1958

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Dwight Eisenhower
1953-1961

1958 Births
Anita Baker
Rickey Henderson
Michael Jackson
Madonna

1958 Deaths
Samual H. Adams
Pope Pius Xll
Tyrone Power

New In 1958
Sweet 'N' Low
Sterophonic Records
American Express Card
BankAmericard (Later Visa)

1958 Corvette
$3,926

A New Electronic Toy
Hoping to liven up an open house at his workplace - the Brookhaven National Laboratory, in Long Island, New York - physicist William Higinbotham invented the world's first video game in 1958. This is considered the ancestor of Pong, the tabletennis simulation that 14 years later became the first publicly available video game.

Played on a circular, five-inch screen, his game featured a table and net that looked like an inverted "T". Each player controlled the ball (a white dot) by means of a box equipped with a button and a knob. Primitive by today's standards, the game was a hit. Higinbotham saw no reason to seek a patent for his video innovation. It would have been pointless anyway: Since he was a government employee, his inventions became Uncle Sam's property.

Jet Age Arrives
On October 4, 1958, the British Overseas Airways Corporation inaugurated the first transatlantic passenger-jet service, flying one de Havilland Comet IV from London to New York and another in the opposite direction. BOAC beat PanAmerican Airways to the draw by three weeks. The Comet IV reached London in six hours and twelve minutes, half the time it took propeller - driven craft.

Jets shrank the planet as never before. President Eisenhower visited an unprecedented eleven countries in 18 days.

A new subclass sprang up among the wealthy: the "jet setters," who might cross an ocean for a weekend shopping spree.

Hula Mania
In a decade of fads, the hula hoop craze was the biggest. Introduced by Wham-O in 1958, the $1.98 plastic ring stormed the country, tracing the traditional fad migration from California east across the continent. U.S. sales reached 25 million in four months.

Army Launches Satellite
"Explorer 1" launched in 1958 was the first successful U.S. satellite.

Nixon in South America
Richard Nixon's 1958 goodwill tour through South America was a spectacular failure. Booed in Uruguay, stoned in Peru, and finally set upon by a mob in Venezuela, the U.S. vice president cut the trip short and returned to Washington. Nixon was resented throughout Latin America because of U.S. support of two hated dictators in the area.

New Chess Champion
At age 15, Bobby Fischer becomes the youngest chess champion in history.