The following events occurred in March 1962:
March 1, 1962 (Thursday) Pakistan's President Ayub Khan promulgated a new constitution designed to reinforce his authority in the absence of martial law. All 95 people aboard American Airlines Flight 1 were killed when the Boeing 707, crashed shortly after its 10:07 am takeoff from Idlewild Airport at New York. The dead included W. Alton Jones, philanthropist and chairman of the board of Cities Service Company (now CITGO). An investigation concluded that the crash was caused by a rudder malfunction, which sent the plane into an uncontrolled roll resulting and loss of control. A three-story hotel collapsed in the Egyptian city of Asyut, killing 34 people who were eating after sunset on Eid ul-Fitr, a feast celebrating the end of the fasting of the month of Ramadan on the Islamic calendar. Seven survivors were recovered alive from the rubble. Benedicto Kiwanuka became the interim Prime Minister of Uganda as the United Kingdom granted the African colony self-government. He would be replaced by Milton Obote the next month, before Uganda's independence on October 9, and would later be murdered by Ugandan President Idi Amin in 1972. The very first K-Mart discount store (now Kmart) was opened by the S.S. Kresge Corporation in the United States in Garden City, Michigan. Kresge CEO Harry Cunningham founded and oversaw the growth of what would be the largest chain of American discount stores by 1964. In 1990, K-Mart would yield its #1 spot to Wal-Mart, also founded in 1962. The first test of another nation's nuclear weapon in the United States took place when the United Kingdom was allowed to perform an underground test of a 9,500-ton bomb at the Nevada Test Site. Marvel Comics introduced "The Incredible Hulk" as the first issue of the comic book, by that name, on the shelves of U.S. stores and newsstands. Issue #1 was post-dated to May 1962 in accordance with industry practice. The largest ticker-tape parade in history took place in New York City as an estimated 4 million well-wishers turned out to salute American astronaut John Glenn. The city sanitation department collected of tossed paper afterward, compared to an average of for parades in the 21st century. "John Glenn Day" also included Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. presenting Glenn and Robert R. Gilruth with the city's Medal of Honor. The Manned Spacecraft Center officially moved from Virginia's Langley Field to Houston, Texas. The final section of the Cahill Expressway opened in Sydney, Australia.
March 2, 1962 (Friday) In Burma (now Myanmar), General Ne Win and the Burmese Army staged a nearly bloodless coup d'état against the civilian government of Prime Minister U Nu. U Nu was arrested, along with the nation's president, the Chief Justice, and five of his cabinet members. Ne Win would rule the nation until his retirement in 1988, and military rule continued. The Mercury astronauts were guests of the United Nations. John Glenn acted as spokesman during an informal reception given by Acting Secretary-General U Thant. In a nationally broadcast address, U.S. President John F. Kennedy announced that the United States would resume atmospheric nuclear testing within six weeks unless the Soviet Union ceased above-ground testing while pursuing the proposed Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The U.S. would resume atmospheric testing on April 25 after the U.S.S.R. continued. A limited test ban treaty would be signed on July 25, 1963. Wilt Chamberlain set a professional basketball record, still standing 50 years later, by scoring 100 points in an NBA game in Hershey, Pennsylvania, where his Philadelphia Warriors were playing the New York Knickerbockers. Chamberlain broke the previous record of 78, which he had set in January, hitting 36 field goals and 28 foul shots. The Warriors' 169–147 over the Knicks set a record for most points (316) scored by both teams in a game. A crowd of 4,124 witnessed the event. One of the most famous episodes of The Twilight Zone, "To Serve Man", was first shown on television. Born: Jon Bon Jovi (stage name for John Bongiovi), American singer-songwriter; in Perth Amboy, New Jersey Raimo Summanen, Finnish ice hockey player and national team coach; in Jyväskylä Scott La Rock, American hip-hop disc jockey and music producer (murdered in 1987); as Scott Monroe Sterling in The Bronx Died: Charles Jean de la Vallée Poussin, 95, Belgian mathematician known for proving the prime number theorem Walt Kiesling, 58, NFL player (and later Pittsburgh Steelers head coach), Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, from respiratory failure