1958 in the United States

1958 in the United States
Events from the year 1958 in the United States.
Incumbents
Federal government
President: Dwight D. Eisenhower (R-Kansas/Pennsylvania)
Vice President: Richard Nixon (R-California)
Chief Justice: Earl Warren (California)
Speaker of the House of Representatives: Sam Rayburn (D-Texas)
Senate Majority Leader: Lyndon B. Johnson (D-Texas)
Congress: 85th
Events
January–March
January 8 – Bobby Fischer, 14 years old at the time, wins the United States Chess Championship.
January 13 – In One, Inc. v. Olesen, the Supreme Court affirms that homosexual writing is not per se obscene.
January 18
Battle of Hayes Pond: Armed Lumbee Indians confront the Ku Klux Klan in Maxton, North Carolina.
The first of Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts with the New York Philharmonic is telecast by CBS. The Emmy-winning series (one concert approximately every 3 months except for the summer) will run for more than 14 years. It will make Bernstein's name a household word, and the most famous conductor in the U.S.
January 28 – Hall of Fame baseball player Roy Campanella is involved in an automobile accident that ends his career and leaves him paralyzed.
January 31 – The first successful American satellite, Explorer 1, is launched into orbit.
February 5 – The Tybee Bomb, a 7,600 pound (3,500 kg) Mark 15 hydrogen bomb, is lost in the waters off Savannah, Georgia.
February 11 – Ruth Carol Taylor is the first African American woman hired as a flight attendant. Working for Mohawk Airlines, her career lasts only six months, due to another discriminatory barrier – the airline's ban on married flight attendants.
February 20 – A test rocket explodes at Cape Canaveral.
February 28 – Prestonsburg, Kentucky bus disaster: The worst school bus accident in U.S. history up to this date occurs at Prestonsburg, Kentucky; 27 are killed.
March 1 – Archbishop of Chicago Samuel Stritch is appointed Pro-Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of Faith, thus becoming the first American to head a dicastery of the Roman Curia.
March 8 – The USS Wisconsin is decommissioned, leaving the United States Navy without an active battleship for the first time since 1896 (it is recommissioned October 22, 1988).
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. Its conventional explosives destroy a house and injure several people, but no nuclear fission occurs.
March 17
The Convention on the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO) enters into force, founding the IMCO as a specialized agency of the United Nations.
The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite.
March 19
Monarch Underwear Company fire in New York.
Warner Bros. Records, the company which would later become Warner Records, is founded by its namesake, Warner Bros. Pictures.
March 24 – The U.S. Army inducts Elvis Presley, transforming "The King Of Rock & Roll" into U.S. Private #53310761.
March 26
The United States Army launches Explorer 3.
The 30th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Bob Hope, Rosalind Russell, David Niven, James Stewart, Jack Lemmon and a premade animation of Donald Duck, is held at RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. David Lean's The Bridge on the River Kwai wins seven awards, including Best Motion Picture and Best Director for Lean. Joshua Logan's Sayonara receives the most nominations with ten.
April–June
April – Unemployment in Detroit reaches 20%, marking the height of the Recession of 1958 in the United States.
April 15 – The San Francisco Giants beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 8–0 at San Francisco's Seals Stadium, in the first Major League Baseball regular-season game ever played in California.
April 21 – A United Airlines DC-7 and U.S. Air Force F-100 Super Sabre fighter jet collide near Las Vegas, Nevada, killing all 49 aboard the two aircraft.
May 9 – Actor-singer Paul Robeson, whose passport has been reinstated, sings in a sold-out one-man recital at Carnegie Hall. The recital is such a success that Robeson gives another one at Carnegie Hall a few days later. But after these two concerts, Robeson is seldom seen in public in the United States again. His Carnegie Hall concerts are later released on records and on CD.
