1958 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January

• January 1 - Treaty of Rome founding the EU is implemented
• 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 18 - Armed Lumbee Native Americans chased off an estimated 5,000 Klansmen and supporters at the town of Maxton, North Carolina.
• January 28 - Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate begin their murder spree with the killings of her parents and infant sister
• January 29 - Police capture Charles Starkweather in Wyoming
• January 31 - The first successful American satellite, Explorer I, is launched into orbit
• January 31 - James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt

February

• February 1 - Egypt and Syria unite to form the United Arab Republic
• February 5 - Gamel Abdel Nasser is nominated to be the first president of the United Arab Republic
• February 6 - Munich Air Disaster - 21 dead, including 7 players for Manchester United
• February 11 - Marshal Chen Yi succeeds Zhou Enlai as Chinese Minister of Foreign affairs.
• February 11 - Ruth Carol Taylor is 1st African American woman hired as a flight attendant
• February 17 - Pope Pius XII declares Saint Clare the patron saint of television
• February 23 - Cuban rebels kidnap 5-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio
• 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-April

• March 1 - Arturo Frondizi becomes President of Argentina
• March 1 - Samuel Alphonsus Stritch, ninth bishop (fourth archbishop) of the Roman Catholic diocese of Chicago, appointed Pro-Perfect of the Propagaion of Faith and thus becomes the first American member of the Roman Curia
• March 2 - A British team lead by Sir Vivian Fuchs completes the first crossing of the Antarctic in Snow-cat caterpillar tractors and dogsled teams in 99 days
• March 17 - The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite
• March 22 - Faisal becomes King of Saudi Arabia
• March 26 - The United States Army launches Explorer III
• March 27 - Nikita Khrushchev becomes Premier of the Soviet Union
• April 3 - Castro's revolutionary army begins its attacks on Havana
• April 4 - The first protest march by CND begins from Hyde Park, London, for Aldermaston, Berkshire
• April 4 - The daughter of the actress Lana Turner stabs her mother's gangster lover to death (eventually ruled self defence)
• April 6 - Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiari divorces Muhammad Reza Shah after she is unable to produce any children.
• April 17 - King Baudouin of Belgium officially opens the World Fair in Brussels, also known as Expo '58.

May-June

• May 2 - A State of Emergency is declared in Aden
• May 12 - A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada
• May 13 - 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 16 - Short-lived outburst of friendship between Arabs and Europeans in Algiers
• May 18 - An F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph
• May 21 - United Kingdom Postmaster General Ernest Marples announces that from December, Subscriber Trunk Dialling will be introduced in the Bristol area. [1]
• May 23 - Explorer I 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 1 - Charles De Gaulle is brought out of retirement to lead France by decree for six months
• June 1 - Iceland extends its fishing limits to 12 miles
• June 16 - Imre Nagy is hanged for treason in Hungary

July-August

• 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
• July 10 - First parking meters installed in Britain
• July 14 - Iraqi Revolution: In Iraq the monarchy is overthrown by Arab nationalists and Abdul Karim Qassim becomes the nation's new leader
• July 14 - A left wing military coup in Iraq leads to the murder of the king, Faisal II
• July 15 - In Lebanon, 5,000 United States Marines land in the capital Beirut in order to protect the pro-Western government there
• July 24 - The first life peerage is created in Britain
• July 26 - Explorer program: Explorer IV is launched
• July 29 - The U.S. Congress formally creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
• August 3 - The nuclear powered submarine USS Nautilus (SSN-571) became the first vessel to cross the North Pole under water
• August 23 - Chinese Civil War: The Second Taiwan Strait crisis begins with the People's Liberation Army's bombardment of Quemoy.
• August 30 - September 1 - Riots between blacks and whites in Notting Hill, London

September-October

• September 14 - Two rockets of the German engineer Ernst Mohr reach as first German post-war rockets the upper atmosphere
• September 28 - In France, a majority of 79% says yes to the constitution of the Fifth Republic.
• October 1 - Tunisia and Morocco join the Arab League
• October 1 - 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 program: NASA launches the lunar probe Pioneer 1 (the probe falls back to Earth and burns up)
• October 28 - Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli becomes Pope and takes the name Pope John XXIII.

November-December

• November 22 - Menzies Government 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
• December 1 - Central African Republic becomes independent from France
• 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. [2]
• December 9 - John Birch Society formed in the USA
• December 21 - General de Gaulle is elected president of France with 78,5% of the votes.

unknown date

• The First Cod War between UK and Iceland
• BBC Radiophonic Workshop created
• During the International Geophysical Year, Earth's magnetosphere is discovered
• The United States conducts Operation Argus during August and September
• 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 female circumcision 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.
• Van Cliburn wins the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in the USSR, breaking cold war tensions.

