Today is Thursday, March 5, the 64th day of 2015. 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 Senate was organized into a Court of Impeachment to decide charges against President Andrew Johnson, who was later acquitted.
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, Missouri.
In 1953, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin died after three decades in power. Composer Sergei Prokofiev died in Moscow at age 61.
In 1955, Elvis Presley made his television debut on “Louisiana Hayride” carried by KSLA-TV Shreveport (although audio recordings exist, there is no known video footage of this appearance).
In 1960, Cuban newspaper photographer Alberto Korda took the now-famous picture of guerrilla leader Ernesto “Che” Guevara during a memorial service in Havana for victims of a ship explosion. Elvis Presley was discharged from the U.S. Army.
In 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).
In 1970, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons went into effect after 43 nations ratified it.
In 1979, NASA’s Voyager 1 space probe flew past Jupiter, sending back photographs of the planet and its moons.
In 1982, comedian John Belushi was found dead of a drug overdose in a rented bungalow in Hollywood; he was 33.
In 1994, a jury in Pensacola, Florida, convicted anti-abortion activist Michael F. Griffin of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Dr. David Gunn; Griffin was immediately sentenced to life in prison.
Ten years ago: Syrian President Bashar Assad announced a two-stage pullback of his country’s forces from Lebanon.
Five years ago: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, visiting Guatemala, told reporters that demand for narcotics in the United States was fueling drug violence in Central America as she acknowledged a measure of U.S. responsibility for what she called “a terrible criminal scourge.” New York Democratic Rep. Eric Massa, facing a harassment complaint by a male staffer, said he was stepping down from his seat with “a profound sense of failure.” Andree Peel, 105, a member of the World War II Resistance, died in Bristol, England.
One year ago: President Barack Obama’s choice to lead the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Debo Adegbile, was blocked by bipartisan Senate opposition over his legal work at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund on behalf of Mumia Abu-Jamal, who’s serving life in prison in the 1981 shooting death of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. The former Internal Revenue Service official at the heart of the controversy over the agency’s targeting of conservative groups, Lois Lerner, once again refused to answer questions at a House hearing.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor James Noble is 93. Actor Paul Sand is 83. Actor James B. Sikking is 81. Actor Dean Stockwell is 79. Actor Fred Williamson is 77. Actress Samantha Eggar is 76. Actor Michael Warren is 69. Actor Eddie Hodges is 68. Singer Eddy Grant is 67. Rock musician Alan Clark (Dire Straits) is 63. Actress-comedian Marsha Warfield is 61. Magician Penn Jillette is 60. Actress Adriana Barraza is 59. Rock singers Craig and Charlie Reid (The Proclaimers) are 53. Rock musician John Frusciante is 45. Singer Rome is 45. Actor Kevin Connolly is 41. Actress Jill Ritchie is 41. Actress Jolene Blalock is 40. Actress Eva Mendes is 40. Model Niki Taylor is 40. Actress Kimberly McCullough is 37. Actress Dominique McElligott (TV: “Astronaut Wives Club” ex-“Hell on Wheels”) is 29. Actor Sterling Knight is 26. Actor Jake Lloyd is 26.
Thought for Today: “More tears have been shed over men’s lack of manners than their lack of morals.” — Helen Hathaway, American writer (1893-1932).