1958 CE

The May 1958 crisis in France ends the Fourth Republic and returns Charles de Gaulle to power; the United Arab Republic briefly unites Egypt and Syria; China launches the Great Leap Forward; the 1958 FIFA World Cup sees Brazil win its first title with a breakout performance by Pelé; the 14 July Revolution topples Iraq's monarchy; the 1958 Lebanon crisis prompts U.S. intervention; the Prestonsburg, Kentucky, bus disaster kills 27 children; the Our Lady of the Angels School fire kills 95 in Chicago; and Tennis for Two, created by William Higinbotham, becomes an early video game.

In the 1950s, the 20th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed.source
  • January 27 – A Soviet-American executive agreement on cultural, educational and scientific exchanges, also known as the "Lacy–Zarubin Agreement", is signed in Washington, D.C.source
  • February 1 – Egypt and Syria unite to form the United Arab Republic.source
  • 3 February – Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands sign a treaty creating the Benelux Economic Union.Luxembourgsource
  • February 11 – Marshal Chen Yi succeeds Zhou Enlai as Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs.source
  • 12 February – Israel's Knesset passes the Basic Knesset Law (חוק יסוד: הכנסת).Israelsource
  • February 14 – The Hashemite Kingdoms of Iraq and Jordan unite in the Arab Federation, with King Faisal II of Iraq as head of state.source
  • February 23 – Arturo Frondizi is elected president of Argentina.source
  • April 1 – The Treaty of Angra de Cintra is signed by Spain and Morocco, ending the Spanish protectorate in Morocco.source
  • May 1 – The Nordic Passport Union comes into force.source
  • May 1 – Arturo Frondizi becomes President of Argentina.source
  • 4 May - 1958 Laotian parliamentary electionLaossource
  • May 10 – Interviewed in the Chave d'Ouro café, when asked about his rival António de Oliveira Salazar, Humberto Delgado utters one of the most famous comments in Portuguese political history: "Obviamente, demito-o! (Obviously, I'll sack him!)".source
  • May 12 – A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada.source
  • 13 May – The third Merdeka Talks took place, which concluded with the same agreement from 1957.Singaporesource
  • June 1 – Charles de Gaulle is brought out of retirement at Colombey-les-Deux-Églises to lead France by decree for 6 months.source
  • 1 June - 1958 Albanian parliamentary electionAlbaniasource
  • 14 June - The colony celebrated the centennial of Praia being given city status; celebrations include the dedication of a statue of Diogo Gomes, proclaiming him the discoverer of the islands.Cape Verdesource
  • July 12 – Henri Cornelis becomes Governor-General of the Belgian Congo, the last Belgian governor prior to independence.source
  • September 2 – Hendrik Verwoerd becomes the 6th Prime Minister of South Africa.source
  • September 4 – Jorge Alessandri is the winner of Chile's presidential election.source
  • September 28 – In the 1958 French constitutional referendum, a majority of 79% says yes to the constitution of the Fifth Republic.source
  • October 1 – Tunisia and Morocco join the Arab League.source
  • October 1 – The United Kingdom transfers sovereignty of Christmas Island from Singapore to Australia.source
  • October 4 – The new Constitution of France is signed into law, establishing the French Fifth Republic.source
  • October 27 – Ayub and his Cabinet takes oaths. In a dramatic turn of events late night, President Iskander Mirza resigned, giving over his office to Gen Ayub Khan, who had taken oath as Prime Minister just this morning. Ayub now becomes the country's 2nd President, though without a constitution. He remained Prime Minister for around 13 hours only, thus becoming the shortest-serving Premier in the history of the country so far. The press release declares it a voluntary transfer of power but, behind the curtains, the transfer letter had actually been wrung from the ambitious Mirza on gun point, by the 3 military members of Ayub's cabinet. General Ayub Khan, who was nominated Prime Minister by President Mirza on 24th, has taken the oath today. He has also announced his cabinet: three military officials including Lt General Azam Khan, and eight civilians including Md. Hafizur Rahman, A. K. Khan, Muhammad Ibrahim and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.Pakistansource
  • November 3 – The new UNESCO building, World Heritage Centre, is inaugurated in Paris.source
  • November 3 – Jorge Alessandri is sworn in as President of Chile.source
  • November 25 – French Sudan gains autonomy as a self-governing member of the French colonial empire.source
  • November 28 – Chad, the Republic of the Congo and Gabon become autonomous republics within the French colonial empire.source
  • November 30 – Gaullists win the French parliamentary election.source
  • December 1 – Adolfo López Mateos takes office as President of Mexico.source
  • 6 December – The Indian President Dr. Rajendra Prasad was the first foreign leader to visit Malaya.Malayasource