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 20 – A Capital Airlines airliner and Air National Guard jet collide near Brunswick, Maryland, killing 12.ASN Aircraft accident Vickers 745D Viscount N7410 Brunswick, MD
May 23 – Explorer 1 ceases 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 2 – In San Simeon, California, Hearst Castle opens to the public for guided tours.
June 8 – The is launched; it will be the largest freighter on the Great Lakes for more than a dozen years.
June 15 – The first Pizza Hut restaurant opens in Wichita, Kansas.
June 17 – The U.S. condemns the execution of Imre Nagy as a "shocking act of cruelty".
July–September
July – The plastic hula hoop is first marketed.
July 3 – 1958 US–UK Mutual Defence Agreement signed in Washington, D.C.
July 7 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Alaska Statehood Act into United States law.
July 9 – 1958 Lituya Bay megatsunami: A 7.8 strike-slip earthquake in Southeast Alaska causes a landslide that produces a megatsunami. The runup from the waves reached on the rim of Lituya Bay.
July 15 – During the 1958 Lebanon crisis, 5,000 United States Marines land in the capital Beirut in order to protect the pro-Western government there.
July 29 – The U.S. Congress formally creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
August 3 – The nuclear powered submarine USS Nautilus becomes the first vessel to cross the North Pole under water.
August 12 – The Federal Switchblade Act is enacted in the United States.
August 17 – The first Thor-Able rocket is launched, carrying Pioneer 0, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 17. The launch fails due to a first stage malfunction.
August 18 – Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.
August 21–October 15 – Illinois observes the centennial of the Lincoln–Douglas debates.
August 23 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, transferring all authority over aviation in the U.S. to the newly created Federal Aviation Agency (FAA, later renamed Federal Aviation Administration).
August 27 – Operation Argus: The United States begins nuclear tests over the South Atlantic.
September – The University of New Orleans begins classes as the first racially integrated public university in the Southern United States.
September 15 – Newark Bay rail accident kills 48 people and injures the same number.
September 18 – "Fresno Drop": BankAmericard, the first credit card to be widely offered, is launched in Fresno, California.
September 23 – The Spirit of Detroit statue is dedicated in Detroit, Michigan.
October–December
October 1 – NASA starts operations and replaces the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.
October 9 – The New York Yankees defeat the Milwaukee Braves, 4 games to 3, to win their 18th World Series Title.
October 11 – Pioneer 1, the second and most successful of the three-project Able space probes, becomes the first spacecraft launched by the newly formed NASA.
November 12 – The Nose (El Capitan) in Yosemite National Park is first climbed, by Warren Harding, Wayne Merry and George Whitmore in 47 days.
November 20 – The Jim Henson Company is founded as Muppets, Inc.
November 23 – Have Gun, Will Travel debuts on American radio.
December 1 – Our Lady of the Angels School fire: At least 90 students and 3 nuns are killed in a fire at Our Lady of the Angels School in Chicago.
December 6 – A third Thor-Able rocket launch, carrying the Pioneer 2 probe, is unsuccessful due to a third-stage ignition failure.
December 9 – The right-wing John Birch Society is founded in the U.S. by Robert W. Welch Jr., a retired candy manufacturer.
December 19 – A message from President Dwight D. Eisenhower is broadcast from SCORE, the world's first communications satellite, launched by the U.S. the previous day.
December 25 – Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker (the George Balanchine version) is shown on prime-time television in color for the first time, as an episode of the CBS anthology series Playhouse 90.
December 28 – 1958 NFL Championship Game: The Baltimore Colts beat the New York Giants 23–17 in overtime to win the NFL Championship in American football.
Undated
Based on birth rates (per 1,000 population), the post-war baby boom ends in the United States as an 11-year decline in the birth rate begins (the longest on record in the country).
The United Kingdom, Soviet Union and the U.S. agree to stop testing atomic bombs for 3 years.
Robert Frank publishes his photographic essay The Americans (in Paris).
The PBA Tour is established by the Professional Bowlers Association at its headquarters in Seattle for ten-pin bowling.
