Home > 1950's: Overview > World Events: Selected Occurences Outside the United States

World Events: Selected Occurences Outside the United States

1950

  • Thor Heyerdahl's book Kon-Tiki is published.
  • Marc Chagall's painting King David is exhibited.
  • Alberto Giacometti's sculpture Seven Figures and a Head is exhibited.
  • Max Ophüls's film La Ronde premieres.
  • Akira Kurosawa's film Rashomon premieres.
  • Australia retains Davis cup in tennis, winning finals against United States.
18 Jan.
Christopher Fry's play Venus Observed opens at Saint James Theatre, London.
21 Jan.
T. S. Eliot's play The Cocktail Party opens at New York's Henry Miller Theater.
29 Jan.
The Vatican recognizes baptisms in the Presbyterian, Congregational, Baptist, Methodist, and Disciples of Christ faiths.
24 Feb.
The executive committee of the World Council of Churches in Bossey, Switzerland, appeals for a world peace initiative.
7 Feb.
Great Britain and the United States recognize the Vietnamese government of Bao Dai.
1 Mar.
Chiang Kai-shek assumes the presidency of Nationalist China on the island of Formosa (Taiwan).
27 Apr.
Marshal Tito is reelected premier of Yugoslavia.
8 May
President Harry S Truman initiates the U.S. military mission to Vietnam.
11 May
Eugène Ionesco's play The Bald Soprano opens at Paris's Théâtre des Noctamules.
25 June
North Korea invades South Korea.
30 June
U.S. combat troops enter the Korean War.
22 July
Leopold III, exiled king of Belgium, returns to his country and is met by socialist demonstrations protesting his arrival.
1 Aug.
Leopold III reluctantly abdicates the throne of Belgium in favor of his son Baudouin.
3 Aug.
Pope Pius XII declares abstract art and "art for art's sake" immoral.
25 Oct.
Jean Anouilh's play The Rehearsal opens at Paris's Théâtre Marigny.
1 Nov.
Pope Pius XII publicly proclaims the bodily assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven.
5 Nov.
The London Sunday Times awards £1000 to T. S. Eliot, naming his play The Cocktail Party the year's outstanding contribution to English literature.
30 Nov.
The Soviet Union vetoes a UN ultimatum demanding Chinese Communists withdraw from Korea.
19 Dec.
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower is named supreme commander of Allied Forces in Western Europe by NATO.
23 Dec.
The Vatican confirms the discovery of Saint Peter's tomb beneath Saint Peter's Basilica.
28 Dec.
The Time magazine choice for "Man of the Year" is the "U.S. Fighting Man," the first time the magazine has selected a symbol instead of an individual.

1951

  • The Chemise Lacoste is exported to the United States for the first time by the Izod Company.
  • In September Great Britain's first supermarket chain opens.
  • Albert Camus's novel L'Homme révolté (The Rebel) is published.
  • Max Ophüls's film Le Plaisir premieres.
  • Jean Anouilh's play Colombe opens.
  • Salvador Dali's painting Christ of St. John of the Cross is exhibited.
  • Pablo Picasso's painting Massacre in Korea is exhibited.
  • Australia retains Davis cup in tennis, winning finals against the United States,
11 Jan.
The Vatican newspaper publishes a decree prohibiting Roman Catholic priests from membership in Rotary clubs, which, the church says, are connected with the Masons and are, therefore, anti-Catholic.
12 Jan.
The United Nations Convention on Prevention and Punishment of Genocide goes into effect.
14 Feb.
Moscow's Communist youth newspaper Komosomolskaya Pravda describes the successful heart and lung transplant from one dog to another.
19 Mar.
The European Coal and Steel Community is established by France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg.
11 Apr.
Three unidentifed men return the stolen Stone of Scone to Westminster Abbey after it was stolen the previous Christmas by Scottish Nationalists.
20 Apr.
Miracle in Milan and Julie win the Cannes Film Festival's Grand Prize; Michael Redgrave wins best actor, and Bette Davis wins best actress.
21 Apr.
Iranian Parliament nationalizes the country's oil industry.
13 June
The Roman Catholic church beatifies Pope Pius XII after a church investigation declares his recovery from two tumors as miraculous.
5 Aug.
Five hundred thousand youths participate in the Communist-sponsored World Youth Festival in East Berlin.
8 Sept.
Japan signs a treaty with forty-eight non-Communist countries, formally ending World War II.
25 Oct.
Winston Churchill wins reelection as Great Britain's prime minister.
26 Nov.
In response to criticism, Pope Pius XII retracts his earlier statement against abortion when the mother's life is endangered.
27 Nov.
The United Nations and North Korean negotiators agree on a cease-fire line and begin discussing truce enforcement proposals.
27 Dec.
Peace negotiators fail to agree on an armistice by midnight, consequently voiding the 27 November cease-fire in Korea.