Conflict & Security

  • January 13 – Battle of Edchera: The Moroccan Army of Liberation ambushes a Spanish patrol.source
  • February 23 – Cuban rebels kidnap five-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio, releasing him 28 hours later.source
  • April 3 – In Cuba, Castro's revolutionary army begins its attacks on Havana.source
  • 22 April – Jordanian soldiers shot and killed two Israeli fishermen near Aqaba.Israelsource
  • April 28 – A bomber flown by a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency operative in support of Indonesian Permesta rebels bombs the harbor at Balikpapan, Borneo, Indonesia, hitting an Indonesian naval corvette and two British oil tankers. In June, the Indonesian and British governments both claim that Indonesian rebels are responsible for such attacks, concealing the C.I.A.'s involvement.source
  • May 13 – During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, Vice President Richard Nixon's car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators.source
  • May 13 – Crisis in France: French Algerian protesters seize government offices in Algiers, leading to a military coup.source
  • May 20 – The Cuban government of Fulgencio Batista launches a counteroffensive against Castro's rebels.source
  • May 30 – The bodies of unidentified United States soldiers killed in action during World War II and the Korean War are buried at the Tomb of the Unknowns, in Arlington National Cemetery.source
  • June 30 – The 1957–58 Ifni War ends in Spanish Sahara.source
  • July 15 – 1958 Lebanon crisis: 5,000 United States Marines land in the Lebanese capital Beirut in support of the pro-Western government.source
  • August 6 – The Law of Permanent Defense of Democracy, which outlawed the Communist Party of Chile and banned 26,650 persons from the electoral lists, is repealed.source
  • August 7 – 1958 East Pakistan-India border skirmishes, a skirmish between East Pakistan and the Indian Army in Laxmipur.source
  • August 23 – The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis begins with the People's Republic of China's People's Liberation Army shelling the island of Kinmen (Quemoy) which is controlled by the Republic of China (Taiwan)'s Kuomintang forces.source
  • 23 August – Start of Second Taiwan Strait Crisis.Taiwansource
  • August 26 – A general strike is called in Paraguay.source
  • August 30–September 1 – Notting Hill race riots: Riots occur between blacks and whites in Notting Hill, London.source
  • September 1 – The first Cod War begins between the United Kingdom and Iceland.source
  • 2 September – 1958 C-130 shootdown incidentSoviet Unionsource
  • October 6 – The Khan of Kalat is dismissed from his fiefdom on sedition charges and arrested after exchange of fire between the Pakistan Army and the Khan's bodyguards. Some suspect a staged show instigated by President Iskander MirzaPakistansource
  • December 29 – Battle of Santa Clara: Rebel troops under Camilo Cienfuegos and Che Guevara begin to invade Santa Clara, Cuba.source
  • December 30 – The Guatemalan Air Force fires on Mexican fishing boats which had strayed into Guatemalan territory, triggering the Mexico–Guatemala conflict.source
  • December 31 – After the fall of Santa Clara, Cuban President Fulgencio Batista flees the country.source
  • North Vietnamese invasion of LaosLaossource
  • Unknown date – The Corrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Ordinance 1958 was enacted.Malayasource
  • Conflicto_entre_Guatemala_y_M%C3%A9xico_(1958-1959)Mexicosource
  • Winners: Ballymena United 2 - 0 LinfieldNorthern Irelandsource

