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The Year Was 1958
US GDP (1998 dollars) $467.3 billion
Federal spending $82.41 billion
Federal debt $279.7 billion
Consumer Price Index 28.9
Unemployment 4.3%
Cost of a first-class stamp $0.03 ($0.04 as of 8/1/58)
| 01/01/1958 | BOAC Britannia flies London to NY in a record 7h57m |
| 01/01/1958 | European Economic Community (Common Market) starts operation |
| 01/01/1958 | Sammy Davis Jr marries Loray White |
| 01/01/1958 | WMBD TV channel 31 in Peoria, IL (CBS) begins broadcasting |
| 01/03/1958 | Sir Edmund Hillary reached South Pole overland |
| 01/04/1958 | Sputnik 1 reenters atmosphere & burns up |
| 01/06/1958 | Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to ee cummings |
| 01/06/1958 | Gibson patents the Flying V Guitar |
| 01/06/1958 | WIPR TV channel 6 in San Juan, PR (PBS) begins broadcasting |
| 01/07/1958 | USSR shrinks army to 300,000 |
| 01/08/1958 | Cuban revolutionary forces capture Havana |
| 01/09/1958 | In basketball Oscar Robertson (Cin) scores 56, Seton Hall team 54 |
| 01/10/1958 | Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire" reaches #1 |
| 01/12/1958 | NCAA adds 2 point conversion to football scoring |
| 01/12/1958 | Syracuse National Dolph Schayes sets NBA record at 11,770 points |
| 01/13/1958 | 9,000 scientists of 43 nations petition UN for nuclear test ban |
| 01/13/1958 | US newspaper "Daily Worker" ceases publication |
| 01/18/1958 | 1st black in the NHL (William O'Ree, Boston Bruins) |
| 01/20/1958 | KUED TV channel 7 in Salt Lake City, UT (PBS) begins broadcasting |
| 01/21/1958 | KMOT TV channel 10 in Minot, ND (NBC) begins broadcasting |
| 01/22/1958 | KRSD (now KEVN) TV channel 7 in Rapid City, SD (ABC) 1st broadcast |
| 01/23/1958 | Dictator Marcos P‚rez Jim‚nez flees Venezuala, Larraz bal takes power |
| 01/26/1958 | H Laskow replaces Moshe Dayan on as Israeli minister of Defense |
| 01/26/1958 | Jack Smith takes over for Art Baker as TV host of "You Asked for It" |
| 01/27/1958 | Ferenc Mnnich follows K d r as premier of Hungary |
| 01/28/1958 | Construction began on 1st private thorium-uranium nuclear reactor |
| 01/28/1958 | Dodger catcher Roy Campanella is paralyzed in an automobile wreck |
| 01/29/1958 | Murderer, Charles Starkweather, captured by police in Wyoming |
| 01/30/1958 | 1st 2-way moving sidewalk in service, Dallas Tx |
| 01/30/1958 | House of Lords passes bill allowing women in |
| 01/31/1958 | "Jackpot Bowling" premiers on NBC with Leo Durocher as host |
| 01/31/1958 | James van Allen discovers radiation belt |
| 01/31/1958 | US launches their 1st artificial satellite, Explorer 1 |
| 02/01/1958 | 1st US satellite (Explorer I) launched |
| 02/01/1958 | Egypt & Syria announce plans to merge into United Arab Republic |
| 02/01/1958 | WFTV TV channel 9 in Orlando, FL (ABC) begins broadcasting |
| 02/02/1958 | Syria joins Egypt in United Arab Republic |
| 02/02/1958 | WRIK (now WLUZ) TV channel 7 in Ponce, PR (PTC) begins broadcasting |
| 02/05/1958 | Clifton R Wharton confirmed as 1st US black foreign minister (Romania) |
| 02/05/1958 | Gamel Abdel Nasser nominated 1st president of United Arab Republic |
