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News and Events of 1958

Year by Year: 1900-2012 View a 1958 calendar

World Events

World Statistics

Population: 2.945 billion
population by decade

Nobel Peace Prize:
Rev. Dominique Georges Henri Pire (Belgium)

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European Economic Community (Common Market) becomes effective (Jan. 1).
Egypt and Syria merge into United Arab Republic (Feb. 1).
Khrushchev becomes Premier of Soviet Union as Bulganin resigns (Mar. 27). Background: Rulers of Russia since 1533
Gen. Charles de Gaulle becomes French premier (June 1), remaining in power until 1969.
Eisenhower orders US Marines into Lebanon at request of President Chamoun, who fears overthrow (July 15).
New French constitution adopted (Sept. 28), de Gaulle elected president of 5th Republic (Dec. 21).

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U.S. Events

U.S. Statistics

President: Dwight D. Eisenhower
Vice President: Richard M. Nixon
Population: 174,881,904
Life expectancy: 69.6 years
Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 4.5

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The US Supreme Court rules unanimously that Little Rock, Ark., schools must integrate (Sept. 29). Background: Civil Rights
Army's Jupiter-C rocket fires first US satellite, Explorer I, into orbit (Jan. 31).

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Economics

US GDP (1998 dollars):   $467.3 billion
Federal spending:   $82.41 billion
Federal debt:   $279.7 billion
Consumer Price Index:   28.9
Unemployment:   4.3%
Cost of a first-class stamp:   $0.03 ($0.04 as of 8/1/58)

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Sports

Sports Links

Pro Football Summary

Pro Basketball Summary

Pro Baseball Summary

World Series

NY Yankees d. Milwaukee Braves (4-3)

NBA Championship

St. Louis Hawks d. Boston (4-2)

Stanley Cup

Montreal d. Boston (4-2)

Wimbledon

Women: Althea Gibson d. A. Mortimer (8-6 6-2)
Men: Ashley Cooper d. N. Fraser (3-6 6-3 6-4 13-11)

Kentucky Derby Champion

Tim Tam

NCAA Basketball Championship

Kentucky d. Seattle (84-72)

NCAA Football Champions

LSU (AP, UPI) (11-0-0) & Iowa (FW) (8-1-1)

World Cup

Brazil d. Sweden (5-2)

Entertainment

Entertainment Awards

Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: A Death in the Family, James Agee
Music: Vanessa, Samuel Barber
Drama: Look Homeward, Angel, Ketti Frings

Oscars awarded in 1958
Academy Award, Best Picture: The Bridge on the River Kwai, Sam Spiegel, producer (Columbia)

Nobel Prize for Literature: Boris Pasternak (USSR) (declined)

1958 Emmy Awards

1958 Tony Awards

Miss America: Marilyn Van Derbur (CO)

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Events

Billboard debuts its Hot 100 chart. Ricky Nelson's "Poor Little Fool" boasts the first No. 1 record.
Alvin Ailey establishes the American Dance Theatre.
Elvis Presley is inducted into the U.S. Army (March 24).

Movies

Vertigo, Gigi, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Defiant Ones

Books

Antonin Artaud, The Theatre and Its Double
Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany's
John Cheever, The Housebreaker of Shady Hill
Jack Kerouac, The Subterraneans, The Dharma Bums
Stanley Kunitz, Selected Poems, 1928—1958
Theodore Roethke, Words for the Wind
Claude Lévi-Strauss, Structural Anthropology
Leon Uris, Exodus

Science

Nobel Prizes in Science

Chemistry: Frederick Sanger (UK), for determining molecular structure of insulin

Physics: Pavel A. Cherenkov, Ilya M. Frank, and Igor E. Tamm (all USSR), for work resulting in development of cosmic-ray counter

Physiology or Medicine: Joshua Lederberg (US), for work with genetic mechanisms; George W. Beadie and Edward L. Tatum (both US), for discovering how genes transmit hereditary characteristics

First transatlantic jet passenger service started by BOAC, with a New York to London route (Oct. 4). Background: Famous Firsts in Aviation
The existence of the Van Allen Belt, a radiation belt surrounding the Earth, is confirmed by the Explorer I satellite. Background: Astronomy
NASA initiates Project Mercury, aimed at putting a man in space within two years. Background: US Staffed Space Flights