Today in History

Today is Friday, March 5, the 64th day of 2021. There are 301 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On March 5, 1953, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin died after three decades in power.

On this date:

In 1770, the Boston Massacre took place as British soldiers who'd been taunted by a crowd of colonists opened fire, killing five people.

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 on May 26 with Johnson's acquittal.

In 1927, "The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place," the last Sherlock Holmes story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was published in the U.S. in Liberty Magazine.

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 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 1960, 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 1977, President Jimmy Carter took questions from 42 telephone callers in 26 states on a network radio call-in program moderated by Walter Cronkite.

In 1982, comedian John Belushi was found dead of a drug overdose in a rented bungalow in Hollywood; he was 33.

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 2003, in a blunt warning to the United States and Britain, the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Russia said they would block any attempt to get U.N. approval for war against Iraq.

In 2006, AT&T announced it was buying BellSouth Corp., a big step toward resurrecting the old Ma Bell telephone system.

Ten years ago: Egyptians turned their anger toward ousted President Hosni Mubarak's internal security apparatus, storming the agency's main headquarters and other offices. Alberto Granado, 88, who'd accompanied Ernesto "Che" Guevara on a journey of discovery across Latin America described in "The Motorcycle Diaries," died in Havana.

Five years ago: Bernie Sanders won Democratic caucuses in Kansas and Nebraska, while Hillary Clinton prevailed in Louisiana. Republican Ted Cruz won in Maine and Kansas while Donald Trump was victorious in Louisiana and Kentucky. Ray Tomlinson, 74, inventor of person-to-person email, died in Lincoln, Massachusetts.

One year ago: 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. Two weeks of wild swings in the stock market continued, with the Dow industrials falling 970 points, or 3.6 percent. The Senate passed and sent to the White House an $8.3 billion measure to help tackle the virus outbreak. (The only senator to vote against it, Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky, would later become the first senator to test positive for the virus.) Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren ended her Democratic presidential campaign after failing to finish higher than third place in any of the 18 states that had voted so far.

Today's Birthdays: Actor Paul Sand is 89. Actor James B. Sikking is 87. Actor Dean Stockwell is 85. Actor Fred Williamson is 83. Actor Samantha Eggar is 82. Actor Michael Warren is 75. Actor Eddie Hodges is 74. Singer Eddy Grant is 73. Rock musician Alan Clark (Dire Straits) is 69. Actor-comedian Marsha Warfield is 67. Magician Penn Jillette is 66. Actor Adriana Barraza is 65. Actor Talia Balsam is 62. Rock singers Charlie and Craig Reid (The Proclaimers) are 59. Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Irvin is 55. Actor Paul Blackthorne is 52. Rock musician John Frusciante is 51. Singer Rome is 51. Actor Kevin Connolly is 47. Actor Eva Mendes is 47. Actor Jill Ritchie is 47. Actor Jolene Blalock is 46. Model Niki Taylor is 46. Actor Kimberly McCullough is 43. Actor Karolina Wydra is 40. Singer-songwriter Amanda Shires is 39. Actor Dominique McElligott is 35. Actor Sterling Knight is 32. Actor Jake Lloyd is 32. Actor Micah Fowler is 23.