| 02/05/1958 | Vanguard TV-3 back-up launches into Earth orbit; reaches 6 km |
| 02/06/1958 | 7 members on Manchester United football team die in an air crash |
| 02/07/1958 | 1st showing of DAF 600 auto |
| 02/08/1958 | Edgar Whitehead follows Garfield Todd as premier of South Rhodesia |
| 02/08/1958 | French planes bomb Sakiet Tunisia, 75 die |
| 02/08/1958 | KIRO TV channel 7 in Seattle, WA (CBS) begins broadcasting |
| 02/11/1958 | 1st flight with black stewardess, RC Taylor, Ithaca NY |
| 02/11/1958 | Marshal Tsjen Ji succeeds Tsjoe En-lai as Min of Foreign affairs |
| 02/11/1958 | WTVC TV channel 9 in Chattanooga, TN (ABC) begins broadcasting |
| 02/12/1958 | Gen Miguel Ydegoras Fuentes elected president of Guatemala |
| 02/14/1958 | Arab Federation of Iraq & Jordan forms |
| 02/15/1958 | Sjafroeddin Prawiranegara forms anti-govt of Middle Sumatra |
| 02/17/1958 | Comic strip "BC" 1st appears |
| 02/17/1958 | WETV (now WPBA) TV channel 30 in Atlanta, GA (PBS) begins broadcasting |
| 02/20/1958 | Jockey Eddie Arcaro rides his 4,000th winner |
| 02/21/1958 | Egypt-Syria as UAR elect Nasser president (99.9% vote) |
| 02/22/1958 | Australian swimmer Jon Konrads sets 6 world records in 2 days |
| 02/22/1958 | Indonesian air force bombs Padang, Sumatra/Menado, Celebes |
| 02/23/1958 | 5-time world driving champion Juan Fangio kidnapped by Cuban rebels |
| 02/23/1958 | Last Municipal arc light, Mission & 25th removed (installed in 1913) |
| 03/02/1958 | 1st surface crossing of Antarctic continent is completed |
| 03/02/1958 | Yemen announces it would join the United Arab Republic |
| 03/03/1958 | KTVU TV channel 2 in Oakland-San Francisco, CA (IND) 1st broadcast |
| 03/03/1958 | Nuri ash Said becomes premier of Iraq |
| 03/05/1958 | Explorer 2 fails to reach Earth orbit |
| 03/05/1958 | KDUH TV channel 4 in Scottsbluff-Hay Spring, NB (ABC) 1st broadcast |
| 03/07/1958 | Chicago Cardinals announce they will play their 1958 opener in Buffalo |
| 03/08/1958 | Silky Sullivan comes from 40 lengths back to win by 3 at Santa Anita |
| 03/08/1958 | William Faulkner says US school degenerated to become babysitters |
| 03/11/1958 | Charles Van Doren finally loses on TV game show "21" |
| 03/12/1958 | British Empire Day is renamed "Commonwealth Day" |
| 03/13/1958 | Govt troops land in Sumatra Indonesia |
| 03/14/1958 | South Africa government disallows ANC |
| 03/15/1958 | KULR TV channel 8 in Billings, MT (NBC/ABC/CBS) begins broadcasting |
| 03/17/1958 | Navy launches Vanguard 1 into orbit (2nd US), measures Earth shape |
| 03/20/1958 | 50" snow across the Mason-Dixon line |
| 03/20/1958 | Clandestine Burasi Bizim Radio (communist) begins transmitting |
| 03/20/1958 | Greek Clandestine Radio (communist), Voice of Truth 1st transmission |
| 03/21/1958 | 1st presentation of West Point's Sylvanus Thayer Award |
| 03/22/1958 | Faisal succeeds Saudi as king of Saudi-Arabia |
| 03/22/1958 | Kentucky beats Seattle 84-72 for NCAA basketball championship |
| 03/22/1958 | Liz Taylor's 3rd divorce (Mike Todd) |
| 03/24/1958 | Elvis Presley inducted into army in Memphis Tenn |
| 03/25/1958 | West German Bondsdag desires German atomic weapons |
| 03/26/1958 | Army launches 3rd successful US satellite, Explorer III |