Ongoing
Cold War (1947–1991)
Space Race (1957–1975)
Births
January
January 1
Dave Silk, American ice hockey player and coach
Grandmaster Flash, born Joseph Saddler, African American hip-hop/rap DJ
January 4
Andy Borowitz, American comedian and author
Lorna Doom, musician (d. 2019)
James J. Greco, American businessman
Jim Powers, American wrestler
January 6 – Scott Bryce, actor, director, and producer
January 8 – Betsy DeVos, 11th United States Secretary of Education
January 9 – Rob McClanahan, ice hockey player
January 10 – Eddie Cheever, race car driver
January 11
Alyson Reed, dancer and actress
Vicki Peterson, rock musician (The Bangles)
January 12 – Curt Fraser, American ice hockey coach
January 14 – Patricia Morrison, American singer-songwriter and bass player
January 20 – Lorenzo Lamas, American actor, martial artist and reality show participant
January 21 – Gareth Branwyn, American journalist and critic
January 23 – Steve Christoff, ice hockey player
January 24 – Neil Allen, baseball player and coach
January 26
Anita Baker, African-American soul and R&B singer
Xavier Becerra, politician and attorney, Attorney General of California
Ellen DeGeneres, American actress and comedian
January 27 – Susanna Thompson, American actress
January 29 – Stephen Lerner, American labor and community activist
February
February 7 – Kevin Schon, voice actor
February 8 – Sherri Martel, professional wrestler (d. 2007)
February 16
Nancy Donahue, fashion model and entrepreneur
Ice-T, born Tracy Marrow, rapper
Lisa Loring, actress (d. 2023)
February 17 – Alan Wiggins, baseball player (d. 1991)
February 18 – Gar Samuelson, drummer (d. 1999)
February 19 – Leslie David Baker, African-American actor
February 21
Jack Coleman, actor and screenwriter
Denise Dowse, actress and director
Jake Steinfeld, actor
Mary Chapin Carpenter, singer
February 23 - Charles Sheedy, Member of the West Virginia House of Delegates
February 24 – Todd Fisher, actor
February 25 – Kurt Rambis, basketball player
February 26
Susan J. Helms, astronaut
Tim Kaine, politician
Chris Phillips, American voice actor
February 27
Maggie Hassan, U.S. Senator from New Hampshire
Michael LeMoyne Kennedy, lawyer and activist (died 1997)
Nancy Spungen, American groupie and girlfriend of Sid Vicious (died 1978)
February 28 – Mark Pavelich, professional ice hockey player
March
March 4 – Patricia Heaton, American actress
March 9
Linda Fiorentino, American actress or 1960 (sources differ)
Mary Murphy, dance choreographer
March 10
Steve Howe, American baseball player (died 2006)
Sharon Stone, American actress and producer
March 11 – Anissa Jones, American child actress (“Family Affair”) (died 1976)
March 15 – John Friedrich, American actor
March 18
John Elefante, American singer and producer (Kansas)
Kayo Hatta, American film director (d. 2005)
March 20 – Holly Hunter, American actress
March 23
Eldon Hoke, American singer and drummer (d. 1997)
Michael Sorich, American voice actor, actor, writer, director and voice director
March 25
John Ensign, politician
James McDaniel, actor
March 26 – Todd Joseph Miles Holden, American-born social scientist, author, basketball coach
March 28
Bart Conner, American gymnast
Curt Hennig, American professional wrestler (died 2003)
March 31 – Lisa Michelson, American voice actress (died 1991)
April
April 1 – D. Boon, American singer and guitarist (d. 1985)
April 3 – Alec Baldwin, American actor, producer and comedian
April 4 – Constance Shulman, American actress
April 12 – Annette McCarthy, American actress (d. 2023)
April 14 – John D'Aquino, American film and television actor
April 21 – Andie MacDowell, American actress
April 26 – Giancarlo Esposito, Italian-American actor
April 28 – Hal Sutton, American golfer
April 29
