On this day, 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.
1849 Zachary Taylor was inaugurated as the 12th president of the United States. (The swearing-in was delayed by a day because March 4 fell on a Sunday.)
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 on May 26 with Johnson’s acquittal.
1933 In German parliamentary elections, the Nazi Party won 44% of the vote; the Nazis joined with a conservative nationalist party to gain a slender majority in the Reichstag.
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.”
1953 Soviet dictator Josef Stalin died after three decades in power.
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).
1970 The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons went into effect after 43 nations ratified it.
1979 NASA’s Voyager 1 space probe flew past Jupiter, sending back photographs of the planet and its moons.
1982 Comedian John Belushi was found dead of a drug overdose in a rented bungalow in Hollywood; he was 33.
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.
2004 Martha Stewart was convicted in New York of obstructing justice and lying to the government about why she’d unloaded her Imclone stock just before the price plummeted; her ex-stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic, also was found guilty in the stock scandal. (Each later received a five-month prison sentence.)
2013 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Latin America’s most vocal and controversial leader, died in Caracas at age 58 after a struggle with cancer.
2018 Los Angeles police arrested a man on charges that he stole Frances McDormand’s Oscar trophy after the Academy Awards a night earlier; the award was returned to the actress. (The charges would later be dismissed.)
2020 Palestinian officials closed the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem over fears of the coronavirus. Officials ordered a cruise ship with 3,500 people aboard to stay back from the California coast until passengers and crew could be tested; a traveler from its previous voyage died of the coronavirus.
2021 California relaxed guidelines for reopening outdoor venues, clearing the way for fans to attend opening-day baseball games and return to Disneyland nearly a year after coronavirus restrictions shut down major entertainment spots. Today’s birthdays: Actor Paul Sand, 92. Actor James B. Sikking, 90. Actor Fred Williamson, 86. Actor Samantha Eggar, 85. Actor Michael Warren, 78. Singer Eddy Grant, 76. Rock musician Alan Clark (Dire Straits), 72. Actor-comedian Marsha Warfield, 70. Magician Penn Jillette, 69. Actor Adriana Barraza, 68. Actor Talia Balsam, 65. Rock singers Charlie and Craig Reid (The Proclaimers), 62. Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Irvin, 58. Actor Paul Blackthorne, 55. Rock musician John Frusciante, 54. Singer Rome, 54. Actor Kevin Connolly, 50. Actor Eva Mendes, 50. Actor Jill Ritchie, 50. Actor Jolene Blalock, 49. Model Niki Taylor, 49. Actor Kimberly McCullough, 46. Actor Karolina Wydra, 43. Singer-songwriter Amanda Shires, 42. Actor Dominique McElligott, 38. Actor Sterling Knight, 35. Actor Jake Lloyd, 35. Actor Micah Fowler, 26.