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1958

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

Events of 1958

January

January 4 - Sputnik 1 falls to Earth from its orbit (launched on October 4 1957).
January 8 - 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 28 - Hall of Fame baseball player Roy Campanella is involved in an automobile accident that ends his career and leaves him paralyzed.
January 31 - The first successful American satellite, Explorer 1, is launched into orbit.

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.
Tybee Bomb a 7,600 pound (3,500 kg) Mark 15 hydrogen bomb was lost in the waters off Savannah, Georgia.

February 6 - Munich air disaster - 23 dead, including 8 players for Manchester United.
February 11

Marshal Chen Yi succeeds Zhou Enlai as Chinese Minister of Foreign affairs.
Ruth Carol Taylor is the first 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 21 - Peace symbol designed and completed by Gerald Holtom, commissioned by 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. They release him 28 hours later.
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.

Turkish passenger ship Uskudar capsized and sank at Izmit Bay, Kocaeli, Turkey, killing at least 300.

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 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.
30th Academy Awards ceremony

March 27 - Nikita Khrushchev becomes Premier of the Soviet Union.

April

April 1 - BBC Radiophonic Workshop established.
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 - Cheryl Crane, the daughter of actress Lana Turner, fatally stabs her mother's gangster lover Johnny Stompanato (eventually ruled as self-defense).
April 6 - Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiari divorces the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi after she is unable to produce any children.
April 14 - Van Cliburn wins the Tchaikovsky International Competition for pianists in Moscow, breaking Cold War tensions.
April 15 - The first Major League Baseball regular season game ever played in California as the San Francisco Giants beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-0 at San Francisco's Seals Stadium.
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.
The Nordic Passport Union comes into force.

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

French Algerian protesters seize government offices in Algiers, leading to a military coup.
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 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.
May 23 - Explorer 1 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.
Iceland extends its fishing limits to 12 miles (22.2 km).

June 2 - San Simeon, California, USA; Hearst Castle opens to the public for guided tours.
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.
First International House of Pancakes (IHOP) opens in Toluca Lake, Calif.

July 9

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 4 is launched
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom gives her son Charles the title of Prince of Wales.
July 28 - Terrance Stanley Fox is born in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

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 14 - A 4 engined Super Constellation aircraft belonging to KLM had crashed into the sea with 99 people on board. At the time, this was described as probably the worst crash in civil aviation history.
August 17 - The first Thor space craft was launched carrying Pioneer 0 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 17 and failed with a first stage malfunction.
August 18 - Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.
August 23 - Chinese Civil War: The Second Taiwan Strait crisis begins with the People's Liberation Army's bombardment of Quemoy.
August 27 - The United States begins Operation Argus.
August 30-September 1 - Riots between blacks and whites in Notting Hill, London.

September

September 1 - Beginning of the First Cod War between UK and Iceland.
September 6 - Paul Robeson performs in concert at Young Pioneer camp Artek.
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 at least 1,269 killed.
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.
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 21 - The Life Peerages Act entitle 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

November 3 - New UNESCO building inaugurated in Paris.
November 10 - Birth of the Bossa nova in Rio de Janeiro, Joao Gilberto records "Chega de Sudade".
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

Adolfo López Mateos takes office as President of Mexico.
Central African Republic becomes independent from France.
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.
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 third launch of a Thor space craft carrying Pioneer 2 was unsuccessful due to a 3rd stage ignition failure.
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 24 - 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 in Cuba.

Undated

During the International Geophysical Year, Earth's magnetosphere is discovered.
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 genital cutting 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 ceased having serrated edges after a five year period beginning in 1953. All 10 yen coins since and before had smooth edges.
The largest solar maximum in recorded history of solar maxima occurs.
Recession of 1958
Instant noodles go on sale for the first time.
First year of the British Rally Championship

Ongoing

Births

January-February

January 1 - Grandmaster Flash, hip-hop/rap DJ
January 2 - Vladimir Ovchinnikov, Russian pianist
January 4 - Matt Frewer, Canadian/American actor
January 9 - Mehmet Ali Ağca, Turkish militant
January 11 - Vicki Peterson, Guitarist for The Bangles
January 13 - Ricardo Acuña, Chilean tennis player
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 broadcasting executive
Regina Maršíková, Czechoslovakian tennis player

February 13

Pernilla August, Swedish actress
Tip Tipping, British actor and stuntman (d. 1993)

February 14 - Grant Thomas, Australian rules footballer
February 16 - Ice-T, American singer, songwriter, and actor
February 21

Jake Burns, Irish singer (Stiff Little Fingers)
Mary Chapin Carpenter, American singer

February 24

Sammy Kershaw, American musician
Mark Moses, American actor

February 25 - Kurt Rambis, American basketball player
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
Lennie Lee, British artist

March 5 - Andy Gibb, English-born singer (d. 1988)
March 7 - Rik Mayall, English comedian
March 8 - Gary Numan, British singer
March 10

Steve Howe, baseball player (d. 2006)
Sharon Stone, American actress

March 13 - Linda Robson, English actress (Birds of a Feather)
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
March 28 - Bart Conner, American gymnast
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
Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, American musician and record producer

April 11 - Luc Luycx, Belgian designer of the Euro coins common side
April 12 - Will Sergeant, English guitarist (Echo & the Bunnymen)
April 15

Keith Acton, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
Dolores Gordon-Smith, British Writer
Benjamin Zephaniah, British writer and musician

April 21 - Andie MacDowell, American actress
April 22 - Ken Olandt, American actor
April 24 - Brian Paddick, British former deputy assistant commissioner and most senior openly gay police officer
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 4 - Keith Haring, Artist
May 10 - Rick Santorum, Former senator from PA
May 11 - Christian Brando, American actor and eldest child of Marlon Brando (d. 2008)
May 12 - Dries Van Noten, Belgian Designer.
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