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| 1956 |
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| The percentage of American workers employed in white-collar jobs exceeded those in blue-collar positions for the first time. Service-producing employees began to outnumber goods-producing employees. | 1 |
| Rock ’n’ roll icon Elvis Presley burst onto the popular culture scene after appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show. Also, since 1954, disc jockey Alan Freed of Cleveland, Ohio, had been helping to spread the influence of black music to white America with his prime-time radio show. | 2 |
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| Jan. 28 |
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| Pres. Eisenhower rejected Soviet premier Nikolay Bulganin's proposal for a friendship pact. | 3 |
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| May 4 |
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| A new series of atomic tests began in the Pacific. On May 21, the first airborne H-bomb was exploded. | 4 |
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| May 9 |
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| Secretary of State Dulles explained that the U.S. had refused to supply arms to Israel in order to avoid a U.S.-USSR war by proxy. | 5 |
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| May 28 |
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| The president signed the Agriculture Act, which embodied the “soil bank” plan in an effort to reduce surpluses. | 6 |
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| June 29 |
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| The Federal Aid Highway Act authorized a 42,500-mile network linking major urban centers; 90 percent of the cost would be borne by the federal government. | 7 |
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| Aug. 14 |
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| The government established the Middle-East Emergency Committee to assure western Europe of U.S. oil supplies if the Suez crisis interrupted shipments. | 8 |
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| Nov. 6 |
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| The Eisenhower-Nixon Republican ticket won the presidential elections by a landslide, but the Democrats won a majority in both houses of Congress. Pres. Eisenhower was inaugurated on Jan. 21, 1957. | 9 |
| The Interstate Highway Act provided federal support for expansion of the nation's highway system, which was designed to accommodate the rapidly growing automobile culture, suburbanization, recreation, and defense needs during an era of great fear of nuclear war. | 10 |
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