Michelle Pfeiffer, American actress
Eve Plumb, American actress
May
May 4 – Keith Haring, American artist (d. 1990)
May 8 – Lovie Smith, American football player and coach
May 10
Rick Santorum, American politician
Ellen Ochoa, American astronaut, first Hispanic woman to go into space
May 11
Christian Brando, American actor and eldest child of Marlon Brando (d. 2008)
Walt Terrell, American baseball player
May 12
Jennifer Hetrick, American actress
Tony Oliver, American voice actor
Eric Singer, American rock drummer
May 15 – Ron Simmons, American professional wrestler
May 19 – Jenny Durkan, American politician
May 20
Ron Reagan, political pundit and son of U.S. president Ronald Reagan
Jane Wiedlin, American musician and actress
May 21 – Tom Feeney, American politician
May 23
Mitch Albom, American author
Drew Carey, American comedian and actor
Lea DeLaria, American comedian and actress
May 25 – Carrie Newcomer, American singer-songwriter & musician
May 26 – Margaret Colin, American actress
May 27 – Linnea Quigley, American actress
May 28 – Ric Edelman, American investor and author
May 29 – Annette Bening, American actress
May 30 – Ted McGinley, American actor
June
June 2
Lex Luger, former American professional wrestler
Brian Regan, American stand-up comedian
June 4 – Gordon P. Robertson, American televangelist and son of Pat Robertson
June 5
Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi, Comoroan businessman and politician, President of Comoros
Eric Strobel, American professional ice hockey player
Warren Thomas, American comedian (d. 2005)
June 7 – Prince, born Prince Rogers Nelson, African-American rock musician (d. 2016)
June 8
Cyril O'Reilly, American actor
Keenen Ivory Wayans, African-American comedian, actor, and director
June 9 – Tony Horwitz, American journalist and author (d. 2019)
June 10 – James F. Conant, American philosopher
June 11 – Tim Draper, American venture capitalist
June 12
Rebecca Holden, American actress, singer, and entertainer
Meredith Brooks, American singer, songwriter and guitarist
June 14
Eric Heiden, American speed skater
Pamela Geller, American activist and blogger
June 15 – Wade Boggs, American baseball player
June 17 – Jello Biafra, American punk musician and activist
June 20
Ron Hornaday Jr., American race car driver
Chuck Wagner, American actor
June 21 – Eric Douglas, American actor (d. 2004)
June 22
Bruce Campbell, American actor, producer, writer and director
June 24
John Tortorella, American ice hockey coach
Tom Lister Jr., American actor and professional wrestler (d. 2020)
June 26 – Glen Stewart Godwin, American fugitive and convicted murderer
June 27 – Jeffrey Lee Pierce, American musician (d. 1996)
June 29 – Jeff Coopwood, American actor, broadcaster and singer
June 30 – Tommy Keene, American singer-songwriter (d. 2017)
July
July 2 – Thomas Bickerton, Methodist bishop
July 5 – Bill Watterson, cartoonist and the author of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes
July 8 – Kevin Bacon, actor
July 11 – Stephanie Dabney, ballerina (d. 2022)
July 13
Roger L. Jackson, voice actor
Dan Schachte, hockey linesman (d. 2022)
July 15 – Mac Thornberry, politician
July 16
Mick Cornett, politician
Michael Flatley, American-Irish dancer and choreographer
Mike Rogers, politician
July 20 – Billy Mays, salesman (d. 2009)
August
August 1 – Michael Penn, American singer
August 7 − Buddy Dyer, American politician
August 10 – Don Swayze, American actor
August 13 – Lizzie Grey, American musician (d. 2019)
August 15 – Rondell Sheridan, American actor
August 16
Angela Bassett, African-American screen actress and film director
Madonna, born Madonna Louise Ciccone, pop singer and performer
August 17 – Belinda Carlisle, pop rock singer
August 18
Reg E. Cathey, African-American actor (d. 2018)
