Helpful Advice (Jan. 9): Columnist Pauline Friedman starts her "Dear Abby." The popular advice column first appears in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Khrushchev

Denouncing Stalin (February): In a four-hour diatribe delivered before the 20th Communist Party Congress in Moscow, Josef Stalin's successor, Nikita Khrushchev, denounces "the cult of the individual" and attacks his former boss for his "intolerance, his brutality, his abuse of power." Ever so briefly, the party's iron grip will ease. In the next year, an estimated 8 million people will be released from the gulag work camp system and thousands of purged Communist Party members will be "rehabilitated."

Princess Grace (April 19): Grace Patricia Kelly is at the pinnacle of her movie career when she marries Monaco's Prince Rainier III in the Cathedral of St. Nicholas. The "wedding of the century," a heady mixture of Hollywood glamour and royal mystique, actually took place twice. The first was a civil ceremony April 18 in the throne room of the palace in Monte Carlo.

Rocky Retires (April 27): Rocky Marciano retires undefeated as world heavyweight boxing champion. He won all 49 of his bouts, including six in defense of the championship, and 43 by knockouts.

Canal Crisis (July 26): Egyptian president, Gamal Abdel Nasser, seizes the Suez Canal from the French-controlled Suez Canal Co. and becomes hero of Arab nationalism. But it prompts Israel to invade the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip on Oct. 29, followed by a French-British invasion of Egypt on Oct. 31. International pressure forces Britain, France and Israel to end the hostilities, and a United Nations emergency force occupies the Canal Zone.

Perfect Pitching (Oct. 8): In game five of the 53rd World Series, New York Yankee Don Larsen pitches the first perfect game in World Series history, beating the Brooklyn Dodgers 2-0. The Yankees win the Series, four games to three.

Hungering for Freedom (Oct. 23): With winds of political change blowing in the U.S.S.R., Hungarians feel that the time has come to break free from Soviet domination. Students in Budapest rally in support of political and social liberalization efforts in neighboring Poland. The demonstration soon turns into a revolt against Soviet rule and a call for free speech and elections. After nearly two weeks of political uncertainty and chaos, Soviet troops move in and crush the uprising.

Two Heads Better Than One (October): NBC teams journalist Chet Huntley and David Brinkley as co-anchors for "Huntley-Brinkley Report." Initially 15 minutes long, the news program eventually expands to half an hour. The show's format becomes the model for news broadcasting around the world.

Still Liking Ike (Nov. 6): President Eisenhower wins a second term in a landslide victory over Democrat Adlai E. Stevenson.