Today is Sunday, March 5, the 64th day of 2017. There are 301 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On March 5, 1867, the Fenian Rebellion took place in Ireland as thousands of members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood launched an attempt at overthrowing British rule; the poorly-organized rising was swiftly put down by British and Irish authorities.
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 U.S. Senate was organized into a Court of Impeachment to decide charges against President Andrew Johnson, who was later acquitted.
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 1953, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin died after three decades in power. Composer Sergei Prokofiev died in Moscow 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, Tennessee, along with pilot Randy Hughes (Cline’s manager).
In 1966, BOAC Flight 911, a Boeing 707, crashed into Japan’s Mount Fuji after breaking up in severe turbulence; all 124 people on board were killed.
In 1970, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons went into effect after 43 nations ratified it.
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 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: A suicide car bomber turned a Baghdad book market into a deadly inferno, killing some three dozen people. Nine U.S. soldiers died in two separate incidents north of Baghdad. President George W. Bush, facing criticism he was ignoring Latin America, said the U.S. would spend tens of millions of dollars to improve education, housing and health care across the region.
Five years ago: President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (neh-ten-YAH’-hoo) met at the White House, where Obama urged pressure and diplomacy to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb while Netanyahu emphasized his nation’s right to a pre-emptive attack. Assailants waving the battle flag of al-Qaida gunned down 25 policemen in the western Iraqi town of Haditha. “Lipstick Killer” William Heirens (HY’-rehnz), 83, died in Chicago after serving more than six decades in prison.
One year 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.
Today’s Birthdays: Singer Harry Prime is 97. Actor Paul Sand is 85. Actor James B. Sikking is 83. Actor Dean Stockwell is 81. Actor Fred Williamson is 79. Actress Samantha Eggar is 78. Actor Michael Warren is 71. Actor Eddie Hodges is 70. Singer Eddy Grant is 69. Rock musician Alan Clark (Dire Straits) is 65. Actress-comedian Marsha Warfield is 63. Magician Penn Jillette is 62. Actress Adriana Barraza is 61. Rock singers Craig and Charlie Reid (The Proclaimers) are 55. Rock musician John Frusciante (froo-SHAN’-tee) is 47. Singer Rome is 47. Actor Kevin Connolly is 43. Actress Eva Mendes is 43. Actress Jill Ritchie is 43. Actress Jolene Blalock is 42. Model Niki Taylor is 42. Actress Kimberly McCullough is 39. Actress Karolina Wydra is 36. Singer-songwriter Amanda Shires is 35. Actress Dominique McElligott is 31. Actor Sterling Knight is 28. Actor Jake Lloyd is 28.
Thought for Today: “Freedom is not worth fighting for if it means no more than license for everyone to get as much as he can for himself.” — Dorothy Canfield Fisher, American author and essayist (1879-1958).
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