- Feb 1 Kuala Lumpur is declared a Federal Territory.
"The Way We Were"
Feb 2 Barbra Streisand's 1st #1 hit, "The Way We Were"
- Feb 2 Playmobil toys debut at the Nuremberg Toy Fair, designed by Hans Beck and produced by the Brandstätter Group
- Feb 2 Smallest crowd at Cleveland Arena (Cavs vs Golden State-1,641)
- Feb 2 The F-16 Fighting Falcon flies for the first time.
- Feb 3 Revival of Richard Adler and Jerry Ross' musical "The Pajama Game", closes at Lunt Fontanne Theater, NYC, after 65 performances
Patty Hearst Kidnapped
Feb 4 American publishing heir William Randolph Hearst’s 19-year-old daughter, Patty Hearst, is kidnapped from her apartment in Berkeley, California by the Symbionese Liberation Army
- Feb 4 Chimpanzee Nim Chimsky signs his 1st word, at 2½ months
- Feb 4 Gasoline rationing ends in the Netherlands
- Feb 4 Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb explodes on a bus in West Yorkshire, England, carrying British Army soldiers and some of their family members
- Feb 5 John Murtha of Pennsylvania becomes the first Vietnam War veteran elected to the United States Congress
- Feb 5 Mats Wermelin, Sweden, scores all points in 272-0 basketball win
- Feb 5 Maximum speed on Germany's Autobahn highway reduced to 100 kph
- Feb 5 US Mariner 10 returns 1st close-up photos of Venus' cloud structure
- Feb 6 3rd time Rangers shut-out Islanders 6-0
- Feb 6 Dutch speed limit set at 100km due to oil crisis
House Considers Nixon Impeachment
Feb 6 US House of Reps begins determining grounds for impeachment of President Richard Nixon
- Feb 7 American left-wing guerilla group Symbionese Liberation Army claim responsibility for the kidnapping of Patty Hearst, daughter of American publishing heir Randolph Hearst
- Feb 7 Grenada gains independence from Britain (National Day)
Blazing Saddles
Feb 7 Mel Brooks' western spoof film "Blazing Saddles", starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder premieres at the Pickwick Drive-In in Burbank, California; patrons watched from horseback rather than cars
Snap Election
Feb 7 UK Prime Minister Edward Heath calls for a 'snap' general election in the midst of a protracted miners' strike
- Feb 8 American television soap opera "The Secret Storm" ends a 20 year run on CBS
You're Sixteen
Feb 8 Ringo Starr releases a cover of "You're Sixteen" as a single in UK; originally released by Johnny Burnette in 1960
- Feb 8 Three US astronauts return to Earth after a 85 days in the US space station, Skylab
- Feb 8 TV sitcom "Good Times", spin-off from "Maude", starring Esther Rolle, John Amos, and J.J. Walker, premieres on CBS TV
- Feb 9 "Daddy What If" by Bobby Bare peaks at #41
- Feb 9 "The Americans (A Canadian's Opinion)" by Gordon Sinclair peaks at #24
- Feb 9 British miners begin a strike in reaction to a wage dispute, prompting Prime Minister Edward Heath to declare a state of emergency and call for a special election
Hamill US Champion
Feb 9 US female Figure Skating championship won by Dorothy Hamill (17)
- Feb 9 US male Figure Skating championship won by Gordon McKellen Jr
- Feb 10 "Gigi" closes at Uris Theater NYC after 103 performances
- Feb 10 Iran / Iraqi border fight breaks out
- Feb 10 Judy Ikenberry wins 1st Us women's marathon (2:55:17)
- Feb 10 Silver futures hit record $4.81½ an ounce in London
- Feb 11 First Major League Baseball arbitration case; Minnesota Twins pitcher Dick Woodson seeking $29,000 wins; Twins offered $23,000
- Feb 11 Libya nationalizes three US oil companies that had not agreed to 51 percent nationalization in September
- Feb 11 Titan-Centaur rocket test launch fails
Event of Interest
Feb 11 US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger unveils Nixon Administration's seven-point "Project Independence" plan to make the U.S. energy independent
- Feb 12 Heads of state of Algeria, Egypt, Syria, and Saudi Arabia discuss oil strategy in view of the progress in Arab-Israeli disengagement
Event of Interest
Feb 13 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian novelist and historian, is deported from the Soviet Union to Frankfurt, West Germany and stripped of his Soviet citizenship
- Feb 13 Jill Williams' musical "Rainbow Jones" opens & closes at Music Box Theater, NYC, after 1 performance [1]
Daytona 500
Feb 17 16th Daytona 500: Richard Petty first driver to win back-to-back titles at Daytona; his 5th Great American race
- Feb 17 49 die in stampede for seats at soccer match, Cairo, Egypt
- Feb 17 Robert K. Preston, a disgruntled U.S. Army private, buzzes the White House with a stolen helicopter.
- Feb 18 NASA launches Italian satellite San Marcos C-2 (235/843 km)
- Feb 18 US ambassador to India Daniel Moynihan present $2,046,700,000 check
American Music Awards
Feb 19 1st American Music Awards: Helen Reddy & Jim Croce win
Pretzel Logic
Feb 20 ABC records releases "Pretzel Logic", the third studio album by rock band Steely Dan; it features hit single "Rikki Don't Lose That Number"
Sports History
Feb 20 Gordie Howe comes out of retirement for $1M from Houston Aeros, WHA
TV Show Appearance
Feb 23 Teri Garr appears on "The Bob Newhart Show" in the episode "Confessions of an Orthodontist"
- Feb 24 Dutch speed skater Atje Keulen-Deelstra becomes Women's Allround World Champion at Heerenveen, Netherlands, her third consecutive title and fourth in 5 years
- Feb 24 Pakistan officially recognizes Bangladesh
- Feb 25 Veronica & Colin Scargill (England) begin tandem bicycle ride a record 18,020 miles around the world, completed on August 27, 1975
- Feb 26 Gold hits record $188 an ounce in Paris
- Feb 27 "People" magazine begins sales
- Feb 27 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Feb 28 Ethiopian government of Makonnen forms
- Feb 28 Taiwan police shoots into crowd
- Feb 28 UK general election results in a hung parliament
- Feb 28 US & Egypt re-form diplomatic relations after 7 years
Admirals
Aviators
Gangsters
Generals
Industrialists
Suffragists