the final Tour for Belgian rider Stan Ockers, who died in a tragic accident during a track race just a few months after this Tour ended. Of the ten Tours held after World War II, Ockers had entered eight, finished all in the top ten each time except in 1948 when he finished 11th. Ockers had won the points classification in 1955 and 1956.


1956 Tour de Hongrie
The 1956 Tour de Hongrie was the 17th edition of the Tour de Hongrie cycle race and was held from 29 July to 5 August 1956. The race started and finished in Budapest. The race was won by Győző Török.


1956 Tour de Romandie
The 1956 Tour de Romandie was the tenth edition of the Tour de Romandie cycle race and was held from 10 May to 13 May 1956. The race started and finished in Geneva. The race was won by Pasquale Fornara.


1956 Tour de Suisse
The 1956 Tour de Suisse was the 20th edition of the Tour de Suisse cycle race and was held from 16 June to 23 June 1956. The race started and finished in Zürich. The race was won by Rolf Graf.


1956 Tour of Flanders
The 40th running of the Tour of Flanders cycling classic was held on Easter Monday, 2 April 1956. French rider Jean Forestier won the race after a late breakaway from a 30-strong group in Wetteren. Sprint specialist Stan Ockers won the sprint for second place; Leon Van Daele was third. 37 of 122 riders finished.


1956 Tour of Flanders, Route
The race started in Ghent and finished in Wetteren – totaling 238 km. The course featured five categorized climbs:


1956 Treason Trial
The Treason Trial was a trial in Johannesburg in which 156 people, including Nelson Mandela, were arrested in a raid and accused of treason in South Africa in 1956.


1956 Treason Trial
The main trial lasted until 1961, when all of the defendants were found not guilty. During the trials, Oliver Tambo left the country and was exiled. Whilst in other European and African countries, he started an organisation which helped bring publicity to the African National Congress's cause in South Africa. Some of the defendants were later convicted in the Rivonia Trial in 1964.


1956 Treason Trial
The treason trial must occupy a special place in South African history. That grim pre-dawn raid, deliberately calculated to strike terror into hesitant minds and impress upon the entire nation the determination of the governing clique to stifle all opposition, made one hundred and fifty-six of us, belonging to all the races of our land, into a group of accused facing one of the most serious charges in any legal system.


1956 Treason Trial, Background
On 5 December 1956, the South African Police's Security Branch raided and arrested 140 people from around the country on the charge of treason as they enforced the Suppression of Communism Act. Those not based in Johannesburg were flown there in military aircraft and held in custody until a hearing on 19 December 1956. The raids were follow-ups to those conducted in 1955 and included search warrants to look for documents at 48 anti-government organisations.


1956 Treason Trial, Background
On 19 December 1956, 153 prisoners were driven to the Johannesburg Drill Hall for a preliminary hearing to examine the state's evidence. Magistrate Frederick Wessels was the presiding judge with J.C. van Niekerk as the state's public prosecutor. An attempt by the prosecutor to proceed with the case was interrupted three times as the noise of 5,000 black South Africans, hoping to attend the case, surrounded the streets of the Drill Hall and sang Nkosi Sikeleli Afrika. The proceedings had to be halted. The Labour Party in the UK accused the South African Government of intimidating and victimising those opposed to Apartheid, condemning the trial and called South Africa a police state.


1956 Treason Trial, Background
Resuming on 20 December 1956, the hearing was interrupted again when the defence objected to their clients being behind a six-foot-high (1.8 m) wire fence. After an adjournment, it was agreed by the two sides to reduce it to a barrier four foot (1.2 m) tall. The prosecutor J.C. van Niekerk then presented an outline of his evidence stretching back to 1953 of the liberation movements activities but his evidence was soon interrupted when violence broke out outside the court.


1956 Treason Trial, Background
After police began moving back the crowd of around a 1,000 black protesters, a policeman was injured by a stone and they retaliated by firing into the crowd and surrounding cars and shops, injuring fourteen people. Deputy Police Commissioner Colonel Piet Grobler was able to get his men to stop shooting and order was restored.


1956 Treason Trial, Background
The trial examination would continue on 21 December 1956 and the prosecutor presented his case as stating that the defendants were subversive, having attended the recent Congress of the People gathering at Kliptown where speeches had promoted Communism and the creation of the Freedom Charter, the need to seek help abroad and in other evidence, the need to raise money to buy firearms. With no charges yet presented to the individual detainees, bail was granted and the trial was then concluded until 9 January 1957. Rioting broke out at the end of the day's proceedings when police charged a group of 400 black South African protesters.


1956 Treason Trial, Background
On resumption of the preliminary hearing and an examination of the state's evidence on 9 January 1957, three more defendants were added to the charges bringing the number to 156 persons. The defence would argue that the Freedom Charter was not treasonous, that it did not call for violence and it argued for peace and racial harmony for the country.


1956 Treason Trial, Background
The hearing was still ongoing during August 1957, the accused were spending six hours each day in court. With the hearing to last a few more months, the magistrate had more 6,200 pages of testimony and 10,000 exhibits to examine and decide whether to pass the sentences himself or let the Attorney General decide whether to proceed to a trial. The trial was taking so long, the male prisoners formed a choir.


1956 Treason Trial, Background
On 17 December 1957, Attorney General W.J. McKenzie decided to drop charges against 61 and proceed to with the remaining 95 defendants on 13 January 1958. Albert Luthuli and 44 black, six white, four Indian and six coloured defendants were released.


1956 Treason Trial, Background
The hearing resumed on 13 January 1958 with the prosecutor informing the court of the names of those 61 defendants who had been cleared of further charges.


1956 Treason Trial, Background
The hearing concluded on 30 January 1958 with Magistrate F.C. Wessels finding that there was sufficient evidence for the defendants to be tried on charges of high treason. The defendants were asked to plead, with all pleading not guilty they were released on bail. Their defence lawyers asked for a jury trial, the alternative being a trial by two or three judges, with the former request being rejected by the state in treason trials.


1956 Treason Trial, Background
The Treason Trial began in Pretoria on 1 August 1958 with 91 people on trial having been charged with high treason. The trial saw 57 blacks, 16 whites, 16 Indians and two coloureds charged with attempting to overthrow the South African government between 1952 and 1956 with the intention to replace it with a communist system. The defence lawyers opened the trial by lodging an objection to two of the three trial judges.


1956 Treason Trial, Background
They called for Justice Joseph Ludorf to withdraw because of his involvement as a lawyer in other cases against some defendants while Justice Frans Rumpff should withdraw as he had asked for the former to be appointed as a judge on the treason trial. The case was then adjourned until the following Monday.


1956 Treason Trial, Background
When the trial resumed on 12 August 1958, chief defence lawyer Israel A. Maisels continued to challenge the indictment referring to the masses of documentary evidence which he claimed was impossible to read in less than two years, and was an abuse of the court process and that the prosecution did not know what its case was about.


1956 Treason Trial, Background
After the trial collapsed in October, it was decided in November 1958 to resume the trial on 19 January 1959 with a decision to drop 60 people from the indictment.


