Venus, becoming the first spacecraft to land on another planet's surface. The Ba'ath Party takes power in Syria. March 2 – Kwame Nkrumah arrives in Guinea and is granted asylum. March 4 Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 402 crashes during a night landing in poor visibility at Tokyo International Airport in Japan, killing 64 of 72 people on board. In an interview with London Evening Standard reporter Maureen Cleave, John Lennon of The Beatles states "We're more popular than Jesus now". March 5 BOAC Flight 911 crashes in severe clear-air turbulence over Mount Fuji soon after taking off from Tokyo International Airport in Japan, killing all 124 people on board. "Merci, Chérie" by Udo Jürgens (music by Udo Jürgens, lyrics by Jürgens and Thomas Hörbiger) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 for Austria. March 7 – Charles de Gaulle asks U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson for negotiations about the state of NATO equipment in France. March 8 Anti-communist demonstrations occur at the Indonesian Foreign Ministry. Vietnam War: The U.S. announces it will substantially increase the number of its troops in Vietnam. Nelson's Pillar in O'Connell Street, Dublin, is clandestinely blown up by former Irish Republican Army volunteers marking this year's 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising. March 10 – Crown Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands marries Claus von Amsberg. Some spectators demonstrate against the groom because he is German. March 11 Transition to the New Order in Indonesia: President Sukarno gives all executive powers to General Suharto by signing the "Supersemar" order. French President Charles de Gaulle states that French troops will be taken out of NATO and that all French NATO bases and headquarters must be closed within a year. March 16 NASA spacecraft Gemini 8 (David Scott, Neil Armstrong) conducts the first docking in space, with an Agena target vehicle. Paul Van Doren establishes the Vans shoe company in California. March 19 – The Texas Western Miners defeat the Kentucky Wildcats with five African American starters, ushering in desegregation in athletic recruiting. March 20 – Football's FIFA World Cup Trophy is stolen while on exhibition in London; it is found seven days later by a mongrel dog named "Pickles" and his owner David Corbett, wrapped in newspaper in a south London garden. March 22: in the Chinese city of Xingtai a magnitude 6.8 earthquake leaves more than 8,000 dead and 38,000 injured. March 24 – Pope Paul VI