The Year Was 1958

  1. News
  2. Events
  3. Pop Culture

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 Mnnich 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