Year '1958' ('
MCMLVIII') was a
common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the
Gregorian calendar.
Events of 1958
January
★
January 1 -
Treaty of Rome founding the
EU is implemented.
★
January 3 - The
West Indies Federation is formed.
★
January 4 -
Sputnik 1 falls to Earth from its orbit (launched on
October 4 1957).
★
January 8 - A 14-year-old
Bobby Fischer wins the
United States Chess Championship.
★
January 13 - 9235 scientists publish a plea to stop
nuclear bomb tests.
★
January 18 - Armed
Lumbee Indians confront a handful of
Klansmen at the town of
Maxton, North Carolina.
★
January 23 - Following a two-day general strike, dictator
Marcos Pérez Jiménez of
Venezuela was overthrown by a military-popular
uprising.
★
January 28 -
Charles Starkweather and
Caril Ann Fugate begin their
murder spree with the killings of her parents and infant sister.
★
January 28 -
Hall of Fame baseball player
Roy Campanella is involved in an automobile accident that ends his career and leaves him paralyzed.
★
January 29 - Police capture
Charles Starkweather in
Wyoming.
★
January 31 - The first successful American
satellite,
Explorer I, is launched into orbit.
★
January 31 -
James Van Allen discovers the
Van Allen radiation belt.
February
★
February 1 -
Egypt and
Syria unite to form the
United Arab Republic.
★
February 2 - The word Aerospace is coined, from the words Aircraft (aero) and Spacecraft (space) taking into consideration that the Earth's atmosphere and outerspace is to be one, or a single realm.
★
February 5 -
Gamel Abdel Nasser is nominated to be the first president of the
United Arab Republic.
★
February 6 -
Munich air disaster - 21 dead, including 7 players for
Manchester United.
★
February 11 - Marshal
Chen Yi succeeds
Zhou Enlai as
Chinese Minister of Foreign affairs.
★
February 11 -
Ruth Carol Taylor is 1st
African American woman hired as a
flight attendant.
★
February 14 - The
Hashemite Kingdoms of
Iraq and
Jordan unites in the
Arab Federation of Iraq and Jordan with the Iraqi King
Faisal II as head of state.
★
February 17 -
Pope Pius XII declares
Saint Clare the
patron saint of
television
★
February 20 - Test rocket explodes in
Cape Canaveral.
★
February 23 -
Cuban rebels kidnap 5-time world driving champion
Juan Manuel Fangio. They release him 28 hours later.
★
February 23 -
Arturo Frondizi wins presidential elections in
Argentina.
★
February 24 - In
Cuba, ''Radio Rebelde'', radio of rebels of
Fidel Castro, begins broadcasting from
Sierra Maestra.
★
February 25 -
Bertrand Russell launches the
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
★
February 28 - One of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history occurred at Prestonsburg, Kentucky, killing 27.
March
★
March 1 -
Samuel Alphonsus Stritch, ninth bishop (fourth archbishop) of the Roman Catholic diocese of Chicago, appointed Pro-Perfect of the Propagation of Faith and thus becomes the first American member of the
Roman Curia.
★
March 2 - A British team led by Sir
Vivian Fuchs completes the first crossing of the
Antarctic in Snow-cat caterpillar tractors and dogsled teams in 99 days.
★
March 8 -
USS ''Wisconsin'' is decommissioned, leaving the
United States Navy without an active battleship for the first time since
1896 (recommissioned
October 22,
1988).
★
March 11 -
U.S. B-47 bomber accidentally drops an
atom bomb on
Mars Bluff,
South Carolina. Its conventional explosives destroy a house and injure several people, but no
nuclear fission occurs.
★
March 17 - The
United States launches the
Vanguard 1 satellite.
★
March 25 - Canada's
Avro Arrow makes its debut flight.
★
March 26 - The
United States Army launches
Explorer III.
★
March 27 -
Nikita Khrushchev becomes
Premier of the Soviet Union.
April
★
April 3 -
Castro's revolutionary army begins its attacks on
Havana.
