- May 1 Flevo Boys Football Club is established in Emmeloord, the Netherlands
Event of Interest
May 1 Larry King's 1st radio broadcast
Larry King
Assassination Attempt
May 2 Gangster Frank Costello escapes an assassination attempt made by rival mobsters
Frank Costello
Event of Interest
May 4 Anne Frank Foundation forms in Amsterdam
Anne Frank
Event of Interest
May 6 Pulitzer prize awarded to John F. Kennedy (Profiles in Courage)
John F. Kennedy
- May 7 Indians' pitcher Herb Score is hit by a line drive off Gil McDougald
Event of Interest
May 8 South Vietnamese President, Ngô Đình Diệm, arrives in the United States on a state visit
Ngô Đình Diệm
- May 10 1st meeting of legislative of Cameroon
Event of Interest
May 10 Dmitri Shostakovich's 2nd Piano concerto premieres in Moscow
Dmitri Shostakovich
Event of Interest
May 15 Evangelist Billy Graham launches his "crusade" in front of 18,000 people at Madison Square Garden in NYC
Billy Graham
- May 15 1st British H-bomb explosion (over Christmas Island)
- May 16 Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Invicti Athletae
- May 16 US launches its 3rd atomic submarine, USS Skate, at Groton, Connecticut
- May 16 Yanks involved in Copacabana Incident, leads to Billy Martin trade
- May 17 Prayer Pilgrimage, biggest civil rights demonstration to date (DC)
- May 17 School desegregation law, Brown v Board of education
- May 17 10th Cannes Film Festival: "Friendly Persuasion" directed by William Wyler wins the Palme d'Or
- May 18 82nd Preakness: Eddie Arcaro aboard Bold Ruler wins in 1:56.2
- May 19 Adone Zoli forms Italian government
- May 21 French government of Mollet resigns
- May 22 KBTX TV channel 3 in Bryan, TX (CBS) begins broadcasting
- May 22 Red Sox set AL record by smashing 4 HRs in 6th inning in 11-0 win
- May 22 South Africa's government approves race separation in universities
- May 24 Anti-American riots breakout in Taipei, Taiwan
- May 24 Heavy earthquake strikes Colombia
- May 25 "Shinbone Alley" closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 49 performances
- May 27 Toronto's CHUM-AM, (1050 kHz) becomes Canada's first radio station to broadcast only top 40 Rock n' Roll music format
- May 28 NL approves baseball's Brooklyn Dodgers' & NY Giants' move to the US west coast
- May 28 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- May 28 WPSD TV channel 6 in Paducah, KY (NBC) begins broadcasting
- May 29 Algerian rebels kill 336 collaborators
- May 29 Laos government of prince Suvanna Phuma resigns
- May 29 NYC Mayor Robert Wagner says he plans to confer with the Giants & Dodgers about the proposed move to the west coast
- May 30 Test Cricket debut for Rohan Kanhai v England at Edgbaston
- May 30 Indianapolis 500: Sam Hanks wins in 3:41:14.238 (218.229 km/h)
- May 30 2nd European Cup: Real Madrid beats Fiorentina 2-0 at Madrid
- May 31 Great Britain performs nuclear test at Christmas Island (atmospheric)