1956 Treason Trial, Background
On 22 November 1958, 30 of the 91 were re-indicted with the charge now been narrowed down to a conspiracy to endanger and overthrow the state based on the 1955 Congress of the People gathering and the adoption of the Freedom Charter. The remaining 61 were to be indicted in April 1959.


1956 Treason Trial, Background
The trial resumed on 19 January 1959 in Pretoria with the defence arguing for the trial to be moved back to Johannesburg, due to the hardship of travel for the defendants, a city where the majority of them lived. The case was postponed on the first day until after lunch as the bus carrying the defendants had broken down. The trial resumed on 2 February 1959, with the venue change request squashed and the defence lawyers continuing their argument against the new indictments.


1956 Treason Trial, Background
With the resumption of the trial on 20 April 1959 of the other 61 defendants, it was ended when Judge Rumpff declared that the Crown's case could not accuse the defendants of conspiracy without saying how they entered into the conspiracy and that they would need to know in order to defend their case. The defendants could return home and the prosecution would have to decide whether to re-indict them.


1956 Treason Trial, Background
On 29 March 1961, down to 28 defendants, the trial's verdict was released and they were all found not guilty of treason and discharged. Judge Rumpff concluded that the prosecution could not show that the African National Congress (ANC) had become a communist organisation and therefore no treason could be proven nor that any act of violence was to be used to overthrow the state. The defendants were met outside the court by their relatives and saw the singing of Nkosi Sikeleli Afrika.


1956 Treason Trial, Defendants
In December 1956, many key members of the Congress Alliance were arrested and charged with treason, including almost the entire executive committee of the ANC, as well as the SACP, the SAIC, and the COD. 105 Africans, 21 Indians, 23 whites and 7 coloured leaders were arrested. Ten were women. Many arrestees, including Nelson Mandela, were detained in communal cells in Johannesburg Prison, known as the Fort, resulting in what Mandela described as "the largest and longest unbanned meeting of the Congress Alliance in years." However, white men, white women, and black people were all held in a separate parts of the jail.


1956 Treason Trial, Defendants
Initially, 156 defendants were charged with high treason. The number of defendants was later reduced to 92. In November 1957, the prosecution reworded the indictment and proceeded a separate trial against 30 accused. Their trial commenced in August 1959. The remaining 61 accused were tried separately before the case against them was dismissed in mid 1960.


1956 Treason Trial, Defence and Aid Fund
After the British priest, Canon John Collins learnt about the trial, and the calls for the death penalty, he set up the Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa to pay all legal expenses and look after the families of those on trial. This was one of the first examples of foreign intervention against apartheid in South Africa and proved very successful with over £75,000 being raised towards defending those accused. Harry Oppenheimer allegedly contributed £40,000 to the fund.


1956 Treason Trial, Defence and Aid Fund
In 1957, the campaigner Mary Benson joined the Defence Fund as its secretary.


1956 Treason Trial, Significance of the trial
In many ways, the trial and prolonged periods in detention strengthened and solidified the relationships between members of the multi-racial Congress Alliance. Rusty Bernstein wrote:


1956 Treason Trial, Significance of the trial
Inter-racial trust and co-operation is a difficult plant to cultivate in the poisoned soil outside. It is somewhat easier in here where ... the leaders of all ethnic factions of the movement are together and explore each other's doubts and reservations, and speak about them without constraint. Coexistence in the Drill Hall deepens and recreates their relationships.


1956 Treason Trial, Significance of the trial
The trial and resulting periods of detention also allowed ANC leaders to consult about the direction of their struggle and the possibility of armed struggle. Ironically, the court found that the ANC was nonviolent just as the ANC was starting to question the effectiveness of this strategy. In court, the 156 defendants sat in alphabetical order, visibly displaying the multiracial nature of the anti-apartheid movement. While the defendants sat side by side in court, they were strictly segregated in jail.


1956 Treason Trial, Significance of the trial
When the trialists took over their own defence during the State of Emergency, they eventually convinced prison authorities to let them meet to plan their defence and white female defendants, white male defendants and black women defendants were brought to the African men's prison. Yet the prison authorities still sought to physically separate these defendants by race and gender in their meeting space. Mandela describes the practical dilemma the proponents of apartheid faced:


1956 Treason Trial, Significance of the trial
The authorities erected an iron grille to separate Helen and Leon [Levy] (as whites) from us and a second partition to separate them from Lilian and Bertha [Mashaba Gxowa] (as African women) ... Even a master architect would have had trouble designing such a structure.


1956 Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol regional election
The Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol regional election of 1956 took place on 11 November 1956.


1956 Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol regional election
The Christian Democracy and the South Tyrolean People's Party won again.


1956 Trinidad and Tobago general election
General elections were held in Trinidad and Tobago on 24 September 1956. 129 candidates from nine political parties contested for 24 seats in the legislative council. The result was a victory for the People's National Movement, which won 13 of the 24 seats. Voter turnout was 80.1%.


1956 Trinidad and Tobago general election
Former West Indies cricketer Learie Constantine of the PNM defeated Radio Trinidad announcer Surujpat Mathura in Tunapuna.


1956 Tulane Green Wave football team
The 1956 Tulane Green Wave football team was an American football team that represented Tulane University during the 1956 NCAA University Division football season as a member of the Southeastern Conference. In their third year under head coach Andy Pilney, the team compiled a 6–4 record.


1956 Tulsa Golden Hurricane football team
The 1956 Tulsa Golden Hurricane football team represented the University of Tulsa during the 1956 NCAA University Division football season. In their second year under head coach Bobby Dodds, the Golden Hurricane compiled a 7–2–1 record (2–1–1 against Missouri Valley Conference opponents), finished in second place in the conference, and ranked seventh of 111 teams in scoring defense with an average of 6.7 points allowed per game.


1956 Tulsa Golden Hurricane football team
The team's statistical leaders included George Cagliola with 394 passing yards, Dick Hughes with 618 rushing yards, and Ronnie Morris with 150 receiving yards.


1956 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election
Constituent Assembly elections were held in Tunisia on 25 March 1956, five days after independence. The result was a victory for the National Union, an alliance of the Neo Destour party, the Tunisian General Labour Union, the National Union of Tunisian Farmers and the Tunisian Union of Craftsmen and Merchants, which won all 98 seats, with the opposition Communists and independents only winning a combined 1.3% of the vote. Following the election, Habib Bourguiba was appointed Prime Minister of a Neo Destour-dominated government. Voter turnout was 83.6%.


1956 U.S. National Championships (tennis)
The 1956 U.S. National Championships (now known as the US Open) was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor grass courts at the West Side Tennis Club, Forest Hills in New York City, United States. The tournament ran from 31 August until 9 September. It was the 76th staging of the U.S. National Championships, and the fourth Grand Slam tennis event of the year.


