What Happened in 1958 — Events, Births & Deaths

The West Indies Federation is formed.

Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, falls to Earth from orbit.

The Moroccan Army of Liberation ambushes a Spanish patrol in the Battle of Edchera.

Willie O'Ree, the first Black Canadian National Hockey League player, makes his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins.

After a general uprising and rioting in the streets, President Marcos Pérez Jiménez leaves Venezuela.

The Lego company patents the design of its Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today.

Cold War: Space Race: The Explorer 1, the first successful American satellite, detects the Van Allen radiation belt.

Founding of the Benelux Economic Union, creating a testing ground for a later European Economic Community.

Gamal Abdel Nasser is nominated to be the first president of the United Arab Republic.

A hydrogen bomb known as the Tybee Bomb is lost by the US Air Force off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, never to be recovered.

Eight Manchester United F.C. players and 15 other passengers are killed in the Munich air disaster.

The CND symbol, aka peace symbol, commissioned by the Direct Action Committee in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, is designed and completed by Gerald Holtom.

Following a plebiscite in both countries the previous day, Egypt and Syria join to form the United Arab Republic.

Five-time Argentine Formula One champion Juan Manuel Fangio is kidnapped by rebels involved in the Cuban Revolution, on the eve of the Cuban Grand Prix. He was released the following day after the race.

A school bus in Floyd County, Kentucky hits a wrecker truck and plunges down an embankment into the rain-swollen Levisa Fork river. The driver and 26 children die in one of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history.

Samuel Alphonsus Stritch is appointed Pro-Prefect of the Propagation of Faith and thus becomes the first U.S. member of the Roman Curia.

Nuri al-Said becomes Prime Minister of Iraq for the eighth time.

The United States launches the first solar-powered satellite, which is also the first satellite to achieve a long-term orbit.

The Monarch Underwear Company fire leaves 24 dead and 15 injured.

The United States Army launches Explorer 3.

The African Regroupment Party is launched at a meeting in Paris.

Nikita Khrushchev becomes Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union.

In the Canadian federal election, the Progressive Conservatives, led by John Diefenbaker, win the largest percentage of seats in Canadian history, with 208 seats of 265.

The CND peace symbol is displayed in public for the first time in London.

Ripple Rock, an underwater threat to navigation in the Seymour Narrows in Canada, is destroyed in one of the largest non-nuclear controlled explosions of the time.

Capital Airlines Flight 67 crashes in Tittabawassee Township, Michigan, near Freeland Tri-City Airport, killing 47.

The Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 falls from orbit after a mission duration of 162 days. This was the first spacecraft to carry a living animal, a female dog named Laika, who likely lived only a few hours.

United Air Lines Flight 736 collides with a United States Air Force fighter jet near Arden, Nevada in what is now Enterprise, Nevada.

Final run of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Royal Blue from Washington, D.C., to New York City after 68 years, the first U.S. passenger train to use electric locomotives.

During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, the US Vice President Richard Nixon's car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators.

May 1958 crisis: A group of French military officers lead a coup in Algiers demanding that a government of national unity be formed with Charles de Gaulle at its head in order to defend French control of Algeria.

Ben Carlin becomes the first (and only) person to circumnavigate the world by amphibious vehicle, having travelled over 17,000 kilometres (11,000 mi) by sea and 62,000 kilometres (39,000 mi) by land during a ten-year journey.

Capital Airlines Flight 300 collides in mid-air with a United States Air Force Lockheed T-33 over Brunswick, Maryland, killing 12.

The 1958 riots in Ceylon become a watershed in the race relations of various ethnic communities of Sri Lanka. The total deaths are estimated at 300, mostly Tamils.

United Press International is formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service.

First flight of the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II.

Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement, heavily reinforced by Frank Pais Militia, overwhelm an army post in El Uvero.

Memorial Day: The remains of two unidentified American servicemen, killed in action during World War II and the Korean War respectively, are buried at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.

Charles de Gaulle comes out of retirement to lead France by decree for six months.

Aeronaves de México Flight 111 crashes on approach to Guadalajara International Airport, killing 45.

Aeroflot Flight 105 crashes on approach to Magdan-13 Airport, killing 24.

Imre Nagy, Pál Maléter and other leaders of the 1956 Hungarian Uprising are executed.

The Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing, in the process of being built to connect Vancouver and North Vancouver (Canada), collapses into the Burrard Inlet killing 18 ironworkers and injuring others.

