February 1: A referendum in Switzerland turns down female suffrage.

February 3: A chartered plane transporting musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper and pilot Roger Peterson goes down in foggy conditions near Clear Lake, Iowa, killing all 4 occupants on board. The tragedy is later termed "The Day the Music Died", popularized in Don McLean's 1972 song "American Pie". - American Airlines Flight 320, a Lockheed L-188 Electra heading from Chicago to New York City, crashes into the East River, killing 65 of the 73 people on board.

February 6: At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.

February 9: Yugoslavia and Spain set trade relations (not diplomatic ones)

February 13: TAT-2, AT&T's second Trans-Atlantic telephone cable, goes into operation.

February 16: Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba. - A blizzard causes a massive power outage in Newfoundland.

February 17: The United States launches the Vanguard II weather satellite.

February 18: Jesús Sosa Blanco, a colonel in the Cuban army of Fulgencio Batista, is executed in Cuba after being convicted of committing 108 murders for Batista. - Women in Nepal vote for the first time.

February 19: The United Kingdom decides to grant Cyprus its independence.

February 20: The Canadian Government cancels the CF-105 Arrow project.

February 22: Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500. (source: Wikipedia)