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 a critical jump-start in 1968. But the prison with which Johnny Cash was most closely associated wasn’t Folsom, it was San Quentin, a maximum-security penitentiary […]
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 most of Rome’s high society were in the audience, and Callas, known for her volatile temperament, was sharply criticized. It was a characteristic move for […]
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 people dead. Manuel, born in America to British parents, established himself as a career criminal early in life. He received his first burglary conviction at […]
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 in the National Hockey League (NHL). Born in 1935 in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, O’Ree was the son of a civil engineer, in one of […]
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 part of a murderous crime spree that began a week earlier and would ultimately leave 11 people dead. The killer couple’s deadly road trip, which […]
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 while working in New York City on a Broadway production of the romantic drama Picnic. Newman had a supporting role and filled in for the […]
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 just qualified for the semifinals of the European Cup. The Manchester United team was returning from Belgrade, where they had played the Red Star team. […]
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 hotel the day before the Cuba Grand Prix, an event intended to showcase the island nation. He was released unharmed several hours after the race. […]
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 been buying popular music on records, tapes and compact discs, the records, tapes and disks they’ve bought have carried labels like “Certified Gold!” and “Double […]
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 in the United States Army. When Elvis Presley turned 18 on January 8, 1953, he fulfilled his patriotic duty and legal obligation to register his […]
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 to be the greatest prizefighter in history. No less an authority than heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali has said, “My idol will always be Sugar Ray […]
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. Khrushchev, born into a Ukrainian peasant family in 1894, worked as a mine mechanic before joining the Soviet Communist Party in 1918. In 1929, he […]
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, he is best known for mainstreaming the Blues, helping to bring Black sounds to the forefront of American popular music. William Christopher Handy, born in […]
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, his research will reveal what is now known as the Keeling Curve: a graph of continuously-taken measurements showing the rapid accumulation of carbon dioxide. Previously, […]
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, following his arrest in Italy during World War II on charges of treason. Pound was born in Hailey, Idaho, and grew up in a suburb […]
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 the U.S. Three years later, Congress followed suit by passing a joint resolution establishing May 1 as Law Day. The idea of a Law Day […]
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 dramatic highlight of a trip characterized by Latin American anger over some of America’s Cold War policies. By 1958, relations between the United States and […]
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 world were the teenage fans of the raucous music coming out of America more enthusiastic than they were in England, and the coming tour of […]
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 world with their spectacular play, which was often referred to as the “beautiful game.” The star of the tournament was an undersized midfielder named Edson […]
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 sent back two earlier bills to Congress, but was pleased with the revisions included in Senate Bill 3910. The bill was introduced in the wake […]
