February 1962 in History

Events in History

  • Feb 1 NL releases its 1st 162-game schedule
  • Feb 2 8 of 9 planets align for 1st time in 400 years
  • Feb 2 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Feb 3 US President John F. Kennedy bans all trade with Cuba except for food & drugs

35th US President John F. Kennedy
35th US President
John F. Kennedy
  • Feb 4 US female Figure Skating championship won by Barbara Roles
  • Feb 4 US male Figure Skating championship won by Monty Hoyt
  • Feb 5 French President de Gaulle calls for Algeria's independence
  • Feb 5 Suit to bar Englewood NJ from "racial segregated" schools, filed
  • Feb 5 Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn all within 16 degrees
  • Feb 6 Schoolman Athletic Field in the Bronx named
  • Feb 7 Gas explosion in Luisanthal coal mine Voelklingen Germany kills 298
  • Feb 7 US President JFK begins blockade of Cuba by banning all Cuban imports and exports.
  • Feb 8 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
  • Feb 8 In Paris, 8 people killed at a protest against independence for the French colony Algeria
  • Feb 9 Jamaica signs agreement to become independent
  • Feb 9 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

  • Feb 10 Jim Beatty sets American indoor mile record (3:58.9) in LA
  • Feb 10 USSR swaps spy Francis Gary Power to US for Rudolph Abel
  • Feb 12 Bus boycott starts in Macon, Georgia

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Feb 14 US 1st lady Jacqueline Kennedy conducts White House tour on TV

US First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
US First Lady
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
  • Feb 15 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
  • Feb 17 Storm in Hamburg kills 265
  • Feb 18 France & Algerian Muslims negotiate truce to end 7 year war
  • Feb 19 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Feb 20 John Glenn become 1st American to orbit the Earth, aboard Friendship 7

Astronaut and Politician John Glenn
Astronaut and Politician
John Glenn
  • Feb 21 Minister De Pous confirms natural gas reserves in Groningen, Netherlands
  • Feb 23 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
  • Feb 24 General mobilization in Indonesia over New-Guinea
  • Feb 24 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
  • Feb 25 India Congress Party wins elections

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Feb 25 Robert F. Kennedy visits Netherlands

US Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy
US Attorney General
Robert F. Kennedy
  • Feb 26 Arthur Kopit's "Oh, Dad, Poor Dad . . ." premieres in NYC
  • Feb 26 US Supreme court disallows race separation on public transportation

MurderAssassination Attempt

Feb 27 South Vietnam President Ngô Đình Diệm's palace bombed by dissident air pilots in a failed assassination attempt

President of South Vietnam Ngô Đình Diệm
President of South Vietnam
Ngô Đình Diệm
  • Feb 28 WMGM-AM in New York City changes call letters to WHN

Birthdays in History

  • Feb 4 Alfred Twardecki, Polish historian
  • Feb 9 Martin D Lascelles, grandson of English princess Mary
  • Feb 11 Tammy Baldwin, American politician
  • Feb 13 Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, Puerto Rican politician and lawyer, born in San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • Feb 14 Kevyn Aucoin, American cosmetologist (d. 2002)
  • Feb 17 Alison Hargreaves, British mountaineer and 1st woman to climb Mount Everest alone without bottled oxygen (1995), born in Derbyshire, England (d. 1995)
  • Feb 19 John Laroche, American orchid poacher
  • Feb 20 Kenn Nesbitt, American children's author
  • Feb 21 Chuck Palahniuk, American writer
  • Feb 21 David Foster Wallace, American writer
  • Feb 22 Lenda Murray, body builder (4X Ms Olympia), born in Detroit, Michigan

Deaths in History

  • Feb 3 Werner Bock, writer, dies
  • Feb 7 Clara Nordström, German writer and translator (b. 1886)
  • Feb 10 Willem Paerels, Neth/Belgian painter and graphic artist, dies at 83
  • Feb 19 Georgios Papanikolaou, Greek doctor, inventor of the Pap smear (b. 1883)
  • Feb 25 Wilhelm Pessler, German sociologist, dies at 81