February 1958

February 1, 1958 (Saturday)

• Egypt and Syria unite to form the United Arab Republic.
• Domenico Modugno, paired with Johnny Dorelli, wins the 8. Sanremo Festival with Volare, composed by himself; Nilla Pizzi is runner up with L’edera. The resounding and unexpected Modugno's success makes a turnover for the Italian song, till then bound again to the traditional melodic formulas.
• Launch of Explorer 1, the first NASA satellite.
• In Nepal, king Malendra announces free elections and the establishment of a democratic constitution.

  February 2, 1958 (Sunday)

• The word 'Aerospace' is coined, from the words Aircraft and Spacecraft, taking into consideration that the Earth's atmosphere and outerspace is to be one, or a single realm.
• Born: Paolo De Castro, Italian professor and politician, in San Pietro in Vernotico.

  February 3, 1958 (Monday)

• A Bulganin's letter to Eisenhower, containing a nine points agenda for a summit, is made public.

  February 4, 1958 (Tuesday)

• Dead: Filippo Andrea VI Doria Pamphili, 71, former Rome's Mayor

  February 5, 1958 (Wednesday)

• Gamal Abdel Nasser is nominated as the first president of the United Arab Republic.
• The Tybee Bomb, a 7,600 pound Mark 15 hydrogen bomb, is lost in the waters off Savannah, Georgia
• In Cape Canaveral, the launching of a second American satellite by the US Navy fails; after sixty seconds, the rocket Vanguard goes off course and has to be destroyed.
• On France, the parliament votes a framework-law about Algeria, establishing single electoral districts for Frenchmen and Muslims and reaffirming the Algeria's belonging to the French republic. The same evening, a time bomb of unknown origin explodes, without causing victims, in the Palais Bourbon's toilets; the attack is probably the work of far right militants.
• Born: Fabrizio Frizzi, in Rome, Italian TV presenter

  February 6, 1958 (Thursday)

• Seven Manchester United footballers are among the 21 people killed in the Munich air disaster in West Germany, on the return flight from a European Cup game in Yugoslavia. 23 people survive, but four of them, including manager Matt Busby and players Johnny Berry and Duncan Edwards, are in a serious condition. Busby and Berry would pull through although Berry would never play again. Edwards died fortnight later
• Institution of the first American space agency, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
• Born: Michel Houellebecq, in Saint-Pierre, French writer ; Giuseppe Baresi, in Travagliato, Italian football player.
• Dead: Charles Langbridge Morgan, 64, English Writer

  February 7, 1958 (Friday)

• According to an official statement of the PCI, the party has lost three hundred thousand members in the last two years, after the 20th Congress and the Hungarian revolution.

  February 8, Saturday

• Syndical congress in Abidjan. The CASL-FO is constituted.
• As a reprisal to the FLN attacks coming from Tunisian territory, French aviation bombs the Sakiet Sidi Youssef village, killing 69 persons. Tunisian government protests and asks for the evacuation of the French bases.
• Born: Marina Silva, in Rio Branco, Brazilian environmentalist and politician.

  February 9, 1958 (Sunday)

• In San Antonio, the aviator David Farrell, 23 years old, begins the simulation of a space fly in an airtight steel cabin.

  February 10, 1958 (Monday)

• Born: Thomas Ruff, in Zell am Harmersbach, German photographer.

  February 11, 1958 (Tuesday)

• The strongest ever known solar maximum is recorded.
• Marshal Chen Yi succeeds Zhou Enlai as Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs.
• Ruth Carol Taylor is the first African American woman hired as a flight attendant. Hired by Mohawk Airlines, her career lasts only six months, due to another discriminatory barrier – the airline's ban on married flight attendants.
• In China, the National People's congress establishes the rules for the pinyin's use.

  February 12, 1958 (Wednesday )

• Dead: Marcel Cachin, 88, French Communist politician

  February 13, 1958 (Thursday)

• On Italy, the minister of Interiors Fernando Tambroni dissolves the Naples City council; the former city mayor Achille Lauro is prosecuted for peculation.
• Dead : Georges Rouault, 86, French painter
• Born: Pernilla August, Swedish actress, in Stockholm.

  February 14, 1958 (Friday)

• In Gessolungo 8 persons die and 60 are wounded for an explosion in a sulfur mine.
• The Hashemite Kingdoms of Iraq and Jordan unite in the Arab Federation with King Faisal II of Iraq as head of state.
• In Senegal, a three weeks strike by the postal clerks begins.
• In Adelaide, institutive congress of the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders.
• The Polish government makes public the Rapacki plan for the disarmament in Europe; it contemplates the creation of a no-nuclear zone in Centrale Europe and a non-aggression pact between OTAN and Warsaw Pact. Eight states of the Warsaw Pact adhere to the plan, that is refused by the Western nations.