1956 U.S. National Championships (tennis), Finals, Men's Singles
Ken Rosewall (AUS) defeated  Lew Hoad (AUS) 4–6, 6–2, 6–3, 6–3


1956 U.S. National Championships (tennis), Finals, Men's doubles
Lew Hoad (AUS) /  Ken Rosewall (AUS) defeated  Ham Richardson (USA) /  Vic Seixas (USA) 6–2, 6–2, 3–6, 6–4


1956 U.S. National Championships (tennis), Finals, Women's doubles
Louise Brough (USA) /  Margaret Osborne (USA) defeated  Shirley Fry (USA) /  Betty Pratt (USA) 6–3, 6–0


1956 U.S. National Championships (tennis), Finals, Mixed doubles
Margaret Osborne (USA) /   Ken Rosewall (AUS) defeated  Darlene Hard (USA) /  Lew Hoad (AUS) 9–7, 6–1


1956 U.S. National Championships – Men's Singles
Ken Rosewall defeated Lew Hoad 4–6, 6–2, 6–3, 6–3 in the final to win the Men's Singles tennis title at the 1956 U.S. National Championships.


1956 U.S. National Championships – Men's Singles, Seeds
The seeded players are listed below. Ken Rosewall is the champion; others show the round in which they were eliminated.


1956 U.S. National Championships – Women's Singles
First-seeded Shirley Fry defeated Althea Gibson 6–3, 6–4 in the final to win the Women's Singles tennis title at the 1956 U.S. National Championships.


1956 U.S. National Championships – Women's Singles, Seeds
The seeded players are listed below. Shirley Fry is the champion; others show in brackets the round in which they were eliminated.


1956 U.S. Open (golf)
The 1956 U.S. Open was the 56th U.S. Open, held June 14–16 at the East Course of Oak Hill Country Club near Rochester, New York. Cary Middlecoff won his second U.S. Open title, one stroke ahead of runners-up  Julius Boros and Ben Hogan, both former champions.


1956 U.S. Open (golf)
Middlecoff began the final round with a two-stroke lead over Hogan, Ted Kroll, and Wes Ellis. After an erratic finish where he bogeyed 16 and 17, he carded a third consecutive round of even-par 70 to post a 281 (+1) total and waited. Hogan, pursuing his record fifth U.S. Open, had a chance to tie Middlecoff but missed a 4-foot (1.2 m) par putt on the 17th to finish one back. Boros also had a chance to catch Middlecoff, but  missed a 15-foot (4.5 m) birdie on the last and also finished a stroke behind. The last contender on the course, Kroll led by a stroke after a birdie at the 14th hole, but immediately followed it with a bogey and triple bogey and finished four strokes back.


1956 U.S. Open (golf)
Reigning British Open champion Peter Thomson made a rare appearance in the United States and finished tied for fourth, his best finish at any other major. He was the 36-hole leader by a stroke over Hogan, but fell back after a four-over 39 on the back nine in the third round. Thomson won five British Opens, and his third consecutive (1954–56) came three weeks later at Royal Liverpool.


1956 U.S. Open (golf)
Several future champions made their mark at this U.S. Open. Arnold Palmer, 26, recorded the first of his thirteen top ten finishes at the U.S. Open, six strokes back in seventh place. Ken Venturi captured low-amateur honors in eighth place, two months after he lost a four-stroke lead at The Masters with an 80 in the final round. Billy Casper, 24, made his major championship debut and finished 14th.


1956 U.S. Open (golf)
Defending champion Jack Fleck, who upset Hogan in a Sunday playoff the year before at Olympic, shot 76-74 and missed the cut by a stroke. Jack Burke Jr., winner of the Masters two months earlier, also missed with a 152.


1956 U.S. Open (golf)
A record-setting 13,914 were in attendance for the final two rounds on Saturday.


1956 U.S. Open (golf)
This was the first of three U.S. Opens at the East Course at Oak Hill; Lee Trevino won in 1968 and Curtis Strange successfully defended in 1989. It also hosted the PGA Championship in 1980, 2003, and 2013, and the Ryder Cup in 1995.


1956 U.S. Open (golf), Round summaries, Second round
Amateurs: Taylor (+3), Ward (+7), Hyndman (+8), Patton (+8), Venturi (+8), Garrett (+9), Magee (+10), Ervasti (+11), Rodgers (+11), Simmons (+11), Dahlbender (+12), Holland (+12), Croonquist (+15), Shields (+16), Kuntz (+17), Moore Jr (+18), Aldrich (+19), Dixon (+20), Kelly (+23), Beman (+24), Myers (+25), Kleist (+27), Deal (+30), Watson (+34), Mandeville (+35), Brownell (WD).


1956 U.S. Open (golf), Round summaries, Final round
Amateurs: Venturi (+9), Patton (+12), Taylor (+18), Hyndman (+20), Ward (+25), Garrett (+29).


1956 U.S. Women's Open
The 1956 U.S. Women's Open was the eleventh U.S. Women's Open, held July 26–29 at Northland Country Club in Duluth, Minnesota. It was the fourth edition conducted by the United States Golf Association (USGA).


1956 U.S. Women's Open
Kathy Cornelius won her only major championship in an 18-hole playoff over amateur Barbara McIntire by a score of 75 to 82.


1956 UC Riverside Highlanders football team
The 1956 UC Riverside Highlanders football team represented UC Riverside during the 1956 NCAA College Division football season. The Highlanders competed as an independent in 1956.


1956 UC Riverside Highlanders football team
UC Riverside was led by first-year head coach Carl Selin. They played home games at UCR Athletic Field in Riverside, California. The Highlanders finished the season with a record of one win and six losses (1–6). Overall, the team was outscored by its opponents 44–251 for the season.


1956 UC Riverside Highlanders football team, Team players in the NFL
No UC Riverside players were selected in the 1957 NFL Draft.


1956 UCI Road World Championships
The 1956 UCI Road World Championships took place in Copenhagen, Denmark on a circuit measuring 12.960 km near Ballerup.


1956 UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race
The men's road race at the 1956 UCI Road World Championships was the 23rd edition of the event. The race took place on Sunday 26 August 1956 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The race was won by Rik Van Steenbergen of Belgium.


1956 UCI Track Cycling World Championships
The 1956 UCI Track Cycling World Championships were the World Championship for track cycling. They took place in Copenhagen, Denmark from 27 August to 2 September 1956. Five events for men were contested, 3 for professionals and 2 for amateurs.


1956 UCLA Bruins football team
The 1956 UCLA Bruins football team was an American football team that represented the University of California, Los Angeles during the 1956 NCAA University Division football season. In their eighth year under head coach Red Sanders, the Bruins compiled a 7–3 record (5–2 conference) and finished in third place in the Pacific Coast Conference.


1956 UCLA Bruins football team
UCLA's offensive leaders in 1956 were quarterback Doug Bradley with 293 passing yards each, Barry Billington with 399 rushing yards, and Dick Wallen with 308 receiving yards.


1956 UEFA European Under-18 Championship
The UEFA European Under-18 Championship 1956 Final Tournament was held in Hungary. During this edition, only group matches were played and no winner was declared. This was done to prevent an excess of competition. Hungary, Italy, Romania and Czechoslovakia were the four group winners.


1956 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year
The 1956 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year was the 30th year of greyhound racing in the United Kingdom and Ireland.


