March 1962

1962

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The following events occurred in March 1962:

March 1, 1962 (Thursday)

• The very first K-Mart discount store (now Kmart) was opened by the S.S. Kresge Corporation, in Garden City, Michigan. Kresge CEO Harry Cunningham founded and oversaw the growth of what would be the largest chain of American discount stores by 1964. In 1990. K-Mart's #1 spot would be yielded to Wal-Mart, also founded in 1962.
• "The Incredible Hulk" was introduced as the first issue of the comic book, by that name, appeared on the shelves of American stores and newsstands. Issue #1 was post-dated to May 1962 in accordance with industry practice.
• American Airlines Flight 1, a Boeing 707, crashed shortly after its 10:07 am takeoff from Idlewild Airport at New York, killing all 95 people on board. The dead included W. Alton Jones, philanthropist and chairman of the board of Cities Service Company (now CITGO). An investigation concluded that the crash was caused by a rudder malfunction, which sent the plane into an uncontrolled roll resulting and loss of control.
• The largest ticker-tape parade in history took place in New York City as well-wishers turned out to salute American astronaut John Glenn. The city sanitation department collected 3,474 tons of tossed paper afterward, compared to an average of 50 tons for parades in the 21st century.
• President of Pakistan Ayub Khan promulgated a constitution in order to reinforce his authority in the absence of martial law.
• Benedicto Kiwanuka became the interim Prime Minister of Uganda as the African colony was granted self-government by the United Kingdom. He would be replaced by Milton Obote the next month, before Uganda's independence on October 9, and would later be murdered by Ugandan President Idi Amin in 1972.
• The final section of the Cahill Expressway opened in Sydney, Australia.
• A three-story hotel collapsed in the Egyptian city of Asyut, killing 34 people who were eating after sunset at an Eid ul-Fitr, a feast celebrating the end of the month of Ramadan on the Islamic calendar. Seven survivors were recovered alive from the rubble.

March 2, 1962 (Friday)

• Wilt Chamberlain set a professional basketball record, still standing 50 years later, by scoring 100 points an NBA game in Hershey, Pennsylvania, where his Philadelphia Warriors were playing the New York Knickerbockers. Chamberlain broke the previous record of 78, which he had set in January, hitting 36 field goals and 28 foul shots. The Warriors' 169-147 over the Knicks set a record for most points (316) scored by both teams in a game. A crowd of 4,124 witnessed the event.
• In Burma (now Myanmar), General Ne Win and the Burmese Army staged a nearly bloodless coup d'état against the civilian government of Prime Minister U Nu. U Nu was arrested, along with the nation's President, the Chief Justice, and five of his cabinet members. Ne Win would rule the nation until his retirement in 1988, and military rule continued.
• In a nationally broadcast address, President Kennedy announced that the United States would resume atmospheric nuclear testing within six weeks unless the Soviet Union ceased above-ground testing while pursuing the proposed Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The U.S. would resume atmospheric testing on April 25 after the U.S.S.R. continued. A limited test ban treaty would be signed on July 25, 1963.
• One of the most famous episodes of The Twilight Zone, "To Serve Man", was first shown on television.
• Born: Jon Bon Jovi, American singer-songwriter, as John Bongiovi, in Perth Amboy, New Jersey; Scott La Rock, African-American rapper and DJ, as Scott Sterling in the South Bronx (murdered 1987); and Raimo Summanen, Finnish ice hockey player and national team coach, in Jyväskylä
• Died: Charles Jean de la Vallée-Poussin, 95, Belgian mathematician known for proving the Prime number theorem; and Walt Kiesling, 58, NFL player and coach and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee

March 3, 1962 (Saturday)