| 03/27/1958 | Nikita Khrushchev becomes Soviet premier & 1st sect of Communist Party |
| 03/31/1958 | US Navy forms atomic sub division |
| 04/01/1958 | KVIQ TV channel 6 in Eureka, CA (NBC/ABC/CBS) begins broadcasting |
| 04/01/1958 | Marshal Boelganin becomes director of Russian Staatsbank |
| 04/02/1958 | Antillean Brewery (Amstel beer) opens |
| 04/02/1958 | National Advisory Council on Aeronautics renamed NASA |
| 04/02/1958 | Operations begin at Antillian Brewery (Amstel beer) |
| 04/02/1958 | Wind speed reaches 450 kph in tornado, Wichita Falls, TX (record) |
| 04/03/1958 | Fidel Castro's rebels open attack on Havana |
| 04/04/1958 | 1st march against nuclear weapons (Aldermaston England) |
| 04/06/1958 | Arnold Palmer wins 1st major golf tournament-Masters |
| 04/10/1958 | Northern strip of Spanish Sahara ceded to Morocco |
| 04/11/1958 | Brooks Hall in Civic Center dedicated (SF) |
| 04/12/1958 | St Louis beats Boston, 4 games to 2, for NBA championship |
| 04/14/1958 | Sputnik 2 (with dog Laika) burns up in atmosphere |
| 04/16/1958 | Arnold Palmer wins his 1st Masters golf tournament |
| 04/16/1958 | French cabinet-Gaillard falls due to Tunisia crisis |
| 04/17/1958 | Brussel's (Belgium) World Fair opens |
| 04/18/1958 | Govt troops reconquer Padang, Middel-Sumatra Indonesia |
| 04/20/1958 | Buses replace Key System trains at 3 AM |
| 04/20/1958 | Montreal Canadiens beat Boston Bruins 4 games to 2 for Stanley Cup |
| 04/20/1958 | Morocco demands departure of Spanish troops |
| 04/24/1958 | Lee Walls hits 3 HRS, as Cubs beat Dodgers 15-2 |
| 04/28/1958 | Vanguard TV-5 launched for Earth orbit (failed) |
| 04/28/1958 | Vice Pres Richard Nixon begins goodwill tour of Latin America |
| 05/01/1958 | Ambonese rebellion bombed Ambon/conquer Morotai |
| 05/03/1958 | WINS suspends Alan Freed for causing a riot in Boston, he quits |
| 05/04/1958 | Alberto Lleras Camargo chosen president of Colombia |
| 05/05/1958 | KNME TV channel 5 in Albuquerque, NM (PBS) begins broadcasting |
| 05/05/1958 | Pulitzer prize awarded to James Agee for (Death in the Family) |
| 05/07/1958 | Howard Johnson sets aircraft altitude record in F-104, 27,810 m |
| 05/08/1958 | Pres Eisenhower orders National Guard out of Central HS, Little Rock |
| 05/08/1958 | VP Nixon is shoved, stoned, booed & spat upon by protesters in Peru |
| 05/09/1958 | Botvinnik recaptures world chess championship |
| 05/13/1958 | French settlers riot against French army in Algeria |
| 05/13/1958 | Jordan & Iraq form Arab Federation |
| 05/13/1958 | Pierre Pflimlin forms French govt |
| 05/13/1958 | Rioters attack US VP Nixon in Venezuala |
| 05/13/1958 | Stan Musial gets hit # 3000 |
| 05/15/1958 | USSR launches Sputnik III |
| 05/16/1958 | Eli Beeding experiences 83 g deceleration on a rocket sled, New Mex |
| 05/16/1958 | Walter Irwin flies 2,259 KPH in F-104A Starfighter |
| 05/17/1958 | Emergency crisis proclaimed in Algeria |
| 05/19/1958 | South Pacific soundtrack album goes to #1 & stays #1 for 31 weeks |
| 05/21/1958 | Indonesian paratroopers reconquers Morotai Island |
| 05/23/1958 | Mao Tse tung start "Great leap forward" movement in China |
| 05/24/1958 | Pres Batista opens offensive against Fidel Castro's rebellion |
