Today in history

Today’s highlight

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

1868: The impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson began in the U.S. Senate, with Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase presiding.

1933: In German parliamentary elections, the Nazi Party won 44percent of the vote; the Nazis joined with a conservative nationalist party to gain a slender majority in the Reichstag.

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, Tennessee, 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.

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.

2020: Palestinian officials closed the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem over fears of the coronavirus.

2022: A promised ceasefire in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol collapsed amid scenes of terror in the besieged town. The number of people fleeing the country reached 1.4million just 10 days after Russian forces invaded.

Today’s birthdays

Actor Samantha Eggar is 84. Actor Michael Warren is 77. Singer Eddy Grant is 75. Actor-comedian Marsha Warfield is 69. Magician Penn Jillette is 68. Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Irvin is 57. Actor Eva Mendes is 49. Model Niki Taylor is 48. Singersongwriter Amanda Shires is 41. Actor Jake Lloyd is 34. Actor Micah Fowler is 25.