★
April 4-
April 7 - The first protest march for the
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament from
Hyde Park, London to
Aldermaston,
Berkshire. Demonstrators demand ban of
nuclear weapons.
★
April 4 - The daughter of the actress
Lana Turner stabs her mother's gangster lover to death (eventually ruled
self-defense).
★
April 6 -
Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiari divorces the Shah of Iran,
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi after she is unable to produce any children.
★
April 17 - King
Baudouin of Belgium officially opens the
World Fair in
Brussels, also known as
Expo '58.
May
★
May 1 -
Arturo Frondizi becomes
President of Argentina.
★
May 9 - Actor-singer
Paul Robeson, whose passport has been reinstated, sings in a sold-out one-man recital at
Carnegie Hall. The recital is such a success that Robeson gives another one at Carnegie Hall a few days later. But after these two concerts, Robeson is seldom seen in public in the United States again. His Carnegie Hall concerts are later released on records and on
CD.
★
May 12 - A formal
North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the
United States and
Canada.
★
May 13 - During a visit to
Caracas,
Venezuela,
Vice President Richard M. Nixon's car is attacked by
anti-American demonstrators.
★
May 15 - The
Soviet Union launches
Sputnik 3.
★
May 16 - Short-lived outburst of friendship between Arabs and Europeans in
Algiers.
★
May 18 - An
F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph.
★
May 20 -
Fulgencio Batista's government launches counteroffensive against Castro's rebels.
★
May 21 -
United Kingdom Postmaster General Ernest Marples announces that from December,
Subscriber Trunk Dialling will be introduced in the
Bristol area.
[1]
★
May 23 -
Explorer I ceased transmission
★
May 30 - The bodies of unidentified soldiers killed in action during
World War II and the
Korean War are buried at the
Tomb of the Unknowns in
Arlington National Cemetery.
June
★
June 1 -
Charles De Gaulle is brought out of retirement to lead
France by decree for six months.
★
June 1 -
Iceland extends its fishing limits to 12 miles (22.2 km).
★
June 4 -
Charles De Gaulle visits
Algeria.
★
June 16 -
Imre Nagy is hanged for treason in Hungary.
★
June 27 -
Peronist party becomes legal again in
Argentina.
★
June 29 -
Brazil beats
Sweden 5-2 to win the
1958 World Cup.
July
★
July 5 - First ascent of
Gasherbrum I, 11th highest mountain in the world.
★
July 7 -
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the
Alaska Statehood Act into
United States law.
★
July 7 - First
International House of Pancakes (
IHOP) opens in Toluca Lake, Calif.
★
July 10 - 7.5
Richter scale earthquake in
Lituya Bay,
Alaska, causes a
landslide that produces a huge 520-meter high wave
★
July 10 - First
parking meters installed in Britain
★
July 14 -
Iraqi Revolution: The
Iraqi monarchy is overthrown by
Arab nationalists, King
Faisal II is murdered and
Abdul Karim Qassim assumes power.
★
July 15 - In
Lebanon, 5,000
United States Marines land in the capital
Beirut in order to protect the pro-Western government there.
★
July 17 - British paratroopers arrive in
Jordan; king
Hussein has asked help against pressure from Iraq.
★
July 20 - Various rebel groups in Cuba join forces but communists do not join the deal.
★
July 24 - The first
life peerage is created in Britain.
★
July 26
★
★
Explorer program:
Explorer IV is launched
★
★ Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom gives her son
Charles the title of
Prince of Wales.
★
July 29 - The
U.S. Congress formally creates the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
August
★
August 3 - The nuclear powered submarine ''
USS Nautilus (SSN-571)'' became the first vessel to cross the
North Pole under water.
★
August 16 -
Madonna was born in Bay City, Michigan.
★
August 23 -
Chinese Civil War: The
Second Taiwan Strait crisis begins with the
People's Liberation Army's bombardment of
Quemoy.
★
August 29 -
Michael Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana.
★
August 30-
September 1 - Riots between blacks and whites in
Notting Hill,
London.
September
★
September 12 -
Jack St. Clair Kilby invents first
integrated circuit.