1952

  • Doris Lessing's Martha Quest, the first volume of her five-novel sequence The Children of Violence, is published.
  • Evelyn Waugh's novel Men at Arms is published.
  • Angus Wilson's novel Hemlock and After is published.
  • Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot opens.
  • Marc Chagall's artwork The Green Night is exhibited.
  • Raoul Dufy's painting The Pink Violin is exhibited.
  • Georges Rouault's artwork End of Autumn is exhibited.
  • Vittoria de Sica's film Umberto D opens.
  • At the Olympic Games in Helsinki, the United States wins forty-three gold medals to twenty-two for the Soviet Union and twenty-two for Hungary.
12 Feb.
The Civil Aeronautics Board limits transatlantic air service to regularly scheduled lines.
6 Feb.
Princess Elizabeth becomes Queen of England on the death of her father, King George VI.
10 Mar.
Former Cuban president Fulgencia Batista y Zaldívar becomes dictator after overthrowing President Prio Soccaras in a military coup.
14 Mar.
The UN's Economic and Social Council's Subcommittee on Freedom of Information issues a draft of an international code of ethics for journalists.
16 Mar.
Roman Catholic bishop auxilliary Fulton J. Sheen declares that American Catholics do not want an established church and will obey a government that "comes from God."
5 Apr.
At the International Economic Conference the Soviet Union offers to buy $7.5-$10 billion worth of goods from the West in the next two to three years.
22 Mar.
Pope Pius XII reaffirms the right of the church to interpret divine law in regard to public, economic, and social life.
29 Apr.
New York's Lever House opens and becomes the example for energy-wasting architecture throughout the world.
30 Apr.
President Tito announces that Yugoslavia will not join NATO.
6 May
King Farouk I of Egypt proclams he is a direct descendant of Prophet Mohammed, assuming the title of El Sayed.
10 May
The Cannes International Film Festival awards Orson Welles's Othello best film honors and Marlon Brando best actor for his role in Viva Zapata.
12 May
The International Press Institute says that an increasing number of governments are imposing more restrictions on legitimate newsgathering organizations.
26 May
The Church of England rejects the idea of easing divorce laws and also recommends outlawing artificial insemination.
3 June
Nguyen Van Tarn is appointed premier of Vietnam, replacing Tran Van Huu.
26 July
King Farouk I abdicates after Gen. Mohammed Naguik leads a successful anti-corruption coup.
22 Aug.
West German movie theaters show the movie The Desert Fox, a sympathetic depiction of German World War II general Erwin Rommel, after a ten-month delay caused by American objections.
27 Aug.
Nonwhites are removed from electoral rolls in South Africa.
28 Aug.
The Third World Conference on Faith and Order in Lund, Sweden, closes without reaching agreement on uniting Christian religions.
18 Sept.
The Soviet Union vetoes UN admission for Japan.
22 Sept.
Sears, Roebuck and Company forms a partnership with the Toronto mail-order house Simpson, Ltd.
22 Oct.
The American Biblical Encyclopedia Society publishes the Torah in English for the first time.
4
Nov. Dwight D. Eisenhower is elected president of the United States.
15
Dec. Communist China rejects the UN's Korean truce plan.

