On This Day, March 5: Boston Massacre sparks American Revolution

UPI Staff
·3 min read
The British fire on American colonials March 5, 1770, in an event that would later be known as the Boston Massacre. File Image by Paul Revere/Metropolitan Museum of Art/Wikimedia
The British fire on American colonials March 5, 1770, in an event that would later be known as the Boston Massacre. File Image by Paul Revere/Metropolitan Museum of Art/Wikimedia

March 5 (UPI) -- On this date in history:

In 1770, British troops killed five colonials in the so-called Boston Massacre, one of the events that led to the American Revolution. History buffs relived the event 232 years later with a re-enactment in downtown Boston.

In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson was publicly inaugurated for his second term. He had a private, official inauguration a day earlier.

In 1933, in German elections, Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party won nearly half the seats in the Reichstag (the Parliament).

In 1946, Winston Churchill, in a famous speech in Fulton, Mo., stated that a Soviet Union "Iron Curtain" had "descended across" Europe.

A woman performs with a Hula Hoop as she walks in the St. Louis Mardi Gras Parade on February 22. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
A woman performs with a Hula Hoop as she walks in the St. Louis Mardi Gras Parade on February 22. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
File Photo courtesy Cecil Beaton/Imperial War Museums
File Photo courtesy Cecil Beaton/Imperial War Museums

In 1953, the Soviet Union announced that dictator Joseph Stalin had died at age 73. Stalin had been in a coma after having a massive stroke four days earlier.

President Woodrow Wilson takes the oath of office -- delivered by Chief Justice Edward Douglass White -- for his second term on March 5, 1917. File Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress
President Woodrow Wilson takes the oath of office -- delivered by Chief Justice Edward Douglass White -- for his second term on March 5, 1917. File Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress

In 1963, Wham-O patented the Hula Hoop, which then became a fad across the country. The company's co-founders, Richard Knerr and Arthur "Spud" Melin died in 2008 and 2002, respectively.

In 1993, Canada's Ben Johnson, once called the world's fastest human, tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and was banned for life from track competition.

On March 5, 1953, the Soviet Union announced that dictator Joseph Stalin had died at age 73. Stalin had been in a coma after having a stroke four days earlier. File Photo by Library of Congress/UPI
On March 5, 1953, the Soviet Union announced that dictator Joseph Stalin had died at age 73. Stalin had been in a coma after having a stroke four days earlier. File Photo by Library of Congress/UPI

In 2011, archaeologists renovating the Rio de Janeiro harbor for the 2016 Olympics reported uncovering the remains of a 19th-century port where thousands of people arrived from Africa and were sold into slavery.

File Photo by Terry Schmitt
File Photo by Terry Schmitt
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez talks to the media next to Bolivian President Evo Morales (R) as they arrive at a plenary session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, on December 18, 2009. On March 5, 2013, Chavez died at age 58 and Vice President Nicolas Maduro ascends to the presidency. File Photo by Anatoli Zhdanov/UPI

In 2013, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez died at age 58 and Vice President Nicolas Maduro ascended to the presidency.

In 2018, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with South Korean officials for the first time since becoming leader. The special envoys of South Korean President Moon Jae-in were on a mission to broker denuclearization talks between North Korea and the United States.

In 2021, Pope Francis arrived in Iraq for the first-ever papal visit to the Middle Eastern nation.

In 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked the United States to stop buying Russian oil during a Zoom meeting with members of the U.S. Congress.

File Photo courtesy of the Ukrainian President Press Office
File Photo courtesy of the Ukrainian President Press Office