What happened in 1958
55 entries recorded for 1958, listed by date. That was 68 years ago.
1958 at a glance
- Years ago
- 68 (as of 2026)
- Century
- 20th century
- Decade
- 1950s
- Generation born
- Baby Boomers
- Entries here
- 55
- Breakdown
- 55 historical events
January
- January 18
Lumbee
Members of the Lumbee tribe arrived to protest at a Ku Klux Klan rally near Maxton, North Carolina, which turned into an armed confrontation between the two groups (pictured).
- January 18
Willie O'Ree
Willie O'Ree of the Boston Bruins played his first game in the National Hockey League, becoming the first black Canadian to compete in the NHL.
- January 23
1958 Venezuelan coup d'état
After a general uprising and rioting in the streets, President Marcos Pérez Jiménez leaves Venezuela.
- January 28
Lego
The Lego company patents the design of its Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today.
- January 28
The Lego Group
The Lego Group, a Danish toy company, filed a patent in Denmark for the design of Lego bricks.
- January 31
Space Race
Cold War: Space Race: The Explorer 1, the first successful American satellite, detects the Van Allen radiation belt.
February
- February 3
Benelux
Founding of the Benelux Economic Union, creating a testing ground for a later European Economic Community.
- February 5
1958 Tybee Island mid-air collision
After a mid-air collision with a fighter plane during a practice exercise off Tybee Island, Georgia, a U.S. Air Force bomber jettisoned a Mark 15 nuclear bomb, which was presumed lost.
- February 5
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser is nominated to be the first president of the United Arab Republic.
- February 6
Manchester United F.C.
The aircraft carrying the Manchester United football team crashed while attempting to take off from Munich-Riem Airport in West Germany, killing 8 players and 23 people in total (news reel featured).
- February 21
Peace symbols
The CND symbol, aka peace symbol, commissioned by the Direct Action Committee in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, is designed and completed by Gerald Holtom.
- February 28
Floyd County, Kentucky
A school bus in Floyd County, Kentucky hits a wrecker truck and plunges down an embankment into the rain-swollen Levisa Fork river. The driver and 26 children die in one of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history.
March
- March 3
Nuri al-Said
Nuri al-Said becomes Prime Minister of Iraq for the eighth time.
- March 17
Vanguard 1
The United States launches the first solar-powered satellite, which is also the first satellite to achieve a long-term orbit.
- March 26
Explorer 3
The United States Army launches Explorer 3.
- March 26
African Regroupment Party
The African Regroupment Party is launched at a meeting in Paris.
- March 27
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, assumed the office of premier.
April
- April 5
Ripple Rock
Ripple Rock, an underwater threat to navigation in the Seymour Narrows in Canada, is destroyed in one of the largest non-nuclear controlled explosions of the time.
- April 13
Cold War
In the midst of the Cold War, American pianist Van Cliburn won the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.
- April 15
Walter O'Malley
On Walter O'Malley's initiative, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants played the first Major League Baseball game on the U.S. West Coast.
- April 18
Ezra Pound
Controversial American poet Ezra Pound (pictured) was released from St. Elizabeths Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in Washington, D.C., in which he had been incarcerated for twelve years.
- April 21
United Air Lines Flight 736
United Airlines Flight 736 collided with a U.S. Air Force fighter jet over southern Nevada, resulting in the deaths of all 49 people on board both aircraft.
- April 26
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Service ended on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Royal Blue Line, one of the first major electrified train lines in the U.S. (steam train pictured).
May
- May 13
Ben Carlin
The Australian adventurer Ben Carlin (pictured) became the only person to circumnavigate the world in an amphibious vehicle, having travelled over 80,000 kilometres (50,000 miles) by land and sea.
- May 13
Richard Nixon
US vice president Richard Nixon's motorcade was attacked by a mob in Caracas, Venezuela.
- May 16
Lockheed F-104 Starfighter
The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, a supersonic interceptor aircraft, set a world flight airspeed record of 1,404.012 mph (2,259.538 km/h).
- May 22
1958 anti-Tamil pogrom
Ethnic riots mostly targeting the minority Sri Lankan Tamils broke out in Ceylon, resulting in at least 158 deaths over the next few days.
