October 1958

Wednesday 01:

NASA created to replace NACA.

Thursday 02:

Guinea declares itself independent from France.

Saturday 04:

Fifth Republic of France established.

Tuesday 07:

Potter Stewart appointed to U.S. Supreme Court.

Saturday 11:

Pioneer program: NASA launches the lunar probe Pioneer 1 (the probe falls back to Earth and burns up).

Tuesday 14:

The District of Columbia Bar Association votes to accept black Americans as members.

Thursday 23:

Belgian cartoonist Peyo introduced a new set of comic strip characters The Smurfs.

Sunday 26:

First commercial flight of the Boeing 707 from New York to Paris

Monday 27:

Iskander Mirza, the first President of Pakistan, is deposed in a bloodless coup d'état by General Ayub Khan, who was appointed the enforcer of martial law by Mirza 20 days earlier.

Tuesday 28:

Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli becomes Pope and takes the name Pope John XXIII.