What happened in 1958
January 1958
Saturday 04:
Sputnik 1 falls to Earth from its orbit (launched on October 4, 1957).
Wednesday 08:
14 year old Bobby Fischer wins the United States Chess Championship.
Monday 13:
Moroccan Liberation Army ambushes Spanish patrol in the Battle of Edchera
Tuesday 28:
Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate begin their murder spree with the killings of her parents and infant sister.
Wednesday 29:
Police capture Charles Starkweather in Wyoming.
February 1958
Saturday 01:
Merger of Egypt and Syria to form the United Arab Republic, which lasted until 1961.
Wednesday 05:
A hydrogen bomb known as Tybee Bomb is lost by the US Air Force off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, never to be recovered.
Thursday 06:
Bobby Charlton survived the Munich air disaster in Germany, which killed eight of his teammates with Manchester United F.C.
Saturday 22:
Egypt and Syria join to form the United Arab Republic.
Sunday 23:
Cuban rebels kidnap 5-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio.
March 1958
Monday 03:
Nuri as-Said becomes the prime minister of Iraq for the 14th time.
Wednesday 05:
1958 - Explorer 2 spacecraft launches.
Wednesday 12:
In Hilversum, Netherlands, André Claveau wins the third Eurovision Song Contest for France singing “Dors, mon amour” (Sleep, my love).
Wednesday 19:
A fire in a loft building in New York, New York kills 24 people.
Saturday 22:
Faisal becomes King of Saudi Arabia.
April 1958
Friday 18:
A U.S. federal court rules that poet Ezra Pound be released from an insane asylum.
May 1958
Monday 12:
A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada.
Tuesday 13:
1958 - Velcro’s trade mark is registered.
Thursday 15:
The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.
Friday 23:
Explorer I ceases transmission.
Saturday 24:
United Press International is formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service.
June 1958
Sunday 01:
Charles De Gaulle is brought out of retirement to lead France by decree for six months.
Monday 23:
The Dutch Reformed Church accepts women ministers.
July 1958
Tuesday 01:
1958 - Flooding of the St. Lawrence Seaway begins.
Saturday 05:
First ascent of Gasherbrum I, 11th highest peak on the earth
Monday 07:
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Alaska Statehood Act into United States law.
Friday 25:
The African Regroupment Party (PRA) holds its first congress in Cotonou.
Saturday 26:
Explorer program: Explorer 4 is launched.
August 1958
Sunday 03:
The nuclear submarine USS Nautilus travels beneath the Arctic ice cap.
Monday 18:
Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.
Saturday 23:
Chinese Civil War: The Second Taiwan Strait crisis begins with the People’s Liberation Army’s bombardment of Quemoy.
Friday 29:
United States Air Force Academy opens in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
September 1958
Wednesday 03:
In Greece, police start shaving the hair of youths called “teddy boys” to the skin.
Sunday 14:
Two rockets designed by the German engineer Ernst Mohr, the first German post-war rockets, reach the upper atmosphere.
Monday 15:
A New Jersey commuter train crashes through a drawbridge, killing 48.
Sunday 28:
France ratifies a new Constitution of France; the French Fifth Republic is then formed upon the formal adoption of the new constitution on October 4. Guinea rejects the new constitution, voting for independence instead.
October 1958
Wednesday 01:
NASA created to replace NACA.
Thursday 02:
Guinea declares itself independent from France.
Saturday 11:
Pioneer program: NASA launches the lunar probe Pioneer 1 (the probe falls back to Earth and burns up).
Tuesday 14:
The District of Columbia Bar Association votes to accept black Americans as members.
Sunday 26:
First commercial flight of the Boeing 707 from New York to Paris
November 1958
Sunday 23:
Have Gun, Will Travel debuts on radio.
Tuesday 25:
French Sudan gains autonomy as a self-governing member of the French Community.
Friday 28:
Chad, the Republic of the Congo, and Gabon become autonomous republics within the French Community.
December 1958
Thursday 04:
Dahomey (present-day Benin) becomes a self-governing country within the French Community.
Friday 05:
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
Tuesday 09:
John Birch Society founded.
Thursday 18:
Niger becomes an autonomous state within the French Community on December 4, 1958, after the establishment of the Fifth French Republic. Following full independence on August 3, 1960, however, membership was allowed to lapse.
Sunday 21:
Charles de Gaulle is elected as the first President and establishes the Fifth Republic
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