• The United Kingdom designated all land south of 60°S latitude and between longitudes 20°W and 80°W as the British Antarctic Territory, making a claim to an area of 1,710,000 square kilometers or 660,000 square miles. In addition to the wedge of the Antarctic continent, the territory included the uninhabited South Orkney Islands and the South Shetland Islands, while putting South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands under the jurisdiction of the Falkland Islands. The claim to the territories was not recognized by Argentina.
• Liu Cheng-sze, a second lieutenant in Communist China's air force, defected to Taiwan, bringing with him a Soviet-built MiG-15 jet fighter. Liu had broken away from a training mission, then flew the jet 200 miles south and landed near Taipei, where he surrendered to the Nationalist Chinese Air Force. A parade was held in his honor on March 10, with 200,000 people turning out to honor him.
• The New South Wales state election took place. It resulted 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, crashesd into a jungle swamp at Douala, Cameroon, killing all 111 people on board for the worst single plane crash in history, up to that time. The flight had originated in Lourenço Marques (now Maputo) in Mozambique, making multiple stops with an eventual destination in Luxembourg City, and had taken off bound for Lisbon. The bodies of the victims, most of them British and South African tourists, were buried in a common grave.
• NBN Television, the first regional commercial television station in New South Wales, was inaugurated.
• The Eighteen Nation Disarmament Conference, which included non-nuclear powers in addition to the U.S., the U.S.S.R., the U.K. and France, opened in Geneva.
• Born: Robb Armstrong, African-American comic strip artist (Jump Start), in Philadelphia

March 5, 1962 (Monday)

• A B-58 Hustler jet, piloted by U.S. Air Force Captain Robert Sowers, and a crew of two, set three new records by flying from Los Angeles to New York in 2 hours, 01:15, then back again in 2 hours, 15:02. The sonic boom, from the jet's speed of more than 1,000 mph, broke windows in Riverside, California and Chillicothe, Missouri when it accelerated at 30,000 feet and during a refueling, and emergency calls were made in cities beneath the flight path. The USAF received more than 10,000 complaints as a result of the flight.
• Giorgio Borġ Olivier became Prime Minister of Malta for the second time, following the return to power of his Nationalist Party in February elections. Mr. Borg Olivier had served previously from 1950 to 1955, and would serve again until 1971.
• At the 19th Golden Globe Awards, The Guns of Navarone, A Majority of One and West Side Story all won film awards. Other winners included Maximilian Schell, Glenn Ford, Geraldine Page, and Rosalind Russell.
• The Slovenian bishopric of Maribor was founded as a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Ljubljana.
• Born: Rosemarie Ford, English dancer and TV game show host (The Generation Game) (as Rosemarie Poundford), in Sherburn-in-Elmet, Yorkshire; and Samuel Žbogar, Slovenian Foreign Minister since 2008, in Postojna, Yugoslavia; and Robert Curbeam, African-American astronaut who served on four space shuttle missions; in Baltimore
• Died: Otakar Jeremiáš, 69, Czech composer
• Died: Libero Liberati, 35, Italian motorcycle racer, in a road accident

March 6, 1962 (Tuesday)

• Rated by the U.S. Geological Survey as "The most destructive storm ever to hit the mid-Atlantic states" of the U.S.A., and as one of the ten worst U.S. storms in the 20th century, the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 began forming off of the coast of North Carolina and continued for three days as it moved up the Eastern seaboard as far as New York. Heavy winds and rain coincided with a perigean spring tide, when a new Moon occurred when the Moon was making its closest approach to the Earth. The combined tugging of Moon and Sun made the tides higher than normal. Forty people were killed and $500,000,000 of damage was incurred.
• U.S. Patent #3,023,527 was granted to Wayne Leek and Charles Morse for the Remington Nylon 66, a rifle which required no added lubricants because the stock was made of the nylon variant Zytel.
• In a joint statement issued by U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk and Thailand's Foreign Minister Thanat Khoman, the United States pledged to go to war to defend any attack on Thailand by Communist guerillas.
• Jacques Brel began recording tracks for his album Les Bourgeois.
• Born: Bengt Baron, Swedish swimmer; 1980 Olympic gold medalist; in Finspång

March 7, 1962 (Wednesday)

• In London, the Royal College of Physicians issued its report, "Smoking and Health", declaring that "Cigarette smoking is a cause of lung cancer. It also causes bronchitis and probably contributes to the development of coronary heart disease and various other less common diseases. It delays healing of gastric and duodenal ulcers." Sir Robert Platt, the president of the organization, led a committee of nine physicians to compile the research. A panel led by the U.S. Surgeon General would draw a similar conclusion nearly two years later on January 11, 1964.
• OSO I, the first of nine Orbiting Solar Observatory satellites, launched by the United States, was launched from Cape Canaveral put into orbit around the Earth, to measure radiation from the Sun.
• The Tipsport Arena opened in Prague, as the Sportovni Hala Praha. In addition to concerts and entertainment, it is the host to the ice hockey team HC Sparta Praha.
• In Geneva, France and the Algerian FLN resumed negotiations.

