History of the Day for:
March 5
- 1750: The first Shakespearean play to be presented in America, "Richard III," debuted in New York City.
- 1766: Spanish official Don Antonio de Ulloa arrived in New Orleans to take possession of the Louisiana Territory from the French.
- 1770: British soldiers who had been taunted by a crowd of colonists opened fire, killing five people, including Crispus Attucks, in what would become known as the Boston Massacre.
- 1868: The U.S. Senate was organized into a Court of Impeachment to decide charges against President Andrew Johnson.
- 1933: In German parliamentary elections, the Nazi Party won 44 percent of the vote, enabling it to join with the Nationalists to gain a slender majority in the Reichstag.
- 1940: Members of Soviet politburo sign an order for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POWs, known also as the Katyn massacre.
- 1942: United States Navy Seabees established.
- 1943: First flight of Gloster Meteor jet aircraft in the United Kingdom.
- 1946: Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered his famous "Iron Curtain" speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo.
- 1953: Soviet dictator Josef Stalin died at age 73 after 29 years in power.
- 1960: Elvis Presley was discharged from the Army after two years of service.
- 1963: Country singers Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins were killed when their plane crashed near Camden, Tenn.
- 1982: Comedian John Belushi, 33, was found dead of a drug overdose in Hollywood.
- 1984: The USFL's Los Angeles Express signed Steve Young to his first pro football contract.
- 1985: Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders became the first NHL player to score 50 goals in eight consecutive seasons.
- 1988: Constitution of Turks and Caicos Islands is restored and revised.
- 1999: Paul Okalik is elected first Premier of Nunavut.
- 2001: In Mecca, 35 Muslim pilgrims are crushed to death during the annual Hajj pilgrimage.
- 2003: In Haifa, 17 Israeli civilians are killed by a Hamas suicide bomb in the Haifa bus 37 massacre.