World Events
Population: 2.945 billion
Nobel Peace Prize: Rev. Dominique Georges Henri Pire (Belgium)
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
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
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)
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).
Sports
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
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)
Miss America: Marilyn Van Derbur (CO)
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
Deaths
Robert Donat
Norman Bel Geddes
Alfred Noyes