| 05/24/1958 | UP & International News Service merge into United Press International |
| 05/26/1958 | Ceylon emergency crisis proclaimed |
| 05/26/1958 | Union Square, SF becomes state historical landmark |
| 05/27/1958 | Ernest Green & 600 whites graduate from Little Rock's Central HS |
| 05/27/1958 | Vanguard SLV-1 launched for Earth orbit (failed) |
| 05/28/1958 | French cabinet of Pflimlin resigns |
| 05/31/1958 | Dick Dale invents "surf music" with "Let's Go Trippin" |
| 06/01/1958 | Belgian christian-democrats win parliamentary election |
| 06/01/1958 | Charles de Gaulle becomes premier of France |
| 06/02/1958 | Alan Freed joins WABC (NYC) radio |
| 06/04/1958 | French premier De Gaulle arrives in Algiers |
| 06/07/1958 | Battles between Turkish & Greeks Cypriots break out |
| 06/11/1958 | UN Security council sends observers to Lebanon |
| 06/14/1958 | British parachutists lands on Cyprus |
| 06/14/1958 | Nelson Mandela weds Winnie Madikizela |
| 06/14/1958 | Tommy Bolt wins US Open golf tournament |
| 06/16/1958 | Govt troops land on North-Celebes Indonesia |
| 06/17/1958 | Radio Moscow reports execution of Hungarian ex-premier Imre Nagy |
| 06/21/1958 | French franc devalues |
| 06/22/1958 | Game in KC between A's & Red Sox delayed 29 minutes due to tornado |
| 06/26/1958 | Gaston Eyskens becomes premier of Belgium |
| 06/26/1958 | Mackinac Straits Bridge, Michigan dedicated |
| 06/26/1958 | Vanguard SLV-2 launched for Earth orbit (failed) |
| 06/27/1958 | Billy Pierce's perfect game bid broken with 2 outs in 9th |
| 06/27/1958 | Harry Burrell flies KC-135 record (52742.8) NY to London |
| 06/28/1958 | Brazil becomes world soccer champ in Sweden |
| 06/28/1958 | Nancy Ramey swims world record 100m (109.6) |
| 06/29/1958 | Brazil beats Sweden 5-2 in soccer's 6th World Cup at Stockholm |
| 07/03/1958 | "Andy Williams Show" premiers on ABC (later on CBS & NBC) |
| 07/05/1958 | Althea Gibson wins Wimbledon |
| 07/05/1958 | J Pengel forms cabinet/Emanuels premier of Suriname |
| 07/06/1958 | Adolfo Lopez Mateos elected pres of Mexico |
| 07/06/1958 | Alaska becomes 49th state |
| 07/07/1958 | Pres Eisenhower signs Alaska statehood bill |
| 07/08/1958 | AL beats NL 4-3 in 25th All Star Game (Memorial Stadium, Baltimore) |
| 07/10/1958 | 1st parking meter installed in England (625 installed) |
| 07/10/1958 | ex-king Norodom Sihanoek appointed premier of Cambodia |
| 07/14/1958 | General Abdul K Kassem forms a military govt in Iraq |
| 07/14/1958 | Iraqi army overthrows monarchy; republic replaces Hashemite dynasty |
| 07/15/1958 | Pres Eisenhower sends US troops to Lebanon; they stay 3 months |
| 07/17/1958 | King Hussein declares himself head of Jordan/Iraqi federation |
| 07/19/1958 | Charly Gaul wins Tour de France |
| 07/20/1958 | Dow Finsterwald wins PGA golf tournament |
| 07/23/1958 | 1st 4 women named to peerage in House of Lords |
| 07/24/1958 | 14 people named 1st life peers in UK |
| 07/26/1958 | Army launches 4th US successful satellite, Explorer IV |
| 07/28/1958 | Baltimore Colts wins NFL-championship |
| 07/29/1958 | Pres Eisenhower signs NASA & Space Act of 1958 |
| 07/29/1958 | Southern Pacific Bay ferries stop running |