1953

  • Denmark enacts a new constitution lowering the nation's voting age to twenty-three.
  • The U.S. Justice Department informs Charlie Chaplin he will not be allowed into the United States until he can satisfy the Immigration and Naturalization Office that he is not "a dangerous and unwholesome character" (that is, a Communist).
  • Christian Dior creates an uproar when he announces his 1953 fall hemlines will measure sixteen inches from the ground.
  • The coronation of Queen Elizabeth influences fashion, making jeweled tiaras the year's most popular accessory for evening gowns.
  • British Overseas Airways (BOAC) begins operational use of the Rolls-Royce turboprop-powered Vickers Viscount passenger aircraft.
  • German chemist Karl Ziegler uses atmospheric pressure instead of a more difficult pressure method in a new catalytic process for producing polyethylene.
  • Researchers in Basel, Switzerland, synthesize carotene, the provitamin of vitamin A, from acetone and acetylene.
  • Australian Ken Rosewall wins the French and Australian tennis singles titles.
  • Australia retains the Davis cup in tennis, winning in finals against the United States.
  • Maureen Connally wins tennis "Grand Slam" by winning the Australian, French, English, and U.S. women's singles titles.
  • Ben Hogan wins the British Open.
  • Marc Chagall's painting Eiffel Tower is exhibited.
  • Henri Mattisse's painting The Snail is exhibited
  • Heinrich Boll's novel Acquainted with the Night is published.
1 Jan.
Ernest Bloch's musical Suite Hebraique is performed in Chicago.
1 Feb.
Japan's first television station begins broadcasting.
14 Feb.
Hollywood's Foreign Press Association announces that in 1952 Susan Hayward and John Wayne were the most popular stars according to a poll of fans in fifty countries.
25 Feb.
President Dwight Eisenhower says that he favors the reciprocal trade agreement but it should include an escape clause because of cheap foreign-labor competition.
4 Mar.
Iranian premier Mohammad Mossadegh retains power after four days of fighting by Nationalists, Royalists, Communists, and religious groups.
5 Mar.
Soviet premier Joseph Stalin dies.
6 Mar.
Georgy Malenkov becomes Soviet premier.
26 Mar.
Jean Anouilh's play Medea opens at Paris's Théâtre de l'Atelier.
2 June
Queen Elizabeth II is coronated.
6 June
Darius Milhaud's Fifth Symphony is broadcast on radio from Turin.
7 June
Vietnamese premier Nguyen Van Tarn demands that France give his government a say in foreign affairs.
27 July
The Korean War ends.
22 Aug.
Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlevi returns to power as Prime Minister Mossadegh is ousted from the Iranian government.
25 Aug.
The British Trades Union Congress recommends a cautious approach to continuing the nationalization of British industry.
13 Sept.
Nikita Khrushchev is named first secretary of the Soviet Communist party's Central Committee.
26 Sept.
Pope Pius XII proclaims 1954 a Marian Year to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the definition of Immaculate Conception as Catholic dogma.
12 Oct.
Six thousand sugar workers strike in British Guiana (Guyana).
5 Nov.
Terrence Rattigan's play The Sleeping Prince opens at London's Phoenix Theater, with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh.
6 Nov.
Masao Oki's Atomic Bomb symphonic fantasy is performed in Tokyo.
20 Nov.
U.S. Roman Catholics issue a statement condemning Communist efforts to suppress religion as "the bitterest, the bloodiest persecution in all history."
1 Dec.
AT&T announces it will lay the first telephone cable across the Atlantic.
17 Dec.
Dmitry Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony performed in Leningrad.
22 Dec.
Friedrich Dürrenmatt's play Ein Engel Kommt nach Babylon (An Angel Comes to Babylon) opens at Munich's Kammerspiele.

