TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Thursday, March 5, the 65th day of 2020. There are 301 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight in history
On March 5, 1770, the Boston Massacre took place as British soldiers who’d been taunted by a crowd of colonists opened fire, killing five people.
On this date
In 1766, Antonio de Ulloa arrived in New Orleans to assume his duties as the first Spanish governor of the Louisiana Territory, where he encountered resistance from the French residents.
In 1868, the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson began in the U.S. Senate, with Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase presiding. Johnson, the first U.S. president to be impeached, was accused of “high crimes and misdemeanors” stemming from his attempt to fire Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton; the trial ended May 26 with Johnson’s acquittal.
In 1933, in German parliamentary elections, the Nazi Party won 44 percent of the vote; the Nazis joined with a conservative nationalist party to gain a slender majority in the Reichstag.
In 1946, Winston Churchill delivered his “Iron Curtain” speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., in which he said: “From Stettin in the Baltic, to Trieste in the Adriatic, an ‘iron curtain’ has descended across the continent, allowing police governments to rule Eastern Europe.”
In 1953, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin died after three decades in power. Composer Sergei Prokofiev died at age 61.
In 1963, country music performers Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins died in the crash of their plane, a Piper Comanche, near Camden, Tenn., along with pilot Randy Hughes (Cline’s manager).
In 1982, comedian John Belushi was found dead of a drug overdose in a rented bungalow in Hollywood; he was 33.
In 1983, Country Music Television (CMT) made its debut with the video “It’s Four in the Morning,” performed by Faron Young. In 1998, NASA scientists said enough water was frozen in the loose soil of the moon to support a lunar base and perhaps, one day, a human colony.
In 2002, President George W. Bush slapped punishing tariffs of eight to 30 percent on several types of imported steel in an effort to aid the ailing U.S. industry.
Five years ago: Actor Harrison Ford crash-landed his vintage plane on a golf course in Los Angeles after reporting engine failure shortly after takeoff. Convicted murderer Jodi Arias was spared the death penalty as a jury in Phoenix voted 11-1 in favor of execution — not enough to send Arias to death row for the slaying of her lover, Travis Alexander.
One year ago: The Santa Anita race course in Southern California canceled racing indefinitely to re-examine its dirt surface after the deaths of 21 horses in the preceding two months; the track would remain closed for racing for nearly a month.
Today’s birthdays
Actor Paul Sand is 88. Actor James B. Sikking is 86. Actor Dean Stockwell is 84. Actor Fred Williamson is 82. Actress Samantha Eggar is 81. Actor Michael Warren is 74. Actor Eddie Hodges is 73. Singer Eddy Grant is 72. Musician Alan Clark (Dire Straits) is 68. Actress Marsha Warfield is 66. Magician Penn Jillette is 65. Singers Charlie and Craig Reid (The Proclaimers) are 58. Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Irvin is 54. Musician John Frusciante is 50. Singer Rome is 50. Actor Kevin Connolly is
46. Actress Eva Mendes is 46. Actress Jill Ritchie is 46. Actress Jolene Blalock is 45. Model Niki Taylor is 45. Actress Kimberly Mccullough is
42. Actor Jake Lloyd is 31.