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 4 – Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third overland journey to the South Pole, the first to use powered vehicles.source
  • 14 January – Qantas Airways introduces a round-the-world air service from Australia to London.Australiasource
  • January 16: An unidentified flying object is seen by the crew of the Brazilian Naval ship Almirante Saldanha, in the so-called Trindade Island Case.Brazilsource
  • March 2 – A British Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition team, led by Sir Vivian Fuchs, completes the first overland crossing of the Antarctic, using snowcat caterpillar tractors and dogsled teams, in 99 days, via the South Pole.source
  • 25 March – Øyvin Thon, orienteering competitor.Norwaysource
  • 17 April – King Baudouin opens Expo 58, the first major World's Fair since the Second World War. John Carl Studder of El Paso, Texas, had queued for 48 hours to be the first visitor admitted.Belgiumsource
  • June 1 – Iceland extends its fishing limits to 12 miles (22.2 km).source
  • July 26 – Explorer program: Explorer 4 is launched in the United States.source
  • 18 August – Regional postage stamps of Great Britain are first issued.Northern Irelandsource
  • September 18 – BankAmericard, the first credit card to be widely offered, is launched in Fresno, California in what becomes known as the "Fresno Drop".source
  • November 19 – Maritime Commission appointedPakistansource
  • December 14 – The 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition becomes the first ever to reach the Southern Pole of Inaccessibility.source
  • December 16 – Soviet polar pilot V. M. Perov on Li-2 rescues four Belgian polar explorers, led by Gaston de Gerlache, who have survived a plane crash in Antarctica 250 km from their base five days earlier.source
  • For the first time, the total of transatlantic passengers carried by air this year exceeds the total carried by sea.source
  • Farley Mowat's Coppermine Journey: An Account of a Great AdventureCanadasource
  • 5–11 March – United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East Conference was held in Kuala Lumpur.Malayasource

Religion & Belief

  • April 6 – Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari is divorced by the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, after she is unable to produce any children.Iransource
  • April 19: The Archdiocese of Aparecida is established by Pope Pius XII.Brazilsource
  • May 7 – Joseph Cordeiro was appointed the first Pakistani Archbishop of Karachi.Pakistansource
  • 12 August – Louis Hencks is appointed to the Council of State, replacing Albert Wagner, who resigned in July.Luxembourgsource
  • 19 August – The first International Bible Contest is held - in the International Convention Center in Jerusalem.Israelsource
  • October 28 – Pope John XXIII succeeds Pope Pius XII, as the 261st pope.source
  • 24 November – The Syariah Court is established to tighten divorce processes and safeguard marriages.Singaporesource
  • 1 December – Francis Walder awarded the Prix Goncourt for his Saint-Germain ou la négociation.Belgiumsource
  • Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan: Tunku Munawir (Regent)Malayasource

