Music History
Dec 1 Sam Cooke, Buddy Holly and the Crickets debut on "The Ed Sullivan Show"
- Dec 2 1st US large scale nuclear power plant for peacetime use opens, Shippingport, Pennsylvania
- Dec 2 Sam Cooke's single "You Send Me" reaches #1
- Dec 2 NFL Draft: Rice quarterback King Hill #1 pick by Chicago Cardinals
- Dec 2 Pacific Coast League franchises forced to relocate when Dodgers and Giants confirm their move to California for 1958 MLB season; Hollywood Stars move from LA to Salt Lake City; LA Angels move to Spokane, and San Francisco Seals transfer to Phoenix
- Dec 3 23rd Heisman Trophy Award: John Crow, Texas A&M (HB)
- Dec 4 First edition of "Chase's Annual Events" published
- Dec 4 2 commuter trains collide in heavy fog killing 92 (St John's, England)
- Dec 5 William Inge's "Dark at the Top of the Stairs" premieres in NYC
- Dec 5 NYC is first US city to legislate against racial or religious discrimination in housing market (Fair Housing Practices Law)
- Dec 6 1st US attempt to launch a satellite fails-Vanguard rocket blows up
- Dec 6 AFL-CIO votes to expel Teamsters (readmitted in October 1987)
- Dec 6 Indonesia begins nationalizing Dutch possessions
- Dec 6 Roger Sessions' 3rd Symphony premieres in Boston with Charles Munch conducting the Boston Symphony
Davis Cup
Dec 6 Gardnar Mulloy becomes oldest American to win a Davis Cup tennis match at age 44 years, 14 days; teams with Vic Seixas to give US a match-clinching, 3-0 lead over the Philippines in the Inter Zone 1st round in Adelaide, Australia
- Dec 7 Tony Kubek of the Yanks selected as AL Rookie of the Year
Music History
Dec 8 CBS broadcasts "The Sound of Jazz", live from NYC: an all-star program featuring swing era and contemporary jazz artists, including Count Basie, Red Allen, Ben Webster;, Thelonious Monk, and Gerry Mulligan;, highlight is the last collaboration of Billie Holiday and Lester Young on "Fine and Mellow"
- Dec 9 1st Japanese ambassador to Israel
- Dec 12 Maj Adrian Drew flies 1,943 kph in F-101 Voodoo
- Dec 12 US announces manufacture of Borazon (harder than diamond)
- Dec 12 Willem J Kolff and his team at Ohio's Cleveland Clinic removed the heart from a dog and replaced it with a pneumatic pump which kept the dog alive for 90 minutes, proving the viability of the artificial heart
Film Release
Dec 13 "Peyton Place" film based on the novel by Grace Metalious, directed by Mark Robson and starring Lana Turner and Hope Lange is released
- Dec 14 "Most Happy Fella" closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 678 performances
- Dec 14 "Rumple" musical closes at Alvin Theater NYC after 45 performances
- Dec 16 Sir Feroz Khan Noon replaces Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar as Prime Minister of Pakistan
- Dec 17 US successfully test-fires Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile
Music History
Dec 17 The last episode of The Nat King Cole Show airs on NBC due to lack of national sponsorship
Football Awards
Dec 17 Ballon d'Or: Real Madrid forward Alfredo Di Stéfano wins award for best football player in Europe ahead of Englishmen Billy Wright and Duncan Edwards
- Dec 17 The largest trade in NHL history at the time in terms of quantity; Chicago Black Hawks move Nick Mickoski, Jack McIntyre, Bob Bailey & Hec Lalonde to Detroit Red Wings for Earl Reibel, Billy Dea, Bill Dineen & Lorne Ferguson
- Dec 18 World's 1st full scale nuclear power plant, for peacetime use only, begins to generate electricity at the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania
- Dec 19 Meredith Willson's musical "The Music Man", starring Robert Preston and Barbara Cook, opens at Majestic Theater, NYC; runs for 1375 performances, wins 5 Tony and a Grammy Award
Music History
Dec 20 Elvis Presley receives his draft notice to join the US Army for National Service
Music History
Dec 25 Richard Starkey (later better known as Ringo Starr) receives his first drum set
- Dec 28 CBS states it won't broadcast baseball where minor league games are on
- Dec 28 USSR performs atmospheric nuclear test
- Dec 28 46th Davis Cup: Australia beats USA in Melbourne (3-2)
- Dec 29 National Football League Championship, Briggs Stadium, Detroit: Detroit Lions beat Cleveland Browns, 50-14; Lions score 2 touchdowns in each quarter
Historic Event
Dec 30 Israeli government of Ben-Gurion, resigns
- Dec 31 AAU awards Bobby Morrow, James Sullivan Memorial Trophy