The following events occurred inAugust1956:

• The UK's Foreign SecretarySelwyn Lloyd, U.S. AmbassadorRobert D. Murphy and French Foreign Affairs MinisterChristian Pineau meet at10 Downing Street to discuss theSuez Crisis.^[1]

• UK Opposition leaderHugh Gaitskell, says of the nationalisation of theSuez Canal by Egypt: "It is all very familiar. It is exactly the same that we encountered from Mussolini and Hitler in those years before the war."^[2]
• Died:Albert Woolson, 106, U.S. centenarian, last surviving Union veteran of theAmerican Civil War^[3]

• The U.S. athleteWillie Williamsbreaks the world record for the Men's 100 metres, finishing in 10.1 seconds in an event atBerlin, Germany.^[4]

• Columbia Pictures releases its 57th and last film serial,Blazing the Overland Trail, starringLee Roberts.^[5]
• Ira Murchison of the U.S. equals the100 metres world record set the day before by his compatriot Willie Williams in Berlin.^[4]

• The1956 German Grand Prix is held atNürburgring and is won byJuan Manuel Fangio. The event was attended by future King of SpainJuan Carlos, who was supporting his relativeAlfonso de Portago.^[6]

• "Columbus Geneva Steel" #35, the last majordiesel locomotive constructed byBaldwin-Lima-Hamilton atEddystone, Pennsylvania, United States, is shipped to its purchaser.^[7]
• In the UK, a severehailstorm inArundel, Sussex, causes a blockage of the A27 trunk road.^[8]

• U.S. baseball playerTed Williams spits at a mocking fan during a game. He would be fined $5,000 for his conduct.^[9]
• Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury, France's Defence Minister, obtains support from Israel for a joint attack on Suez.^[10]
• An explosion occurs in Cali, Colombia, caused by the explosion of seven ammunition trucks loaded with 1053 boxes of dynamite, parked in Cali overnight. The country's president, GeneralGustavo Rojas Pinilla, blames the opposition. Death estimates range from 1,300 to 10,000, in a city that at the time had merely 120,000 inhabitants.^[11]

• Fire breaks out at theBois du Cazier mine inMarcinelle, Belgium. 262 miners are killed, workers of twelve different nationalities; more than half are Italian.^[12]

• About 20,000 women join a protest march inPretoria,South Africa, directed against the country'spass laws.^[13]
• The exhibitionThis Is Tomorrow, featuring the ICAIndependent Group of artists and inspired by the theories ofMarshall McLuhan, opens atWhitechapel Art Gallery in London. The collaborators includeRichard Hamilton,John Voelcker,John McHale andMagda Cordell.^[14]

• Russian composerIgor Stravinsky obtains an audience withGiuseppe Cardinal Roncalli, who, as Archbishop of Venice, gives permission for the performance of Stravinsky'sCanticum Sacrum inSt Mark's Cathedral. The piece was dedicated by Stravinsky "To the City of Venice, in praise of its Patron Saint, the Blessed Mark, Apostle". He conducted the performance himself, a month later.^[15]

• Born : Michel Vigné, French voice actor

• 1956 Murray River flood: Following higher than average rainfall inWestern Queensland and three months of heavy rain in theMurray-Darling basin,^[16] flood waters move down the Murray andDarling and peak atMerbein in Victoria^[17] and 12.3 metres (40 ft) atMorgan in South Australia.
• Died:
  • Jackson Pollock, 44, U.S. artist, killed in a car crash, along with a passenger, while driving under the influence of alcohol^[18]

• Hurricane Betsy makes landfall inPuerto Rico, the first Atlantic hurricane to strike the island for 24 years. Extensive damage is caused inAibonito,Comerío andJayuya; the worst damage is inYabucoa. Sixteen people are killed.^[19]
• Around 5,000 members of the bannedRomanian Greek-Catholic Church protest outsideCluj-Napoca Piarists' Church to demonstrate that despite the regime's claims their church survives. Fr. Vasile Chindriș preaches a sermon criticizing the Communist leadership, and all priests involved in the protest are later arrested and imprisoned.
• TheAll-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship and All-Ireland Football Championship finals are postponed because of an outbreak of polio which has already affected 90 people in Cork.^[20]

• Lakenheath-Bentwaters incident: Air bases in eastern England, UK, belonging to Britain's RAF and the U.S. Air Force, experience a number of suspectedUFO sightings.^[21]
• British swimmerBrenda Fisher swimsLake Ontario in a record time of 18 hours 51 minutes.^[22]

• The Dutch coasterHondsrug sinks 10 nautical miles (19 km) north ofFyn, Denmark; five of the seven people on board are killed.^[23]
• Irish novelistIris Murdoch marries English academicJohn Bayley at Oxford register office.^[24]
• Died:Bertolt Brecht, 58, German playwright (heart attack)^[25]