Madeleine Stowe, American actress
August 19
Anthony Muñoz, American football player
Rick Snyder, politician
August 20 – Michael Silka, American spree killer (d. 1984)
August 22
Brady Boone, American professional wrestler (d. 1998)
Colm Feore, American-born Canadian actor
August 24 – Steve Guttenberg, American actor
August 25
Tim Burton, American film director
Christian LeBlanc, American actor
August 26 – Billy Ray Irick, American convicted murderer (d. 2018)
August 28 – Colm Feore, American-Canadian actor
August 29 – Michael Jackson, African-American singer and musician (d. 2009)
August 31 – Julie Brown, American actress
September
September 4 – Drew Pinsky, American celebrity doctor
September 6 – Jeff Foxworthy, American comedian
September 10 – Chris Columbus, American film director, writer, and producer
September 11
Brad Lesley, American baseball player (died 2013)
Scott Patterson, American actor
Phoef Sutton, American screenwriter and producer
September 15 – Wendie Jo Sperber, American actress (died 2005)
September 16
Orel Hershiser, American baseball player
Jennifer Tilly, Canadian-American actress
September 18 – Jeff Bostic, American football player
September 22 – Joan Jett, American rock musician
September 23 – Marvin Lewis, American football coach
September 24 – Kevin Sorbo, American actor
September 26 – Darby Crash, American rock songwriter, singer (Germs) (died 1980)
September 27 – Shaun Cassidy, American actor, producer and screenwriter
September 30 – Marty Stuart, American singer
October
October 4
Ned Luke, American actor
Wendy Makkena, American actress
October 5 – Neil deGrasse Tyson, African-American astrophysicist
October 9 – Michael Paré, American actor
October 10 – Tanya Tucker, American singer
October 13 – Maria Cantwell, American politician
October 16 – Tim Robbins, American actor and director
October 17 – Alan Jackson, American country singer and songwriter
October 18 – Letitia James, American lawyer, activist and politician
October 20
Scott Hall, American professional wrestler (died 2022)
Viggo Mortensen, Danish-American actor
October 22 – Keena Turner, American football player
October 24
Vincent K. Brooks, American general
Chip Hooper, American tennis player and coach
November
November 2 – Willie McGee, African-American baseball player
November 5 – Robert Patrick, American actor
November 8 – Jeff Speakman, American actor and martial artist
November 12
Megan Mullally, American actress, singer and media personality
Nick Stellino, Italian-American chef and author
November 16 – Marg Helgenberger, American actress
November 17 – Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, American actress and singer
November 18
Oscar Nunez, Cuban-American actor and comedian
Kath Weston, American anthropologist, author and academic
November 19 – Michael Wilbon, American sportswriter
November 22 – Jamie Lee Curtis, American actress and author
November 25 – Darlanne Fluegel, American actress
November 28 – Dave Righetti, American baseball player
November 30 – Stacey Q, American singer & actress
December
December 1 – Charlene Tilton, American actress
December 6 – Debbie Rowe, American ex-wife of Michael Jackson
December 7 – Rick Rude, American pro wrestler (died 1999)
December 11
Tom Shadyac, American director and producer
Nikki Sixx, rock musician
Isabella Hofmann, actress
December 13 – Lynn-Holly Johnson, ice skater and actress
December 22 – Lenny von Dohlen, American actor (d. 2022)
December 25
Hanford Dixon, American football player
Rickey Henderson, African-American baseball player
Cheryl Chase, American voice actress and singer
December 28
Twila Paris, Christian musician
Joe Diffie, country singer (died 2020)
December 31
Johnny Hardwick, American comedian and actor (died 2023)