- May 27
McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
The F-4 Phantom II, the principal air superiority jet fighter for both the U.S. Navy and Air Force, made its first flight.
June
- June 2
Aeronaves de México Flight 111
Aeronaves de México Flight 111 crashes on approach to Guadalajara International Airport, killing 45.
- June 9
Magadan-13 Airport
Aeroflot Flight 105 crashes on approach to Magdan-13 Airport, killing 24.
- June 16
Imre Nagy
Imre Nagy, Pál Maléter and other leaders of the 1956 Hungarian Uprising are executed.
- June 17
Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing
The Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing, in the process of being built to connect Vancouver and North Vancouver (Canada), collapses into the Burrard Inlet killing 18 ironworkers and injuring others.
- June 18
Benjamin Britten
English composer Benjamin Britten's one-act opera Noye's Fludde was premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival.
July
- July 9
1958 Lituya Bay earthquake and megatsunami
An earthquake struck Lituya Bay, Alaska; the subsequent megatsunami, the largest in modern times, reached an elevation of 1,720 ft (524 m).
- July 14
14 July Revolution
In the 14 July Revolution in Iraq, the monarchy is overthrown by popular forces led by Abd al-Karim Qasim, who becomes the nation's new leader.
- July 26
Explorers Program
Explorer program: Explorer 4 is launched.
August
- August 3
USS Nautilus (SSN-571)
The world's first nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilus, becomes the first vessel to complete a submerged transit of the geographical North Pole.
- August 6
Law of Permanent Defense of Democracy
Law of Permanent Defense of Democracy, outlawing the Communist Party of Chile and banning 26,650 persons from the electoral lists, is repealed in Chile.
- August 18
Brojen Das
Brojen Das from Bangladesh swims across the English Channel in a competition as the first Bengali and the first Asian to do so, placing first among the 39 competitors.
- August 18
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.
September
- September 17
Tintin in Tibet
Tintin in Tibet, the twentieth volume of The Adventures of Tintin by the Belgian cartoonist Hergé and which he regarded as his favourite in the series, began serialisation.
- September 28
New Orleans
Fernando Rios, a Mexican tour guide in New Orleans, was killed in an instance of gay bashing.
October
- October 2
Guinea
Guinea declares its independence from France.
- October 4
Constitution of France
The current constitution of France is adopted.
- October 11
Pioneer 1
NASA launches Pioneer 1, its first space probe, although it fails to achieve a stable orbit.
- October 26
Pan Am
Pan American Airways makes the first commercial flight of the Boeing 707 from New York City to Paris.
- October 28
Pope John XXIII
John XXIII is elected Pope.
December
- December 1
Flower Drum Song
The musical Flower Drum Song by Rodgers and Hammerstein premiered on Broadway.
- December 5
Controlled-access highway
Britain's first motorway, the Preston Bypass, opened to the public.
- December 5
Subscriber trunk dialling
Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) is inaugurated in the United Kingdom by Queen Elizabeth II when she speaks to the Lord Provost in a call from Bristol to Edinburgh.
- December 5
Preston Bypass
The Preston By-pass, the UK's first stretch of motorway, opens to traffic for the first time. (It is now part of the M6 and M55 motorways.)
- December 18
SCORE (satellite)
The United States launched SCORE (rocket pictured), the world's first communications satellite.
- December 23
Tokyo Tower
Tokyo Tower, then the world's tallest freestanding tower, opened.
- December 28
1958 NFL Championship Game
"Greatest Game Ever Played": The Baltimore Colts defeat the New York Giants in the first ever National Football League sudden death overtime game at New York's Yankee Stadium to win the NFL Championship.
- December 30
Guatemalan Air Force
The Guatemalan Air Force fired on Mexican fishing boats that had strayed into Guatemalan territory, triggering an eight-month conflict.
Questions about 1958
What happened in 1958?
This site records 55 entries for 1958, including Lumbee on January 18. They are listed below by date.
How long ago was 1958?
68 years ago, counting from 2026. Anyone born in 1958 turns 68 this year.
Which century is 1958 in?
1958 falls in the 20th century, in the 1950s.
Which generation was born in 1958?
Baby Boomers (1946–1964). Born in the post-war birth surge.
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