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
Read more about this topic: February 1959
Famous quotes containing the word february:
“In my experience, if you have to keep the lavatory door shut by extending your left leg, it’s modern architecture.”
—Nancy Banks-Smith, British columnist. Guardian (London, February 20, 1979)