Today in history: March 5
In 1963, country music performers Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins along with pilot Randy Hughes died when their plane crashed near Camden, Tennessee.
1770: Boston Massacre
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.
1946: Winston Churchill
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.”
1953: Josef Stalin
In 1953, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin died after three decades in power.
1963: Patsy Cline
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
1982: John Belushi
In 1982, comedian John Belushi was found dead of a drug overdose in a rented bungalow in Hollywood; he was 33.
2004: Martha Stewart
In 2004, Martha Stewart was convicted in New York of obstructing justice and lying to the government about why she’d unloaded her Imclone stock just before the price plummeted; her ex-stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic, also was found guilty in the stock scandal.
2012: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Ten 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.
2013: Hugo Chavez
In 2013, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (OO'-goh CHAH'-vez), Latin America's most vocal and controversial leader, died in Caracas at age 58 after a struggle with cancer.
2020: Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem
In 2020, Palestinian officials closed the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem over fears of the coronavirus.
2021: Pope Francis
Pope Francis began the first-ever papal visit to Iraq with an appeal for Iraqis to protect the country’s diversity, and for the country’s embattled and dwindling Christian community to persevere.
2022: Brittney Griner arrest
In 2022, Officials in Russia revealed that WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner had been arrested at a Moscow airport weeks earlier when a search of her luggage revealed vape cartridges containing oil derived from cannabis. (Nine months later, Griner would be released in a prisoner swap with the U.S.)
Three days of negotiations with Hamas over a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages failed to achieve a breakthrough Tuesday, Egyptian officials said, less than a week before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the informal deadline for a deal.