Economy & Finance

  • 18 February – Finance minister of India T. T. Krishnamachari resigns following M. C. Chagla Commission report on Haridas Mundhra LIC scandal.Indiasource
  • March 1 – Two medium-size airlines, FarEastern Airways of Japan and Nippon Helicopter Transport, are merged to become All Nippon Airways (ANA) which begins operation in Japan.Japansource
  • 3 March - The national identity card is created. To avoid fraud, the document must always bear all the names (they can be 1, 2, 3, or even 4), the surnames of both parents (in the old days, if the father did not recognize the child, he or she had to bear the mother's first surname as both surnames), nationality (Chile or another country), date of birth (any) and the Unique National Role or RUN.Chilesource
  • May 12 – Addressing the Planning Board Staff on the revamping of the Five Year Plan, the Prime Minister has stated that land reforms must not take place in West Pakistan where the power of the feudals must remain intact. "There has been a great deal of talk about such reforms," Noon said, "Most of the advocates of land reforms were city dwellers who had no knowledge of agriculture and not many of them knew what they were talking about."Pakistansource
  • June 24: Lucas Lopes is appointed as the new Minister of Finance, who would implement the Monetary Stabilization Plan. This plan would aim to stabilize inflation, meet IMF requirements for the acquisition of a loan of 300 million, and to maintain the works of construction in Brasília.Brazilsource
  • 10 October – Patrice Lumumba founds Mouvement National Congolais.Belgiumsource
  • October – GoldStar, predecessor of LG Electronics, is founded in South Korea.source
  • November 20 – The Jim Henson Company is founded as Muppets, Inc. in the United States.source
  • The founding of the kibbutz Adamit.Israelsource
  • Hotel chain Camino Real Hotels is founded.Mexicosource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • February 24 – In Cuba, Fidel Castro's Radio Rebelde begins broadcasting from Sierra Maestra.source
  • February 25 – Bertrand Russell launches the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the United Kingdom, initiated at a meeting called by Canon John Collins on January 15. The campaign peace symbol has been launched on 21 February by Gerald Holtom. Protests will focus on the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston.source
  • February – Sulaiman Courts, Malaya's first residential flats were opened.Malayasource
  • March 26 – The 30th Academy Awards Ceremony takes place in Hollywood; The Bridge on the River Kwai wins 7 awards, including Academy Award for Best Picture.source
  • April 17 – King Baudouin of Belgium officially opens the world's fair in Brussels, also known as Expo 58. The Atomium forms the centrepiece.source
  • April 20 – The Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup in ice hockey, after defeating the Boston Bruins in 6 games.source
  • 18 May – Jacob Fichman (born 1881), Romanian-born Israeli poet and essayist.Israelsource
  • 10 July – Luxembourg signs a convention with the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate on the construction of the Vianden Pumped Storage Plant.Luxembourgsource
  • August 18 – Brojen Das from East Pakistan swims across the English Channel in a competition, the first Bangali as well as the first Asian to ever do it. He is first among 39 competitors.source
  • September 2 – China's first television broadcasts start at Beijing Television Station, a predecessor of China Central Television.source
  • September 12 – Jack Kilby invents the first integrated circuit, while working at Texas Instruments.source
  • September 14 – Two rockets designed by German engineer Ernst Mohr (the first German post-war rockets) reach the upper atmosphere.source
  • October 8 – Gen Ayub Khan who took over the country as Chief Martial Law Administrator yesterday, today made his first broadcast from the radio station in Karachi (and is feared to have developed a dislike for its Director Z.A. Bukhari).Pakistansource
  • October 17 – An Evening with Fred Astaire, the first television show recorded on color videotape, is broadcast on NBC in the United States.source
  • October 18 – Tennis for Two, a game invented by William Higinbotham and considered to be the first pure entertainment computer game, is introduced at the Brookhaven National Laboratory Visitors' Day Exhibit in the United States.source
  • 25 October – Northern Ireland-built Short SC.1 experimental VTOL aircraft makes its first free vertical flight.Northern Irelandsource
  • October 26 – A Pan American World Airways Boeing 707 makes its first transatlantic flight.source
  • November 22 – 1958 Australian federal election: Robert Menzies' Liberal/Country Coalition Government is re-elected with a slightly increased majority, defeating the Labor Party led by H.V. Evatt. This is the first election where television is used as a medium for communicating with voters. Evatt will eventually resign as Labor leader and will be replaced by his deputy Arthur Calwell.source
  • 22 November – The Shaw House, a 10-storey office block, is officially opened by then Chief Minister Lim Yew Hock.Singaporesource
  • Cabo Verde Airlines (formally known as TACV: Transportes Aéreos de Cabo Verde) establishedCape Verdesource
  • 1957–58 Mexican Primera División season.Mexicosource

Science & Discovery

  • January 4 – Sputnik 1 (launched on October 4, 1957) falls towards Earth from its orbit and burns up.source
  • 6 January – Shlomo Glickstein, former Israeli tennis player.Israelsource
  • January 20 - Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1958Germanysource
  • January 20 – In the 2nd innings of test match that opened between Pakistan and West Indies on January 17, Haneef Muhammad has set new record by staying on the crease for 16 hr 10 min, and scoring 337 runsPakistansource
  • February 2 – The Falcons aerobatic team of the Pakistan Air Force led by Wg Cdr Mitty Masud set a world record performing a 16 aircraft diamond loop in F-86 Sabres. 30,000 people are in attendance including President Iskandar Ali Mirza, General Ayub Khan, Air Marshal Asghar Khan, Air Commodore Nur Khan, C-in-C Turkish Air Force Hamdullah Suphi Göker, Chief of the Iraqi Air Force Abdul Kadhim Abaddi, Chief of the Imperial Iranian Air Force and Chief Guest King Zahir Shah in whose honor the performance has been organized.source
  • March 17 – The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite.source
  • April 3 – Bill Haley & His Comets play the first of a series of concerts in Buenos Aires.Argentinasource
  • April 13 – The Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 (launched November 3, 1957) disintegrates during reentry from orbit.source
  • May 1 – U.S. space scientist James van Allen announces the discovery of Earth's magnetosphere.source
  • May 15 – The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.source
  • 15 May – Sputnik 3 is launched.Soviet Unionsource
  • May 18 – A U.S. Lockheed F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of 1404.19 mph.source
  • August 3 – The nuclear-powered submarine USS Nautilus becomes the first vessel to cross the North Pole under water.source
  • August 6 – Australian athlete Herb Elliott clips almost 3 seconds off the world record for the mile run at Santry Stadium, Dublin, recording a time of 3 minutes 54.5 seconds.source
  • August 17 – The first Thor-Able rocket is launched, carrying Pioneer 0, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 17. The launch fails due to a first stage malfunction.source
  • September 30 – The U.S.S.R. performs a nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya.source
  • October 1 – NASA starts operations and replaces the NACA in the United States.source
  • October 4 – The British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) uses one of its new de Havilland Comet 4s, G-APDB, to make the first commercial transatlantic flight by a jet airliner, from London to New York International Airport, Anderson Field via Gander.source
  • 4 October – Sabena breaks Brussels–Paris air speed record with an S58 helicopter.Belgiumsource
  • October 11 – Pioneer 1, the second and most successful of the 3 project Able space probes, becomes the first spacecraft launched by the newly formed NASA.source
  • December 15 – Arthur L. Schawlow and Charles H. Townes of Bell Laboratories publish a paper in Physical Review Letters setting out the principles of the optical laser.source
  • December 18 – The Bell XV-3 Tiltrotor makes the first true mid-air transition from vertical helicopter-type flight to fully level fixed-wing flight.source
  • December 18 – The United States launches SCORE, the world's first communications satellite.source
  • December 19 – A message from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower is broadcast from the SCORE satellite.source
  • 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.source
  • Milkha Singh (field athletics player) had won the gold medalIndiasource
  • Northern Ireland 1-1 ArgentinaNorthern Irelandsource