March 8, 1962 (Thursday)

• American drug manufacturer Richardson-Merrell Pharmaceuticals withdrew its request for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve the prescription of thalidomide, which the company had developed under the name Kelvadon. On the same day, the company withdrew the drug from sale in Canada. American marketing of the medicine, which had caused severe birth defects in 15,000 babies, primarily in West Germany, had been blocked by FDA reviewer Frances Oldham Kelsey, who was later given an award by President Kennedy.
• A Turkish Airlines Fairchild F-27 crashed into the Taurus Mountains while on approach to Adana Airport, killing all 11 people on board.
• The Beatles made their radio debut, with a three song session, recorded the day before, and broadcast on the BBC Manchester programme Teenager's Turn (Here We Go). They performed the songs "Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream)", "Please Mr. Postman", and "Memphis, Tennessee" .
• Died: Werner Friebe, 64, highly decorated German World War II soldier

March 9, 1962 (Friday)

• Three babies at the Binghamton General Hospital in Binghamton, New York died suddenly of heart failure. Three more were dead the next day, with four others in critical condition, and all had abnormally high sodium levels. The deaths of the six infants, three boys and three girls who ranged in age from 3 days to 8 months old, were traced to a nurse's mistaken placement of salt, three days earlier, into a sugar container used for the making of baby formula. Ironically, the discovery was made by another nurse who broke hospital rules when she made herself a cup of coffee in the formula room. The deaths were subsequently ruled as accidental.
• In the second deadly mine explosion in West Germany in as many months, 29 underground coal miners were killed in at the Saachen mine near Hamm.
• Lynda Heaven became the first female Labor representative to enter the Tasmanian House of Assembly.

March 10, 1962 (Saturday)

• Newly independent from France, the Kingdom of Morocco adopted its first constitution.
• Kilmarnock F.C.'s home attendance record was broken when a crowd of 35,995 turned out to see them play Glasgow Rangers in the Scottish Cup, at the Rugby Park stadium.
• Died: John Henry Turpin, 85, African-American sailor

March 11, 1962 (Sunday)

• Jackie Kennedy, the First Lady of the United States, had a 33 minute long audience with Pope John XXIII in Rome, one of the longest private audiences ever granted by the Pope. She left that evening for a visit to India.
• Burdened with debts, the Accrington Stanley soccer football team was dropped from The Football League before the end of the 1961-62 season. The team's final game had been against Crewe Alexandra F.C. on March 4.

March 12, 1962 (Monday)

• The "Franc Zone" was created among former French African colonies that had become independent nations, with France managing their economic policies, treasuries, and currencies.
• Cuba began the rationing of rice, beans, and lard throughout the nation, and of beef, chicken, fish, eggs, and milk in Havana, and introduced the "libreta", literally the "little book", of rationing coupons for families.
• South Africa's Defence Minister Jacobus Johannes Fouché (who would later serve as President of South Africa outlined his defence policy to make the country self-supporting in military equipment.
• Mohan Lal Sukhadia began his third term as Chief Minister of Rajasthan.
• Mars Rafikov, one of the original 20 Soviet cosmonauts, was arrested for public intoxication, along with Ivan Anikeyev, Rafikov, who had been reprimanded on several other occasions, was dismissed from the program on March 14.
• Born: Darryl Strawberry, American baseball player, in Los Angeles
• Died: John McCuish, 55, who served as Governor of Kansas for only eleven days (January 3 to January 14, 1957)

March 13, 1962 (Tuesday)