  February 15, 1958 (Saturday)

• In San Antonio, Donald Farrel ends his simulation of a space fly. He is tired and slimmer, but in good health and declares to have suffered just from boredom and lack of cigarettes.
• In Padang the PRRRI is proclaimed by a coalition of militaries and Islamists. The uprising, sustained by USA, is quickly repressed by the Indonesian government, but the guerrilla goes on till 1961.

  February 16, 1958 (Sunday)

• Born: Ice-T, American rapper, in Newark; Maurizio Zanolla, in Feltre, Italian free climber

  February 17, 1958 (Monday)

• Pope Pius XII declares Saint Clare the patron saint of television.
• France and Tunisia accept the mediation of Great Britain and Usa in the North-African questions.
• On the New York Herald Tribune, the first B. C. strip appears:

  February 18, 1958 (Tuesday)

• The Egyptian president Nasser asks Sudan for the whole territory north of the 22nd parallel, offering in exchange a more Southern little zone. In Uadi Halfa, chief town of the contended land, an Egyptian military unit and an electoral commission are sent, in view of the plebiscite for the UAR. The Sudan foreign minister Mahghoub rejects the Egyptian claim.

  February 19, 1958 (Wednesday)

• Ellen Fairclough is the first woman to get the charge of First Minister of Canada, that she leaves the next day.
• Born: Helen Fielding, in Morley, British writer.

  February 20, 1958 (Thursday)

• On Italy, the Merlin law, closing the state-controlled brothels, is approved by Parliament.
• On Italy, institution of the CNEL, presided by Meuccio Ruini
• A test rocket explodes at Cape Canaveral.

  February 21, 1958 (Friday)

• On Italy, Senate, notwithstanding some incidents caused by the MSI senators, approves the law about the legal recognition of the Corpo Volontari della Libertà, giving to the Italian partisans the title of fighting soldiers.
• A peace symbol is designed and completed by Gerald Holtom, commissioned by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment.
• In Syria and Egypt, a referendum approves the UAR, with the 99,98% of votes; Nasser is elected president of the new state.
• Born: Salvatore Cuffaro, in Raffadali, governor of Sicilia

  February 22, Saturday

• The bridge on the river Kwai and Les girls win the prizes for best films at the 15th Golden Globe Awards.

  February 23, 1958 (Sunday)

• Cuban rebels kidnap five-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio, releasing him 28 hours later.
• Arturo Frondizi is elected president of Argentina.
• Born : David Sylvian, in Bronley, British singer.

  February 24, 1958 (Monday)

• In Cuba, Fidel Castro's Radio Rebelde begins broadcasting from Sierra Maestra.
• British-American agreement about installation of missiles in the United Kingdom.

  February 25, 1958 (Tuesday)

• Bertrand Russell launches the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
• The Gaza strip is provided with a chart creating mixed Egyptian-Palestinian organisms. Nasser, in controversy with the Arab Higher Committee, proposes the constitution in Gaza of a Palestinian state associated to RAU.
• The Egyptian troops, penetrated beyond the Sudan border for 130 kilometers, till the Abu Hamad city, move away from the occupied territory. The Ethiopian imperator Haile Selassiè offers his mediation between the two states.

  February 26, 1958 (Wednesday)

• Paulette Goddard marries Erich Maria Remarque.

  February 27, 1958 (Thursday)

• On Italy, the reintroduction of a State examination for the graduates causes hard agitations in the universities. The former Prime Minister Antonio Segni, while he gives a lesson at the Rome University, is violently contested by the students.
• In Milan, seven robbers, wearing blue coveralls, stop in via Osoppo the Banca Popolare di Milano's van and steal, without firing a shot, 100 million liras cash and 600 ones in negotiable instruments. The hold-up, for its perfect organization and the amount of the loot, gets great emphasis on the Italian press. The most of the gang is arrested on April 1st.
• In France, the mandatory insurance for the cars is instituted.
• Dead : Harry Cohn, 64, American producer.

  February 28, 1958 (Friday)

• One of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history occurs at Prestonburg, Kentucky; 27 are killed.
• Born: Natalya Estemirova, Sverdlovsk oblast, Russian journalist and activist