Health & Medicine

  • February 19–20 – Rt Hon Ellen Fairclough first woman to assume the duties of Prime Minister for two days during John Diefenbaker's absence from the country.Canadasource
  • March–April - Operation Booster ShotLaossource
  • 15 June – Two 14-year-old Blacktown Boys High School students are found alive after becoming lost in the Jamison Valley in the Blue Mountains and then spending a night in freezing conditions. They are treated at Katoomba Hospital for frostbite, exposure and shock.Australiasource
  • June 25 – Presidential rule imposed in East PakistanPakistansource
  • August 25 – Instant noodles go on sale for the first time in Japan.Japansource
  • 3 September – Brian Barratt-Boyes performs New Zealand's first open heart surgery at Auckland's Green Lane Hospital.New Zealandsource
  • September 20 – The Legge Merlin comes into force.Italysource
  • 1 October – The Standards of Weights and Measures Act took effect.Indiasource

Crime & Justice

  • 11 February – Armed Palestinian Arab militants killed a resident of moshav Yanuv who was on his way to Kfar Yona, in the Sharon area.Israelsource
  • May 6 – Margaret Rheeder is hanged in Pretoria for poisoning her husband, Benjamin Fredenman.South Africasource
  • 6 June – The start of a three-day trial of four students who organised a conference to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the crowning of Stephen the Great. They are found guilty and imprisoned until 1964.Romaniasource
  • June 16 – Imre Nagy and other leaders of the failed Hungarian Revolution of 1956 are hanged for treason, following secret trials.source
  • July 14: An 18-year-old student named Aída Curi, is thrown from the 12th floor of an Avenida Atlântica building by boys in a Copacabana neighborhood.Brazilsource
  • Sultan of Pahang: Sultan Abu BakarMalayasource
  • New Zealand Trotting Cup – False StepNew Zealandsource
  • Northern Ireland 0-4 France Northern Ireland knocked outNorthern Irelandsource
  • The second Swiss Exhibition for Women's Work takes place in Zürich.Switzerlandsource