1954

  • Ilya Grigorovich Ehrenburg's The Thaw is the first Russian novel to criticize the Stalin regime in the Soviet Union; "The Thaw" is taken as the name of the post-Stalin liberalization of Soviet literature.
  • Thomas Mann's novel Felix Krullis published.
  • Heinrich Boll's novel The Unguarded House is published.
  • William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies is published.
  • Salvador Dali's painting Crucifixion is exhibited.
  • Pablo Picasso's painting Sylvette is exhibited.
  • Marc Chagall's painting The Red Roofs is exhibited.
  • Akira Kurosawa's film The Seven Samurai premieres.
  • Ingmar Bergman's film Smiles of a Summer premieres.
  • Jean Renoir's film French Can Can premieres.
  • Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel brings her famed Chanel Look back into haute couture after a fifteen-year absence.
  • Montreal physicians Heinz Lehmann and G. E. Hanrahan report success in treating psychotic patients with the French drug chlorpromazine. Philadelphia pharmaceutical company Smith, Kline, and French market it as Thorazine, a brand-name drug for schizophrenic patients.
  • Britain permits antibiotic feed supplements for farm animals. United States livestock farmers purchase $50 million worth of these supplements.
  • Mercedes introduces the first fuel-injection system for automobiles on its Mercedes 300 SL.
  • West Germany defeats Hungary for the World Cup Soccer championship 3 to 2 at Bern's Wanddorf Stadium.
19 Jan.
Costa Rica's demand for a 50 percent share of United Fruit Company's profits is rejected by the company.
12 Feb.
The Legend of the Stone Flower, a ballet, is performed at Moscow's Bolshoi Theater, with music by the late Sergey Prokofiev.
13 Mar.
French forces are attacked by Vietminh combat troops at Dien Bien Phu in northern Vietnam.
12 Mar.
Moses and Aaron, an opera by the late Arnold Schoenberg, is performed at Hamburg's Musikhalle.
23 Apr.
The United States lends $100 million to the European Coal and Steel Community to revive the European capital market.
30 Apr.
Darius Milhaud's Fourth Piano Concerto performed at Haifa, Israel.
5 Apr.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States will not strike first with the hydrogen bomb.
6 May
Roger Bannister of Great Britain runs the mile in three minutes, 59.4 seconds at Oxford, the first runner to break the four-minute mile.
29 May
Pope Pius XII proclaims the late Pope Pius X a saint of the Roman Catholic church.
6 July
The evangelist Billy Graham returns from a five-month tour during which he preached at three hundred meetings in Great Britain and Western Europe.
21 July
Vietnam is divided into North and South Vietnam at the 17th parallel by the Geneva Accord.
1 Aug.
Egypt ends its economic blockade of the Suez Canal Zone.
17 Aug.
Roman Catholic clergy are given the option to use English in administering the sacraments of baptism, matrimony, and extreme unction.
30 Aug.
The World Council of Churches calls for abolition of all mass destruction weapons and reduction of conventional arms as a step to ending war.
8 Sept.
The Manila Pact establishes the Southeast Treaty Organization (SEATO).
12 Sept.
The three hundredth anniversary of the first Jewish settlement in North America is celebrated.
14 Sept.
Benjamin Britten's opera Turn of the Screw, with libretto adapted from Henry James's work, is first performed.
22 Sept.
Terence Rattigan's plays Separate Tables and Table Number Seven open at London's Saint James's Theatre with Eric Portman.
27 Sept.
Mao Tse-tung is reelected chairman of the People's Republic of China.
1 Oct.
Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union settle their first trade agreement since 1948, involving the exchange of nonstrategic goods.
22 Oct.
West Germany is admitted to NATO.
6 Nov.
The General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs members approve a Danish resolution censuring the United States for maintaining quantitative import restrictions on dairy products.

