The Year of 1958

Lebanon

Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt was working toward unity for the Islamic peoples of North Africa and the Middle East and was supporting the revolt by Algerians against French rule. In Iraq, a coup in July, led by pro-Nasser army officers, left Iraqi royalty dead and brought an end to a pro-Western regime there. Iraq had been a member of the Baghdad Pact, detested by Nasser, who considered it imperialistic. The Eisenhower administration considered intervention, but with the royal family dead and no one in Iraq to collaborate with, no grounds for intervention could be found.

Iraq pulled out of the Baghdad Pact, and ended its treaty with Jordan, where trouble was also brewing. The CIA warned the British, who had an interest there, and the British sent a paratrooper brigade to protect Jordan's King Hussein.

Syria had joined with Egypt in what was called the United Arab Republic, and when Nasser visited Syria, hundreds of thousands of Lebanese journeyed there to see him. Nasser was a hero to Lebanon's Muslims, and Lebanon was in a civil war. Lebanon was divided between Muslims and Christians, and the president, Camille Chamoun, was a Christian who was holding on to power as a result of a rigged election. The U.S. Information Agency library was burned and an oil pipeline was cut, and Chamoun appealed to the United States for help.

The Pentagon urged the sending of a UN force rather than a U.S. force, but this was overruled by Dulles, who believed that Moscow was fomenting the trouble in Lebanon. The Eisenhower administration sent its Sixth Fleet to Lebanon. On July 15, Marines were landed, and Lebanon's airport was secured. No ground fighting involving Americans broke out. A couple of Marines made a wrong turn and drove into Muslim territory. They were disarmed and asked why they were in Lebanon, and the Marines said they did not know. The Marines were given a lecture on imperialism and then allowed to return from whence they had come.

On July 31, Lebanon's parliament elected General Faud Shehab as president to succeed Chamoun, and Shehab selected a Muslim, Rashid Karami, as his prime minister. Karami's cabinet had an equal number of Christians and Muslims. Karami pursued rebuilding and pacification, and, in October, U.S. forces withdrew.

Charles de Gaulle

Charles de Gaulle was the dominant political leader and grand figurehead of France during and after World War II. De Gaulle was a career soldier in the French Army who had been wounded and held prisoner during World War I. He rose to the rank of general and was serving as France's minister for National Defense and War in June, 1940, when France capitulated to Germany early in World War II. DeGaulle escaped to Britain, where he made a famous broadcast calling on the French people to resist (earning him the nickname of the "Man of June 18, 1940"). DeGaulle formed the Free French forces and led the provisional government that ruled France after it was retaken from Germany. After the war he was elected head of the French government, but left the post in 1946 and formed a new political party, the Rassemblement du Peuple Francais (Rally of the People of France, or RPF). DeGaulle was in and out of politics until 1958, when he was called to form a government amid political chaos in France. He oversaw the constitutional reforms that led to the Fifth Republic of France, and became the first president of the new Republic in 1959. Proud, stubborn, and charismatic, he insisted on France's right to pursue an independent path from both Europe and the United States. He also settled France's difficult relations with its Algerian territory by granting self-determination to Algeria. He served as president for just over a decade until stepping down in April of 1969.

In May 1958 France was confronted with a threat of civil war over the question of independence for Algeria. De Gaulle was recalled to serve as premier. The National Assembly granted him power to rule by decree for six months and to supervise the drafting of a new constitution. The new charter, conferring vastly increased powers on the executive branch, was overwhelmingly approved by the French voters. The following December de Gaulle was elected president of the newly created Fifth Republic. He took office on January 8, 1959.

During his first term de Gaulle instituted economic, industrial, and governmental reforms, negotiated Algerian independence, and led France into the European Economic Community. He also championed a unilateral nuclear-weapons program for France, which exploded an atomic weapon in 1960. He strengthened ties with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and with Communist China and attempted to extend French influence in Asia and Latin America, while displaying resentment against the United States. However, he continued to support the United States in the fundamentals of its Cold War rivalry with the USSR.

California Baseball

Real estate businessman Walter O'Malley had acquired majority ownership of the Dodgers in 1950, when he bought the shares of his co-owners, the estate of Branch Rickey and the late John L. Smith. Before long he was working to buy new land in Brooklyn to build a more accessible and better arrayed ballpark than Ebbets Field. Beloved as it was, Ebbets Field had grown old and was not well served by infrastructure, to the point where the Dodgers could not sell the park out even in the heat of a pennant race (despite largely dominating the league from 1946 to 1957).