| 07/31/1958 | Anti-Chinese uprising in Tibet |
| 08/01/1958 | 1st class postage up to 4› (had been 3› for 26 years) |
| 08/01/1958 | US atomic sub USS Nautilus 1st dives under North Pole |
| 08/02/1958 | Jordan & Iraq disolve their Arab Federation, after 3 months |
| 08/03/1958 | USS Nautilus begins 1st crossing of Arctic Ocean under icecap |
| 08/04/1958 | Dumont TV Network crumbles |
| 08/05/1958 | Atomic sub USS Nautilus completes 1st trip under North Pole |
| 08/06/1958 | Glenn Davis sets record of 49.2 in 400-meter hurdles |
| 08/14/1958 | Canadian Football League plays 1st game (Winnipeg 29, Edmonton 21) |
| 08/14/1958 | Cleve Indian, Vic Power steals home twice in 1 game |
| 08/14/1958 | KLM Superconstellation crashes west of Ireland, killing 99 |
| 08/15/1958 | Marshal Boelganin resigns as director of Staatsbank |
| 08/17/1958 | World's 1st Moon probe, US's Thor-Able, explodes at T +77 sec |
| 08/18/1958 | Betsy Palmer joins Today Show panel |
| 08/18/1958 | Fidel Castro makes a speech on Cuban pirate radio Rebelde |
| 08/18/1958 | Great Britain issues regional stamps (N Ireland, Scotland & Wales) |
| 08/18/1958 | Heavyweight Floyd Patterson KOs Roy Harris |
| 08/18/1958 | Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov, published |
| 08/18/1958 | TV game show scandal investigation starts |
| 08/19/1958 | NAACP Youth Council begin sit-ins at Oklahoma City Lunch counters |
| 08/20/1958 | Dale Long becomes 1st major league lefty catcher in 52 years |
| 08/20/1958 | Detroit Tiger Jim Bunning no-hits Boston Red Sox, 3-0 |
| 08/21/1958 | KUT-FM in Austin Texas begins radio transmissions |
| 08/22/1958 | Argos' Boyd Carter, Dave Mann combine for record 131-yd punt return |
| 08/23/1958 | China PR resumes fire on Quemoi & Matsoe |
| 08/23/1958 | Marie Ashton completes playing piano a female record 133 hours |
| 08/27/1958 | USSR launches Sputnik 3 with 2 dogs aboard |
| 08/29/1958 | Air Force Academy opens |
| 09/01/1958 | St Louis Card Vinegar Bend Mizell walks a record 9 men in a shutout |
| 09/02/1958 | Henry Verwoerd appointed PM of South-Africa |
| 09/02/1958 | KAYS TV channel 7 in Hays, KS (CBS) begins broadcasting |
| 09/05/1958 | "Doctor Zhivago" by Boris Pasternak published in US |
| 09/05/1958 | 1st color video recording on magnetic tape presented, Charlotte NC |
| 09/05/1958 | WKPC TV channel 15 in Louisville, KY (PBS) begins broadcasting |
| 09/08/1958 | Oman turns over Gwadur (on Bal£chist n coast) to Pakistan |
| 09/09/1958 | Pirate Roberto Clemente ties record of 3 triples in a game |
| 09/10/1958 | WJCT TV channel 7 in Jacksonville, FL (PBS) begins broadcasting |
| 09/13/1958 | Queen Juliana christens passenger ship Rotterdam |
| 09/14/1958 | WTAE TV channel 4 in Pittsburgh, PA (ABC) begins broadcasting |
| 09/15/1958 | 48 die in a train crash in Elizabethport NJ |
| 09/15/1958 | Commuter train crashes through drawbridge, killing 48 (Newark NJ) |
| 09/20/1958 | A black woman stabs Martin Luther King Jr in chest in NYC |
| 09/20/1958 | Baltimore Oriole knuckler Hoyt Wilhelm no-hits NY Yankees 1-0 |
| 09/20/1958 | Ferhat Abbas forms Algerian govt in exile (Cairo) |
| 09/20/1958 | Martin Luther King Jr stabbed in chest by a deranged black woman |
