March 1962

January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – December

The following events occurred in March, 1962

March 1, 1962 (Thursday)

• President of Pakistan Ayub Khan promulgates a constitution which seeks to reinforce his authority in the absence of martial law.
• An American Airlines Boeing 707 crashes on takeoff at New York International Airport, after a rudder malfunction causes an uncontrolled roll resulting in loss of control of the aircraft, with the loss of all 95 people on board.
• The S. S. Kresge Company opens its first Kmart discount store in Garden City, Michigan.
• The final section of the Cahill Expressway opens in Sydney, Australia.

March 2, 1962 (Friday)

• Military coup in Burma; General Ne Win replaces U Nu as prime minister. U Nu is placed in "protective custody".
• Wilt Chamberlain scores 100 points in a single NBA basketball game.
• Born: Jon Bon Jovi, American singer-songwriter, in Perth Amboy, New Jersey; Raimo Summanen, Finnish ice hockey player and coach, in Jyväskylä

March 3, 1962 (Saturday)

• The New South Wales state election takes place. It results in an increased majority for the Australian Labor Party under Bob Heffron.
• Born: Jackie Joyner-Kersee, American athlete, in East St. Louis, Illinois

March 4, 1962 (Sunday)

• Caledonian Airways Flight 153, a Douglas DC-7, crashes into a jungle swamp at Douala, Cameroon, killing all 111 people on board.
• NBN Television, the first regional commercial television station in New South Wales, is inaugurated.

March 5, 1962 (Monday)

• At the 19th Golden Globe Awards, The Guns of Navarone wins the award for Best Film - Drama. Other winners include Maximilian Schell, Glenn Ford, Geraldine Page and Rosalind Russell.
• The Slovenian bishopric of Maribor is founded as a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Ljubljana.
• Born: Rosemarie Ford, English dancer and TV presenter (as Rosemarie Poundford), in Sherburn-in-Elmet, Yorkshire; Samuel Žbogar, Slovenian politician, in Postojna

March 6, 1962 (Tuesday)

• Jacques Brel begins recording tracks for his album Les Bourgeois.
• A storm forms near the Mid-Atlantic and Southern New England coast; it reaches its height the following day.
• Born: Bengt Baron, Swedish swimmer, in Finspång, Östergötland

March 7, 1962 (Wednesday)

• Ash Wednesday Storm: A snow storm batters the Mid-Atlantic. Forty people are killed and over 1000 injured. The village of Wherrytown in Cornwall is destroyed. The coastguard vessel USS Absecon is badly damaged while putting to sea from Norfolk, Virginia, to assist merchant shipping.
• The Tesla Arena opens in Prague.
• The Beatles perform on Teenager's Turn—Here We Go, their first BBC Radio programme.

March 8, 1962 (Thursday)

• In Geneva, France and the Algerian FLN begin negotiations.
• A Turkish Airlines Fairchild F-27 crashes into the Taurus Mountains while on approach to Adana Airport; all 11 people on board die.
• Died: Werner Friebe, 64, highly-decorated German World War II soldier

March 9, 1962 (Friday)

• Lynda Heaven becomes the first female Labor representative to enter the Tasmanian House of Assembly.

March 10, 1962 (Saturday)

• Died: John Henry Turpin, 85, African-American sailor

March 11, 1962 (Sunday)

• The original Accrington Stanley football club becomes only the second club in history to resign from the English Football League mid-season.

March 12, 1962 (Monday)

• South Africa's Defence Minister J.J. Fouche outlines his defence policy to make the country self-supporting in military equipment.
• Mohan Lal Sukhadia begins his third term as Chief Minister of Rajasthan.

March 13, 1962 (Tuesday)

• In the Blackpool North by-election, Norman Miscampbell holds the seat for the UK Conservative Party.

March 14, 1962 (Wednesday)

• In the Middlesbrough East by-election, Arthur Bottomley holds the seat for the UK Labour Party.