★
September 14 - Two
rockets designed by German engineer Ernst Mohr (the first German post-war rockets) reach the upper atmosphere.
★
September 27 -
Typhoon Ida in
Honshū,
Japan kills 615.
★
September 28 - In
France, a majority of 79% says yes to the constitution of the
Fifth Republic.
★
September 30 -
U.S.S.R. performs
nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya U.S.S.R.
October
★
October 1 -
Tunisia and
Morocco join the
Arab League.
★
October 1 -
NASA starts operations and replaces the
NACA.
★
October 2 -
Guinea declares itself independent from
France.
★
October 4 -
BOAC uses new
Comet jets to become the first
airline to fly jet passenger services across the
Atlantic.
★
October 9 -
Pope Pius XII dies.
★
October 11 -
Pioneer 1, the second and most successful of three project
Able space probes, became the first spacecraft launched by the newly formed
NASA.
★
October 28 -
Pope John XXIII succeeds
Pope Pius XII as the 261st
pope.
November
★
November 3 - New
UNESCO building inaugurated in
Paris.
★
November 22 - Menzies Government (Australia) re-elected for a 5th Term.
★
November 23 - ''
Have Gun, Will Travel'' debuts on
radio.
★
November 25 -
French Sudan gains autonomy as a self-governing member of the
French Community.
★
November 28 -
Chad, the
Republic of the Congo, and
Gabon become autonomous republics within the
French Community.
★
November 30 -
Gaullists win parliamentary elections in
France.
★
December
★
December 1 -
Central African Republic becomes independent from
France.
★
December 1 - At least 90 students and 3 nuns are killed in a
fire at Our Lady of the Angels School in
Chicago.
★
December 5 -
Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) is inaugurated in the
UK by the
Queen when she dials a call from
Bristol to
Edinburgh and speaks to the
Lord Provost.
[2]
★
December 5 - The
Preston bypass, the
United Kingdom's first
motorway, opens to traffic for the first time. This stretch is now part of the
M6 and
M55 motorways.
★
December 9 - The
John Birch Society is founded in the USA by
Robert Welch, a retired candy manufacturer.
★
December 14 - The ''3rd
Soviet Antarctic Expedition'' becomes the first ever to reach the Southern
Pole of Inaccessibility.
★
December 21 - General
Charles de Gaulle is elected president of
France with 78.5% of the votes.
★
December 25 -
Tchaikovsky's
ballet ''
The Nutcracker'' (the
George Balanchine version) is shown on prime-time
television in
color for the first time, as an episode of the
CBS anthology series ''
Playhouse 90''.
★
December 28 - The Baltimore Colts beat The New York Giants 23-17 in overtime to win The NFL Championship.
★
December 29 - Rebel troops under
Che Guevara begin to invade
Santa Clara in
Cuba.
Undated
★ The
First Cod War between UK and Iceland.
★
BBC Radiophonic Workshop created.
★ During the
International Geophysical Year,
Earth's magnetosphere is discovered.
★ The
United States conducts
Operation Argus during August and September.
★ Foundation of
Amirkabir University of Technology.
★ Based on birth rates (per 1,000 population), the post-war
baby boom ended in the
United States as an eleven-year decline in the birth rate began - the longest on record in that country
★ Last legal
female circumcision in the United States.
★
Denatonium, the
bitterest substance known is discovered. It is used as an ''aversive agent'' in products such as bleach to reduce the risk of children drinking them.
★
Van Cliburn wins the
International Tchaikovsky Competition (for
pianists), in the USSR, breaking
cold-war tensions.
★
The Jim Henson Company is founded.
★ The
Japanese
10 yen coin ceased having serrated edges after a five year period beginning in 1953. All 10 yen coins since and before had smooth edges.
Ongoing
★
Cold War
Fictional
The following are references to year 1958 in fiction:
The first third of
John Irving's novel, ''
A Widow for One Year,'' takes place in 1958.
