Today's Highlight in History:
On March fifth, 1770, the Boston Massacre¹ took place as British soldiers who'd been taunted² by a crowd of colonists³ opened fire, killing⁴ five people.
On this date:
In 1849, Zachary Taylor took the oath of office at his presidential inauguration⁵.

In 1867, an abortive⁶ Fenian uprising against English rule took place in Ireland.

In 1868, the Senate was organized into a Court of Impeachment⁷ to decide charges against President Andrew Johnson.

In 1933, in German parliamentary elections, the Nazi⁸ Party won 44 percent of the vote, enabling it to join with the Nationalists to gain a slender majority in the Reichstag.

In 1946, Winston Churchill delivered his famous "Iron Curtain" speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri.

In 1953, Soviet⁹ dictator Josef Stalin died at age 73 after 29 years in power.

In 1963, a private plane crash near Camden, Tennessee, claimed the lives of country music performers Patsy Cline, "Cowboy" Copas and "Hawkshaw" Hawkins.

In 1970, a nuclear non-proliferation treaty went into effect after 43 nations ratified¹⁰ it.

In 1982, comedian¹¹ John Belushi was found dead of a drug overdose in a rented bungalow¹² in Hollywood; he was 33.

In 1986, in Lebanon, Islamic Jihad issued a statement saying it had "executed" French hostage Michel Seurat, who had been abducted¹³ almost a year earlier.

Ten years ago: To the cheers of onlookers¹⁴, workers in Bucharest, Romania, finally succeeded in removing a 25-foot, seven-ton bronze statue of Vladimir Lenin from its foundation.

Five years ago: An Australian yacht broke in two and sank in heavy wind and fierce winds off the Southern California coast, the first sinking in the history of America's Cup racing¹⁵; all 17 crew members were rescued.

One year ago: Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema met at the White House with President Clinton, a day after a military jury in North Carolina acquitted¹⁶ a Marine¹⁷ pilot in the Italian cable car accident that killed 20 people; D'Alema demanded justice, while Clinton expressed profound regret. Actor Richard Kiley died in Warwick, New York, at age 76.