1956 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year, Summary
Attendances and Totalisator turnover had stabilised, with the latter resulting in a turnover of around £55 million. The Churches' Council on gambling quoted a figure of £119 million but that figure was for total gambling spend within the industry. One problem for the industry was the fact that the biggest names Spanish Battleship, Rushton Mac and Pauls Fun had all retired leaving the search for a new star.


1956 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year, Competitions
No single greyhound was able to secure more than one classic race success, the main Derby titles went to Dunmore King and Keep Moving. The 1956 English Greyhound Derby runner-up Duet Leader won the Laurels at Wimbledon Stadium and the Derby final third Gulf of Darien, reached the St Leger final at Wembley and the Cesarewitch at West Ham Stadium. The Welsh Greyhound Derby failed to take place again.


1956 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year, Competitions
Shipping magnate Noel Purvis, who owned two of the 1956 Derby finalists gained consolation when Belingas Customer won the Scurry Gold Cup over 400 yards, a distance better suited to the greyhound than the Derby distance.


1956 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year, Ireland
The main interest in Ireland was in regard to Prince of Bermuda, the brindle dog owned by Ned Buckley was considered to be the fastest greyhound in training at the time but had disappointed in the 1956 Irish Greyhound Derby final. A match race was organised between Prince of Bermuda, Northern King and Duet Leader at White City which ended with the Irish hound coming out best, he was subsequently retired to stud.


1956 UMass Redmen football team
The 1956 UMass Redmen football team represented the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the 1956 NCAA College Division football season as a member of the Yankee Conference in the NCAA's newly created College Division. The team was coached by Charlie O'Rourke and played its home games at Alumni Field in Amherst, Massachusetts. UMass finished the season with a record of 2–5–1 overall and 1–4 in conference play.


1956 USAC Championship Car season
The 1956 USAC Championship Car season consisted of 12 races, beginning in Speedway, Indiana, on May 30 and concluding in Phoenix, Arizona, on November 12. There were also three non-championship events. The USAC National Champion was Jimmy Bryan and the Indianapolis 500 winner was Pat Flaherty. This was the first year that the National Championship was sanctioned by the USAC, after the withdrawal of the AAA from all forms of racing after the 1955 season.


1956 USC Trojans football team
The 1956 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California (USC) in the 1956 NCAA University Division football season. In their sixth and final year under head coach Jess Hill, the Trojans compiled an 8–2 record (5–2 against conference opponents), finished in a tie for second place in the Pacific Coast Conference, and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 218 to 126. The team was ranked #15 in the final United Press Coaches Poll and #18 in the final AP Poll. Total attendance for all 10 games was 469,762.


1956 USC Trojans football team
Frank Hall led the team in passing with 10 of 23 passes completed for 196 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. C. R. Roberts led the team in rushing with 120 carries for 775 yards and five touchdowns. Tony Ortega was the leading receiver with seven catches for 223 yards and one touchdown. Ernie Zampese rushed for 500 yards and passed for 166 yards.


1956 USC Trojans football team
Two Trojans received first-team honors from the Associated Press or the United Press (UP) on the 1956 All-Pacific Coast Conference football team: backs C. R. Roberts (AP-1; UP-1 [ fullback]) and Jon Arnett, USC (UP-1 [ halfback]).


1956 USC Trojans football team, Players
The following players were members of the 1956 USC football team.


1956 USSR Chess Championship
The 1956 Soviet Chess Championship was the 23rd edition of USSR Chess Championship. Held from 10 January to 15 February 1956 in Leningrad. The tournament was won by Mark Taimanov who defeats Boris Spassky and Yuri Averbakh in a play-off. The final were preceded by semifinals events at Leningrad, Moscow and Riga.


1956 USSR Chess Championship
This edition marked the debut of the future world champion Mikhail Tal, often described as the magician from Riga, who demonstrated his over-adventurous tactical style, notably in the third round against Simagin, who had the honor to be one of the first to wonder about the soundness of the piece sacrifice that had defeated him.


1956 USSR Chess Championship, Table and results, Play-off
Averbakh won the second game against Spassky by walkover since Spassky couldn't play due to illness.


1956 Ulster Grand Prix
The 1956 Ulster Grand Prix was the fifth round of the 1956 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on 9–11, August 1956 at the Dundrod Circuit.


1956 United States Army aircraft designation system
The United States Army designation system was introduced by the United States Army in 1956 to replace the designation system used by the United States Army Air Corps which had become the United States Air Force in 1948.   it was used until the unified tri-service designation system for all services came into effect.


1956 United States House of Representatives election in Puerto Rico
The election for Resident Commissioner to the United States House of Representatives took place on November 6, 1956, the same day as the larger Puerto Rican general election and the United States elections, 1956.


1956 United States House of Representatives elections
The 1956 United States House of Representatives elections was an election for the United States House of Representatives in 1956 which coincided with the re-election of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.


1956 United States House of Representatives elections
With no major national issues and the economic upswing of the 1950s in full force, voters generally chose to uphold the status quo, keeping the Republican president and the Democratic Congress.


1956 United States House of Representatives elections, Special elections
In these special elections, the winner was seated during 1956 or before January 3, 1957; ordered by election date.


1956 United States House of Representatives elections in California
The California United States House of Representatives elections in California, 1956 was an election for California's delegation to the United States House of Representatives, which occurred as part of the general election of the House of Representatives on November 6, 1956. Democrats gained two seats from the Republicans. As of 2018, this is the last time that Republicans won a majority of congressional districts in California.


1956 United States House of Representatives elections in California, Results
Final results from the Clerk of the House of Representatives:


1956 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina
The 1956 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina were held on November 6, 1956 to select six Representatives for two-year terms from the state of South Carolina. All five incumbents who ran were re-elected and the open seat in the 5th congressional district was retained by the Democrats. The composition of the state delegation thus remained solely Democratic.


1956 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 1st congressional district
Incumbent Democratic Congressman L. Mendel Rivers of the 1st congressional district, in office since 1941, was unopposed in his bid for re-election.


1956 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 2nd congressional district
Incumbent Democratic Congressman John J. Riley of the 2nd congressional district, in office since 1951, was unopposed in his bid for re-election.


1956 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 3rd congressional district
Incumbent Democratic Congressman William Jennings Bryan Dorn of the 3rd congressional district, in office since 1951, defeated Republican challenger Maka Knox.


1956 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 4th congressional district
Incumbent Democratic Congressman Robert T. Ashmore of the 4th congressional district, in office since 1953, defeated Republican challenger Dan H. Wallace, Jr.


1956 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 5th congressional district
Incumbent Democratic Congressman James P. Richards of the 5th congressional district, in office since 1933, opted to retire. Robert W. Hemphill defeated Thomas S. Gettys in the Democratic primary and was unopposed in the general election.


1956 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 6th congressional district
Incumbent Democratic Congressman John L. McMillan of the 6th congressional district, in office since 1939, was unopposed in his bid for re-election.


1956 United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia
The 1956 United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia were held on November 6, 1956 to determine who will represent the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States House of Representatives. Virginia had ten seats in the House, apportioned according to the 1950 United States Census. Representatives are elected for two-year terms.


