January 8, 1959 (Thursday)
- Charles de Gaulle was inaugurated President of France, the first under the new constitution as the Fifth Republic, while Michel Debre became Prime Minister, the office formerly held by de Gaulle.
- Fidel Castro was greeted by cheering crowds as he made a triumphant entry into Havana.
- Four Egyptian MiG-17 jets penetrated Israeli airspace near Beersheba before being driven off by Israeli fighters.
Read more about this topic: January 1959
Famous quotes containing the word january:
“Here lies interred in the eternity of the past, from whence there is no resurrection for the days—whatever there may be for the dust—the thirty-third year of an ill-spent life, which, after a lingering disease of many months sank into a lethargy, and expired, January 22d, 1821, A.D. leaving a successor inconsolable for the very loss which occasioned its existence.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)