New York City Construction Coordinator Robert Moses, however, sought to force O'Malley into using a site in Flushing Meadows, Queens – the site for what eventually became Shea Stadium. Moses' vision involved a city-built, city-owned park, which was greatly at odds with O'Malley's real-estate savvy. When it became clear to O'Malley that he was not going to be allowed to buy any suitable land in Brooklyn, he began thinking elsewhere.

Meanwhile, non-stop transcontinental air travel had become routine during the years since the Second World War, and teams were no longer bound by much slower railroad timetables. Because of these transportation advances, it became possible to locate teams further apart – as far west as California – while maintaining the same game schedules.

When Los Angeles officials attended the 1956 World Series looking to entice a team to move to the City of Angels, they were not even thinking of the Dodgers. Their original target had been the Washington Senators (the Minnesota Twins in 1961). At the same time, O'Malley was looking for a contingency in case Moses and other New York politicians refused to let him build the Brooklyn stadium he wanted, and sent word to the Los Angeles officials that he was interested in talking. Los Angeles offered him what New York would not: a chance to buy land suitable for building a ballpark, and own that ballpark, giving him complete control over all its revenue streams.

The Brooklyn Dodgers played their final game at Ebbets Field on September 24, 1957, which the Dodgers won 2-0 over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

On April 18, 1958, the Los Angeles Dodgers played their first game in LA, defeating their long time rivals, former New York and now new San Francisco Giants, 6-5, before 78,672 fans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Starkweather Homicide

On June 25th, 1959, a twenty year old man was sentenced to death on the counts of first degree murder and murder while committing a robbery. His name was Charles Starkweather and he was born into poverty in Lincoln, Nebraska. Starkweather was teased as a child for a speech impediment and his bowed legs. He was seen as intellectually inferior, and as time progressed he began to fight with other boys on a regular basis. Admiring James Dean, he and his friend Bob Von Busch began to imitate Dean's style.

In 1956, Charlie meant his future girlfriend Caril Fugate thorough Bob. Caril became Charlie's everything and he tried to give her everything he wanted although he was poor. Neither families approved of their relationships which infuriated both Charlie and Caril. At the age of sixteen Charlie dropped out of school and started working for Western Newspaper Union Warehouse. Shortly after, Charlie was told by his father to find another place to live because of a physical argument over Caril. He then quit his job at the paper company and became a garbage man, where he made even less money. This brought a realization to Charlie that he was going to be stuck in poverty and that he was going to be look down upon all his life, and he believed the only way to get out of this was to lead a life of crime.

In December 1957, Charlie wanted to buy Caril a stuffed toy dog at a gas station and was humiliated when the gas station would not give him credit to afford it. Around three a.m. he returned to the gas station with a 12-gage shotgun. He bought a pack of Camels, then drove off, then he bought a pack of gum and drove off again. The third time he entered the gas station in a disguise and with his gun. He shoved the gun into Robert Colvert's back and made him drive. In an attempt to struggle for the gun, Colvert was shot and Charlie then shot him in the head. Charlie was not accused of the murder and he felt as if he was on top of the world.

Then on January 21, 1958, Starkweather committed another murder, but the exact details cannot be known, because Charlie and Caril both told the police different stories and Charlie usually claimed that every murder was for self defense. On this particular day, Charlie arrived at Caril's house in hopes to go hunting with her stepfather, Marion, and to bring carpet samples to her mother Velda, to repair their relationship. Supposedly, Velda told Charlie that she did not want him to see Caril anymore, which led to an argument, causing Velda to hit Charlie a couple of times, and Charlie to leave the house forgetting the gun he brought for hunting. He came back to the house to retrieve the gun and Marion made him leave again. Once Caril returned home, Starkweather told her what happened, causing an argument between Caril and Velda. Becoming angered with Charlie, Velda started hitting him and Charlie pulled out his gun. At the same time, Marion walked into the room with a claw hammer so Starkweather shot him in the head. Velda came at Charlie with a knife, so he shot her in the face then hit her in the head with the butt of the rifle. He then hit their two year old child with the rifle butt, but because she continued to cry, he stabbed her in the throat. Marion was still moving around so Starkweather stabbed him in the throat. Velda's body was shoved in the toilet opening of the outhouse, the baby sister was put in a box that was used for garbage and then also put in the outhouse, and Marion was put on the floor of the chicken coop. For days, Caril and Charlie remained in the house, eating all the food, and turning away any visitors saying that everyone was sick with the flu. The police came, but found nothing suspicious in the house. Finally, Caril's sister's husband and his brother searched the house and property and found the dead bodies.