1956 United States Olympic Trials (track and field)
The men's 1956 United States Olympic Trials for track and field for men were held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California, between June 28-9. The 20 kilometer walk trials were held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on August 26, and the 50 kilometer walk trials were held on September 16 in Baltimore, Maryland. Two marathon trials were held between two races, the AAU National Championships in Yonkers, New York, on September 30 and the Boston Marathon in Boston, Massachusetts, on April 19. As it turned out, the three selectees were the top 3 Americans at both events. The 10,000 meters was held in Bakersfield, California on June 23.


1956 United States Olympic Trials (track and field)
The decathlon was held two weeks after the trials on July 13-4 in Crawfordsville, Indiana allowing athletes to make attempts in individual events. Rafer Johnson qualified in the long jump but didn't jump in Melbourne. Bob Richards qualified in the Decathlon after winning the pole vault in his attempt to repeat as Olympic pole vault champion. He did compete in both events in Melbourne, successfully winning the pole vault, but after scoring in 11th place through nine events, he chose not to suffer through a 1500 and did not finish. The process was organized by the AAU.


1956 United States Olympic Trials (track and field)
The Women's Olympic Trials were held separately in Washington, D.C. between July 15-6.


1956 United States Senate election in Alabama
The 1956 United States Senate election in Alabama was held on November 6, 1956. Incumbent Senator J. Lister Hill was re-elected for a fourth term in office.


1956 United States Senate election in Alabama
On May 1, Hill won the Democratic primary over John G. Crommelin, who ran in 1950 as an independent, with 68.20% of the vote.


1956 United States Senate election in Arizona
The 1956 United States Senate election in Arizona took place on November 6, 1956. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Carl Hayden ran for reelection to a sixth term, defeating Republican nominee Attorney General of Arizona Ross F. Jones in the general election.


1956 United States Senate election in Arkansas
The 1956 United States Senate election in Arkansas took place on November 2, 1956. Incumbent Senator J. William Fulbright won a third term in office. Without a primary challenger to Fulbright, the election did not attract much attention, as the Democratic nomination was tantamount to victory in the South.


1956 United States Senate election in California
The 1956 United States Senate election in California was held on November 6, 1956.


1956 United States Senate election in California
Incumbent Republican Thomas Kuchel, who had won a 1954 special election to fill the vacant seat left by Vice President Richard Nixon, was re-elected to a full term in office over Democratic State Senator Richard Richards.


1956 United States Senate election in Connecticut
The 1956 United States Senate election in Connecticut was held on November 6, 1956.


1956 United States Senate election in Connecticut
Incumbent Senator Prescott Bush, who won a special election in 1952, was re-elected to a full term in office over Democratic U.S. Representative Thomas J. Dodd.


1956 United States Senate election in Connecticut, Democratic nomination, Convention
Dodd was nominated at the convention on July 7 without opposition.


1956 United States Senate election in Georgia
The 1956 United States Senate election in Georgia took place on November 6, 1956. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Walter F. George did not run for re-election.


1956 United States Senate election in Georgia
The open race for George's seat was the final chapter in the political rivalry between former Georgia Governor Herman Talmadge and Melvin Thompson which had begun a decade earlier with the Three Governors controversy. Talmadge soundly won the primary, ending Thompson's political career.


1956 United States Senate election in Georgia
At this time, Georgia was a one-party state. Talmadge's victory in the September 12 primary was tantamount to election, and he was unopposed in the general election.


1956 United States Senate election in Georgia, Democratic primary, County unit system
From 1917 until 1962, the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Georgia used a voting system called the county unit system to determine victors in statewide primary elections.


1956 United States Senate election in Georgia, Democratic primary, County unit system
The system was ostensibly designed to function similarly to the Electoral College, but in practice the large ratio of unit votes for small, rural counties to unit votes for more populous urban areas provided outsized political influence to the smaller counties.


1956 United States Senate election in Georgia, Democratic primary, County unit system
Under the county unit system, the 159 counties in Georgia were divided by population into three categories. The largest eight counties were classified as "Urban", the next-largest 30 counties were classified as "Town", and the remaining 121 counties were classified as "Rural". Urban counties were given 6 unit votes, Town counties were given 4 unit votes, and Rural counties were given 2 unit votes, for a total of 410 available unit votes. Each county's unit votes were awarded on a winner-take-all basis.


1956 United States Senate election in Georgia, Democratic primary, County unit system
Candidates were required to obtain a majority of unit votes (not necessarily a majority of the popular vote), or 206 total unit votes, to win the election. If no candidate received a majority in the initial primary, a runoff election was held between the top two candidates to determine a winner.


1956 United States Senate election in Illinois
The 1956 United States Senate election in Illinois was held on November 6, 1956 to elect one of Illinois's members to the United States Senate. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Everett Dirksen won reelection to a second term.


1956 United States Senate election in Illinois, Election information
The primaries and general election coincided with those for federal offices (President and House) and state elections.


1956 United States Senate election in Illinois, Election information, Turnout
Turnout in the primary elections was 26.26%, with a total of 1,307,357 votes cast.


1956 United States Senate election in Illinois, Election information, Turnout
Turnout during the general election was 81.74%, with 4,264,830 votes cast.


1956 United States Senate election in Illinois, General election
Dirksen carried 88 of the state's 102 counties. Among the 88 counties that Dirksen won was the state's most populace county, Cook County, in which Dirksen won with 51.13% to Stengel's 48.63%. Despite losing in Cook County, Stengel performed better in the county than he did in the cumulative vote of the remaining 101 counties In the cumulative vote of the state's other 101 counties, Dirksen won 57.32% to Stengel's 42.58%. 51.97 % of the votes cast in the election were from Cook County.


1956 United States Senate election in Illinois, General election
While he lost the overall vote in Cook County as a whole, in Cook County's principal city, Chicago (where 37.79% of all votes cast in the election were from), Stengel won 54.33% of the vote to Dirksen's 45.37%


1956 United States Senate election in Indiana
The 1956 United States Senate election in Indiana took place on November 6, 1956. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Homer Capehart was re-elected to a third term in office, defeating former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Claude Wickard.


1956 United States Senate election in Maryland
The 1956 United States Senate election in Maryland was held on November 6, 1956. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator John Marshall Butler was re-elected to a second term in office, defeating Democratic businessman George P. Mahoney.


1956 United States Senate election in Maryland, Democratic primary, Results
After winning the primary, Tydings was forced to withdraw from the race due to ill health. Mahoney replaced him on the general election ticket.


1956 United States Senate election in New York
The United States Senate election of 1956 in New York was held on November 6, 1956. New York State Attorney General Jacob K. Javits defeated Mayor of New York City Robert F. Wagner, Jr. to succeed Herbert H. Lehman.


1956 United States Senate election in New York, Nominations
The Republican state convention met on September 10 at Albany, New York, and nominated New York State Attorney General Jacob K. Javits.


1956 United States Senate election in New York, Nominations
The Democratic state convention met on September 10 at Albany, New York, and nominated Mayor of New York City Robert F. Wagner, Jr., for the U.S. Senate.


1956 United States Senate election in New York, Nominations
The Liberal Party endorsed the Democratic nominee, Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr., for the U.S. Senate.