Births
January-February
★
January 1 -
Grandmaster Flash, hip-hop/rap DJ
★
January 2 -
Vladimir Ovchinnikov, Russian pianist
★
January 4 -
Matt Frewer, American actor
★
January 9 -
Mehmet Ali Ağca, Turkish militant
★
January 11 -
Vicki Peterson, Guitarist for The Bangles
★
January 15 -
Boris Tadić, Serbian president
★
January 20 -
Lorenzo Lamas, American actor
★
January 24 -
Jools Holland, British musician
★
January 26 -
Ellen DeGeneres, American actress and comedian
★
January 27 -
Kadri Mälk, Estonian artist and jewelry designer
★
January 29 -
Judy Norton Taylor, American actress
★
February 4 -
Tomasz Pacyński, Polish writer (d.
2005)
★
February 8 -
Sherri Martel, American professional wrestler (d.
2007)
★
February 11 -
Michael Jackson, British broadcast executive
★
February 11 -
Regina Maršíková, Czechoslovakian tennis player
★
February 13 -
Pernilla August, Swedish actress
★
February 13 -
Tip Tipping, American actor and stuntman (d.
1993)
★
February 16 -
Ice-T, American singer, songwriter, and actor
★
February 21 -
Jake Burns, Irish singer (
Stiff Little Fingers)
★
February 21 -
Mary Chapin Carpenter, American singer
★
February 24 -
Sammy Kershaw, American musician
★
February 24 -
Mark Moses, American actor
★
February 26 -
Susan Helms, American astronaut
March-April
★
March 1 -
Nik Kershaw, English singer
★
March 3 -
Miranda Richardson, English actress
★
March 4 -
Patricia Heaton, American actress
★
March 4 -
Lennie Lee, British artist
★
March 5 -
Andy Gibb, English-born singer (d.
1988)
★
March 8 -
Gary Numan, British singer
★
March 10 -
Steve Howe, baseball player (d.
2006)
★
March 10 -
Sharon Stone, American actress
★
March 14 -
Albert II, Prince of Monaco
★
March 18 -
Kayo Hatta, American film director (d.
2005)
★
March 20 -
Holly Hunter, American actress
★
March 21 -
Gary Oldman, English actor
★
April 1 -
D. Boon, American singer and guiatrist (d.
1985)
★
April 3 -
Alec Baldwin, American actor
★
April 4 -
Cazuza, Brazilian poet, singer and composer (d.
1990)
★
April 10 -
Yefim Bronfman, Russian-born pianist
★
April 10 -
Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, American musician and record producer
★
April 12 -
Will Sergeant, English guitarist (
Echo & the Bunnymen)
★
April 15 -
Keith Acton, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
★
April 15 -
Benjamin Zephaniah, British writer and musician
★
April 21 -
Andie MacDowell, American actress
★
April 22 -
Ken Olandt, American actor
★
April 24 -
Jiri Meitner, Czech painter, builder of
imaginary realism
★
April 24 -
Brian Paddick, British police commander
★
April 25 -
Fish, Scottish singer
★
April 28 -
Hal Sutton, American golfer
★
April 29 -
Michelle Pfeiffer, American actress
May-July
★
May 3 -
Kevin Kilner, American actor
★
May 10 -
Rick Santorum, Former senator from PA
★
May 12 -
Eric Singer, American drummer (
Kiss)
★
May 15 -
Ron Simmons, American professional wrestler
★
May 21 -
Tom Feeney, American Republican politician from the state of Florida
★
May 23 -
Mitch Albom, American author
★
May 23 -
Drew Carey, American comedian and actor
★
May 27 -
Neil Finn, New Zealand singer and songwriter
★
May 29 -
Annette Bening, American actress
★
June 7 -
Prince, American musician
★
June 8 -
Keenen Ivory Wayans, American comedian, actor, and director
★
June 12-
Rebecca Holden, American actress, singer, and entertainer
★
June 12-
Meredith Brooks, American singer
★
June 17 -
Jello Biafra, American musician and activist
★
June 20 -
Chuck Wagner, American actor
★
June 24 -
Curt Fraser, American ice hockey coach
★
June 27 -
Magnus Lindberg, Finnish composer
★
June 27 -
Jim Cartwright, English actor and playwriter
★
June 29 -
Jeff Coopwood, American actor, broadcaster and singer
★
June 30 -
Esa-Pekka Salonen, Finnish conductor and composer
★
July 2 -
Thomas Bickerton, American Methodist bishop
★
July 5 -
William Watterson, American cartoonist
★
July 6 -
Jennifer Saunders, British comedian
★
July 7 -
Michala Petri, Danish recorder player
★
July 8 -
Kevin Bacon, American actor
★
July 15 -
Mac Thornberry, American politician
★
July 15 -
Austin Hayes, Irish footballer (d.