• Born:Lorraine Desmarais, Canadian jazz pianist, in Montreal^[26]

• Representatives of the major countries that use theSuez Canal meet in London to discuss the future ownership and operation of the canal.Egypt does not attend the talks, which last until 23 August.^[27]
• Died:Bela Lugosi, 73, Hungarian actor best known for playingDracula^[28]

• At the close of the1956 Democratic National Convention at Chicago in the United States,Adlai Stevenson II is nominated as presidential candidate, with 65.9% of the vote.Estes Kefauver is selected as vice-presidential candidate.^[29]
• TheCommunist Party of Germany is banned by theFederal Constitutional Court ofWest Germany because of its methods.^[30]
• Ho Chi Minh and other officials make a public apology for problems with North Vietnam'sland reform program. The estimated number of "landlords" killed since 1954 is between 3,000 and 50,000; 12,000 are released from prisons after the government's apology.^[31]
• The Metropolitan Police Murder Squad takes over the investigation of the activities of British doctorJohn Bodkin Adams, "probably the wealthiest GP in England".^[32] Adams was later tried and acquitted, and would return to medical practice within five years.

• A touring English cricket team, under the name"Free Foresters", begins a 2-day match against The Netherlands; it ends in a draw.^[33]

• The British coasterTraquair sinks 36 nautical miles (67 km) offAldeburgh,Suffolk, UK. All eleven crew members are rescued.^[34]
• Fire breaks out on the U.S.fishing vesselArgus atKetchikan,Territory of Alaska, destroying the vessel.^[35]

• After his appearance at theNewport Jazz Festival in the United States, musicianDuke Ellington appears on the cover ofTime magazine.^[36]
• Born:Joan Allen, American actress, inRochelle, Illinois

• Born:Kim Cattrall, English-born Canadian actress, in Liverpool, UK^[37]

• Fighter planes from thePeople's Republic of China shoot down aJapan-based U.S. Navy aircraft as it flies a night reconnaissance mission over theTaiwan Strait; all 16 aboard are killed.^[38][39]
• TheMartin JRM Marsflying boat makes its final passenger flight, piloted by U.S. NavyLieutenant Commander Virgil Solomon, lands theMarianas Mars atAlameda, California, United States, at the end of a flight fromHonolulu, Hawaii.^[40]

• At the close of the1956 Republican National Convention in San Francisco, United States, incumbent PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower is nominated for re-election, with incumbent vice-president,Richard M. Nixon as his running mate.Nat King Cole is among the speakers at the convention.^[41]

• AUnited States ArmyShawnee helicopter makes the first non-stop helicopter flight across theUnited States mainland, having flown 2,610 miles (4,203 km) fromSan Diego, California, toWashington, D.C.^[42]
• A five-stage, solid-fuel rocket test vehicle, the world's first, is launched to a speed of Mach 15 by theNACALangley Aeronautical Laboratory's Pilotless Aircraft Research Division.^[43]
• Died:Kenji Mizoguchi, 58, Japanese film director (leukemia)

• AtJasna Góra Monastery, an estimated million pilgrims take the Jasna Góra "Oaths of the Polish Nation", interpreted as an anti-Communist protest.^[44]
• Died:Alfred Kinsey, 62, U.S. sex researcher (heart ailment andpneumonia)^[45]

• TheWisconsin 250 motor race is held at Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway, United States, and is won byJimmy Bryan, who would end the1956 USAC Championship Car season as National Champion.^[46]
• CS Dinamo Bucureștibecomes the firstRomanian team to participate in theEuropean Cup football tournament, defeatingGalatasaray Istanbul at theNational Stadium in Bucharest.^[47]

• The "Clinton Twelve" (Jo Ann Allen, Bobby Cain, Theresser Caswell, Minnie Ann Dickey, Gail Ann Epps, Ronald Hayden, William Latham, Alvah J. McSwain, Maurice Soles, Robert Thacker, Regina Turner and Alfred Williams) attend classes at Clinton High School,Clinton, Tennessee, becoming the first African-American students to desegregate a state-supported public school in the Southeast United States.^[48]
• In Egypt, British diplomat John-McGlashan, businessman James Swinburn, and a Maltese citizen, James Zarb, are detained by the authorities and accused of spying.^[49]

• Born:Luis Guzmán, Puerto Rican-American actor and producer^[50]

• BornGG Allin, controversial American punk musician, in Lancaster, New Hampshire (died 1993)

• Mansfield school desegregation incident: The mayor and police chief ofMansfield, Texas, join a crowd of about 300 white protesters in front of Mansfield High School, in an attempt was to prevent the enrollment of the three black students.^[51]

• Born:
  • Masashi Tashiro, Japanese entertainer, in Saga Prefecture
  • Tsai Ing-wen, President of Taiwan, in Zhongshan District, Taipei

• August 1956
• August by year
• Months in the 1950s

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