Caril and Charlie left town and sought refuge with Charlie's family friend, seventy-two--year-old August Meyer. While driving on the dirt track that led to Meyer's farm, the car got stuck in the mud, and what happened after that is not exactly known, but August was shot in the head. Charlie claimed that Meyer tried to shoot him and the gun jammed, so out of self defense, Charlie shot him and then wounded his dog. August was placed into an outbuilding and hid with a blanket. Caril and Charlie went back into his home and stole his money and guns, ate his food, then went to sleep. The next day, a neighbor helped them out of the mud, but the couple drove back up the road to see the body and got stuck in the mud again.

After the third murder, the pair hitched a ride from Robert Jensen and his girlfriend Carol King. Charlie pressed the shotgun against the seventeen year old boys neck and demanded money. After forcing Jensen to drive back towards August's farm, Charlie shot him in the head six times. Carol was shot in the head once but her body was found with her jeans and panties around her ankles. She had been stabbed multiple times in her abdomen and pubic region, but no sperm was found on her. After these murders, Charlie and Caril took Jensen's car and drove back to Lincoln.

Charlie drove to a more wealthy part of town and arrived at C. Lauer Ward's house. Promising his wife Clara Ward he would not harm her, Charlie forced her to wait on him. Charlie considered this an accomplishment because a former garbage man was being waited on by one of the wealthiest residents of Lincoln. When she went to change her shoes, Starkweather stabbed her in the back, neck, and chest. He broke one of her dogs' necks as well. Charlie and Caril then ransacked the house. When C. Lauer Ward returned home Starkweather shot him, and the maid Lillian Fencl was tied to a bed and stabbed to death.

Caril and Starkweather returned back to Caril's parents house and then finally headed west. Desperate for a car to steal, they approached a parked car on the highway. Merle Collison was sleeping in it and when he refused to give the car up, Charlie shot him in the head, neck, arm, and leg. Charlie blamed the murder on Caril. Collison's body was left in the front seat. When he tried to drive away, Charlie could not figure out how to turn off the emergency break. Confusing this for car problems, a young man approached the car and was threatened with Starkweather's gun. A sheriff then approached the car and Caril ran to him screaming that Charlie has killed a man. By that time, Charlie had left for the Packard and was driving . A chase pursued and was only ended when Charlie believed he had been shot, but he was actually bleeding from car glass.

Charlie chose to have his trial in Nebraska instead of Wyoming, where he probably would not have been sentenced to death. Both Caril and Charlie were charged with first degree murder and murder while committing a robbery. Caril claimed to be a hostage, and Charlie claimed to be sane while his lawyers tried to prove that he was not. Starkweather was the first American teenage spree killer caught on camera. He scared the entire country that was already going through unsettling cultural changes. America connected Starkweather to James Dean and believed that "the violence and the alienation of Starkweather [was] just the beginning of some uncontrollable trend that would destroy the fabric of society." (Charles Starkweather and Charlie Fugate)

Children of Thalidomide

Finally, in 1957, a drug was produced for pregnant women to stop the symptoms associated with morning sickness. On October 1st, 1957, West Germany introduced the drug Thalidomide on to the market and it was prescribed to women during the first trimester. It was prescribed in forty six different countries, including Canada, Ireland, and Japan, and it was under different brand names. Thalidomide was initially called the wonder drug and it was said to provide a safe and sound sleep, but then the babies were born, horrifying many countries. Between ten to twenty thousand babies were born disabled because of the drug and had disabilities such as deafness, blindness, disfigurement, cleft palate, and phocomelia, a disorder in which the babies limbs were extremely short. The doctors did not realize that the Thalidomide molecules were crossing the placental wall and affecting any part of the fetus that was developing at the time of ingestion. The drug also killed thousands of babies. Fortunately, in the United States only seventeen Thalidomide babies were born.

Even though the babies were being born with severe deformities or even killed, the drug did not leave the market until 1961. Some countries such as Canada did not offer any finical aid to families with Thalidomide babies. It is horrible to think that doctors were prescribing this drug, it was killing babies worldwide, and that it took years to take it off the market. Thalidomide was a huge worldwide mistake that still affects people living today.