Nikolai A. Bulganin becomes Soviet premier, replacing Malenkov (Feb. 8).

Churchill resigns; Anthony Eden succeeds him (April 6).

West Germany becomes a sovereign state (May 5). Western European Union (WEU) comes into being (May 6).

Warsaw Pact, east European mutual defense agreement, signed (May 14).

Argentina ousts Perơn (Sept. 19).

President Eisenhower suffers coronary thrombosis in Denver (Sept. 24).

Rosa Parks refuses to sit at the back of the bus.

Martin Luther King, Jr., leads black boycott of Montgomery, Ala., bus system (Dec. 1); desegregated service begins Dec. 21, 1956.

AFL and CIO become one organization - AFL-CIO (Dec. 5).

Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof wins Pulitzer.