| 09/21/1958 | 1st airplane flight exceeding 1200 hours, lands, Dallas Tx |
| 09/22/1958 | US nuclear sub USS Skate remains 31 days under Pole (record) |
| 09/24/1958 | 1st welded aluminum girder highway bridge completed, Urbandale, Ia |
| 09/26/1958 | Columbia (US) beats Sceptre (England) in 18th America's Cup |
| 09/28/1958 | France adopts constitution |
| 09/28/1958 | Guinea votes for independence from France |
| 09/30/1958 | French Guin‚e becomes independent republic Guinea |
| 10/01/1958 | Britain transfers Christmas Island (south of Java) to Australia |
| 10/01/1958 | Inauguration of NASA |
| 10/01/1958 | Vanguard Project transferred from military to NASA |
| 10/02/1958 | Guinea (French Guinea) gains independence from France (National Day) |
| 10/02/1958 | Musical show "Valmouth," 1st produced in London |
| 10/04/1958 | 5th French republic established |
| 10/04/1958 | Transatlantic coml jet passenger service began (BOAC) |
| 10/05/1958 | KRTV TV channel 3 in Great Falls, MT (CBS) begins broadcasting |
| 10/06/1958 | US nuclear sub USS Seawolfe remains record 60 days under pole |
| 10/07/1958 | Potter Stewart appointed to US Supreme Court |
| 10/07/1958 | US manned space-flight project renamed Project Mercury |
| 10/08/1958 | Dr Ake Senning installs 1st pacemaker (Stockholm) |
| 10/08/1958 | KCMT TV channel 7 in Alexandria, MN (CBS/NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting |
| 10/11/1958 | 2nd US Moon probe, Pioneer 1, reaches 113,810 km, falls back |
| 10/12/1958 | CVP wins municipal elections in Belgium |
| 10/12/1958 | WJRT TV channel 12 in Flint, MI (ABC) begins broadcasting |
| 10/14/1958 | Malagasy Republic becomes autonomous republic in French Community |
| 10/15/1958 | Tunisia drops diplomatic relations with Egypt |
| 10/21/1958 | 1st women in English House of Lords |
| 10/23/1958 | Soviet novelist Boris Pasternak, wins Nobel Prize for Literature |
| 10/23/1958 | USSR lends money to UAR to build Aswan High Dam |
| 10/24/1958 | USSR lends Egypt 400 million rubles to build Aswan Dam |
| 10/26/1958 | PanAm flies 1st transatlantic jet trip-NY to Paris |
| 10/27/1958 | Gen Ayub Khan succeeds Iskander Mirza as president of Pakistan |
| 10/27/1958 | WEDU TV channel 3 in Tampa-St Petersburg, FL (PBS) begins broadcasting |
| 10/28/1958 | Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, elected Pope, taking name John XXIII |
| 10/29/1958 | Boris Pasternak refuses Nobel prize for literature |
| 11/04/1958 | Angelo G Roncalli crowned Pope John XXIII |
| 11/04/1958 | Angelo G Roncalli crowned as pope John XXIII |
| 11/04/1958 | Belgian cabinet of Eyskens, resigns |
| 11/04/1958 | Democrats win US congressional election |
| 11/05/1958 | KGLD (now KSNG) TV channel 11 in Garden City, KS (NBC) 1st broadcast |
| 11/06/1958 | Belgium cabinet of Eyskens & Lilar forms |
| 11/10/1958 | WUFT TV channel 5 in Gainesville, FL (PBS) begins broadcasting |
| 11/17/1958 | KAII TV channel 7 in Wailuku, HI (NBC) begins broadcasting |
| 11/18/1958 | 1st true reservoir in Jurusalem opens |
| 11/24/1958 | Mali becomes an autonomous state within French Community |
| 11/25/1958 | Senegal becomes an autonomous state in French Community |
