1958

history

Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

Events of 1958

January

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 5 - The Tybee Bomb, a 7,600 pound (3,500 kg) Mark 15 hydrogen bomb, is lost in the waters off Savannah, Georgia.
  • February 6 - Munich air disaster: 23 are killed, including 8 players for Manchester United.
  • February 11 - Marshal Chen Yi succeeds Zhou Enlai as Chinese Minister of Foreign affairs.
  • February 11 - Ruth Carol Taylor is the first African American woman hired as a flight attendant.
  • February 14 - The Hashemite Kingdoms of Iraq and Jordan unite in the Arab Federation of Iraq and Jordan with Iraqi King Faisal II as head of state.
  • February 17 - Pope Pius XII declares Saint Clare the patron saint of television.
  • February 20 - A test rocket explodes at Cape Canaveral.
  • February 21 - A peace symbol is designed and completed by Gerald Holtom, commissioned by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment.
  • February 23 - Cuban rebels kidnap 5-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio, releasing him 28 hours later.
  • February 23 - Arturo Frondizi is elected president of Argentina.
  • February 24 - In Cuba, Fidel Castro's Radio Rebelde 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 occurs at Prestonsburg, Kentucky; 27 are killed.

March

  • March 1 - Samuel Alphonsus Stritch, the 9th bishop (4th archbishop) of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chicago, is appointed Pro-Perfect of the Propagation of Faith, becoming the first American member of the Roman Curia.
  • March 1 - The Turkish passenger ship Uskudar capsizes and sinks at Izmit Bay, Kocaeli, Turkey; at least 300 die.
  • 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 - The USS Wisconsin is decommissioned, leaving the United States Navy without an active battleship for the first time since 1896 (it is recommissioned October 22, 1988).
  • March 11 - A 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 24 - The U.S. Army inducts Elvis Presley, transforming The King Of Rock & Roll into U.S. private #53310761.
  • March 25 - Canada's Avro Arrow makes its debut flight.
  • March 26 - The United States Army launches Explorer 3.
  • March 26 - The 30th Academy Awards ceremony is held.
  • March 27 - Nikita Khrushchev becomes Premier of the Soviet Union.

April

May

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June

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  • June 1 - Charles de Gaulle is brought out of retirement to lead France by decree for 6 months.
  • June 1 - Iceland extends its fishing limits to 12 miles (22.2 km).
  • June 2 - In San Simeon, California, »Hearst Castle opens to the public for guided tours.
  • June 4 - French President Charles De Gaulle visits Algeria.
  • June 16 - Imre Nagy is hanged for treason in Hungary.
  • June 27 - The Peronist Party becomes legal again in Argentina.
  • June 29 - Brazil beats Sweden 5-2 to win the 1958 World Cup.

July

August

September

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 the new De Havilland 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 3 project Able space probes, becomes the first spacecraft launched by the newly formed NASA.
  • October 21 - The Life Peerages Act entitles women to sit in the House of Lords for the first time. Baroness Swanbourough, Lady Reading and Baroness Barbara Wooton are the first to take their seats.
  • October 28 - Pope John XXIII succeeds Pope Pius XII as the 261st pope.

November

December

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  • December 1 - Adolfo LĂłpez Mateos takes office as President of Mexico.
  • December 1 - The 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. [http://www.bt.com/archives/history/19461959.htm#1958]
  • 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 6 - The 3rd launch of a Thor space craft carrying Pioneer 2 is unsuccessful, due to a 3rd stage ignition failure.
  • December 9 - The right-wing 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 19 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower broadcasts a message from a Project SCORE satellite.
  • December 21 - General Charles de Gaulle is elected president of France with 78.5% of the votes.
  • December 24 - A BOAC Bristol Britannia (312 G-AOVD) crashes near Winkton, England during a test flight.
  • 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, Cuba.
  • December 31 - As the year draws to a close, tallies reveal that, for the first time, total passengers carried by air exceeds total passengers carried by sea in transatlantic serivce.

Undated

  • During the International Geophysical Year, Earth's magnetosphere is discovered.
  • The Amirkabir University of Technology is founded.
  • Based on birth rates (per 1,000 population), the post-war baby boom ends in the United States as an 11-year decline in the birth rate begins (the longest on record in that country).
  • The last legal female genital cutting occurs 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.
  • The Jim Henson Company is founded.
  • The Japanese 10 yen coin ceases having serrated edges after a 5-year period beginning in 1953. All 10 yen coins since have smooth edges.
  • The largest solar maximum in the recorded history of solar maxima occurs.
  • The Recession of 1958 hits the United States.
  • Instant noodles go on sale for the first time.
  • The British Rally Championship begins its first year.
  • Illinois observes the centennial of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates.
  • Nikita Khrushchev orders Western allies to evacuate West Berlin within 6 months but bucks down in the face of the allies' unity.

Ongoing

Births

January–February

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March–April

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May–July

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August–September

October–December

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Unknown

Deaths

January–June

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July–December

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Ship events

Nobel Prizes

Academy Awards

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