1955

  • Ross and Norris McWhirter publish The Guinness Book of World Records, which sells twenty-four miñion copies.
  • Graham Greene's novel The Quiet American is published.
  • J. R. R. Tolkien's novel Lord of the Rings is published.
  • Philip Larkin's poetry volume The Less Deceived is published.
  • Pablo Picasso's painting The Women of Algiers is exhibited.
  • Salvador Dali's painting The Lord's Supper is exhibited.
  • Giorgio De Chirico's painting Italian Square is exhibited.
  • Bernard Buffet's painting Oouble Portrait of Birdie is exhibited.
  • The Vienna State Opera House reopens after having been almost completely destroyed by wartime bombing and shelling.
  • France's Notre Dame du Haut at Ronchamp is completed by Le Corbusier.
  • British biochemist Dorothy Hodgkins discovers vitamin B-12 (cyanoeobalamin). Vitamin B-12 can be used to treat pernicious anemia and other deficiency diseases.
  • Volkswagen introduces the Kharmann-Ghia two-seat sportsear. The Kharmann company of Osnabrück produced the body while Ghia of Italy designed the car.
5 Jan.
The World Bank expels Czechoslovakia for nonpayment of dues and for not furnishing required trade and economic information.
13 Feb.
Four Dead Sea Scrolls are purchased by the Israeli government from the Syrian Archbishop Metropolitan.
6 Apr.
Anthony Eden becomes Great Britain's prime minister upon the retirement of Winston Churchill.
14 May
The Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania form a unified military command under the Warsaw Pact,
30 May
Fifteen South American coffee producers establish an International Coffee Bureau to stabilize coffee prices.
5 June
Billy Graham opens a crusade in Paris, his first visit into a non-English-speaking and predominantly Catholic city.
25 July
Yugoslavian president Tito says his country is willing to resume relations with the Soviet Communist party.
28 Aug.
Israel and Egypt continue skirmishes along the Gaza Strip.
13 Sept.
West Germany and the Soviet Union establish diplomatic relations.
26 Oct.
Ngo Dinh Diem proclaims South Vietnam a republic and names himself premier.
16 Nov.
Israel requests military aid from the United States to counteract the Soviet aid Egypt is receiving.
29 Dec.
West Germany passes Great Britain as the major West European steel producer.

