Events from the year 1956 in Michigan. The major stories of 1956 in Michigan included: (1) tornado outbreaks that struck western Michigan on April 2 and central and eastern Michigan on May 12; (2) the November 6 elections in which Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower won Michigan's 20 electoral votes while Democrat G. Mennen Williams won re-election to a fifth term as Governor of Michigan; and (3) a slowdown in automobile production after reaching record levels in 1955.