March 15, 1962 (Thursday)

• Katangan Prime Minister Moise Tshombe begins negotiations to rejoin the Congo.
• Ferdinand Kozovski begins his fourth and final term as Chairperson of the National Assembly of Bulgaria.
• Canadian Pacific Railway receives authorization to discontinue passenger train service between Ottawa and Chalk River.
• In the Orpington by-election, often described as the start of the Liberal Party revival in the UK, Liberal Eric Lubbock defeats the expected winner, Conservative candidate Peter Goldman.
• Artists Ansgar Elde and Jørgen Nash are excluded from the Situationist International group.
• Died: Arthur Compton, 69, American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate

March 16, 1962 (Friday)

• Operation Swallow: Following a series of Syrian attacks on Israeli fishermen in the Sea of Galilee, Israel Defense Forces raid Syrian posts in the village of Nokyeab. During the operation 30 Syrian and seven Israeli soldiers are killed.
• Flying Tiger Line Flight 739, a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation chartered by the United States military and carrying 96 American soldiers en route to South Vietnam, disappears over the western Pacific. No trace of the wreckage is ever found.
• Born: Branco Mello, Brazilian singer, actor and writer

March 17, 1962 (Saturday)

• President of Ireland Éamon de Valera and Mrs. Sinéad de Valera have a private audience with Pope John XXIII in Rome.

March 18, 1962 (Sunday)

• Évian Accords: France and Algeria sign an agreement in Évian-les-Bains ending the Algerian War.
• Un premier amour, sung by Isabelle Aubret (music by Claude-Henri Vic, text by Roland Stephane Valade), wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1962 for France.

March 19, 1962 (Monday)

• An armistice begins in Algeria; however, the Organisation armée secrète (OAS) continues its attacks on Algerians.

March 20, 1962 (Tuesday)

• At an extraordinary session of the National Assembly, French MPs and Senators note the statements made by the President of the Republic, Charles de Gaulle, and by the Government following the signing of the Evian Accords on Algeria.
• Died: Stan Wootton, 66, Australian footballer and cricketer

March 21, 1962 (Wednesday)

• Canada becomes the last country to ban the birth-defect-causing drug thalidomide.
• In Japan, the Kominato Line railway retires its steam locomotives (which are later put on display at Goi Station)
• Born: Matthew Broderick, American actor, in New York City

March 23, 1962 (Friday)

• Louis Joxe, France's Minister for Algerian Affairs, broadcasts on radio to clarify the substance of the Franco-Algerian Accords signed in Évian five days previously, as well as the future outlook for Algeria.
• The Scandinavian States of the Nordic Council sign the Helsinki Convention on Nordic Co-operation.

March 24, 1962 (Saturday)

• OAS leader Edmond Jouhaud is arrested in Oran.
• Emile Griffith defeats Benny Paret at Madison Square Garden by a knockout, to regain the world welterweight boxing championship. Paret never regains consciousness.
• Died: Auguste Piccard, 78, Swiss physicist and explorer

March 25, 1962 (Sunday)

• The 1962 CONCACAF Champions' Cup soccer tournament opens with a match between C.D. Águila and C.S.D. Comunicaciones.
• Died: Libero Liberati, 35, Italian motorcycle racer, in a road accident

March 26, 1962 (Monday)

• France shortens the term for military service from 26 months to 18.
• Baker v. Carr: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that federal courts can order state legislatures to reapportion seats.

March 27, 1962 (Tuesday)

• Born: John O'Farrell, British author and broadcaster, in Abingdon

March 28, 1962 (Wednesday)

• Sierra Leone becomes a member state of UNESCO.

March 29, 1962 (Thursday)

• The conveying of a life peerage on Sir Ian Macdonald Horobin is announced; two weeks later he withdraws his acceptance and is subsequently jailed for an indecency offence.

March 30, 1962 (Friday)

• Born: MC Hammer, American rapper, as Stanley Burrell, in Oakland, California

March 31, 1962 (Saturday)

• The 2nd Lok Sabha of the Parliament of India is dissolved.
• The Whitecliffs Branch Railway, serving the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island, is closed.