• Operation Northwoods: A top secret proposal to use American funding, for terror attacks within the United States, was presented to U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara by Army General L. L. Lemnitzer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. With the goal of carrying out violent acts that could be blamed on the Communist government in Cuba in order to get support for an invasion, the proposals included exploding an empty U.S. Navy ship in Guantanamo Bay and creating a false list of casualties; and faking an attack, to be blamed on Cuba, on a chartered airliner flying from the United States. The most incredible proposal was to simulate a "Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, other Florida cities, and even in Washington", including "exploding a few plastic bombs in carefully chosen spots", and directed against Cuban refugees "even to the point of wounding." The plan, declassified in 2001, was vetoed by McNamara before it reached President Kennedy.
• In the Blackpool North by-election, Norman Miscampbell holds the seat for the UK Conservative Party.

March 14, 1962 (Wednesday)

• Tony Jackson of the Chicago Majors scored twelve three-point baskets, as part of the short-lived American Basketball League, which pioneered the rule for shots from more than 25 feet away. Jackson's pro record for most treys, set in 124-122 loss to the Cleveland Pipers, has not been broken, but has been tied twice in the NBA, by Kobe Bryant of the Lakers in 2003, and by Donyell Marshall of the Raptors in 2005. The record in the American Basketball Association, second major league to use the 3 point basket, was set by Les Selvage with ten.
• Edward M. "Teddy" Kennedy, the 30-year-old brother of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate seat that had been held by JFK. The incumbent, Benjamin A. Smith II, was a Kennedy family friend who had been appointed to fill the seat until a special election could be scheduled. Ted Kennedy, who had to wait until his 30th birthday, on February 22, to become eligible, would win the primary and general election, and then re-election in 1964, 1970, 1976, 1982, 1988, 1994, 2000 and 2006, serving for almost 47 years until his death in 2009.
• In the Middlesbrough East by-election, Arthur Bottomley holds the seat for the UK Labour Party.

March 15, 1962 (Thursday)

• Three months before he was scheduled to be launched into space, U.S. astronaut Donald K. "Deke" Slayton was grounded by NASA after having been diagnosed with a heart murmur. One of the original "Mercury Seven", Slayton would be replaced by Scott Carpenter on the May launch of Aurora 7. In 1975, Slayton would finally go into outer space on the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project.
• In an address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress and a milestone in the history of consumer protection, President Kennedy asked for the passage of the "Consumer Bill of Rights". The President listed four basic rights that should be guaranteed by the federal government to American purchasers of goods and services— the right to safety, the right to be informed, the right to choose and the right to be heard. After being passed into law, the idea would be taken up worldwide and serve as the inspiration the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection.
• The Manpower Development and Training Act of 1962 was signed into law by President Kennedy, after passing 60-31 in the U.S. Senate and 354-62 in the House.
• The comic strip Mafalda, created by Argentine cartoonist Quino (Joaquín Salvador Lavado), made its first appearance. With a 6-year-old girl as the protagonist, the comic became popular worldwide and was translated from Spanish into 25 other languages, except for English.
• The Canadian Pacific Railway received authorization to discontinue passenger train service between Ottawa and Chalk River.
• Katangan Prime Minister Moise Tshombe began negotiations to rejoin the Congo.
• Ferdinand Kozovski began his fourth and final term as Chairperson of the National Assembly of Bulgaria.
• In the Orpington by-election, often described as the start of the Liberal Party revival in the UK, Liberal Eric Lubbock defeated the expected winner, Conservative candidate Peter Goldman.
• Artists Ansgar Elde and Jørgen Nash were excluded from the Situationist International group.
• The third Karnataka Legislative Assembly opened at Bengaluru.
• Died: Arthur Compton, 69, American physicist and 1927 Nobel Prize laureate for his discovery of the Compton effect; and Mouloud Feraoun, 49, Algerian novelist, after he and five colleagues were kidnapped and murdered by the OAS paramilitary group.