1956

  • Erich Fromm's book The Art of Loving is published.
  • Albert Camusi novel La Chute (The Fall) is published.
  • Françoise Sagan's novel Un Certain Sourine (A Certain Smile) is published.
  • Cecil Day-Lewis's novel A Tangled Webb is published.
  • Eugenio Montale's novel La farfalla di Dinard (The Butterfly of Dinard) is published.
  • Yevgeny Yevtushenko's poetry volume Zima Junction is published.
  • Salvatore Quasimodo's poetry volume The False and the True Green is published.
  • Leopold Sedar Senghor's poetry volume Chaka is published.
  • Kathleen Raine's Collected Poems is published.
  • Ingmar Bergman's film The Seventh Seal premieres.
  • Laurence Olivier's film Richard the Third, with Olivier, Sir John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, and Claire Bloom, premieres.
  • Albeit Lamorisse's film The Red Balloon, with Lamorisse's son Pascal, premieres.
  • Kenji Mizoguchi's film Street of Shame premieres.
  • Great Britain creates the Clean Air Act as a systematic ban on burning of soft coal and other smoky fuels.
  • The Olympic Games are held in Melbourne with 3,539 contestants from sixty-seven nations. The Soviet Union wins in the medal count for the first time in history.
  • Brazilian soccer player Edson Arantes "Pele" do Nacimento signs with Brazil's Santos team to begin an eighteen-year career of 1,253 games in which he will score 1,216 goals.
29Jan.
Friederich Dürrenmatt's play Der Besuch der alten Dame (The Visit of the Old Lady) premieres at Zurich's Schauspielhaus.
25 Feb.
Soviet first secretary denounces former leader Stalin as a dictator who misruled and committed many crimes.
2 Apr.
Peter Ustinov's play Romanoff and Juliet opens at England's Manchester Opera House.
4 Apr.
Enid Bagnold's play The Chalk Garden opens at London's Theatre Royal.
5 Apr.
The Vatican announces the discovery of a catacomb containing fourth-century murals of Christian scenes at a construction site in Rome.
11 Apr.
The Korean peace treaty is broken by North Korean forces attacking UN forces on the cease-fire line.
14 May
Pope Pius XII approves on moral grounds the transplanting of corneas from a dead person to restore sight but disapproves transplantation of organs from a living person.
24 May
Israel and Egypt agree on the establishment of UN truce observation posts on the Gaza Strip border.
24 May
Brendan Behan's play The Quare Fellow opens at Stratford's London Theatre Royale.
8 May
John Osborne's play Look Back in Anger opens at London's Royal Court Theatre, with Kenneth Haigh, Mary Ure, and Alan Bates.
17June
Israeli labor minister Goldie Myerson (Golda Meir) is appointed foreign minister.
19June
Biblical scrolls said to contain the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy are found in a cave near the site of the Dead Sea Scrolls,
25 June
One hundred thousand members of Peru's Private Employees Central Union strike in a wage dispute with the International Petroleum Company.
16 July
Federico Fellini's film La Strada, starring Anthony Quinn, premieres in New York.
4 Aug.
The World Council of Churches central committee approves efforts to bring the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox church into the organization,
30 Aug.
Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser declares the Suez Canal not an international waterway.
15 Sept.
An Aeroflot Tupolev-104 airliner takes off from Moscow, making the first scheduled passenger flight from Moscow to Irkutsk.
14 Oct.
Two hundred fifty thousand untouchables convert to Buddhism in India in what is believed to be the largest mass conversion in history.
17 Oct.
England's Calder Hall is the first full-scale commercial nuclear power plant. It produces ninety thousand kilowatts of power and plutonium for nuclear weapons.
23 Oct.
The Hungarian uprising against the Soviet Union begins.
1 Nov.
Hungary leaves the Warsaw Pact.
4 Nov.
Soviets forces attack Hungary.
4 Nov.
Hungarian Communist party first secretary János Kádár replaces Imre Nagy as premier after the Soviet invasion.

1957

  • Boris Pasternak's novel Doctor Zhivago is published.
  • Alain Robbe-Grillet's novel La Jalousie (Jealousy) is published.
  • Claude Simon's novel Le Vent (The Wind) is published.
  • Mordecai Richler's novels A Choice of Enemies and The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravite are published.
  • Octavio Paz's novel Piedra de Sol is published.
  • Ingmar Bergman's film Wild Strawberries premieres.
  • Federico Fellini's film Nights of Cabina premieres.
  • Satyajit Ray's film Aprajito premieres.
  • David Lean's film Bridge on the River Kwai, with William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, and Sessue Hayakawa, premieres.
  • Akira Kurosawa's film Throne of Blood premieres.
  • The chemise is introduced at the late-summer Paris and Rome couturière showings.
  • Italy develops the antibiotic rifampian, which is used to cure patients of tuberculosis.
  • In Germany nitrite poisoning from meat causes a scandal. German butchers have been using sodium nitrate to make meat look fresh, exposing consumers to methemoglobinemia, a reduction of blood hemoglobin by intestinal bacteria. Nitrite can be produced from nitrates by the bacteria which then convert hemoglobin in the bloodstream to methemoglobin, which cannot carry oxygen.
  • German engineer Fritz Wankel designs the Wankel Rotary Engine at Lindau on Lake Constance. The Wankel has only two moving parts, making it lighter, less expensive, smoother in its motion, and easier to maintain than conventional piston engines, although it is slightly less fuel-efficient.
16 Jan.
The U.S. State Department supports a free-trade zone and European common market.
15 Feb.
Andrei Gromyko is named Soviet foreign minister.
24 Feb.
The New York Times reports guerrilla warfare being waged by rebel leader Fidel Castro in Cubdd.
22 Mar.
Pope Pius XII decrees that required fasting before receiving Holy Communion be reduced to three hours.
10 Apr.
John Osborne's play The Entertainer opens at London's Royal Court Theatre, with music by John Addison.
14 Apr.
The U.S. Trade Fair, with exhibits from fifty-nine nations, opens in New York.
10 May
Dmitry Shostakovich's Piano Concerto, with soloist Maxim Shostakovich, is performed in Moscow.
25 June
The United Church of Christ is formed by merging the Congregational Christian General Council and the Evangelical and Reformed church.
3 July
Soviet first secretary Khrushchev removes several members of the Central Committee after they unsuccessfully try to remove him from power.
11 Aug.
Die Harmonie der Welt (The Harmony of the World) is performed in Munich, with music by Paul Hindemith.
6 Oct.
Pierre Boulez's Polyphonie X for 17 Solo Instruments is performed at the Donaueschippu Festival of Contemporary Music.
19 Oct.
Gian Carlo Menotti's Apocalypse (symphonic poem) is performed in Pittsburgh.
30 Oct.
Dmitry Shostakovich's Eleventh Symphony (1905) is performed in Moscow.
7 Nov.
Heitor Villa-Lobos's Erosion y or the Origin of the Amazon River (symphonic poem) is performed in Louisville.
23 Dec.
NATO discloses that U.S. delivery of missiles to Western Europe will not begin for two years.