Disasters & Accidents

  • February 5 – 1958 Tybee Island mid-air collision: A U.S. B-47 bomber jettisons a hydrogen bomb into Wassaw Sound off Tybee Island, Georgia; it is never recovered.source
  • February 6 – Seven Manchester United footballers are among the 21 people killed in the Munich air disaster in West Germany, on the return flight from a European Cup game in Yugoslavia. 23 people survive; manager Matt Busby and players Johnny Berry and Duncan Edwards are in a serious condition. Berry will never play again and Edwards dies a fortnight later, as does the co-pilot.source
  • February 28 – Prestonsburg bus disaster: One of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history occurs in Kentucky when a school bus hits a truck and falls into a river, resulting in 27 deaths, 26 of them schoolchildren. Twenty-two others are rescued.source
  • March 1 – Turkish passenger ship SS Üsküdar capsizes and sinks in a sudden gale while crossing the Gulf of İzmit, Turkey; many of the 272 who die are teenage students.source
  • 1 March – Commuter boat Üsküdar sinks. Most of the passengers were students.Turkeysource
  • March 8 – The USS Wisconsin is decommissioned, leaving the United States Navy without an active battleship for the first time since 1896 (she is recommissioned October 22, 1988).source
  • March 11 – 1958 Mars Bluff B-47 nuclear weapon loss incident: A U.S. B-47 bomber accidentally drops an atom bomb on Mars Bluff, South Carolina. Without a fissile warhead, its conventional explosives destroy a house and injure six people.source
  • March 19 – The Monarch Underwear Company fire occurs in New York, United States, killing 24 people.source
  • April 21 – United Airlines Flight 736 is involved in a mid-air collision with a U.S. Air Force F-100F jet fighter over what becomes Enterprise, Nevada; all 49 persons in both aircraft are killed.source
  • 29 April - Food poisoning caused by leakage of Folidol during transportation kills 74 in a Lok Sahayak Sena camp at Sasthamkotta, Kerala.Indiasource
  • May 8: A collision between two electric trains occurs in Rio de Janeiro, leaving more than 300 dead.Brazilsource
  • 18 May – A Douglas DC-7 on a Sabena flight to Léopoldville crashes in Casablanca, with 65 fatalities and 4 survivors.Belgiumsource
  • June 20 – The iron barque Omega of Callao, Peru (built in Liverpool, 1887), the world's last full-rigged ship trading under sail alone, sinks on passage carrying guano from the Pachacamac Islands for Huacho.source
  • August 2 – An All Nippon Airways Douglas DC-3 plunges in the sea close to the Izu Islands, killing all 33 occupants of the aircraft.Japansource
  • October 23 – The third Springhill Mining Disaster occurs killing 74.Canadasource
  • 26 October – 30-year-old Thomas Reginald Sonter, a New Zealand carpenter employed on the Snowy Mountains Scheme discovers the wreckage of the Australian National Airways Avro 10 aircraft, VH-UMF Southern Cloud near Cabramurra on the western side of the Snowy Mountains, 60 miles from Cooma, New South Wales. The aircraft had been missing since it crashed in 1931.Australiasource
  • November 18 – En route to Rogers City, Michigan, United States, the Lake freighter SS Carl D. Bradley breaks up and sinks in a storm on Lake Michigan; 33 of the 35 crewmen on board perish.source
  • December 16 – A fire breaks out in the Vida Department Store in Bogotá, Colombia and kills 84 persons.source
  • December 24 – 1958 BOAC Bristol Britannia crash: A BOAC Bristol Britannia (312 G-AOVD) crashes near Winkton, England, during a test flight, killing nine people. Three crew members survive.source
  • See List of Argentine films of 1958Argentinasource

Climate & Environment

  • 3 April – A cyclone destroys most of the town of Bowen in Queensland.Australiasource
  • June 24 – According to official Japanese government confirmed report, a large scale eruption in Mount Aso, Kumamoto Prefecture, killed a total of twelve persons, and wounded 28.Japansource
  • July 9 – 1958 Lituya Bay megatsunami: A 7.8 Mw strike-slip earthquake in Southeast Alaska causes a landslide that produces a megatsunami. The runup from the waves reaches 525 m on the rim of Lituya Bay.source
  • 18 August – Mikkel Sveinhaug, farmer and politician (born 1873)Norwaysource
  • 4 September – Chilean presidential election, 1958 and The Las Melosas earthquake occurs in Cajón del Maipo, with an intensity of 7.3 degrees on the Richter scale. There were 4 people dead, 35 injured and 175 homeless.Chilesource
  • September 27 – Hurricane Helene, the worst storm of the North Atlantic hurricane season, reaches category 4 status.source
  • September 27 – Typhoon Ida kills at least 1,269 people in Honshū, Japan.source
  • Nature documentary Les Seigneurs de la forêt – English version with narration by Orson Welles distributed internationally by 20th Century Fox as Lords of the Forest (UK) or Masters of the Congo Jungle (US)Belgiumsource
  • A significant drought occurred on the islandsCape Verdesource
  • Vimochana Samaram against First Namboodiripad ministry in KeralaIndiasource
  • Sultan of Terengganu: Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin ShahMalayasource

