February 26, 1959 (Thursday)
- In Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, Prime Minister Edgar Whitehead declared a state of emergency and ordered the arrest of more than 500 suspected members of the African National Congress.
- The Navy destroyer USS Roy O. Hale intercepted and boarded a Russian fishing trawler off of Newfoundland, "to check whether it was responsible for damage five days earlier to five transatlantic cables". The Novorossisk, with a crew of 54, was released after a five-man team conducted an inspection.
- Born: Rolando Blackman, Panamanian basketball player
- Died: Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife, 67, eldest grandchild of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom; and René Belbenoit, who wrote the book Dry Guillotine after his escape from Devil's Island in 1935
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