1958

World Events

• World War II hero Charles De Gaulle elected president of France.

• March 24: Elvis enters the army.
• The heart pacemaker is invented.
• NASA launches the first rocket to explore outer space.
• The first atomic submarine, the Nautilus, travels under the North Pole.
• Parking meters appear in London.

San Diego History

• Hollywood comes to the Hotel Del Coronado. Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, and Tony Curtis film Some Like it Hot, one of the most popular American films of all time, at the luxury resort.
• Many people believed the Salton Sea, created by an accidental flooding of the Imperial Valley in 1905, would become a hot spot for luxury living. Sales of M. Penn Phillip's Salton City development topped $4.25 million.

Arts

• The Hope Diamond is donated to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. Learn about the infamous history of this famous diamond.
• American painter, Jasper Johns has his first solo show in New York City.
• Records are being produced in stereo for the first time.

American Life

• Ford introduces its new line of exciting cars, the Edsel. Previously Ford commissioned poet Marianne Moore to develop a name for this line of cars. Her suggestions included: "Resilient Bullet", "Ford Silver Sword", "Mongoose Civique", "Varsity Stroke", "Pastelogram", "Andante con Moto" and "Utopian Turtletop". The Edsel is a failure and is discontinued after only three years.
• The Hula Hoop begins orbiting American waists.