1958

  • Evelyn Waugh's novel The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfield is published.
  • Pablo Picasso's painting Peace is exhibited.
  • Gian Carlo Menotti founds the Spoleto Festival, which has its first season ninety miles north of Rome, Italy.
  • Jacques Tati's film Mon Oncle (My Uncle) premieres.
  • Akira Kurosawa's film The Hidden Fortress premieres.
  • The first parking meters appear in London.
  • The last debutantes are presented at the British court.
  • Pan Am and BOAC (British Overseas Airways) begin transatlantic jet passenger flights.
  • Brazil wins its first World Cup soccer championship, defeating Sweden 5 to 2. Pele scores two goals for Brazil.
1 jan.
Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion agrees to establish a new Israeli government.
Feb.
Yves St.-Laurent, a young designer and protégé of Christian Dior, makes his debut with his Trapeze line.
11 Feb.
John Osborne and Anthony Creighton's play Epitaph for George Dillon opens at London's Royal Court Theatre.
27 Mar.
Nikita Khrushchev becomes premier of the Soviet Union, consolidating Soviet party and state leadership.
29 Mar.
Max Frisch's play Biedermann und die Brandstifter (Biedermann and the Fire-bugs) opens at Zurich's Schauspielhaus.
4 Apr.
Eugène Ionesco's play Tueur sans gages (The Killer) opens at Darmstadt's Landestheater.
24 Apr.
The tenth anniversary of the founding of the Jewish state in Palestine is celebrated in Jerusalem.
28 Apr.
Harold Pinter's play The Birthday Party opens at the Arts Theatre, Cambridge, England.
8 May
Terence Rattigan's play Variations on a Theme opens at London's Globe Theatre.
10 May
Dmitry Shostakovich's Second Piano Concerto is performed in Moscow.
31 May
Gen. Charles de Gaulle accepts the premiership of France.
18 June
The opera Noye's Fludde (Noah's Flood) is performed at Oxford Church, Suffolk, with music by Benjamin Britten and the libretto from the fourteenth-century Chester Miracle Play.
24 June
Premier Charles de Gaulle states France's desire to exert a greater influence on NATO.
7July
The Soviet Union and East Germany link their two countries' heavy industries with an economic agreement.
17July
Peter Shaffer's play Five Finger Exercise opens at London's Comedy Theatre.
28 Sept.
French voters approve Premier de Gaulle's constitution establishing a strong presidency by an 80 percent margin.
14 Oct.
Brendan Behan's play The Hostage opens at London's Theatre Royale, Stratford, England.
16 Oct.
The Nocturne song cycle for tenor and small orchestra by Benjamin Britten opens in Leeds.
26 Oct.
Pan American World Airways begins daily New York-Paris service.
10 Nov.
Bertolt Brecht's play Der aufhaltsame Aufstieg des Arturo Ui (The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui) opens in Stuttgart, Germany.
17 Dec.
Mao Tse-tung retires as leader of Communist China.
21 Dec.
Charles de Gaulle is elected president of France's Fifth Republic.