Bebe Neuwirth, American actress
Full date unknown
Karl Fields, university professor
Deaths
January 1
Archie Alexander, designer (born 1888)
William T. Bovie, biophysicist and inventor (born 1882)
Edward Weston, photographer (born 1886)
January 6 – Lois Irene Marshall, wife of Thomas R. Marshall, Second Lady of the United States (born 1873)
January 8 – Mary Colter, architect and designer (born 1869)
January 11 – Edna Purviance, silent film actress (born 1895)
January 13 – Jesse L. Lasky, film producer (born 1880)
February 1 – Clinton Davisson, physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1937 (born 1888)
February 4
Monta Bell, actor and director (born 1891)
Henry Kuttner, author (born 1915)
February 13 – Helen Twelvetrees, actress (born 1908)
February 17 – Marguerite Snow, actress (born 1889)
February 20 – Thurston Hall, actor (born 1882)
February 27 – Harry Cohn, film producer (born 1891)
March 21 – Cyril M. Kornbluth, writer (born 1923)
March 22 (in plane crash)
Mike Todd, film producer (born 1909)
Art Cohn, screenwriter (born 1909)
March 23 – Charlotte Walker, actress (born 1876)
March 25 – Tom Brown, jazz musician (born 1888)
March 28
W. C. Handy, African American blues composer (born 1873)
Chuck Klein, baseball player (born 1904)
April 2 – Michael MacDonald, unseen subject of "Tragedy by the Sea" (b. 1952)
April 13 – Henry F. Phillips, businessman and inventor (born 1889)
May 5 – James Branch Cabell, fantasy writer (born 1879)
June 2
Townsend Cromwell, oceanographer (plane crash) (born 1922)
Bell M. Shimada, fisheries scientist (plane crash) (born 1922)
June 6
Lloyd Hughes, actor (born 1897)
Virginia Pearson, actress (born 1886)
June 10 – Angelina Weld Grimke, African American lesbian journalist and poet (born 1880)
June 21
Herbert Brenon, film director (born 1880)
Robert L. Ghormley, admiral (born 1883)
July 9 – James H. Flatley, naval aviator and admiral (born 1906)
July 20 – Franklin Pangborn, actor (born 1889)
July 24 – Mabel Ballin, actress (born 1887)
July 26
Iven Carl Kincheloe Jr., Korean War fighter ace and test pilot (born 1928)
Eugene Millikin, U.S. Senator from Colorado from 1941 to 1957 (born 1891)
July 30 – William A. Glassford, admiral (born 1886)
August 14 or 15 – Big Bill Broonzy, African American blues singer-songwriter (born 1893)
August 27 – Ernest Lawrence, nuclear physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939 (born 1901)
August 29 – Marjorie Flack, artist, illustrator and writer (born 1897)
September 15 – Snuffy Stirnweiss, baseball player (born 1918)
September 25 – John B. Watson, psychologist (born 1878)
October 7 – Louise Hammond Willis Snead, artist, writer, and composer (born 1868)
October 15 – Jack Norton, actor (born 1882)
October 17 – Paul Outerbridge, photographer (born 1896)
October 27 – Marshall Neilan, actor and director (born 1891)
October 26 – Herbert A. Bartholomew, farmer and politician (born 1871)
October 29 – Zoë Akins, playwright, poet and author (born 1886)
November 15
Samuel Hopkins Adams, writer (born 1871)
Tyrone Power, actor (born 1914)
November 21:
Mel Ott, baseball player (born 1909)
Lion Feuchtwanger, German-American novelist and playwright (born 1884)
November 24 – Harry Parke, comedian (born 1904)
November 30 – Oscar C. Badger II, admiral (born 1890)
December 1 – Boots Mallory, actress (born 1913)
December 13 – Tim Moore, comedian (born 1887)
December 23 – Henry "Son" Sims, Delta blues fiddler and songwriter (born 1890)
December 29 – Doris Humphrey, dancer and choreographer (born 1895)
See also
List of American films of 1958
Timeline of United States history (1950–1969)
References
External links
1950s in the United States
United States
United States
Years of the 20th century in the United States