March 16, 1962 (Friday)

• Flying Tiger Line Flight 739, a Lockheed Constellation airliner carrying 96 Army personnel and a crew of 11 to the Philippines, disappeared at 1:30 am local time (1530 GMT on March 15) after taking off from Guam. Despite a massive search of the Pacific Ocean, no trace of the airliner, nor the 107 persons on board, was ever found.
• Operation Swallow: Following a series of Syrian attacks on Israeli fishermen in the Sea of Galilee, Israel Defense Forces raided Syrian posts in the village of Nokyeab. During the operation 53 Syrian and 7 Israeli soldiers were killed.
• Kosmos 1, the first of a series of earth-orbiting satellites from the Soviet space program, was launched. Kosmos 1000 would be sent up in 1978, and Kosmos 2000 in 1989. Over the first fifty years, 2479 of the series would be launched.
• The University of the Virgin Islands was chartered, as Virgin Islands College.

March 17, 1962 (Saturday)

• Nari Contractor, captain of the India national cricket team, suffered a career-ending and near-fatal injury while batting in a match at Bridgetown in the Barbados. when a pitched ball fractured his skull. The injury led to the use of headgear by cricket teams.
• Wing Luke, a native of China who moved to the United States as a child, was elected as the first non-white person to serve on the city council of Seattle, and the first Asian American to hold an elective office in the State of Washington. Luke served until May 17, 1965, when he was killed in a plane crash.
• On St. Patrick's Day, Ireland's President Éamon de Valera and Mrs. Sinéad de Valera had a private audience with Pope John XXIII in Rome.
• The annual Gaelic Games competition was televised for the first time, as RTÉ broadcast the finals of the Railway Cup, hurling championship of the Gaelic Athletic Association. Leinster beat defending champion Munster by a score of 1 goal, 11 points to 1 goal, nine points, equivalent to 14-12.
• Died: Wilhelm Blaschke, 76. German mathematician

March 18, 1962 (Sunday)

• Évian Accords: Representatives of France and of the Front de libération nationale (FLN), leading the independence movement in Algeria signed an agreement in Évian-les-Bains ending the Algerian War. Krim Belkacem and Saad Dahlab negotiated for the FLN, while the Minister for Algerian Affairs, Louis Joxe, appeared for France. Krim successfully resisted a threatened partition of Algeria into European and Arab sections, as well as a plan to give dual citizenship to European Algerians, while Joxe was able to secure French military bases in the former overseas department. The agreement would be approved by 91% of French voters and nearly 100% of Algerian voters in separate referenda, and Algeria would become independent on July 3.
• 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.
• Born: Patrice Trovoada, Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe for four months in 2008, in Libreville, Gabon; son of Miguel Trovoada, the first Prime Minister (1975–79) and later President (1991–2001).
• Died: Walter W. Bacon, 82, two-term Governor of Delaware and three term Mayor of Wilmington.

March 19, 1962 (Monday)

• After more than seven years of fighting between the French Army and the Algerian FLN, there was a ceasefire in the Algerian War, which took effect at noon local time pursuant to Article 1 of the Évian Accords. Sporadic fighting continued, with Saint-Denis-du-Sig (now Sig) where 52 people were killed in fighting between Muslim crowds and a Muslim unit of the French Army.
• Bob Dylan, the debut album of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, was released by Columbia Records. The record sold only a few hundred copies in its first six months. The next year, Dylan would become famous with the best-selling "Blowin' in the Wind".
• "Resolution 83-A took effect in Cuba, outlawing professional sports.
• Died: Vasily Dzhugashvili, 40, son of Joseph Stalin, disgraced former general and sportsman; and Samuel Cate Prescott, 89, American food scientist and pioneer in food preservation

March 20, 1962 (Tuesday)

• Defying the ceasefire between the French Army and the Algerian FLN guerillas, the dissident European Algerian group, the OAS fired five mortar shells into a crowd of civilians at the Casbah in Algiers, killing four and wounding 67 people.
• 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 Évian Accords on Algeria.
• Woodruff Place, Indiana, incorporated in 1876, came to an end as a separate town after the United States Supreme Court declined to review a state court decision that allowed the area to be annexed by Indianapolis.
• Died: C. Wright Mills, 45, popular American sociologist at Columbia University, whose books influenced the "New Left"; A. E. Douglass, 84, American astronomer; and Stan Wootton, 66, Australian rules footballer and cricketer

