Historical Events in 1958

Events 1 - 200 of 586

• Jan 1 24th Orange Bowl: #4 Oklahoma beats #16 Duke, 48-21
• Jan 1 24th Sugar Bowl: #7 Mississippi beats #11 Texas, 39-7
• Jan 1 44th Rose Bowl: #2 Ohio State beats Oregon, 10-7

• Jan 1 BOAC Britannia flies London to NY in a record 7h57m
• Jan 1 European Economic Community, better known as the European Common Market starts operation
• Jan 1 WMBD TV channel 31 in Peoria, IL (CBS) begins broadcasting

• Jan 3 Australian cricket fast bowler Lindsay Kline takes a hat-trick (Eddie Fuller, Hugh Tayfield, Neil Adcock) as South Africa dismissed for 99 in follow-on 2nd Test at Cape Town
• Jan 3 The West Indies Federation is formed, made up of former British Caribbean territories, with the capital Port of Spain

• Jan 4 Sputnik 1 reenters atmosphere & burns up
• Jan 6 Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to E. E. Cummings
• Jan 6 WIPR TV channel 6 in San Juan, PR (PBS) begins broadcasting

• Jan 7 USSR reduces army to 300,000
• Jan 8 Cuban revolutionary forces capture Havana

• Jan 12 8th NFL Pro Bowl, LA Memorial Coliseum: Western Conference beats Eastern Conference, 26-7; MVPs: Hugh McElhenny, SF 49ers, HB; Gene Brito, Washington Redskins, DE
• Jan 12 NCAA adds 2 point conversion to football scoring

• Jan 13 9,000 scientists of 43 nations petition UN for nuclear test ban
• Jan 13 Moroccan Liberation Army ambushes Spanish patrol in the Battle of Edchera.
• Jan 13 US newspaper "Daily Worker" ceases publication
• Jan 15 New York Yankees announce that 140 MLB games to be televised on WPIX TV this season in a deal worth over $1 million dollars
• Jan 16 William Gibson's "Two for the Seesaw" premieres in NYC
• Jan 18 Willie O’Ree is the 1st African-American to appear in the NHL, making his debut for the Boston Bruins in a 3-0 victory in Montreal
• Jan 19 Canadian Football Council renamed Canadian Football League
• Jan 20 A group attempting the 1st surface crossing of Antarctic join up at the South Pole
• Jan 20 KUED TV channel 7 in Salt Lake City, UT (PBS) begins broadcasting

• Jan 21 KMOT TV channel 10 in Minot, ND (NBC) begins broadcasting
• Jan 21 Phillies agree to televise 78 games into NYC (doesn't happen)
• Jan 21 St Louis Hawks forward Bob Pettit becomes first member of the losing team to win the NBA All-Star MVP award; scores 28 points and grabs 26 rebounds, even though East beats West, 130-118
• Jan 22 KRSD (now KEVN) TV channel 7 in Rapid City, SD (ABC) 1st broadcast
• Jan 23 "Body Beautiful" opens at Broadway Theater NYC for 60 performances
• Jan 23 Dictator Marcos Perez Jiménez flees Venezuela, Larrazabal takes power

• Jan 24 After warming to 100,000,000 degrees, 2 light atoms are bashed together to create a heavier atom, resulting in 1st man-made nuclear fusion

• Jan 26 Jack Smith takes over from Art Baker as TV host of "You Asked for It"
• Jan 26 Japanese ferry Nankai Maru capsized off southern Awaji Island, Japan, 167 killed.

