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The United States on January 5, 1959

Who held every office, how Congress and the Court were made up, and what happened within a week. Diff this day against today →

President
Eisenhower
Dwight David Eisenhower R · since Jan 20, 1957
Senate
39 D · 27 R
66 senators · 86th Congress
House
—
0 representatives
Supreme Court
4 D · 4 R
8 justices by appointing party
Union
49 states
22 amendments in force
Unemployment
6.2%
Dec 1958 · $1 then ≈ $11.66 today
Public debt
$276B
as of Jun 30, 1958
1959-01-05/executiveThe administration
President Dwight David Eisenhower R
since Jan 20, 1957
Vice President Richard Milhous Nixon R
Secretary of State John Foster Dulles R
since Jan 21, 1953
Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson R
since Jan 21, 1953
Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. R
since Jan 26, 1953
Director of Central Intelligence Allen Dulles D
since Feb 26, 1953
Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton R
since Jun 8, 1956
Secretary of the Treasury Robert B. Anderson D
since Jul 29, 1957
Secretary of Defense Neil H. McElroy R
since Oct 9, 1957
Attorney General William P. Rogers R
since Oct 23, 1957
Director of the Office of Management and Budget Maurice Stans R
since Mar 18, 1958
Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Arthur Sherwood Flemming R
since Aug 1, 1958
White House Chief of Staff Wilton Persons R
since Oct 7, 1958
1959-01-05/congress86th Congress
Senate · 39 D · 27 R
John Jackson Sparkman (Democrat, AL)Joseph Lister Hill (Democrat, AL)John Little McClellan (Democrat, AR)James William Fulbright (Democrat, AR)Carl Trumbull Hayden (Democrat, AZ)Clair Engle (Democrat, CA)John Albert Carroll (Democrat, CO)Joseph Allen Frear Jr. (Democrat, DE)George Armistead Smathers (Democrat, FL)Richard Brevard Russell Jr. (Democrat, GA)Herman Eugene Talmadge (Democrat, GA)Frank Forrester Church (Democrat, ID)Paul Howard Douglas (Democrat, IL)Allen Joseph Ellender (Democrat, LA)Russell Billiu Long (Democrat, LA)Patrick Vincent McNamara (Democrat, MI)Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. (Democrat, MN)Thomas Carey Hennings Jr. (Democrat, MO)James Oliver Eastland (Democrat, MS)James Edward Murray (Democrat, MT)Samuel James Ervin Jr. (Democrat, NC)Benjamin Everett Jordan (Democrat, NC)Clinton Presba Anderson (Democrat, NM)Alan Harvey Bible (Democrat, NV)Frank John Lausche (Democrat, OH)Robert Samuel Kerr (Democrat, OK)Almer Stillwell Mike Monroney (Democrat, OK)Richard Lewis Neuberger (Democrat, OR)Wayne Lyman Morse (Democrat, OR)Joseph Sill Clark (Democrat, PA)Theodore Francis Green (Democrat, RI)J. Strom Thurmond (Democrat, SC)Olin DeWitt Talmadge Johnston (Democrat, SC)Carey Estes Kefauver (Democrat, TN)Lyndon Baines Johnson (Democrat, TX)Absalom Willis Robertson (Democrat, VA)Warren Grant Magnuson (Democrat, WA)Jennings Randolph (Democrat, WV)Joseph Christopher O’Mahoney (Democrat, WY)Thomas Henry Kuchel (Republican, CA)Gordon Llewellyn Allott (Republican, CO)Prescott Sheldon Bush (Republican, CT)Thomas Ellsworth Martin (Republican, IA)Bourke Blakemore Hickenlooper (Republican, IA)Henry Clarence Dworshak (Republican, ID)Everett McKinley Dirksen (Republican, IL)Homer Earl Capehart (Republican, IN)Andrew Frank Schoeppel (Republican, KS)Frank Carlson (Republican, KS)John Sherman Cooper (Republican, KY)Thruston Ballard Morton (Republican, KY)Leverett Saltonstall (Republican, MA)John Marshall Butler (Republican, MD)Margaret Chase Smith (Republican, ME)Milton Ruben Young (Republican, ND)William Langer (Republican, ND)Carl Thomas Curtis (Republican, NE)Henry Styles Bridges (Republican, NH)Norris H. Cotton (Republican, NH)Clifford Philip Case (Republican, NJ)Jacob Koppel Javits (Republican, NY)Karl Earl Mundt (Republican, SD)Francis Higbee Case (Republican, SD)Wallace Foster Bennett (Republican, UT)George David Aiken (Republican, VT)Alexander Wiley (Republican, WI)
House ·
1959-01-05/supreme-courtThe bench
Hugo Lafayette Black D
Associate Justice · appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt · since Aug 18, 1937
Felix Frankfurter D
Associate Justice · appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt · since Jan 20, 1939
William Orville Douglas D
Associate Justice · appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt · since Apr 15, 1939
Tom C. Clark D
Associate Justice · appointed by Harry S Truman · since Aug 19, 1949
Earl Warren R
Chief Justice · appointed by Dwight D. Eisenhower · since Mar 20, 1954
John Marshall Harlan R
Associate Justice · appointed by Dwight D. Eisenhower · since Mar 17, 1955
William Joseph Brennan, Jr. R
Associate Justice · appointed by Dwight D. Eisenhower · since Mar 21, 1957
Charles Evans Whittaker R
Associate Justice · appointed by Dwight D. Eisenhower · since Mar 22, 1957
1959-01-05/weekWithin a week · Dec 29, 1958 – Jan 12, 1959
War + Taiwan Strait crisis
Dec 31, 1958 · UCDP
War − Taiwan Strait crisis
Jan 1, 1959 · UCDP
State Alaska
Jan 3, 1959 · AK
Ruling Mitchell v. Lublin
Jan 12, 1959 · 358 U.S. 207
Ruling Williams v. Lee
Jan 12, 1959 · 358 U.S. 217
Ruling Territory of Alaska v. American Can Co.
Jan 12, 1959 · 358 U.S. 224
Ruling Lee v. Madigan
Jan 12, 1959 · 358 U.S. 228
Ruling International Boxing Club of New York, Inc. v. United States
Jan 12, 1959 · 358 U.S. 242
Ruling Hotel Employees Union v. Sax Enterprises, Inc.
Jan 12, 1959 · 358 U.S. 270
Ruling Hahn v. Ross Island Sand & Gravel Co.
Jan 12, 1959 · 358 U.S. 272

Each office is shown as it stood at the end of the day. Cabinet records come from Wikidata and have gaps for some historical offices.