1986)
★
July 16 -
Michael Flatley, Irish-born dancer
★
July 17 -
Frank P. Stapleton, III, Retired Master Sergeant, USMC
★
July 28 -
Terry Fox, Canadian athlete and cancer activist (d.
1981)
★
July 30 -
Kate Bush, British singer and songwriter
★
July 31 -
Mark Cuban, American entrepreneur and basketball team owner
★
July 31 -
Bill Berry, American drummer (
R.E.M.)
August-September
★
August 1 -
Adrian Dunbar, Irish actor
★
August 7 -
Bruce Dickinson, English musician
★
August 7 -
Russell Baze, all-time winningest jockey
★
August 15 -
Victor Shenderovich, Russian writer
★
August 15 -
Rondell Sheridan, American actor and comedian
★
August 16 -
Madonna, American-born singer, songwriter, and actress
★
August 16 -
Angela Bassett, American actress
★
August 17 -
Belinda Carlisle, American singer (
The Go-Go's)
★
August 19 -
Anthony Muñoz, American football player
★
August 22 -
Colm Feore, American-born actor
★
August 24 -
Steve Guttenberg, American actor
★
August 29 -
Michael Jackson, American singer
★
September 6 -
Jeff Foxworthy, American comedian, actor, author
★
September 6 -
Michael Winslow, American comedian, actor, voice actor
★
September 8 -
Mitsuru Miyamoto, Japanese voice actor
★
September 14 -
Jeff Crowe, New Zealand cricketer
★
September 10 -
Chris Columbus (filmmaker), American film director/writer/producer
★
September 16 -
Orel Hershiser, baseball player
★
September 19 -
Azumah Nelson, Ghanaian boxer
★
September 21 -
Bruno Fitoussi, French poker player
★
September 22 -
Andrea Bocelli, Italian tenor
★
September 23 -
Danielle Dax, British musician
★
September 23 -
Marvin Lewis, American football coach
★
September 23 -
Scott Shaw, American author, actor, and filmmaker
★
September 25 -
Michael Madsen, American actor
★
September 30 -
Marty Stuart, American singer
October-December
★
October 5 -
Bernie Mac, American actor and comedian
★
October 13 -
Derri Daugherty, American musician (
The Choir and The
Lost Dogs)
★
October 14 -
Thomas Dolby, English musician
★
October 16 -
Tim Robbins, American actor
★
October 17 -
Alan Jackson, American country singer and songwriter
★
October 18 -
Corinne Bohrer, American actress
★
October 20 -
Dave Finlay, Northern Irish professional wrestler
★
October 20 -
Viggo Mortensen, American actor
★
October 27 -
Simon Le Bon, English musician (
Duran Duran)
★
November 1 -
Mark Austin, English newsreader (
ITN)
★
November 2 -
Willie McGee, baseball player
★
November 10 -
Vicky Rosti, Finnish singer, former Eurovision contestant
★
November 16 -
Marg Helgenberger, American actress
★
November 16 -
Boris Krivokapić, Serbian academic
★
November 18 -
Laura Miller, Mayor of Dallas, Texas
★
November 22 -
Jamie Lee Curtis, American actress
★
November 25 -
Kim Ashfield, British model
★
November 28 -
Dave Righetti, baseball player
★
November 30 -
Juliette Bergmann, Dutch bodybuilder
★
December 1 -
Charlene Tilton, American actress
★
December 1 -
Jim Millea, British actor
★
December 2 -
George Saunders, American writer
★
December 4 -
Jeff Wilson, Canadian cartoonist
★
December 6 -
Nick Park, English filmmaker and animator
★
December 9 -
Rikk Agnew, American punk rock musician
★
December 11 -
Janko Ferk, Austrian lawyer and writer
★
December 11 -
Nikki Sixx, American musician (
Mötley Crüe)
★
December 13 -
Lynn-Holly Johnson, American ice skater and actress
★
December 13 -
Dana Strum, American bassist
★
December 17 -
Mike Mills, American bassist (
R.E.M.)
