Top News Stories from 1958
World Events
World Statistics
Population: 4.378 billion
population by decade
Nobel Peace Prize:
Rev. Dominique Georges Henri Pire (Belgium)
More World Statistics...
- 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).
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
More U.S. Statistics...
- 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).
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)
Sports
World Series
NY Yankees d. Milwaukee Braves (4-3)NBA Championship
St. Louis Hawks d. BostonStanley Cup
Montreal d. BostonWimbledon
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 TamNCAA Basketball Championship
Kentucky d. SeattleNCAA Football Champions
LSU (AP, UPI) (11-0-0) & Iowa (FW) (8-1-1)World Cup
Brazil d. SwedenEntertainment
Entertainment Awards
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction:
A Death in the Family, James Agee
Music:
Vanessa, Samuel Barber
Drama:
Look Homeward, Angel, Ketti Frings
Academy Award, Best Picture:
The Bridge on the River Kwai, Sam Spiegel, producer (Columbia)
Nobel Prize for Literature:
Boris Pasternak (USSR) (declined)
Miss America:
Marilyn Van Derbur (CO)
More Entertainment Awards...
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
More Nobel Prizes in 1998...
- 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
Death
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