Events from the year 1958 in the United States .
January 31: Explorer 1 , the first U.S. satellite January 8 – Bobby Fischer , 14 years old at the time, wins the United States Chess Championship .[ 1]
January 13 – In One, Inc. v. Olesen Supreme Court affirms that homosexual writing is not per se obscene.
January 18
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.[ 3]
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
March 24 – The U.S. Army inducts Elvis Presley , transforming "The King Of Rock & Roll" into U.S. Private #53310761.
March 26
April – Unemployment in Detroit reaches 20%, marking the height of the Recession of 1958 in the United States.
April 15 – The San Francisco Giants (who until this season were the New York 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 22 – First color television switch WRC-TV dedication[ 4]
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.[ 5]
June 8 – The SS Edmund Fitzgerald 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 29: NASA established September 23: The Spirit of Detroit 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 Mw strike-slip earthquake in Southeast Alaska causes a landslide that produces a megatsunami . The runup from the waves reached 525 m (1,722 ft) 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
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 .[ 6]
September 23 – The Spirit of Detroit 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)Yosemite National Park is first climbed, by Warren Harding ,[ 7]
November 20 – The Jim Henson Company is founded as Muppets, Inc.
November 23 – Have Gun, Will Travel 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 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 to win the NFL Championship Game , the first to go into sudden death overtime and "The Greatest Game Ever Played".[ 8]
Lorenzo Lamas Ellen DeGeneres January 1
January 4
January 6 – Scott Bryce , actor, director, and producerJanuary 8 – Betsy DeVos , 11th United States Secretary of Education January 9 – Rob McClanahan , ice hockey playerJanuary 10 – Eddie Cheever , race car driverJanuary 11
January 12 – Curt Fraser , American ice hockey coachJanuary 14 – Patricia Morrison , American singer-songwriter and bass playerJanuary 20 – Lorenzo Lamas , American actor, martial artist and reality show participantJanuary 21 – Gareth Branwyn , American journalist and criticJanuary 23 – Steve Christoff , ice hockey playerJanuary 24 – Neil Allen , baseball player and coachJanuary 26
January 27 – Susanna Thompson , American actressJanuary 29 – Stephen Lerner , American labor and community activist Ice-T Tim Kaine Sharon Stone Holly Hunter Alec Baldwin Ellen Ochoa Ron Reagan Annette Bening May 4 – Keith Haring , artist (d. 1990 )May 7 – William Ridenour , politician[ 15] May 8 – Lovie Smith , American football player and coachMay 10
May 11
May 12
May 15 – Ron Simmons , professional wrestlerMay 17 – Amp Fiddler , African-American singer/songwriter (d. 2023 )May 19 – Jenny Durkan , politicianMay 20
May 21 – Tom Feeney , politicianMay 23
May 25 – Carrie Newcomer , singer-songwriter & musicianMay 26 – Margaret Colin , actressMay 27
May 28 – Ric Edelman , investor and authorMay 29 – Annette Bening , actressMay 30 – Ted McGinley , actor Prince Bruce Campbell Jeffrey Lee Pierce June 2
June 4 – Gordon P. Robertson , American televangelist and son of Pat Robertson June 5
June 7 – Prince , born Prince Rogers Nelson, African-American rock musician (d. 2016 )June 8
June 9 – Tony Horwitz , American journalist and author (d. 2019 )June 10 – James F. Conant , American philosopherJune 11 – Tim Draper , American venture capitalistJune 12
June 14
June 15 – Wade Boggs , American baseball playerJune 17 – Jello Biafra , American punk musician and activistJune 20
June 21 – Eric Douglas , American actor (d. 2004 )June 22
June 24
June 26 – Glen Stewart Godwin , American fugitive and convicted murdererJune 27 – Jeffrey Lee Pierce , American musician (d. 1996 )June 29 – Jeff Coopwood , American actor, broadcaster and singerJune 30 – Tommy Keene , American singer-songwriter (d. 2017 ) Don Swayze Madonna Michael Jackson August 1 – Michael Penn , singerAugust 7
August 10 – Don Swayze , actorAugust 13 – Lizzie Grey , musician (d. 2019 )August 15 – Rondell Sheridan , actorAugust 16
Angela Bassett , African-American screen actress and film directorMadonna , born Madonna Louise Ciccone, pop singer and performerAugust 17 – Belinda Carlisle , pop rock singerAugust 18
August 19
August 20 – Michael Silka , spree killer (d. 1984 )August 22
August 24 – Steve Guttenberg , American actorAugust 25
August 26 – Billy Ray Irick , convicted murderer (d. 2018 )August 28 – Colm Feore , American-Canadian actorAugust 29 – Michael Jackson , African-American singer and musician (d. 2009 )August 31 – Julie Brown , actressSeptember 4 – Drew Pinsky , celebrity doctorSeptember 6 – Jeff Foxworthy , comedianSeptember 10 – Chris Columbus , film director, writer, and producerSeptember 11
September 15 – Wendie Jo Sperber , actress (died 2005 )September 16
September 18 – Jeff Bostic , American football playerSeptember 22 – Joan Jett , rock musicianSeptember 23 – Marvin Lewis , American football coachSeptember 24 – Kevin Sorbo , actorSeptember 26
September 27 – Shaun Cassidy , actor, producer and screenwriterSeptember 30 – Marty Stuart , singer Viggo Mortensen October 3 – Daryl Sconiers , baseball playerOctober 4
October 5 – Neil deGrasse Tyson , African-American astrophysicistOctober 9 – Michael Paré , actorOctober 10 – Tanya Tucker , singerOctober 13 – Maria Cantwell , politicianOctober 15 – Eddie Gossage , American motorsport promoter (died 2024)[ 22] October 16 – Tim Robbins , actor and directorOctober 17 – Alan Jackson , country singer and songwriterOctober 18 – Letitia James , lawyer, activist and politician[ 23] October 20
October 22 – Keena Turner , American football playerOctober 24
Jamie Lee Curtis November 2 – Willie McGee , African-American baseball playerNovember 5 – Robert Patrick , American actorNovember 8 – Jeff Speakman , American actor and martial artistNovember 12
November 16 – Marg Helgenberger , American actressNovember 17 – Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio , American actress and singerNovember 18
November 19 – Michael Wilbon , American sportswriterNovember 22 – Jamie Lee Curtis , American actress and authorNovember 25 – Darlanne Fluegel , American actressNovember 28 – Dave Righetti , American baseball playerNovember 30 – Stacey Q , American singer & actress
October 7 – Louise Hammond Willis Snead , artist, writer, and composer (born 1868 )
October 9 – John Boland , South Dakota politician (born 1884 )[ 45]
October 15 – Jack Norton , actor (born 1882 )[ 46]
October 17 – Paul Outerbridge , photographer (born 1896 )
October 20 – Emmett Lynn , actor (born 1897 )
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 )
October 31 – Tom Pittman , actor (born 1932 )
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^ Rich, Mark, C. M. Kornbluth: The Life and Works of a Science Fiction Visionary (McFarland & Co., 2010) p. 337
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