- Feb 1 Finland goes 1-2 in the Nordic combined event at the St. Moritz Winter Olympics; Heikki Hasu takes gold ahead of teammate Martti Huhtala
"Cry the Beloved Country"
Feb 1 Important South African anti-apartheid novel "Cry the Beloved Country" by Alan Paton is published in the US
- Feb 1 Johnny Palmer sets a 36-hole PGA Tour scoring record with rounds of 62-64 in the Tucson Open; finishes runner-up by 1 stroke to Skip Alexander who cards tournament record total 264
Federation of Malaya
Feb 1 Nine Malay sultanates and two British Straits Settlements (Penang and Malacca) form the Federation of Malaya
- Feb 1 Palestine Post building in Jerusalem bombed
- Feb 2 President Harry Truman urges congress to adopt a civil rights program
- Feb 4 After winning the men’s downhill, French alpine skier Henri Oreiller takes the combined gold medal at the St. Moritz Winter Olympics; becomes most successful athlete at these Games with a slalom bronze
- Feb 4 British-ruled Colony of Ceylon achieves independence, becoming the Dominion of Ceylon, and later Sri Lanka
- Feb 5 "Nature of Things" science show premieres on NBC prime time
- Feb 5 18-year-old Dick Button becomes first American men's figure skating Olympic gold medallist at the St. Moritz Winter Games; first to complete a double axel in competition; retains title in 1952
- Feb 5 Gretchen Fraser becomes 1st US woman Olympic ski slalom champion
- Feb 6 1st radio-controlled airplane flown
- Feb 6 KNXT (now KCBS) TV channel 2 in Los Angeles, CA (CBS) 1st broadcast
- Feb 6 Nils Karlsson wins the 50k cross country gold medal at the St. Moritz Winter Olympics; Swedish skiers win all 3 cross-country events at the Games
- Feb 6 World & European champion Barbara Ann Scott becomes the first Canadian to win a women's figure skating Olympic gold medal at the St. Moritz Winter Games
- Feb 7 After winning Lake Placid (1932) and Garmisch-Partenkirchen (1936) Olympic ski jumping gold medals, Birger Ruud comes out of retirement to win silver in St. Moritz in a Norwegian medal sweep
The Cradle Will Rock
Feb 7 Marc Blitzstein's play with music "The Cradle Will Rock", directed by Orson Welles, closes at Mansfield Theater, NYC, after 34 performances
Bradley Succeeds Eisenhower
Feb 7 Omar Bradley succeeds Dwight Eisenhower as US Army Chief of Staff
- Feb 8 Canada beats Switzerland 3-0, to regain the Olympic ice hockey title at the St. Moritz Winter Games; forward Walter Halder top scores with 29 points in Canada’s 5th Olympic title
- Feb 8 V Winter Olympic Games close at St Moritz, Switzerland
- Feb 9 WLWT TV channel 5 in Cincinnati, OH (NBC) begins broadcasting
- Feb 10 Greek Gen Markos' guerrilla army bombs Saloniki
- Feb 11 Billy Griffith scores cricket century on debut Eng v WI, out for 140
- Feb 11 John Costello follows Eamon Da Valera as premier of Ireland
- Feb 11 Test cricket debut of Frank Worrell for the West Indies vs. England at Port-of-Spain
- Feb 12 1st Lt Nancy Leftenant becomes 1st African American in army nursing corps
- Feb 13 Ice Pairs Championship at Davos won by Lannoy & Baugniet of BEL
- Feb 13 Men's Figure Skating Championship in Davos won by Richard Button USA
- Feb 13 West Indian batsman Andy Ganteaume scores 112 for W Indies in his only Test Cricket innings
- Feb 13 Wright Flyer, 1st plane to fly, returns to US from England
Event of Interest
Feb 15 Mao Zedong's army occupies Yenan
Event of Interest
Feb 22 Iris Apfel (née Barrel) marries Carl Apfel
- Feb 25 Communists seize control of Czechoslovakian government and Klement Gottwald becomes premier
Little's Leap Day PGA Win
Feb 29 Lawson Little earns his first tournament victory since his US Navy discharge capturing the St. Petersburg Open by 3 strokes over Bobby Locke; last golfer to win a PGA Tour event on Leap Year Day
- Feb 29 Stern-group bomb on Cairo-Haifa train kills 27 British soldiers
Admirals
Aviators
Gangsters
Generals
Industrialists
Suffragists