★
December 25 -
Alannah Myles, Canadian musician
★
December 25 -
Hanford Dixon, American football player
★
December 25 -
Rickey Henderson, baseball player
★
December 31 -
Bebe Neuwirth, American actress
Deaths
January-June
★
January 1 -
Edward Weston, American photographer (b.
1886)
★
January 1 -
Archibald Alphonso Alexander, American designer/govenor (b.
1888)
★
January 8 -
Paul Pilgrim, American athlete (b.
1883)
★
January 11 -
Edna Purviance, American actress (b.
1895)
★
January 30 -
Jean Crotti, Swiss artist (b.
1878)
★
February 1 -
Clinton Davisson, American physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1888)
★
February 4 -
Henry Kuttner, American author (b.
1915)
★
February 13 -
Christabel Pankhurst, English suffragette (b.
1880)
★
March 21 -
Cyril M. Kornbluth, American writer (b.
1923)
★
March 22 -
Mike Todd, American film producer (b.
1909)
★
March 25 -
Tom Brown, American musician (b.
1888)
★
March 26 -
Phil Mead, English cricketer (b.
1887)
★
March 28 -
W.C. Handy, American composer (b.
1873)
★
April 16 -
Rosalind Franklin, British crystallographer (b.
1920)
★
April 19 -
Billy Meredith, Welsh footballer (b.
1874)
★
May 3 -
Frank Foster, English cricketer (b.
1889)
★
May 19 -
Ronald Colman, English actor (b.
1891)
★
May 29 -
Juan Ramón Jiménez, Spanish writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1881)
★
June 13 -
Edwin Keppel Bennett, British writer (b.
1887)
★
June 20 -
Kurt Alder, German chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1902)
★
June 26 -
George Orton, Canadian athlete (b.
1876)
★
June 28 -
Alfred Noyes, English poet (b.
1880)
July-December
★
July 14 - King
Faisal II of Iraq (b.
1935)
★
August 14 -
Frédéric Joliot, French physicist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b.
1900)
★
August 22 -
Roger Martin du Gard, French writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1881)
★
August 24 -
Paul Henry, Northern Irish artist (b.
1876)
★
August 27 -
Ernest Lawrence, American physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1901)
★
September 11 -
Robert W. Service, Scottish-born Canadian poet (b.
1874)
★
October 9 -
Pope Pius XII (b.
1876)
★
October 17 -
Charlie Townsend, English cricketer (b.
1876)
★
October 17 -
Paul Outerbridge American photographer (b.
1896)
★
October 24 -
G. E. Moore, British philosopher, author of Principia Ethica (b.
1873)
★
November 15 -
Tyrone Power, American actor (b.
1914)
★
November 24 -
Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, English politician and diplomat, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (b.
1864)
★
November 27 -
Artur Rodziński, Polish conductor (b.
1892)
★
December 8 -
Tris Speaker, baseball player (b.
1888)
★
December 15 -
Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, Austrian-born physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1900)
Ship events
★
List of ship launches in 1958
★
List of ship commissionings in 1958
★
List of ship decommissionings in 1958
Nobel prizes
★
Physics -
Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov,
Ilya Mikhailovich Frank,
Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm
★
Chemistry -
Frederick Sanger
★
Physiology or Medicine -
George Wells Beadle,
Edward Lawrie Tatum,
Joshua Lederberg
★
Literature -
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak
★
Peace -
Georges Pire
Fields Medalists
★
Klaus Roth,
Rene Thom
See also
★
20th century
Notes
External links
★
1958 Coin Pictures
Table of contents
__TOC__
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