• Jan 27 Ferenc Munnich succeeds Kadar as premier of Hungary
• Jan 28 Construction began on 1st private thorium-uranium nuclear reactor

• Jan 28 The Lego Group patents their design of interlocking Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today
• Jan 29 Murderer, Charles Starkweather, captured by police in Wyoming
• Jan 30 1st 2-way moving sidewalk goes into service in Dallas, Texas
• Jan 30 Dore Schary's "Sunrise at Campobello" premieres in NYC
• Jan 30 MLB Commissioner Ford Frick announces that players and coaches, rather than fans, will vote on selections for the All-Star Game; vote returns to the fans in 1970
• Jan 30 UK House of Lords passes bill allowing women to take seats

• Jan 31 Earth's radiation belt first discovered by space scientist James van Allen and his team at Iowa University [1]
• Jan 31 US launches their 1st artificial satellite, Explorer 1
• Feb 1 "Volare" ("Nel blu dipinto di blu") single released by Domenico Modugno (Grammy Award Record of the Year, Song of the Year 1958)
• Feb 1 1st US satellite (Explorer I) launched
• Feb 1 Egypt & Syria announce plans to merge into United Arab Republic
• Feb 1 Manchester United beats Arsenal, 5-4 at Highbury in the team's last game on British soil, 5 days prior to the plane crash at Munich airport that killed 7 players
• Feb 1 Tommy Taylor scores 2 goals and Duncan Edwards 1, in Manchester United's 5-4 win vs Arsenal at Highbury; pair amongst 7 players killed 5 days later when team’s charter plane crashes at Munich airport
• Feb 1 WFTV TV channel 9 in Orlando, FL (ABC) begins broadcasting
• Feb 2 Syria joins Egypt in United Arab Republic
• Feb 2 WRIK (now WLUZ) TV channel 7 in Ponce, PR (PTC) begins broadcasting
• Feb 3 Royal Teens' "Short Shorts" enters Top 40 chart & peaks at #3
• Feb 4 "Oh, Captain!" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 192 performances
• Feb 4 MLB Hall of Fame fails to elect anyone for 1st time since 1950
• Feb 5 Clifton R Wharton confirmed as 1st US African American foreign minister (to Romania)
• Feb 5 Gamel Abdel Nasser nominated 1st President of United Arab Republic
• Feb 5 Test cricket debut of outstanding West Indian spin bowler Lance Gibbs, 2nd Test v Pakistan in Port-of-Spain
• Feb 5 Vanguard TV-3 back-up launches into Earth orbit; reaches 6 km
• Feb 6 21 dead in air crash at Munich-Riem Airport; 8 players and 3 staff are from the Manchester United football team

• Feb 7 1st showing of Dutch auto-transmission car, the DAF 600
• Feb 7 Dodgers officially become the Los Angeles Dodgers, Inc
• Feb 8 Edgar Whitehead succeeds Garfield Todd as premier of South Rhodesia
• Feb 8 French planes bomb Sakiet, Tunisia, 75 die
• Feb 8 KIRO TV channel 7 in Seattle, WA (CBS) begins broadcasting
• Feb 11 BBC pioneering series "Your Life in Their Hands" first broadcast presented by Dr. Charles Fletcher, 1st major TV series to deal with medicine

• Feb 11 Marshal Chen Yi succeeds Chu En-lai as Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Feb 11 Ruth Carol Taylor is 1st African-American woman hired as flight attendant, Ithaca NY
• Feb 11 WTVC TV channel 9 in Chattanooga, TN (ABC) begins broadcasting

• Feb 12 Gen Miguel Ydegoras Fuentes elected President of Guatemala
• Feb 14 Arab Federation of Iraq & Jordan forms
• Feb 15 Ice Dance Championship at Paris won by June Markham/Courtney Jones GRB
• Feb 15 Ice Pairs Championship at Paris won by Barbara Wagner/Rob Paul of CAN
• Feb 15 Ladies' Figure Skating Championship in Paris won by Carol Heiss of USA
• Feb 15 Men's Figure Skating Championship in Paris won by David Jenkins USA
• Feb 15 Sjafroeddin Prawiranegara forms anti-government of Middle Sumatra
• Feb 17 Comic strip "BC" 1st appears
• Feb 17 WETV (now WPBA) TV channel 30 in Atlanta, GA (PBS) begins broadcasting