Year in topic

• 1958 in film
  • Gigi
  • Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
  • The Defiant Ones
  • Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, starring Jimmy Stewart
• 1958 in literature
  • August 18 - Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in United States.
  • Rona Jaffe's The Best of Everything becomes a bestseller.
• 1958 in music
  • January 20 - Elvis Presley receives his draft notice
• 1958 in rail transport
• 1958 in sports
• 1958 in television
  • Ampex demonstrates their design for a color Video Tape Recorder

Births

January-March

• January 20 - Lorenzo Lamas, actor
• January 24 - Jools Holland, musician
• January 26 - Ellen DeGeneres, actress, comedienne
• February 11 - Michael Jackson, controller of BBC2.
• February 11 - Regina Marsikova, Czechoslovakian tennis player.
• February 13 - Pernilla August, actress
• February 16 - Ice-T, singer, songwriter, actor (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit)
• February 21 - Mary Chapin Carpenter, singer
• February 24 - Sammy Kershaw, musician
• March 3 - Miranda Richardson, actress
• March 4 - Patricia Heaton, actress (Everybody Loves Raymond)
• March 5 - Andy Gibb, singer (d. 1988)
• March 8 - Gary Numan, singer
• March 10 - Sharon Stone, actress
• March 14 - Albert II of Monaco
• March 20 - Holly Hunter, actress
• March 21 - Gary Oldman, actor

April-August

• April 3 - Alec Baldwin, American actor
• April 10 - Yefim Bronfman, Russian pianist
• April 10 - Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, R&B producer and musician
• April 21 - Andie MacDowell, American actress
• April 28 - Hal Sutton, American golfer
• April 29 - Michelle Pfeiffer, American actress
• April 29 - Eve Plumb, actress
• May 11 - Christian Brando , Marlon Brando's son
• May 16 - Amp Fiddler , musician (P Funk)
• May 20 - Ron Reagan, dancer, talk show host, son of former President Ronald Reagan
• May 23 - Mitch Albom, author
• May 23 - Drew Carey, comedian, actor
• May 26 - Wayne Hussey , British rocker The Mission
• May 26 - Pete Michaels , comedian, singer, actor
• May 27 - Neil Finn, New Zealand singer and songwriter
• May 27 - Wayne Williams, murderer in Atlanta
• May 28 - Annette Bening, actress
• June 7 - Prince, musician
• June 8 - Keenen Ivory Wayans, comedian, actor, director
• June 17 - Jello Biafra, punk rock musician and political activist
• June 30 - Esa-Pekka Salonen, Finnish conductor and composer
• July 2 - Thomas Bickerton, United Methodist Bishop
• July 15 - Mac Thornberry, American politician
• July 28 - Terry Fox, cancer activist (d. 1981)
• July 30 - Kate Bush, British singer-songwriter
• July 31 - Mark Cuban, technology entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks owner
• August 7 - Bruce Dickinson, English heavy metal musician
• August 16 - Madonna, musician, songwriter, actress
• August 19 - Anthony Muñoz, American football Hall of Famer
• August 22 - Colm Feore, actor (Pearl Harbor, Chicago, The Chronicles of Riddick)
• August 29 - Michael Jackson, American pop superstar

September-December

• September 10 - Dan Castellaneta, voice actor (The Simpsons)
• September 16 - Orel Hershiser, baseball pitcher
• September 22 - Andrea Bocelli, singer
• September 23 - Marvin Lewis, American football coach
• October 5 - Bernie Mac, actor, comedian
• October 14 - Thomas Dolby, English rock musician
• October 16 - Tim Robbins, American actor
• October 27 - Simon Le Bon, musician, Duran Duran
• November 18 - Laura Miller, mayor of Dallas, Texas
• November 25 - Kim Ashfield, British model
• November 28 - Dave Righetti, baseball pitcher
• December 6 - Nick Park, film-maker and animator
• December 25 - Hanford Dixon, American football player
• December 25 - Rickey Henderson, baseball player
• December 31 - Bebe Neuwirth, actress

Deaths

• January 1 - Edward Weston, photographer (b. 1886)
• January 8 - Paul Pilgrim, American athlete (b. 1883)
• January 11 - Edna Purviance, actress (b. 1895)
• January 30 - Jean Crotti, Swiss artist (b. 1878)
• February 4 - Henry Kuttner, science fiction author (b. 1915)
• February 13 - Christabel Pankhurst, suffragette (b. 1880)
• March 21 - Cyril M. Kornbluth, science fiction writer (b. 1923)
• March 22 - Michael Todd, Academy Award winning film producer (b. 1909)
• March 25 - Tom Brown, jazz musician (b. 1888)
• March 26 - Phil Mead, prolific Hampshire and England left-handed batsman (b. 1887)
• March 28 - W.C. Handy, blues composer (b. 1873)
• April 19 - Billy Meredith, Welsh footballer (b. 1874)
• May 3 - Frank Foster, Warwickshire all-round cricketer (b. 1889).
• May 19 - Ronald Colman, actor (b. 1891)
• June 26 - George Orton, Canadian athlete (b. 1876)
• July 14 - King Faisal II of Iraq (b. 1935) and most of his family
• August 14 - Gladys Presley , Elvis Presley's mom
• August 14 - Frédéric Joliot, scientist (b. 1900)
• October 9 - Pope Pius XII (b. 1876)
• October 17 - Charlie Townsend, 1890s Gloucestershire leg-spinner and left-handed batsman (b. 1876).
• November 27 - Artur Rodzinski, Croatian conductor (b. 1892)
• December 8 - Tris Speaker, Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1888)
• December 15 - Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, physicist

Nobel Prizes

• Physics - Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov, Ilya Mikhailovich Frank, Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm
• Chemistry - Frederick Sanger
• Medicine - George Wells Beadle, Edward Lawrie Tatum, Joshua Lederberg
• Literature - Boris Leonidovich Pasternak
• Peace - Georges Pire

Fields Medalists

• Klaus Roth, Rene Thom