The following events occurred in February 1969:
February 1, 1969 (Saturday) U.S. President Richard M. Nixon instructed his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, to pursue a secret plan of action to establish dialogue between the governments of the United States and the People's Republic of China beginning with meetings between diplomats in Poland, where both nations had embassies. Born: Gabriel Batistuta, Argentine-born soccer football striker who starred in Italy's Serie A major league, and for Argentina's national team in three World Cup competitions; in Avellaneda, Santa Fe Province Andrew Breitbart, American conservative news publisher and creator of the Breitbart website (d. 2012); in Los Angeles
February 2, 1969 (Sunday) The Burdell Mansion commune, home at one time to members of the Grateful Dead rock band and later to more than 50 hippies who called their group The Chosen Family, was destroyed by an electrical fire. Decades later, California state archaeologists would excavate the ruins to study the hippie culture."An Archaeologist Excavates a Hippie Commune, Preserved in 1969 by Fire", by Mark Strauss, June 18, 2014, gizmodo.com Born: Dambisa Moyo, Zambian-born economist and author of four bestselling books, including 2010's How the West Was Lost; in Lusaka Died: Boris Karloff (William Henry Pratt), 81, English-born actor known for portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in horror films, and as the narrator in the cartoon adaptation of How the Grinch Stole Christmas!"Screen Monster King Boris Karloff Is Dead", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 4, 1969, p8
February 3, 1969 (Monday)
Eduardo Mondlane, the 48-year-old leader of the Mozambique nationalist organization FRELIMO, was assassinated by a time bomb that had been planted inside a book mailed to him at his headquarters in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Investigators were never able to determine whether Mondlane's murder had been carried out by the Portuguese colonial government of Mozambique or by Mondlane's rivals within FRELIMO.J. Bowyer Bell, Assassin: Theory and Practice of Political Violence (Transaction Publishers, 1979) p95"Anti-Portugal African Leader Assassinated", "Anti-Portugal African Leader Assassinated", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 4, 1969, p1 Mondlane was succeeded by Samora Machel, who would become the first President of Mozambique when the east African nation was granted independence by Portugal in 1975. At the Palestinian National Congress in Cairo, Yasser Arafat was elected as the new chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), replacing Yahya Hammuda. Arafat would serve as PLO Chairman until shortly before his death in 2004.Efraim Karsh, Arafat's War: The Man and His Battle for Israeli Conquest (Grove/Atlantic, 2007) As the hijacking to Cuba of American passenger jets continued, Eastern Air Lines Flight 7 was diverted to Havana along with its 87 passengers, including Allen Funt and a crew from the popular practical joke TV show, Candid Camera."Candid Camera Crew Aboard Hijacked Jet", Miami News, February 3, 1969, p1"'Fly To Cuba:' That's Candid!", Pittsburgh Press, February 3, 1969, p1 The plane was diverted as it approached Miami on its flight from Newark, New Jersey. Because of Funt's reputation as the host of the hidden camera prank show, many of the passengers thought at first that the hijacking was part of the filming of a Candid Camera episode."Did Airline Passengers Mistake a Hijacking for a ‘Candid Camera’ Stunt?", snopes.com Born: Retief Goosen, South African professional golfer and 2001 and 2004 U.S. Open winner; in Pietersburg (now Polokwane) Beau Biden (Joseph R. Biden III), American politician and Attorney General of Delaware from 2007 to 2015; in Wilmington, Delaware (died of brain cancer, 2015) Died: C. N. Annadurai, 59, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, died just 20 days after he had successfully lobbied for the name of the populous (over 40 million residents) state of India to be changed from Madras to Tamil Nadu. Al Taliaferro, 63, American comic strip artist who had drawn the Donald Duck newspaper comic since 1938
February 4, 1969 (Tuesday) The derailment of the Trichinopoly to Madras express train in India killed 25 people and injured another 25. Nearly all of the victims had been non-paying passengers riding on the roof of the train."Indian Express Derails, 25 Dead", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 5, 1969, p1 Born: Maniac (stage name for Sven Erik Kristiansen), Norwegian musician, best known as the former vocalist in the black metal band Mayhem
February 5, 1969 (Wednesday) Turn-On, a new sketch comedy show on ABC from the creators of NBC's popular Laugh-In, premiered at 8:30 in the evening Eastern time, for its first and only episode. One television station in Cleveland, WEWS-TV, took the show off the air after the first commercial break,"'Turn-On' Quickly Turned Off", Akron (OH) Beacon Journal, February 6, 1969, p2 and stations in Portland and Seattle refused to air it after learning of the reaction in the earlier time zones."More Turn Off 'Turn On'", Capital Journal (Salem, Oregon), February 7, 1969, p19 Enough viewers and ABC station owners were offended by the show and its cancellation was announced two days later."ABC Decides to Turn Off Its 'Turn-On'", Chicago Tribune, February 8, 1969, p7"'Turn-On' Turn-Off Makes TV History", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 11, 1969, p33 Thirty-one people were killed in a fire at the Bandai Kokusai Hotel in the Japanese ski resort of Koriyama, and another 28 injured."Fire Toll Now 31", Minneapolis Star, February 10, 1969, p8 The blaze broke out in the hotel's nightclub and was driven by winter winds throughout the building. Masaki Matsushita, a nude dancer at the nightclub, told fire investigators later that she had accidentally started the blaze when she had "placed a