WHAT ALL HAPPENED APRIL TO DECEMBER 1958
Find out what all happened April to December 1958

Fifth Republic of France is established. (4. October 1958)

Herbert Hoover eclipses John Adams as having the longest retirement of any former U.S President. Hoover would live another ten years, his record 35-year retirement still holding the record as of 2013. (5. August 1958)

An F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph (2,259.82 km/h). (18. May 1958)

Charles de Gaulle comes out of retirement to lead France by decree for six months. (1. June 1958)

French Upper Volta and French Dahomey gain self-government from France, becoming the Republic of Upper Volta and the Republic of Dahomey (now Benin), respectively, and joining the French Community. (11. December 1958)

The trade mark Velcro is registered. (13. May 1958)

During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, Vice President Richard Nixon's car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators. (13. May 1958)

John XXIII is elected Pope. (28. October 1958)

The U.S. manned space-flight project is renamed Project Mercury. (7. October 1958)

After Walter O'Malley orchestrated that both teams' move from New York City, Los Angeles Dodgers played the San Francisco Giants in the first Major League Baseball game on the US West Coast. (15. April 1958)

A parcel bomb sent by Ngo Dinh Nhu, younger brother and chief adviser of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, fails to kill King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia. (31. August 1958)

Chad, the Republic of the Congo, and Gabon become autonomous republics within the French Community. (28. November 1958)

May 1958 crisis: a group of French military officers lead a coup in Algiers demanding that a government of national unity be formed with Charles de Gaulle at its head in order to defend French control of Algeria. (13. May 1958)

Project SCORE, the world's first communications satellite, is launched. (18. December 1958)

Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States. (18. August 1958)

Iceland expands its fishing zone, putting it into conflict with the United Kingdom, beginning the Cod Wars. (1. September 1958)

The Smurfs, a fictional race of blue dwarves, later popularized in a Hanna-Barbera animated cartoon series, appear for the first time in the story La flute à six schtroumpfs, a Johan and Peewit adventure by Peyo, which is serialized in the weekly Spirou magazine. (23. October 1958)

Queen Elizabeth II officially opens London Gatwick Airport, (LGW) in Crawley, West Sussex, United Kingdom. (9. June 1958)

The Springhill Mine Bump – An underground earthquake traps 174 miners in the No. 2 colliery at Springhill, Nova Scotia, the deepest coal mine in North America at the time. By November 1, rescuers from around the world had dug out 100 of the victims, marking the death toll at 74. (23. October 1958)

The Hope Diamond is donated to the Smithsonian Institution by New York diamond merchant Harry Winston. (10. November 1958)