The following events occurred in March 1956:
March 1, 1956 (Thursday) The NATO phonetic alphabet (the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet) is drafted by the International Air Transport Association for the International Civil Aviation Organization. In Washington, D.C., United States, a replica of the Discus Thrower is dedicated; it is a gift from the Italian government to acknowledge the return of art objects looted during World War II. Born: Tim Daly, US actor, in New York City Dalia Grybauskaitė, Lithuanian politician, President (2009-2019), in Vilnius
March 2, 1956 (Friday) Morocco reaches agreement with France, ending the protectorate, to become the independent "Kingdom of Morocco". While rehearsing for a coming air show, four Canadair Sabre fighter planes of the Sky Lancers aerobatics team of No. 4 Wing, Royal Canadian Air Force, based in West Germany, crash in the Upper Rhine Valley southwest of Strasbourg, France, while performing a loop in formation; all four pilots are killed, and RCAF aerobatic flying stops. Born: Eduardo Rodríguez, Bolivian politician, President 2005–06, in Cochabamba
March 3, 1956 (Saturday) A state election in New South Wales, Australia, results in the Australian Labor Party, under incumbent Premier Joseph Cahill, retaining a majority over a coalition of the Liberal and Country parties.
March 4, 1956 (Sunday) Popular demonstrations begin in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, protesting against Nikita Khrushchev's de-Stalinization policy. Elections to the National Constituent Assembly take place in South Vietnam. President Ngo Dinh Diem's party wins 90 of the 123 seats.
March 5, 1956 (Monday) The last steam locomotive to have been purchased new by Southern Pacific Railroad is retired from service. Born: Teena Marie, US singer-songwriter, in Santa Monica, under the name Mary Christine Brockert (died 2010)
March 6, 1956 (Tuesday) West Germany's Bundestag approves 14 constitutional amendments which allow for rearmament and civilian control over the armed forces, re-introducing conscription.
March 7, 1956 (Wednesday) Avalanches in Norway's Nordland and Troms regions cause 21 deaths and heavy damage. Born: Bryan Cranston, US actor, in Hollywood
March 8, 1956 (Thursday) In the Hong Kong municipal election, four of the six seats are won by the Reform Club of Hong Kong, and the other two by the new Hong Kong Civic Association.
March 9, 1956 (Friday) British security forces deport Archbishop Makarios III from Cyprus; he arrives in Mahe Island, Seychelles, as a "guest" of Governor Sir William Addis. In Tbilisi, where pro-Stalin protests continue, Soviet troops fire on a demonstrating crowd, resulting in at least 100 casualties.
March 10, 1956 (Saturday) A Fairey Delta 2 research aircraft, developed by the Fairey Aviation Company, breaks the World Air Speed Record, achieving a speed of as over the previous record. It becomes the first aircraft to exceed in level flight, with permission, but no active support, from the British government. A United States Air Force Boeing B-47 Stratojet and its 3-man crew disappear over the Mediterranean Sea. The wreckage has to date not been located.
March 11, 1956 (Sunday) The Belgian ship MV Prince de Liege catches fire off the coast of Spain and is abandoned by its crew. The ship is towed by a Spanish naval tug then by the Swedish salvage ship Herakles to Gibraltar.
March 12, 1956 (Monday) 101 members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives sign the Southern Manifesto, in protest against the 1954 Supreme Court ruling (Brown v. Board of Education), opposing racial integration in public places. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 500 for the first time rising 2.40 points, or 0.48%, to 500.24.
March 13, 1956 (Tuesday) In the United States New Hampshire Democratic Party primary, Estes Kefauver of Tennessee defeats Adlai Stevenson, the eventual winner of the Democratic nomination. Born: Motoharu Sano, Japanese musician and singer-songwriter, in Taitō, Tokyo Died: David Browning, 24, 1952 Olympic diving gold medalist from the United States, in jet fighter crash near Rantoul, Kansas during a training flight
March 14, 1956 (Wednesday) The French fishing trawler Vert Prairial is driven ashore at Wireless Point, Porthcurno, Cornwall, UK. All seventeen on board lose their lives. Harry Pollitt, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain, unveils a memorial to Karl Marx at Highgate Cemetery, London, UK, following the reburial of Marx and his family a few months earlier.