July 22, 1959
The federal minimum wage stood at $1.00/hr that summer of 1959, and the Dow Jones sat at 679 — while the Soviet Union's First Deputy Premier Frol Kozlov warned Western nations that Moscow would sign a separate peace treaty with East Germany if no agreement was reached on Berlin, signaling that Cold War tensions remained a steady backdrop to daily American life. On screen and on the radio, audiences were turning out for "The Nun's Story" starring Audrey Hepburn, which led the box office that summer, while Frank Sinatra's Grammy Album of the Year "Come Dance with Me" kept the mood light on living room hi-fi sets across the country. On July 17, anthropologist Louis Leakey and his wife Mary made a landmark discovery at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, unearthing the first skull of Australopithecus, a find that pushed the known record of human ancestors back nearly two million years and reshaped scientific understanding of human origins.
On the cover
Magazine Covers — July 22, 1959
World Events — July 1959
Time Person of the Year — 1959
On the radio
Billboard Charts — July 22, 1959
Grammy Awards
On the bookshelf
On the television
Nielsen Top 10 — 1958–59 Season
Emmy Winners — 1959
At the movies
Box Office & Oscar Winners — July 22, 1959
On the field
Sports Champions — July 22, 1959
Interested in postcards, posters or t-shirts? Leave your email and we’ll let you know.