• Feb 20 LA Coliseum approves 2-year pact allowing LA Dodgers to use facility whilst Dodger Stadium is completed in time for the 1962 MLB season
• Feb 21 "Portotino" opens at Adelphi Theater, NYC; runs for 3 performances
• Feb 21 British artist Gerald Holtom designs Nuclear Disarmament logo, based on blended semaphore signals for the letters N and D; it later became an international peace symbol
• Feb 21 Egypt-Syria as United Arab Republic elect Nasser president (99.9% vote)
• Feb 22 "Portotino" closes at Adelphi Theater NYC after 3 performances

• Feb 22 Australian swimmer Jon Konrads sets 6 world records in 2 days
• Feb 22 Egypt & Syria form United Arab Republic (UAR)
• Feb 22 Indonesian air force bombs Padang, Sumatra and Menado, Celebes

• Feb 23 Arturo Frondizi elected President of Argentina
• Feb 23 Last Municipal arc light at Mission & 25th removed in San Francisco (installed 1913)
• Feb 23 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
• Feb 27 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
• Feb 28 West Indies 1-504 in reply to Pakistan 328, day 3 of 3rd Test Cricket

• Mar 1 Samuel Alphonsus Stritch, is appointed Pro-Prefect of the Propagation of Faith and thus becomes the first American member of the Roman Curia
• Mar 2 1st surface crossing of Antarctic continent is completed in 99 days
• Mar 2 Yemen announces it would join the United Arab Republic
• Mar 3 KTVU TV channel 2 in Oakland-San Francisco, California (IND) 1st broadcast
• Mar 3 Nuri ash Said becomes premier of Iraq
• Mar 5 Explorer 2 fails to reach Earth orbit
• Mar 5 KDUH TV channel 4 in Scottsbluff-Hay Spring, NB (ABC) 1st broadcast
• Mar 7 Chicago Cardinals announce they will play their 1958 opener in Buffalo
• Mar 8 5th ACC Men's Basketball Tournament: Maryland beats North Carolina, 86-74
• Mar 8 Silky Sullivan comes from 40 lengths back to win by 3 at Santa Anita

• Mar 9 Detroit Pistons forward George Yardley III scores 26 points in 111-90 defeat to Syracuse Nationals; 1st NBA player to score 2,000 points in a season
• Mar 11 American B-47 accidentally drops nuclear bomb 15,000 ft on a family home in Mars Bluff, South Carolina; creates crater 75 ft across, bomb without its nuclear capsule
• Mar 11 Starting this season, AL batters are required to wear batting helmets
• Mar 12 3rd Eurovision Song Contest: Andre Claveau for France wins singing "Dors, mon amour" in Hilversum
• Mar 12 British Empire Day is renamed "Commonwealth Day"
• Mar 13 Government troops land in Sumatra Indonesia
• Mar 14 Recording Industry Association of American created
• Mar 14 RIAA certifies 1st gold record - Perry Como's single "Catch A Falling Star"
• Mar 14 South Africa's government prohibits the African National Congress
• Mar 14 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• Mar 14 USSR performs atmospheric nuclear test
• Mar 15 "Body Beautiful" musical closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 60 performances
• Mar 15 England retains the Five Nations Rugby Championship with a 3-3 draw against Scotland at Murrayfield, Edinburgh; England’s 16th FN title
• Mar 15 KULR TV channel 8 in Billings, MT (NBC/ABC/CBS) begins broadcasting
• Mar 15 Oscar Robertson of Cincinnati Royals scores a NBA midwest region-record 56-point game
• Mar 15 Royals basketball star Maurice Stokes collapses during a playoff game with encephalitis; He goes into a coma & is permanently disabled
• Mar 15 USSR performs atmospheric nuclear test in Ground Zero, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan (of 36 total for 1958)
• Mar 16 LPGA Titleholders Championship Women's Golf, Augusta CC: Beverly Hanson wins by 5 strokes ahead of Betty Dodd
• Mar 17 US Navy launches Vanguard 1 into orbit (2nd US), measures Earth shape
• Mar 18 MLB Los Angeles Dodgers announce their mascot and clown Emmett Kelly will not perform in 1958