1956 United States Senate election in New York, Nominations
On October 1, a movement was launched to vote for General of the Army Douglas MacArthur as a write-in candidate for the U.S. Senate. On October 2, MacArthur disavowed the campaign, and stated that he was not a candidate.


1956 United States Senate election in North Carolina
The 1956 United States Senate election in North Carolina was held on November 6, 1956. Incumbent Democratic Senator Sam Ervin was re-elected to a second term in office over Republican farmer and businessman Joel Johnson.


1956 United States Senate election in North Carolina, Footnotes
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1956 United States Senate election in North Dakota
The 1956 U.S. Senate election in North Dakota was held November 6, 1956. The incumbent, Republican Senator Milton Young, sought and received re-election to his third term, defeating North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party candidate Quentin N. Burdick, son of North Dakota congressman Usher L. Burdick.


1956 United States Senate election in North Dakota
Only Young filed as a Republican, and the endorsed Democratic candidate was Quentin Burdick, the son of well-known politician Usher Burdick, and former candidate for Governor of North Dakota. Young and Burdick won the primary elections for their respective parties.


1956 United States Senate election in North Dakota
One independent candidate, Arthur C. Townley, also filed before the deadline. Townley would later seek the state's other senate seat in 1958 (see election), and was known for creating the National Non-Partisan League.


1956 United States Senate election in Ohio
The 1956 United States Senate election in Ohio took place on November 6, 1956. Incumbent Senator George H. Bender, who won a special election to complete the term of the late Senator Robert A. Taft, ran for re-election to a full six-year term. He was defeated by Democratic Governor Frank Lausche.


1956 United States Senate election in Oklahoma
The 1956 United States Senate election in Oklahoma took place on November 6, 1956. Incumbent Democratic Senator Mike Monroney ran for re-election to a second term. He avoided a contentious Democratic primary when Lieutenant Governor Cowboy Pink Williams declined to challenge him and easily won renomination. In the general election, he faced Republican state party chairman Douglas McKeever. Even though President Dwight D. Eisenhower was winning the state handily, Monroney won re-election by a wide margin.


1956 United States Senate election in Oregon
The 1956 Oregon United States Senate election was held on November 7, 1956 to select the U.S. Senator from the state of Oregon. Republican-turned-Independent-turned Democratic Senator Wayne Morse decided to seek re-election for his first full term as a Democrat. Morse defeated Republican candidate Douglas McKay in the hotly contested general election.


1956 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania
The 1956 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held on November 6, 1956. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator James H. Duff sought re-election to another term, but was defeated by the Democratic nominee, Joseph S. Clark, Jr.


1956 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania, Campaign
The 1956 Senate election in Pennsylvania featured two prominent and well-known candidates: a former Philadelphia mayor in the challenger, Clark, and the ambitious former Governor Duff who had considered running for higher office. Clark, in his run for mayor, upset the Republican Party machine in Philadelphia and contributed to a political realignment in the city that would tip it in favor of the Democrats and help him in his 1956 campaign for Senate. In 1950, when Duff was elected, Republicans were 70% of the two-party vote registration in Philadelphia, but held only a two-point advantage there in 1956.


1956 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania, Campaign
Duff ran as an ally to Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was also running for re-election,  and criticized Clark for his spending and tax policies as Philadelphia mayor. In addition to criticizing Duff in return for his poor attendance record in the Senate (which was one of the worst at the time), Clark criticized the Eisenhower administration's foreign policy.


1956 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania, Campaign
In the end, Clark narrowly defeated the incumbent Duff by just under 18,000 votes. The result was not known definitively until 50,000 military ballots had been counted and despite Duff's loss, Eisenhower carried the state in the presidential election and the Republicans won every other statewide race in 1956. Clark carried Southwest Pennsylvania, notwithstanding the harm his Philadelphia ties might have cost him there, as well as his home of Philadelphia, while Duff won much of the conservative "central T".


1956 United States Senate election in South Carolina
The 1956 South Carolina United States Senate election was held on November 6, 1956 to select the U.S. Senator from the state of South Carolina simultaneously with the special Senate election. Incumbent Democratic Senator Olin D. Johnston handily defeated Republican mayor of Clemson Leon P. Crawford.


1956 United States Senate election in South Carolina, Democratic primary
Olin D. Johnston, the incumbent Senator, faced no opposition from South Carolina Democrats and avoided a primary election.


1956 United States Senate election in South Carolina, Republican primary
Leon P. Crawford, the mayor of the town of Clemson in the Upstate, faced no opposition from South Carolina Republicans and avoided a primary election.


1956 United States Senate election in South Carolina, General election campaign
Crawford campaigned as a defender of states' rights and denounced Johnston for backing the New Deal and the Fair Deal. The state Republican Party believed that Crawford could have a chance in the election if he galvanized the 128,000 registered black voters, although they were weary of being labeled as the black party. In the end, Johnston remained highly popular with the voters who were still leery of the Republican party and he easily defeated Crawford in the general election.


1956 United States Senate election in South Dakota
The 1956 United States Senate election in South Dakota took place on November 6, 1956. Incumbent Republican Senator Francis H. Case ran for re-election to a second term. In the general election, Case was opposed by former State Representative Kenneth Holum, who was the 1954 Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate. Owing in part to anger among the state's farmers, the race between Case and Holum was quite close, with Holum leading Case on election night and only falling behind the next day. Case ended up narrowly winning re-election, defeating Holum by just 4,620 votes.


1956 United States Senate election in South Dakota, Republican Primary
Incumbent U.S. Senator Francis H. Case was the only Republican candidate to file for the U.S. Senate, removing the race from the primary ballot.


1956 United States Senate election in Vermont
The 1956 United States Senate election in Vermont took place on November 6, 1956. Incumbent Republican George Aiken ran successfully for re-election to another term in the United States Senate, defeating Democratic nominee Bernard G. O'Shea.


1956 United States Senate elections
The 1956 United States Senate elections were elections for the United States Senate that coincided with the re-election of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Although Democrats gained two seats in regular elections, the Republicans gained two seats in special elections, leaving the party balance of the chamber unchanged.


1956 United States Senate elections, Gains and losses
Democrats defeated incumbents Herman Welker (R-Idaho), George H. Bender (R-Ohio), and James H. Duff (R-Pennsylvania), as well as winning a Republican-held seat in Colorado. Republicans defeated incumbent Earle C. Clements (D-Kentucky) as well as winning Democratic-held seats in Kentucky, New York, and West Virginia.


1956 United States Senate elections, Gains and losses
Thus, this election caused Kentucky's Senate delegation to flip from two Democrats to two Republicans.


1956 United States Senate elections, Subsequent changes
During the next Congress, Republican John D. Hoblitzell Jr. was appointed to the seat of deceased Senator Matthew M. Neely (D-WV), while Democrat William Proxmire won a special election for the seat of deceased Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-Wisconsin). Also, Democrat Ralph Yarborough won a special election for the seat of Price Daniel (D-Texas), who had resigned from the Senate after being elected Governor of Texas. The net result was to leave the party balance unchanged.


