This day in history

[March 05, 2010]  (AP)  Today is Friday, March 5, the 64th day of 2010. There are 301 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On March 5, 1970, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons went into effect after 43 nations ratified it.

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 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, Mo.

In 1953, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin died after three decades in power.

In 1959, a fire at the Negro Boys Industrial School in Wrightsville, Ark., claimed the lives of 21 teenagers trapped inside a locked dormitory room.

In 1960, Cuban newspaper photographer Alberto Korda took the now-famous picture of guerrilla leader 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 a plane crash near Camden, Tenn., that also claimed the life of pilot Randy Hughes (Cline's manager).

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.

Ten years ago: Israel's Cabinet voted unanimously to withdraw its troops from south Lebanon by the following July. A Virginia subsidiary of PPL Therapeutics of Edinburgh, Scotland, the company that cloned Dolly the sheep, produced the first cloned pigs.

Five years ago: Syrian President Bashar Assad announced a two-stage pullback of his country's forces from Lebanon.

One year ago: President Barack Obama hosted a White House summit where he pumped allies and skeptics alike for ways to overhaul the nation's costly and frustrating health care system. As thousands demonstrated outside, California Supreme Court justices listened to legal arguments over the passage of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage. NATO agreed, after intense internal debate, to restore normal relations with Russia seven months after it had frozen ties in response to Moscow's invasion of Georgia.

Today's birthdays: Actor James Noble is 88. Actor James B. Sikking is 76. Actor Dean Stockwell is 74. Actor Fred Williamson is 72. Actor Michael Warren is 64. Actor Eddie Hodges is 63. Singer Eddy Grant is 62. Violinist Eugene Fodor is 60. Rock musician Alan Clark (Dire Straits) is 58. Actress-comedian Marsha Warfield is 56. Magician Penn Jillette is 55. Actress Adriana Barraza is 54. Pop singer Teena Marie is 54. Rock singers Craig and Charlie Reid (The Proclaimers) are 48. Rock musician John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers) is 40. Singer Rome is 40. Actor Kevin Connolly is 36. Actress Jill Ritchie is 36. Actress Jolene Blalock is 35. Actress Eva Mendes is 35. Model Niki Taylor is 35. Actor Sterling Knight is 21. Actor Jake Lloyd is 21.

Thought for today: "Boredom is the root of all evil -- the despairing refusal to be oneself." -- Soren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher (1813-1855)

[Associated Press]

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