Culture & Society

  • 6 February – Jackie Blanchflower, capped 12 times for the Northern Ireland national football team, survives the Munich air disaster involving Manchester United on the return flight from a European Cup tie in Yugoslavia. Jackie (younger brother of Tottenham Hotspur's Danny Blanchflower) has won two league champions in England with United since his debut for them in 1951, but his injuries are severe and he is forced to abandon the game in the coming year.Northern Irelandsource
  • 16 March – Representing Luxembourg, Solange Berry finishes ninth (and joint-last) in the Eurovision Song Contest 1958 with the song Un grand amour.Luxembourgsource
  • 30 March – Nanyang University, a private university using the Chinese language (Singaporean Mandarin) is officially opened. It eventually merged with the University of Singapore to form the National University of Singapore.Singaporesource
  • March – Hashim Khan has reclaimed the squash championship by winning the British OpenPakistansource
  • April 14 – Van Cliburn wins the International Tchaikovsky Competition for pianists in Moscow, easing Cold War tensions.source
  • May 23 – Chairman Mao Zedong started his "Great Leap Forward" movement in the People's Republic of China.Chinasource
  • May 28 – Real Madrid beats A.C. Milan 3–2 at Heysel Stadium, Brussels, and wins the 1957–58 European Cup in Association football.source
  • June 29 – Brazil beats Sweden 5–2 in the final game to win the football World Cup in Sweden.source
  • June 29: Brazil defeats Sweden 5–2 to win the 1958 FIFA World Cup. It is the first time Brazil wins the FIFA World Cup.Brazilsource
  • July 24 – Fourteen life peerages, the first under the Life Peerages Act 1958, are created in the United Kingdom.source
  • July 26 – Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom announces that she is giving her son Prince Charles the customary title for the heir apparent of Prince of Wales. The announcement is made at the end of the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, held in Cardiff.source
  • August 21–October 15 – Illinois observes the centennial of the Lincoln–Douglas debates.source
  • 27 October – Joseph Klausner (born 1874), Russian (Lithuania)-born Israeli Jewish historian and professor of Hebrew Literature.Israelsource
  • November 10 – Harry Winston donates the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.source
  • 10 December – The 10th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was celebrated.Malayasource
  • 1st Moonsund Regatta took place.Estoniasource
  • Korean Publishers Cooperative is established.South Koreasource

Births

Deaths

  • January 1 – Edward Weston, American photographer (born 1886)source
  • February 6 – Manchester United footballers and journalists who died in Munich air disastersource
  • April 16 – Rosalind Franklin, English crystallographer (born 1920)source
  • 6 June – George Herbert Garlick, 1st radiologist and medical director of the Singapore Anti–Tuberculosis Association (born 1886).Singaporesource
  • June 18 – Douglas Jardine, English cricketer (born 1900)source
  • 18 June – Lambert Schaus is appointed to the European Commission, with responsibility for Transport, replacing Michel Rasquin, who died in April.Luxembourgsource
  • 13 July – Sultan Badlishah of KedahMalayasource
  • July 14 – July 14 Revolution in Iraq: King Faisal II and several family members are executed. Abd al-Karim Qasim assumes power.source
  • July 25 – Harry Warner, American studio executive (born 1881)source
  • August 14 – KLM Flight 607-E, a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation, crashes into the Atlantic with 99 people aboard, all of whom are killed.source
  • August 26 – Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer (born 1872)source
  • August 27 – Ernest Lawrence, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1901)source
  • September 25 – Shahid Ali, Deputy Speaker EP Assembly, dies today. It is believed that the cause of death were the wounds suffered 2 days ago when disorder broke out inside the assembly.Pakistansource
  • September 28 – Fernando Rios, a Mexican tour guide in New Orleans, dies from injuries suffered in an incident of gay bashing.source
  • October 9 – Pope Pius XII (born 1876)source
  • October 14 – Sir Douglas Mawson, Australian geologist and polar explorer (born 1882)source
  • December 1 – Our Lady of the Angels School fire: 90 students and 3 nuns are killed in a fire in Chicago.source
  • December 12 – Milutin Milanković, Yugoslav mathematician, astronomer, climatologist and geophysicist, (born 1879)source