1956 United States Senate elections, Results summary
Colored shading indicates party with largest share of that row.


1956 United States Senate elections, Race summaries, Special elections during the 84th Congress
In these special elections, the winners were seated during 1956 or in 1957 before January 3; ordered by election date, then state.


1956 United States Senate elections, Race summaries, Races leading to the 85th Congress
In these regular elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning January 3, 1957; ordered by state.


1956 United States Senate elections, Kentucky
Two elections in Kentucky converted both seats from Democratic to Republican. As a result, this marked the first time since 1916 that both Senate seats in a state flipped from one party to the other in a single election cycle.


1956 United States Senate elections, Kentucky, Kentucky (special)
Following the death of Alben Barkley on April 30, 1956, Robert Humphreys was appointed June 21, 1956 to continue the term, pending a special election. Humphreys did not run in the special election to finish the term that would end in 1961.


1956 United States Senate elections, Kentucky, Kentucky (special)
Republican former-senator John Sherman Cooper, who had twice won special elections to that seat in 1946 and 1952, was again elected to finish the term.


1956 United States Senate elections, Kentucky, Kentucky (special)
This time, however, Cooper would be re-elected in 1960 and again in 1966, serving until his 1973 retirement.


1956 United States Senate elections, Kentucky, Kentucky (regular)
First-term Democrat Earle Clements lost re-election to Republican Thruston B. Morton, who was Eisenhower's Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs.


1956 United States Senate elections, New York
In New York, the Republican state convention met on September 10 at Albany, New York, and nominated New York State Attorney General Jacob K. Javits. The Democratic state convention met on September 10 at Albany, New York, and nominated Mayor of New York City Robert F. Wagner Jr., for the U.S. Senate. The Liberal Party endorsed the Democratic nominee, Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr., for the U.S. Senate. On October 1, a movement was launched to vote for General of the Army Douglas MacArthur as a write-in candidate for the U.S. Senate. On October 2, MacArthur disavowed the campaign, and stated that he was not a candidate.


1956 United States Senate elections, North Dakota
In North Dakota, the incumbent, Republican Milton Young, sought and received re-election to his third term, defeating North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party candidate Quentin N. Burdick, son of North Dakota congressman Usher L. Burdick.


1956 United States Senate elections, North Dakota
Only Young filed as a Republican, and the endorsed Democratic candidate was Quentin Burdick, the son of well-known politician Usher Burdick, and former candidate for Governor of North Dakota. Young and Burdick won the primary elections for their respective parties.


1956 United States Senate elections, North Dakota
One independent candidate, Arthur C. Townley, also filed before the deadline. Townley would later seek the state's other senate seat in 1958, and was known for creating the National Non-Partisan League.


1956 United States Senate elections, Oregon
In Oregon, Republican-turned-Independent-turned-Democrat Wayne Morse decided to seek re-election for his first full term as a Democrat. Morse defeated Republican candidate Douglas McKay in the hotly contested general election.


1956 United States Senate elections, Pennsylvania
In Pennsylvania, incumbent Republican U.S. senator James H. Duff sought re-election to another term, but was defeated by the Democratic nominee, Joseph S. Clark Jr.


1956 United States Senate elections, South Carolina
In South Carolina the regular election was held simultaneously with the special election.


1956 United States Senate elections, South Carolina, South Carolina (Regular)
Incumbent Democrat Olin D. Johnston handily defeated Republican mayor of Clemson Leon P. Crawford. Olin D. Johnston, the incumbent Senator, faced no opposition from South Carolina Democrats and avoided a primary election. Leon P. Crawford, the mayor of the town of Clemson in the Upstate, faced no opposition from South Carolina Republicans and avoided a primary election. Crawford campaigned as a defender of states' rights and denounced Johnston for backing the New Deal and the Fair Deal.


1956 United States Senate elections, South Carolina, South Carolina (Regular)
The state Republican Party believed that Crawford could have a chance in the election if he galvanized the 128,000 registered black voters, although they were weary of being labeled as the black party. In the end, Johnston remained highly popular with the voters who were still leery of the Republican party and he easily defeated Crawford in the general election.


1956 United States Senate elections, South Carolina, South Carolina (Special)
The special election resulted from the resignation of Senator Strom Thurmond on April 4, 1956, who was keeping a campaign pledge he had made in the 1954 election. Thurmond was unopposed in his bid to complete the remaining four years of the term. Senator Strom Thurmond faced no opposition from South Carolina Democrats and avoided a primary election. There was a possibility that Governor George Bell Timmerman Jr. might enter the race, but Thurmond was held in such high regard by the voters that there would have been no chance of defeating Thurmond. With no challenge to the remainder of the term, Thurmond did not conduct a campaign and rejoined his old law firm in Aiken until he returned to the Senate after the general election.


1956 United States Senate elections, Vermont
In Vermont, incumbent Republican George Aiken ran successfully for re-election to another term in the United States Senate, defeating Democratic challenger Bernard G. O'Shea.


1956 United States Senate elections, West Virginia (Special)
Following the death of Harley M. Kilgore on February 28, 1956, William Laird III was appointed to fill this seat and assumed office on March 13, 1956. Laird did not opt to run in the special election to fill the remainder of Kilgore's term through the end of the 85th Congress on January 3, 1959. As of 2021, this is the last time the Republicans have won West Virginia's Class 1 seat. This was also the last time until 2014 that the Republicans won a U.S. Senate election in the state.


1956 United States Senate special election in Kentucky
The 1956 United States Senate election in Kentucky was held on November 6, 1956 to fill the vacant seat left by Alben Barkley. Former Senator John Sherman Cooper was elected to complete the term ending in 1961, defeating Democratic former Governor Lawrence Wetherby.


1956 United States Senate special election in Kentucky, Background
Alben Barkley served as U.S. Senator from Kentucky from 1927–49 and Vice President of the United States from 1949–53. After leaving the Vice Presidency in 1953, he was elected to the Senate for the term ending in 1961, defeating incumbent John Sherman Cooper in 1954.


1956 United States Senate special election in Kentucky, Background
On April 30, 1956, Barkley died of a heart attack during a speech at Washington and Lee University. Governor Happy Chandler appointed Robert Humphreys to fill the vacant seat until a successor could be duly elected to complete the remainder of Barkley's term.


1956 United States Senate special election in Kentucky, Background
Former Senator Cooper, who was serving as Ambassador to India, resigned his post to run for his old seat at the request of President Eisenhower.


1956 United States Senate special election in South Carolina
The 1956 South Carolina United States Senate special election was held on November 6, 1956 to select the U.S. Senator from the state of South Carolina simultaneously with the regular Senate election. The election resulted from the resignation of Senator Strom Thurmond on April 4, 1956, who was keeping a campaign pledge he had made in the 1954 election. Thurmond was unopposed in his bid to complete the remaining four years of the term.


1956 United States Senate special election in South Carolina, Democratic primary
Senator Strom Thurmond faced no opposition from South Carolina Democrats and avoided a primary election. There was a possibility that Governor George Bell Timmerman Jr. might enter the race, but Thurmond was held in such high regard by the voters that there would have been no chance of defeating him. With no challenge to the remainder of the term, Thurmond did not conduct a campaign and rejoined his old law firm in Aiken until he returned to the Senate after the general election.


