Historical Events in February 1956

February1956 Calendar

Albright Olympic Champion

Feb 2 Despite a severe ankle injury Tenley Albright leads an American 1-2 in the women's figure skating at the Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics; Carol Heiss takes the silver medal

Feb 2 The Coasters sign with Atlantic Records
Feb 3 Autherine Lucy admitted to University of Alabama, and suspended for her own safety a few days later after a riot by protesters on campus
Feb 3 Toni Sailer of Austria wins the downhill at the Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics; becomes first athlete to sweep all 3 alpine skiing events in a single Olympics
Feb 4 AL plans to test automatic intentional walk during spring training
Feb 4 Soviet Union beats Canada, 2-0 at Cortina d'Ampezzo to clinch their first ever Olympic ice hockey gold medal; US takes silver, Canada bronze
Feb 5 Finland goes 1-2 in the ski jumping at the Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics; Antti Hyvärinen takes gold ahead of teammate Aulis Kallakorpi
Feb 5 NY Mayor Robert Wagner & Bkln Boro President Frank Cashmore sponsor a bill to create a $30M Brooklyn Sports Center Authority to build
Feb 5 VII Winter Olympic Games close in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
Feb 6 Chicago's Daily Defender, begins publishing

Mollet Pelted with Tomatoes

Feb 6 French Prime Minister Guy Mollet pelted with tomatoes in Algiers

Feb 6 University of Alabama suspends African-American student Autherine Lucy claiming that it can no longer provide for her safety
Feb 8 Mine disaster in Quaregnon Belgium, 8 die
Feb 9 -5°F (-20.6°C) in Sicily
Feb 9 KHPL (now KWNB) TV channel 6 in Hayes Center, NB (ABC) 1st broadcast
Feb 9 R Lacoste follows Catroux as premier of Algeria
Feb 10 "My Friend Flicka" premieres on CBS (later NBC) TV
Feb 11 British diplomats Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean deny working as spies for Soviet Russia after reappearing in the Soviet Union after going missing 5 years earlier
Feb 13 KYW-AM in Philadelphia Penn gives calls to WTAM (now WWWE) Cleveland
Feb 14 20th Congress of CPSU opens in Moscow
Feb 14 Indonesia withdraws from Netherlands Indonesian Union
Feb 14 Verhoeven, Nauta and De King/Wijnhout win Dutch 11 city skate
Feb 15 Pirates & KC As cancel an exhibition game in Birmingham Alabama, because of local ordinance barring black from playing against white
Feb 15 Urho Kekkonen appointed president of Finland
Feb 17 Ice Dance Championship at Garmisch won by Pamela Weight/P Thomas GRB
Feb 17 Ice Pairs Championship at Garmisch won by Schwarz & Oppelt of AUT
Feb 17 Ladies' Figure Skating Championship in Garmisch won by Carol Heiss USA
Feb 17 Men's Figure Skating Championship in Garmisch won by H A Jenkins USA
Feb 20 WOSU TV channel 34 in Columbus, OH (PBS) begins broadcasting
Feb 22 1st English soccer match at Kunstlicht: Portsmouth vs Newcastle United

Feb 23 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) closes in Moscow, Russia, USSR

Music Concert

Feb 24 Walter Piston's 5th Symphony, commissioned by the Juilliard School of Music for their 50th anniversary, premiere performance by the Juilliard Orchestra, conducted by Jean Morel

Feb 27 Female suffrage granted in Egypt
Feb 28 13 die in a train crash in Swampscott, Massachusetts
Feb 28 American engineer Wright Forrester issued a patent for computer core memory
Feb 29 Islamic Republic forms in Pakistan

Cleveland Indians Sold for $4M

Feb 29 MLB's Cleveland Indians franchise is sold for nearly $4m; former player and the team’s general manager Hank Greenberg is part of the new ownership group

Eisenhower Seeks 2nd Term

Feb 29 US President Eisenhower announces he will seek a 2nd term

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