• Mar 19 Garfield Sobers completes a century in each innings for WI vs. Pakistan
• Mar 20 50 inches of snow falls across the Mason–Dixon line
• Mar 20 Clandestine Burasi Bizim Radio (communist) begins transmitting
• Mar 20 Greek Clandestine Radio (communist), Voice of Truth 1st transmission
• Mar 21 Dr. Ernest Lawrence, nuclear scientist and Nobel laureate, receives first West Point Sylvanus Thayer Award, presented to an outstanding US citizen whose service in the national interest exemplifies devotion to ideals of West Point motto: "Duty, Honor, Country"
• Mar 21 USSR performs atmospheric nuclear test

• Mar 22 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR

• Mar 25 West German parliament desires German atomic weapons

• Mar 26 The African Regroupment Party (PRA) is launched at a meeting in Paris
• Mar 26 US Army launches America's third successful satellite, "Explorer III"
• Mar 27 CBS Labs announce new stereophonic records
• Mar 27 Havana Hilton opens in Cuba, later HQ for Fidel Castro

• Mar 29 112th Grand National: Arthur Freeman aboard 18/1 bet Mr. What wins by 30 lengths from Tiberetta
• Mar 31 US Navy forms atomic submarine division
• Mar 31 USSR suspends nuclear weapons tests, & urges US & Britain to do same
• Apr 1 KVIQ TV channel 6 in Eureka, CA (NBC/ABC/CBS) begins broadcasting
• Apr 1 Marshal Nikolai Bulganin appointed Chairman of the Board of the State Bank of the USSR
• Apr 2 Antillean Brewery (Amstel beer) opens
• Apr 2 Wind speed reaches a record 450 kph in tornado, Wichita Falls, Texas
• Apr 3 Abe Burrows, Richard and Marian Bissell's comedy "Say, Darling" opens at ANTA Theater, NYC; runs for 332 performances
• Apr 3 Fidel Castro's rebels attack Havana
• Apr 4 1st march against nuclear weapons from London to Aldermaston, England, home of the Defence Ministry's Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE)

• Apr 4 The CND Peace Symbol displayed in public for the first time in London
• Apr 5 Ripple Rock, an underwater threat to navigation in the Seymour Narrows in Canada is destroyed in one of the largest ever non-nuclear controlled explosions

• Apr 7 Dodgers erect 42-foot screen in left field at LA Coliseum to cut down on home runs, since it is only 250 feet down the line
• Apr 10 Northern strip of Spanish Sahara ceded to Morocco
• Apr 11 Brooks Hall in Civic Center dedicated in San Francisco, California
• Apr 12 12th NBA Championship: St Louis Hawks beat Bost Celtics, 4 games to 2
• Apr 12 Flemish Open air museum opens in Bokrijk
• Apr 13 12th Tony Awards: "Sunrise at Campobello" (play) and "The Music Man" (musical) win
• Apr 13 Van Cliburn is the first American to win the Chaikovsky Compettion in Moscow.

• Apr 15 1st baseball game in California, SF Giants beat LA Dodgers, 8-0
• Apr 16 5th National Film Awards (India): "Do Aankhen Barah Haath" wins the Golden Lotus
• Apr 16 French government of Gaillard falls due to Tunisia crisis

• Apr 18 Government troops reconquer Padang, Middle-Sumatra, Indonesia
• Apr 18 NL single-game record crowd of 78,682 at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Dodgers win over San Francisco Giants, 6-5
• Apr 20 Morocco demands departure of Spanish troops
• Apr 20 Stanley Cup Final, Boston Garden, Boston, MA: Montreal Canadiens' 3-peat; beat Boston Bruins, 5-3 for a 4-2 for series win
• Apr 21 62nd Boston Marathon won by Franjo Mihalić of Yugoslavia in 2:25:54

• Apr 23 Robert Kurka's "The Good Soldier Schweik", with libretto written by Abe Meeropol, premieres at the New York City Opera
• Apr 24 Lee Walls hits 3 HRs, as Cubs beat Dodgers 15-2
• Apr 28 Great Britain performs atmospheric nuclear test at Christmas Island

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