January 1959 - January 6, 1959 (Tuesday)

January 6, 1959 (Tuesday)

• In Bowling Green, Virginia, Mildred and Richard Loving were found guilty of a felony for violating Virginia Code §20-59, the law against miscegenation. Richard was white, Mildred was black, and they had married in Washington, D.C., on June 2, 1958, then returned to live with her parents in Central Point. They were arrested ten days later. Judge Leon M. Bazile sentenced them each to a year in jail, suspending the sentence on condition that they leave Virginia for 25 years. Mr. and Mrs. Loving moved to Washington, D.C., but in 1963 they filed a motion in the court to vacate the judgment. After Virginia's highest court upheld the law, the Lovings appealed to the United States Supreme Court. On June 12, 1967, in the case of Loving v. Virginia, the Court ruled as unconstitutional the Virginia law, and similar laws in 15 other states.
• In the House of Representatives, Joseph W. Martin's 20 year reign as leader of the House Republicans ended by a 74–70 vote of the GOP causus. Martin, who had been Speaker of the House from 1947 to 1949, was replaced by Charles A. Halleck of Indiana.