On This Day March 5

1991
Gulf War: Baghdad radio announces that Iraq has voided the annexation of Kuwait and would return Kuwaiti assets.

1978
The Village People videotape their hit In the Navy aboard the USS Reasoner.

1946
Iron Curtain:Winston Churchill remarks, "An iron curtain has descended across Europe" referring to the Russian threat.

1936
First flight of the British Spitfire, designed to counter the German Messerschmitt.

1933
Gold Confiscation: Pres. F.D. Roosevelt signs the executive order calling for the confiscation of privately-held gold in the U.S.

1933
Adolf Hitler becomes dictator of Germany. Nazis won almost half of the seats in the elections.

1868
Presidential Impeachment: The Senate begins impeachment proceedings against Pres. Andrew Johnson. The final vote was 35-19, one short of the two-thirds majority necessary for impeachment.

1958 d. 1988
Andy Gibb, British singer, songwriter, with the Bee Gees. Music: Stayin' Alive (1977) and Night Fever (1977, #1).

1938
Fred Williamson, American football player, actor. TV: Julia (Steve Bruce).

1908 d. 1990
Rex Harrison (Reginald Carey Harrison), British Tony-Oscar-winning actor. Film: Anna and the King of Siam (1946, the King), My Fair Lady (1964), and Doctor Dolittle (1967).

1908 d. 1989
Bob Dunn, American cartoonist, author and artist for They'll Do It Every Time (1963-89).

1876 d. 1963
Édouard Belin, French engineer. He made the first telephoto transmission (1907). Using his own invention, he sent one from Paris to Lyon to Bordeaux and back to Paris.

1876 d. 1943
John Schrank, Bavarian-born New York saloon keeper. He shot Pres. Roosevelt (1912, Milwaukee). He claimed William McKinley's ghost told him to shoot Roosevelt as a warning to those who'd run for three terms as President.

1824 d. 1895
James Merritt Ives, American lithographer, co-founder of Currier & Ives (1857). Their prints recorded the last half of 19th-century American history.

1658 d. 1730
Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, French explorer, founder of Detroit, Michigan (1701) and for whom the Cadillac automobile was named.

1574 d. 1660
William Oughtred, English mathematician, credited with inventing the slide rule (1621), and introduced the use of 'X' to denote multiplication.

1133 d. 1189
Henry II, King of England (1154-89), established trial by jury in England. He banned football, believing people were playing it too much and neglecting more important sports such as archery.

1982 b. 1949
John Belushi, American Emmy-winning comedian. TV: Saturday Night Live.

1980 b. 1919
Jay Silverheels (Harold J. Smith), Canadian-born Mohawk Indian, actor. TV: The Lone Ranger (Yes kemosabe, it's Tonto).

1963 b. 1932
Patsy Cline (Virginia Peterson Hensley), American country singer. Music: I Fall to Pieces (1961, #1) and Crazy (1961). She was the first female solo performer elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame (1973). She died in a plane crash.

1953 b. 1879
Joseph Stalin, Russian dictator (1929-53). In 1893 he entered a seminary to study for the priesthood, but was expelled in 1898 for his Marxist activities. He also founded the newspaper Pravda (1911) and was Time magazine's 1939 and 1942 Man of the Year.

1932 b. 1854
John Philip Sousa, American bandmaster, The March King, bandmaster of the U.S. Marine Band. He composed The Stars and Stripes Forever (1897).

1926 b. 1841
Clément Ader, French inventor. He is said to have made the first manned, powered, heavier-than-air flight (a batwing monoplane that flew 160 feet (50 meters) during secret military tests). However, his craft was not well controlled, leaving controlled flights to later aviators. (source: Myth Information: More Than 590 Popular Misconceptions, Fallacies, and Misbeliefs Explained!)

1827 b. 1745
Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist, inventor of the electric battery, and for whom the volt, the standard unit of electromotive force, is named.

1815 b. 1733
Franz Mesmer, German physician, created the theory of mesmerism, a form of hypnotism.

1605 b. 1536
Clement VIII, Italian religious leader, 231st Pope (1592-1605).

March 5

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