1956 United States elections
The 1956 United States elections was held on Tuesday, November 6, 1956. The election saw no major change in power as the Republicans defended the presidency and the Democrats retained control of Congress.


1956 United States elections
In the presidential election, Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower defeated Democratic former Governor Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois in a re-match of the 1952 election. Eisenhower won the popular vote by fifteen points and once again won every state outside the South. At the Democratic convention, Stevenson easily defeated New York Governor W. Averell Harriman, taking the nomination on the first ballot.


1956 United States elections
In the Senate, the party balance of the chamber remained unchanged as Republican and Democratic gains cancelled each other out. In the House, the Democrats picked up two seats, increasing their majority.


1956 United States gubernatorial elections
United States gubernatorial elections were held in 1956, in 30 states, concurrent with the House, Senate elections and presidential election, on November 6, 1956 (September 10 in Maine). The special election in Oregon was due to the death of incumbent governor Paul L. Patterson on January 31.


1956 United States gubernatorial elections
This was the last time Colorado, Maine, and Ohio elected their governors to 2-year terms, all switching to 4-years from the 1958 election.


1956 United States men's Olympic basketball team
The 1956 United States men's Olympic basketball team competed in the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia from November 22 to December 1, 1956. The team was led by Bill Russell, who averaged 14.1 points per game. Team USA won the Olympic Gold medal, beating their opponents by an average of 53.5 points, an unsurpassed average margin of victory in Olympic basketball.


1956 United States presidential election
The 1956 United States presidential election was the 43rd quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 6, 1956. President Dwight D. Eisenhower successfully ran for reelection against Adlai Stevenson, the former Illinois governor whom he had defeated four years earlier.


1956 United States presidential election
Eisenhower, who had first become famous for his military leadership in World War II, remained widely popular. A heart attack in 1955 provoked  speculation that he would not seek a second term, but his health recovered and he faced no opposition at the 1956 Republican National Convention. Stevenson remained popular with a core of liberal Democrats, but held no office and had no real base. He defeated New York Governor W. Averell Harriman and several other candidates on the first presidential ballot of the 1956 Democratic National Convention. Stevenson called for a significant increase in government spending on social programs and a decrease in military spending.


1956 United States presidential election
With the end of the Korean War and a strong economy, few doubted that the charismatic Eisenhower would be reelected. Supporters of the president focused on his "personal qualities ... his sincerity, his integrity and sense of duty, his virtue as a family man, his religious devotion, and his sheer likeableness," rather than on his leadership record. The weeks before the election saw two major international crises in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, and Eisenhower's handling of the crises boosted his popularity.


1956 United States presidential election
Eisenhower slightly improved on his 1952 majorities in both the popular and electoral vote. He increased his 1952 gains among Democrats, especially Northern Catholics and city-dwelling White Southerners. Although he unusually lost Missouri, which had been a bellwether state for most of the 20th century and had voted for him in the previous election of 1952, he picked up Kentucky, Louisiana, and West Virginia, which had voted against him in the previous election.


1956 United States presidential election
This was the last presidential election before the admissions of Alaska and Hawaii in 1959, the last presidential election in which both Massachusetts and Minnesota voted Republican, the last election in which any of the major candidates had been born in the 19th century, and the most recent election to have been a rematch of a previous election.


1956 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party
Early in 1956, there was speculation that President Eisenhower would not run for a second term because of concerns about his health. In 1955, Eisenhower had suffered a serious heart attack. However, he soon recovered and decided to run for a second term. (In June 1956 he also underwent surgery for ileitis) Given Eisenhower's enormous popularity, he was renominated with no opposition at the 1956 Republican National Convention in San Francisco, California.


1956 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party
The only question among Republicans was whether Vice President Richard Nixon would again be Eisenhower's running mate. There is some evidence that Eisenhower would have preferred a less controversial running mate, such as Governor Christian Herter of Massachusetts. According to some historians (such as Stephen E. Ambrose), Eisenhower privately offered Nixon another position in his cabinet, such as Secretary of Defense. Harold Stassen was the only Republican to publicly oppose Nixon's re-nomination for vice-president, and Nixon remained highly popular among the Republican rank-and-file voters.


1956 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party
Nixon had also reshaped the vice-presidency, using it as a platform to campaign for Republican state and local candidates across the country, and these candidates came to his defense. In the spring of 1956, Eisenhower publicly announced that Nixon would again be his running mate, and Stassen was forced to second Nixon's nomination at the Republican Convention. Unlike 1952, conservative Republicans (who had supported Robert A. Taft against Eisenhower in 1952) did not attempt to shape the platform. At the convention, one delegate voted for a fictitious "Joe Smith" for vice-president to prevent a unanimous vote.


1956 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party, Primaries
Adlai Stevenson, the Democratic Party's 1952 nominee, fought a tight primary battle with populist Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver for the 1956 nomination. Kefauver won the New Hampshire primary unopposed (though Stevenson won 15% on write-ins). After Kefauver upset Stevenson in the Minnesota primary, Stevenson, realizing that he was in trouble, agreed to debate Kefauver in Florida. Stevenson and Kefauver held the first televised presidential debate on May 21, 1956, before the Florida primary. Stevenson carried Florida by a 52–48% margin. By the time of the California primary in June 1956, Kefauver's campaign had run low on money and could not compete for publicity and advertising with the well-funded Stevenson. Stevenson won the California primary by a 63–37% margin, and Kefauver soon withdrew from the race.


1956 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party, Democratic National Convention
At the 1956 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, New York Governor W. Averell Harriman, who was backed by former President Harry S. Truman, challenged Stevenson for the nomination. However, Stevenson's delegate lead was much too large for Harriman to overcome, and Stevenson won the nomination on the first ballot.


1956 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party, Democratic National Convention
The roll call, as reported in Richard C. Bain and Judith H. Parris, Convention Decisions and Voting Records, pp. 294–298 :


1956 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party, Vice-presidential nomination
The highlight of the 1956 Democratic Convention came when Stevenson, to create excitement for the ticket, made the surprise announcement that the convention's delegates would choose his running mate. This set off a desperate scramble among several candidates to win the nomination. Potential vice-presidential candidates had only one hectic day to campaign among the delegates before the voting began. The two leading contenders were Senator Kefauver, who retained the support of his primary delegates, and Senator John F. Kennedy from Massachusetts, who was not well known at the time.


1956 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party, Vice-presidential nomination
Although Stevenson privately preferred Senator Kennedy to be his running mate, he did not attempt to influence the balloting for Kennedy in any way. Kennedy surprised the experts by surging into the lead on the second ballot; at one point, he was only 15 votes shy of winning. However, a number of states then left their "favorite son" candidates and switched to Kefauver, giving him the victory. Kennedy then gave a gracious concession speech.


1956 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party, Vice-presidential nomination
The defeat was a boost for Kennedy's long-term presidential chances: as a serious contender, he gained favorable national publicity, yet by losing to Kefauver he avoided blame for Stevenson's loss to Eisenhower in November. The vote totals in the vice-presidential balloting are recorded in the following table, which also comes from Bain & Parris.