This Year in History:
1958
Discover what happened in this year with HISTORY’s summaries of major events, anniversaries, famous births and notable deaths.
“Folsom Prison Blues” gave Johnny Cash his first top‑10 country hit in 1956, and his live concert performance at Folsom—dramatized memorably in the film Walk The Line—gave his flagging career…
On January 2, 1958, celebrated soprano Maria Callas walks off after the first act of a gala performance of Bellini’s Norma in Rome, claiming illness. The president of Italy and…
On January 14, 1958 (some sources say January 13), Peter Manuel is arrested in Glasgow, Scotland, after a series of attacks over two years that left between seven and 15…
On January 18, 1958, hockey player Willie O’Ree of the Boston Bruins takes to the ice for a game against the Montreal Canadiens, becoming the first Black player to play…
On January 28, 1958, Charles Starkweather, a 19‑year‑old high‑school dropout from Lincoln, Nebraska, and his 14‑year‑old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, kill a Lincoln businessman, his wife and their maid, as…
One of Hollywood’s most enduring marriages begins on January 29, 1958, when Paul Newman weds Joanne Woodward in Las Vegas, Nevada. The two actors first met in the early 1950s…
A British European Airways flight crashes just after takeoff from the Munich Airport. Twenty‑three people died in the crash, including eight players from the Manchester United soccer team, which had…
On February 23, 1958, five‑time Formula One champion Juan Manuel Fangio of Argentina is kidnapped in Cuba by a group of Fidel Castro’s rebels. Fangio was taken from his Havana…
On March 14, 1958, the RIAA awards its first official Gold Record to Perry Como for his smash‑hit single “Catch A Falling Star.” For as long as most people have…
On March 24, 1958, Elvis Presley is inducted into the U.S. Army, starting his day as the King of Rock and Roll, but ending it as a lowly buck private…
On March 25, 1958, Sugar Ray Robinson defeats Carmen Basilio to regain the middleweight championship. It was the fifth and final title of his career. Robinson is considered by many…
On March 27, 1958, Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev replaces Nicolay Bulganin as Soviet premier, becoming the first leader since Joseph Stalin to simultaneously hold the USSR’s two top offices.…
W.C. Handy, one of the most important figures in 20th‑century American popular music history, dies in New York City on March 28, 1958. As a composer, musician and a musicologist,…
In March of 1958, Dr. Charles David Keeling begins regularly measuring the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawai’i. Over the ensuing years,…
A federal court rules that Ezra Pound should no longer be held at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital for the criminally insane in Washington, D.C. Pound had been held for 13 years,…
On May 1, 1958, the United States celebrates its first “Law Day,” one day after President Eisenhower announces the observance to honor the role of law in the creation of…
During a goodwill trip through Latin America, Vice President Richard Nixon’s car is attacked by an angry crowd and nearly overturned while traveling through Caracas, Venezuela. The incident was the…
The arrival in the United Kingdom of one of the biggest figures in rock and roll was looked forward to with great anticipation in May of 1958. Nowhere in the…
On June 29, 1958, Brazil defeats host nation Sweden 5‑2 to win its first World Cup. Brazil came into the tournament as a favorite, and did not disappoint, thrilling the…
On July 3, 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Rivers and Harbors Flood Control Bill, which allocates funds to improve flood‑control and water‑storage systems across the country. Eisenhower had…
