On This Day, March 5: Hula Hoop patented

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.

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.

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.

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 1984, the Standard Oil Co. of California, also known as Chevron, bought Gulf Corp. for more than $13 billion in the largest business merger in U.S. history at the time.

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.

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

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

In 2014, the New York-based College Board announced plans for a major overhaul of the SAT test -- the college entrance exam -- to take effect in 2016.

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 2020, Sen. Elizabeth Warren suspended her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination after failing to win a single state primary.