gasoline-soaked rag on an oil stove backstage" while preparing to perform her act before 300 customers."Shapely Japanese Dancer Blamed In Fire Killing 30", Indianapolis Star, February 7, 1969, p2 António de Oliveira Salazar, the Prime Minister of Portugal who had ruled the nation as its dictator from 1932 until a brain hemorrhage in 1968, was released from the hospital in Lisbon."Salazar Goes Home an Invalid", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 6, 1969, p7 Salazar had been replaced as prime minister while in a coma, but would not be told of the decision; he would continue in the belief that he ruled as Portugal's leader until his death in 1970. Angeles Flying Service Flight 601, a Beechcraft Super H18 air taxi that regularly ferried passengers from Port Angeles, Washington to Seattle, crashed and burned immediately after its early-morning takeoff, killing all 10 people aboard."10 perish in local air crash", Port Angeles (WA) Evening News, February 5, 1969, p1"Plane Burns At Liftoff, 10 Feared Dead", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 6, 1969, p7 Born: Michael Sheen, Welsh stage and film actor; in Newport Bobby Brown, American R&B singer and songwriter; in Boston Died: Conrad Hilton Jr., 42, American businessman, heir to the Hilton Hotels fortune, and playboy, died from complications of alcoholism Thelma Ritter, 66, American stage and film actress
February 6, 1969 (Thursday) Residents of the West Indies island of Anguilla voted overwhelmingly for independence from the United Kingdom and the creation of a republic. The final result was 1,739 in favor and only four against on the island of 6,000 people."Smallest republic?", The Guardian (London), February 8, 1969, p2"Anguilla Votes to Become a Republic", Philadelphia Inquirer, February 8, 1969, p2 British paratroopers and municipal policemen from St. Kitts would invade the island on March 19 and dismantle the republic.Ian Hendry and Susan Dickson, British Overseas Territories Law (Bloomsbury, 2018) p317 Born: Masaharu Fukuyama, Japanese singer-songwriter and actor; in Nagasaki
February 7, 1969 (Friday) Nine passengers were killed, and 47 seriously injured in Australia after the engineer of the Southern Aurora express train had a fatal heart attack as he approached the crossing at Violet Town, Victoria."Rail crash blamed on human error", Sydney Morning Herald, February 8, 1969, p1 The train was nearing the end of its overnight trip from Sydney to Melbourne and passengers were preparing to eat breakfast when the collision with a freight train happened at 7:10 in the morning. A subsequent autopsy concluded that engineer John Bowden was dead before the train ran through two warning signals and a stop signal."Driver died before Aurora crash", The Age (Melbourne), February 12, 1969, p1"Crash Laid To Engineer", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 12, 1969, p4 Diane Crump of Woodmont, Connecticut, became the first woman jockey to ride a racehorse in American competition."Girl Jock Rides, Comes In Tenth", Cincinnati Enquirer, February 8, 1969, p1 With odds of 50-to-1 on the horse, Bridle 'n Bit, 19-year-old Crump finished tenth in a field of 12 in the seventh race that day at Florida's Hialeah race track near Miami. The highest gust of wind in British history took place at Kirkwall, at Scotland's Orkney Isles on the North Sea, with a wind burst measured at .R. J. Berry, The Natural History of Orkney (HarperCollins UK, 2012) Died: Frank "Cannonball" Richards, 81, American carnival and vaudeville performer whose act involved taking heavy blows to his stomach
February 8, 1969 (Saturday) At 1:05 in the morning local time (07:05 UTC), the Allende meteorite exploded as it entered the atmosphere over the village of Pueblito de Allende in Mexico's Chihuahua state. As the meteor exploded into two pieces which then fragmented into thousands, most of the stones fell in and around Pueblito Allende. Eventually, more than two tonnes — — of fragments would be picked up; the Allende meteorite has become the most studied in the world, and is among the rarest because of its composition of carbonaceous chondrite.Dana Desonie, Cosmic Collisions (Henry Holt and Company, 2014) February 8, 1969, was the last date for an issue of the weekly magazine, The Saturday Evening Post,"Saturday Evening Post Ends With Feb. 8 Issue", Fresno (CA) Bee, January 10, 1969, p1 though it was placed on newsstands and sent to subscribers a week earlier."Post's Final Issue on Stands This Week", The Daily Telegram (Eau Claire WI), January 28, 1969, p4 The Post would be resurrected a year later as a semi-monthly magazine.
February 9, 1969 (Sunday) The Boeing 747 "jumbo jet" was flown for the first time, taking off at 11:44 in the morning Pacific Time from Boeing's Paine Field airfield at Everett, Washington."Super Jet's First Flight Cut Short", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 10, 1969, p2 The flight had been scheduled to last two and a half hours, but pilot Jack Waddell reported difficulty with a wing flap 34 minutes after takeoff, and the 335 ton jet, largest commercial airliner in the world, returned for a landing at 12:49. The ADN news agency of East Germany announced that the government would bar travel along the three corridors from West Germany to West Berlin, effective February 15, in an apparent effort to block West German state and federal officials from participating in the March 5 presidential election, to be held in West Berlin by 1,036 electors."East Germany Cuts Travel To West Berlin", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 10, 1969, p1 TACCOMSAT, the Tactical Communications Satellite and the largest communications satellite to ever be launched from the United States, was put into a geostationary orbit above the equator by a Titan 3C booster rocket launched from Cape Kennedy."Communications Satellite Orbiting Above the Pacific", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 10, 1969, p1