1959

  • Ian Fleming's novel Goldfinger is published.
  • Marc Chagall's painting Le Champ de Mars is exhibited.
  • Alain Resnais's film Hiroshima, Mon Amour y with Emmuelle Rosa, premieres.
  • Marcel Camus's film Black Orpheus premieres.
  • François Truffaut's film The 400 Blows premieres.
  • Jean-Luc Goddard's film Breathless, with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seaberg, premieres.
  • Michelangelo Antonioni's film L'Avventura premieres.
  • Alexei Batalovs film The Overcoat premieres.
  • Kon Ichakawa's film Fires on the Plain premieres.
  • West German clinics observe births of children with the physical deformity phocomelia, which has not appeared in the past five years.
  • The Nikon F 35-mm Single Lens Reflex camera is manufactured by Nippon Kogaku.
  • Russian archeologist Tatiana Proskeuriakov finds an important pattern of dates in the lives of certain Mayan individuals in the Yucatán. This discovery allows scholars to decipher the glyph symbols depicting the periods in which certain rulers reigned.
  • Christopher Sydney Cockerell, a pioneer in hovercrafts, demonstrates his SRN-1 hovercraft by crossing the English Channel.
2 Jan.
Fidel Castro assumes control of Cuba.
5 Jan.
Time magazine selects Premier Charles de Gaulle of France as man of the year.
10 Feb.
Shelagh Delaney's play A Taste of Honey opens at London's Wyndham Theatre, directed by Joan Littlewood.
16 Feb.
Fidel Castro is sworn in as premier of Cuba.
5 Mar.
Indonesia announces nationalization of 270 Dutch-owned enterprises.
27 Mar.
Pope John XXIII withdraws references to Jews as "perfidious" from Good Friday services.
23 Apr.
The first Arab Petroleum Congress ends with nine countries calling for an increase in Arab participation in all aspects of the oil industry.
26 June
Swedish boxer Ingemar Johansson wins the world heavyweight crown by knocking out Floyd Patterson in third round of a title fight in New York.
5 July
Prime Minister Ben-Gurion of Israel resigns after cabinet opposition on the sale of arms to West Germany.
17 July
Cuban president Lleo resigns because of disagreement with Premier Castro's policy on land reform and the death penalty for counterrevolutionaries.
8 Aug.
President Nasser of Egypt declares that Israel will not be allowed to use the Suez Canal
3 Sept.
Vatican radio states that representatives of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches will meet to discuss possible reunification.
15 Sept.
Soviet premier Khrushchev begins a two-week visit to the United States.
29 Sept.
Premier Khrushchev leaves for Peking to celebrate Communist China's tenth anniversary.
4 Oct.
Dmitry Shostakovich's Concerto in E-flat for Violoncello and Orchestra is performed at Leningrad with solo by Mstislau Rostropovich.
22 Oct.
John Arden's play Sergeant Musgrave's Dance opens at London's Royal Court Theatre.
26 Oct.
Fidel Castro accuses the United States of dropping anticommunist material from airplanes flying over Cuba.
3 Nov.
President de Gaulle announces his plan for France to withdraw from NATO.
10 Nov.
A Soviet-U.S. film exchange begins with simultaneous premieres of the Soviet film The Cranes Are Flying in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. film Marty in Moscow.
19 Nov.
U.S. Roman Catholic bishops assert their opposition to the use of public money to promote "artificial birth prevention for economically underdeveloped countries."