March 21, 1962 (Wednesday)

• The first Taco Bell restaurant was opened, as entrepreneur Glen Bell began the restaurant chain in Downey, California.
• Protesting the decision of the military government to require approval of any candidates for political office, Yun Po Sun resigned as President of South Korea.
• Canada became the last country to ban the birth-defect-causing drug thalidomide.
• In Japan, the Kominato Line railway retired its steam locomotives (which would later be put on display at Goi Station).
• English actor Rex Harrison married Welsh actress Rachel Roberts. The two Britons were wed in a civil ceremony in Italy at Genoa.
• Born: Matthew Broderick, American film (Ferris Bueller's Day Off) and stage (Brighton Beach Memoirs), in New York City; and Rosie O'Donnell, American comedian, actress, and T.V. talk show host, in Commack, New York; Broderick would appear on The Rosie O'Donnell Show that aired on their 40th birthday

March 22, 1962 (Thursday)

JFK, Hoover and RFK

• FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover met at the White House with John F. Kennedy, to advise him about what findings from a wiretap revealed. Not only was Hoover aware that President Kennedy was conducting an extramarital affair with Judith Exner, Hoover advised that Ms. Exner was also romantically involved with organized crime figures Sam Giancana and Johnny Roselli, and Frank Sinatra. After the meeting, Kennedy called Exner to terminate the relationship. The affair would not become public knowledge until Congressional hearings were held in 1975.
• Algerian War: As part of the Evian Accords, France and Algeria granted a general amnesty to Algerian nationalists who "aided or abetted the Algerian insurrection" and to French and Algerian servicemen who "have committed infractions during the maintenance of order against the Algerian insurrection". On June 17, 1966, France would extend the amnesty to OAS members "who committed infractions against state security during the events in Algeria.
• Having moved to the Soviet Union, Lee Harvey Oswald received a March 7 notice advising that his discharge from the U.S. Marines had been changed from "honorable" to "undesirable", and wrote an unsuccessful protest to the U.S. Department of Defense.
• Adolf Eichmann began an appeal to an Israeli court, as his lawyer, Robert Servatius sought to spare Eichmann from the death sentence ordered in his 1961 war crimes conviction. The verdict would be upheld, and Eichmann would be executed on May 31.
• Died: Hal Price Headley, 73, American race horse owner, operator of the Keeneland horseracing track

March 23, 1962 (Friday)

• The first noble gas compound was created by British chemist Neil Bartlett in Vancouver, when he created xenon hexafluoroplatinate ("XePtF₆) from a reaction of xenon and platinum hexafluoride.
• 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.
• Born: Bassel al-Assad, eldest son and expected successor of Syrian President Hafez al-Assad until his death in a car accident (d. 1994)

March 24, 1962 (Saturday)

• World welterweight boxing champion Benny Paret lost his title, and his life, to former champ Emile Griffith in a bout at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In the 12th round, Griffith unleashed a torrent of punches as Paret was on the ropes, and referee Ruby Goldstein stopped the fight. Peret sagged, then collapsed. Paret, who had knocked down Griffith at the end of the sixth round, was taken to Roosevelt Hospital, where he underwent emergency brain surgery. He never regained consciousness and died on April 2.
• In Louisville, the Cincinnati Bearcats defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes, 71-59, to win the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

March 25, 1962 (Sunday)

• Edmond Jouhaud, former General of the French Army who had become second-in-command of the European Algerian OAS, was arrested in Oran. It was not until six hours after his capture that police discovered that Messr. Gerberd was actually General Jouhaud. OAS Commander Raoul Salan remained at large.
• The 1962 CONCACAF Champions' Cup soccer tournament opened with a match between C.D. Águila and C.S.D. Comunicaciones.
• Died: Auguste Piccard, 78, Swiss physicist and explorer

March 26, 1962 (Monday)

