February 5 - The European Court of Justice's ruling in Van Gend en Loos v Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen establishes the principle of direct effect, one of the basic tenets of European Union law.

February 8 - Travel, financial and commercial transactions by United States citizens to Cuba are made illegal by the John F. Kennedy Administration.

February 10 - Five Japanese cities located on the northernmost part of Kyu-shu- are merged and become the city of Kitakyu-shu-, with a population of more than 1 million.

February 11 - The Central Intelligence Agency's Domestic Operations Division is created in the United States. - The Beatles record their debut album Please Please Me in a single day at the Abbey Road Studios in London. - American-born poet Sylvia Plath commits suicide in London.

February 12 - Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 705 crashes in the Florida Everglades killing all 43 aboard.

February 14 - Harold Wilson becomes leader of the opposition Labour Party in the United Kingdom, and could be within 18 months of becoming prime minister with a general election due in that time.

February 19 - The publication of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique launches the reawakening of the Women's Movement in the United States as women's organizations and consciousness raising groups spread.

February 21 - An earthquake destroys the village of Barca, Libya, killing 900.

February 27 - Juan Bosch takes office as the 41st president of the Dominican Republic. - Female suffrage is enacted in Iran.

February 28 - Dorothy Schiff resigns from the New York Newspaper Publisher's Association, feeling that the city needs at least one paper. Her paper, the New York Post, resumes publication on March 4. (source: Wikipedia)