| 11/27/1958 | USSR abrogates Allied war-time agreements on control of Germany |
| 11/28/1958 | Chad becomes an autonomous republic within French community |
| 11/28/1958 | Congo & Mauritania become autonomous members of French Community |
| 11/28/1958 | George "Punch" Imlach becomes coach of NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs |
| 11/28/1958 | KCOO (now KABY) TV channel 9 in Aberdeen, SD (ABC) begins broadcasting |
| 11/30/1958 | 1st guided missile destroyer launched, Dewey, Bath, Me |
| 11/30/1958 | WKBW TV channel 7 in Buffalo, NY (ABC) begins broadcasting |
| 12/01/1958 | Central African Rep made autonomous member of Fr Comm (Nat'l Day) |
| 12/01/1958 | Chicago parochial school in fire 93 die |
| 12/01/1958 | Our Lady of Angels School burns, killing 92 students & 3 nuns (Chic) |
| 12/02/1958 | Benelux treaty signed by Belgium, Netherlands & Luxembourg |
| 12/02/1958 | KNOP TV channel 2 in North Platte, NB (NBC) begins broadcasting |
| 12/02/1958 | Pete Dawkins, Army back wins Heisman Trophy |
| 12/04/1958 | Dahomey (Benin), Ivory Coast become autonomous within Fr Community |
| 12/04/1958 | Finnish govt of Fagerholm, resigns |
| 12/05/1958 | WTOL TV channel 11 in Toledo, OH (CBS) begins broadcasting |
| 12/06/1958 | US lunar probe Pioneer 3 reaches 107,269 km, falls back |
| 12/07/1958 | R¢mulo B‚tancourt elected pres of Venezuela |
| 12/10/1958 | 1st domestic (NY-Miami) passenger jet flight-National 707 flew 111 |
| 12/11/1958 | Upper Volta (now Bourkina Fasso) gains autonomy from France |
| 12/12/1958 | Dutch social democratic party-ministers/premier Drees dismissed |
| 12/16/1958 | Bogot warehouse fire kills 82 |
| 12/18/1958 | 1st test project of Signal Communications by Orbiting Relay Equip |
| 12/18/1958 | 1st voice from space recorded Christmas message by Eisenhower |
| 12/18/1958 | Niger gains autonomy within French Community (National Day) |
| 12/21/1958 | Charles De Gaulle wins 7 year term as 1st pres of 5th Rep of France |
| 12/22/1958 | L J M Beel becomes premier |
| 12/23/1958 | Abdallah Ibrahim forms govt of Morocco |
| 12/28/1958 | What might be called greatest NFL game, Colts beat Giants 23-17 |
| 12/29/1958 | Balt Colts beat NY Giants 23-17 in NFL championship game |
| 12/29/1958 | TV soap "Young Dr Malone" debuts |
| 12/30/1958 | French franc devalued |
| 12/31/1958 | International Geophyscial Year ends |
| 12/31/1958 | Willie Shoemaker 1st jockey to win national riding championship 4X |
· Pope Pius XII dies at age 82. Angelo Guiseppe Cardinal Roncalli is elected the new pope and takes the name Pope John XXIII. |
· A fire at the Museum of Modern Art in New York kills one worker and destroys two Monets. The Museum is accused of safety violations because workers smoke near sawdust. |
· Columnist Herb Caen coins a new name for members of the “beat” generation - beatnik. Said Caen, “I coined the word 'beatnik' simply because Russia's Sputnik was aloft at the time and the word popped out.” |
· “Bridge on the River Kwai” wins the Academy Award for Best Picture (of 1957). It beats out “12 Angry Men”, “Peyton Place”, “Sayonara”, and “Witness for the Prosecution”. |