• Baker v. Carr: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 6-2, that federal courts could order state legislatures to reapportion seats. In doing so, the Court overturned its 1946 ruling, in Colegrove v. Green, that it had no jurisdiction to decide redistricting disputes were political issues. Within a year after the ruling, lawsuits had been filed in 36 states to redraw the legislative maps.
• Hundreds of European settlers in Algeria staged a peaceful march in Algiers to protest the sealing off of their neighborhood at Bab El Oued. As they approached French Army barricades, fighting broke out, leaving 51 dead, mostly European, and 130 wounded.
• After having withdrawn from public view for several months, Cuban Premier Fidel Castro went on television to denounce Anibal Escalante, who had been a high-ranking official of the Cuban Communist Party. Escalante, whom Castro accused of "sectarianism" and using the Party to further his personal ambition, was fired the next day.
• France shortened the term for military service from 26 months to 18.
• Born: Rajeev Motwani, Indian-American theoretical computer scientist, in Jammu (drowned 2009)
• Died: Augusta Savage, 70, African-American sculptor

March 27, 1962 (Tuesday)

• New York State Governor Nelson Rockefeller signed legislation to allow the Port of New York Authority to begin construction of the World Trade Center in Manhattan.
• Born: John O'Farrell, British author and broadcaster, in Maidenhead; and Jann Arden, Canadian singer-songwriter, in Springbank, Alberta

March 28, 1962 (Wednesday)

President Frondizi, deposed

President al-Kudsi, arrested

• After an eleven-day showdown with the Argentine armed forces over the gains of Peronists in March 18 elections, President Arturo Frondizi was forced to resign. Frondizi, who had reportedly avoided overthrow in 25 previous coups d'état, was arrested at his home and then flown to a military base on Martín García Island. Two days later, Senate President José María Guido was approved by the armed forces as the new President.
• Nazim al-Kudsi, the President of Syria, was arrested along with Prime Minister Maarouf al-Dawalibi, following an Army-led coup. To avert a possible civil war, the Army junta resigned on April 13, released Kudsi, and restored him to the presidency.
• Sierra Leone became a member state of UNESCO.
• Died: Robert Neyland, 70, former U.S. Army Brigadier General and long time football coach of the University of Tennessee

March 29, 1962 (Thursday)

• The conveying of a life peerage on Sir Ian Macdonald Horobin was announced; two weeks later he withdrew his acceptance and was subsequently jailed for an indecency offence.
• U.S. Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Whittaker resigned due to poor health.
• Comedian Jack Paar concluded his last appearance as host of "The Jack Paar Show" then known informally as "The Tonight Show" on NBC, after five years. The guests on the last show were Jack E. Leonard, Alexander King, Robert Merrill and Buddy Hackett. Among those appearing in taped farewell messages were Richard Nixon, Robert Kennedy, Billy Graham, Bob Hope and Jack Benny. Hugh Downs was the announcer, and Jose Melis led the band. The show would continue as "The Tonight Show" the following week, with guest hosts, until Johnny Carson took over on October 1, 1962. Paar's last regular appearance was on a Thursday. The final show, on Friday March 30th, 1962 was a "Best Of Paar" rerun. Jack Paar returned to television later that year, in November, as host of the Friday night "The Jack Paar Program"

Whttaker

White

March 30, 1962 (Friday)

• Former college and pro football player Byron "Whizzer" White, the Deputy Attorney General of the United States, was nominated by President Kennedy to succeed Charles Whittaker.
• Teddy Kennedy, running for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by his older brother, President John F. Kennedy, disclosed that he had been required to drop out of Harvard University in 1951, after having cheated on a freshman examination. Nevertheless, the younger Kennedy would win the 1962 primary and general elections, and be re-elected for more terms by Massachusetts voters.
• Born: MC Hammer, American rapper, as Stanley Burrell, in Oakland, California

March 31, 1962 (Saturday)

• The 2nd Lok Sabha of the Parliament of India was dissolved.
• A tornado killed 15 people in the city of Milton, Florida and injured more than 75.
• The Whitecliffs Branch Railway, serving the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island, was closed.