Benjamin Britten's one-act opera Noye's Fludde premieres at the Aldeburgh Festival.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation links television broadcasting across Canada via microwave.

Flooding of Canada's Saint Lawrence Seaway begins.

US President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Alaska Statehood Act into law.

A 7.8 Mw strike-slip earthquake in Alaska causes a landslide that produces a megatsunami. The runup from the waves reached 525 m (1,722 ft) on the rim of Lituya Bay; five people were killed.

In the 14 July Revolution in Iraq, the monarchy is overthrown by popular forces led by Abd al-Karim Qasim, who becomes the nation's new leader.

The African Regroupment Party holds its first congress in Cotonou.

Explorer program: Explorer 4 is launched.

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs into law the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The world's first nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilus, becomes the first vessel to complete a submerged transit of the geographical North Pole.

Law of Permanent Defense of Democracy, outlawing the Communist Party of Chile and banning 26,650 persons from the electoral lists, is repealed in Chile.

Pioneer 0, America's first attempt at lunar orbit, is launched using the first Thor-Able rocket and fails. Notable as one of the first attempted launches beyond Earth orbit by any country.

Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.

Brojen Das from Bangladesh swims across the English Channel in a competition as the first Bengali and the first Asian to do so, placing first among the 39 competitors.

Chinese Civil War: The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis begins with the People's Liberation Army's bombardment of Quemoy.

The world's first publicly marketed instant noodles, Chikin Ramen, are introduced by Taiwanese-Japanese businessman Momofuku Ando.

United States Air Force Academy opens in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

A USAF RC-130 is shot down by fighters over Armenia when it strays into Soviet airspace while conducting a sigint mission. All crew members are killed.

Jack Kilby demonstrates the first working integrated circuit while working at Texas Instruments.

The first two German post-war rockets, designed by the German engineer Ernst Mohr, reach the upper atmosphere.

A Central Railroad of New Jersey commuter train runs through an open drawbridge at the Newark Bay, killing 48.

Fernando Rios, a Mexican tour guide in New Orleans, dies of injuries sustained in an incident of gay bashing.

Guinea declares its independence from France.

The current constitution of France is adopted.

The 1958 Pakistani coup d'état inaugurates a prolonged period of military rule.

The U.S. crewed space-flight project is renamed to Project Mercury.

NASA launches Pioneer 1, its first space probe, although it fails to achieve a stable orbit.

Canada's Springhill mining disaster kills seventy-five miners, while ninety-nine others are rescued.

Belgian artist Peyo's comic characters, the Smurfs, make their debut in Spirou magazine.

Pan American Airways makes the first commercial flight of the Boeing 707 from New York City to Paris.

Iskander Mirza, the first President of Pakistan, is deposed by General Ayub Khan, who had been appointed the enforcer of martial law by Mirza 20 days earlier.

John XXIII is elected Pope.

The Hope Diamond is donated to the Smithsonian Institution by New York diamond merchant Harry Winston.

A team of rock climbers led by Warren Harding completes the first ascent of The Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley.

French Sudan gains autonomy as a self-governing member of the French Community.

Chad, the Republic of the Congo, and Gabon become autonomous republics within the French Community.

First successful flight of SM-65 Atlas; the first operational intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), developed by the United States and the first member of the Atlas rocket family.

The Central African Republic attains self-rule within the French Union.

The Our Lady of the Angels School fire in Chicago kills 92 children and three nuns.

Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) is inaugurated in the United Kingdom by Queen Elizabeth II when she speaks to the Lord Provost in a call from Bristol to Edinburgh.

The Preston By-pass, the UK's first stretch of motorway, opens to traffic for the first time. (It is now part of the M6 and M55 motorways.)

French Upper Volta and French Dahomey gain self-government from France, becoming the Republic of Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) and the Republic of Dahomey (now Benin), respectively, and joining the French Community.

The 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition becomes the first to reach the southern pole of inaccessibility.

Project SCORE, the world's first communications satellite, is launched.

"Greatest Game Ever Played": The Baltimore Colts defeat the New York Giants in the first ever National Football League sudden death overtime game at New York's Yankee Stadium to win the NFL Championship.

The Guatemalan Air Force sinks several Mexican fishing boats alleged to have breached maritime borders, killing three and sparking international tension.

Maurice Gamelin, Belgian-French general (born 1872)