· “Gunsmoke” (CBS) wins the Emmy Award for Best Dramatic Series. “The Dinah Shore Chevy Show” (NBC) wins for Best Musical, Variety or Quiz Series. “Phil Silvers Show” (CBS) wins for Best Comedy Series. |
· The New York Yankees win the World Series, beating the Milwaukee Braves 4 games to 3. |
· The Baltimore Colts win the NFL Championship over the New York Giants 23-17. |
· The St. Louis Hawks win the NBA Championship over the Boston Celtics 4 games to 2. |
· The Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup, beating the Boston Bruins 4 games to 2. |
· The USA and Canada formalize the joint North American Air Defense Command (NORAD), headquartered in Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs. |
· President Eisenhower signs legislation creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as a non-military agency. |
· The US, Britain and USSR begin talks on establishing a formal nuclear test ban treaty. |
· The National Defense Education Act (NDEA) responds to the 1957 Soviet launching of Sputnik. The act encourages the study of science, mathematics and languages, but leaves management and implementation to state and local government. |
· The American nuclear submarine Nautilus makes a successful trip under the North Pole. |
· The first regularly-scheduled transatlantic jet passenger service is inaugurated between New York and London. |
· The first regularly-scheduled jet passenger service within the US, daily service from New York to Miami, is inaugurated. |
· The Christmas song “The Little Drummer Boy” is written by Henry Onerati, Katherine Davis and Harry Simeone. |
· Rod Serling writes “The Time Element” as a pilot for his proposed sci-fi series, “The Twilight Zone.” CBS wanted a half-hour format for the series, and rejected the pilot as too long. Desilu purchased the show and ran it on their “Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse” on November 24, 1958. It's unexpected popularity encouraged the network to proceed with “The Twilight Zone.” |
Popular Culture 1958
· The Wham-O company introduces the Hula Hoop; over 100 million are sold.
Popular Films
- The Bridge on the River Kwai
- South Pacific
- Gigi
- King Creole
- Vertigo
Popular Singers
- Elvis Presley
- Billie Holiday
- Ricky Nelson
- Frank Sinatra
- The Everly Brothers
- Ella Fitzgerald
- Jerry Lee Lewis
Popular TV Programs
- Candid Camera
- The Ed Sullivan Show
Births
- January 20 - Lorenzo Lamas, actor
- January 24 - Jools Holland, musician
- January 26 - Ellen DeGeneres, actress, comedienne
- February 11 - Michael Jackson, controller of BBC2.
- February 11 - Regina Marsikova, Czechoslovakian tennis player.
- February 13 - Pernilla August, actress
- February 16 - Ice-T, singer, songwriter, actor
- February 21 - Mary Chapin Carpenter, singer
- February 24 - Sammy Kershaw, musician
- March 3 - Miranda Richardson, actress
- March 5 - Andy Gibb, singer (d. 1988)
- March 10 - Sharon Stone, actress
- March 14 - Prince Albert of Monaco
- March 20 - Holly Hunter, actress
- March 21 - Gary Oldman, actor
- April 3 - Alec Baldwin, actor
- April 21 - Andie MacDowell, actress
- May 16 - Amp Fiddler, musician (P Funk)
- May 20 - Ron Reagan, dancer, talk show host, son of former President Ronald Reagan
- May 23 - Drew Carey comedian, actor