December 5th...

On this day...

1349 Jews are massacred at Nuremberg in Black death riots
1496 Jews are expelled from Portugal by order of King Manuel I
1776 Phi Beta Kappa, first American scholastic fraternity, founded
1846 C.F. Schoenbein obtains patent for cellulose nitrate explosive
1848 President Polk triggers Gold Rush of '49, confirms California gold discovery
1854 Aaron Allen of Boston patents a folding theater chair
1868 First American bicycle college opens (NY)
1876 Daniel Stillson (Massachusetts) patents first practical pipe wrench
1876 Fire at Brooklyn Theater kills 295, either trampled or burned to death
1879 First automatic telephone switching system patented
1881 47th Congress (1881-83) convenes
1905 Henry Campbell-Bannermam (Lib) becomes PM of England
1908 First football uniform numerals used (University of Pittsburgh)
1920 Pro football playoff game Akron & Buffalo 0-0 tie, title undecided
1929 First US nudist organization (American League for Physical Culture, NYC)
1932 German physicist Albert Einstein granted a visa
1933 21st Amendment ratified, 18th Amendment (Prohibition) repealed (5:32 PM EST)
1935 First commercial hydroponics operation established (Montebello California)
1935 National Council of Negro Women forms (New York City)
1936 Armenian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Georgian SSR, Kazakh SSR & Kirghiz SSR become constituent republics of the Soviet Union
1941 Football Writers Association of America organized
1941 Sister Elizabeth Kenny new treatment for infantile paralysis approved
1946 President Truman creates Committee on Civil Rights by Executive Order #9808
1947 Jersey Joe Wolcott beats Joe Louis for heavyweight title
1948 NY Giant Charley Conerly sets NFL record of 36 pass completions
1949 Ezzard Charles defeats Jersey Joe Walcott for heavyweight boxing title
1950 Sikkim becomes a Protectorate of India
1951 "Dragnet" premiers
1955 AFL & CIO merge, with George Meany as President
1955 Historic bus boycott begins in Montgomery Alabama
1973 Cubs' Ron Santo became first baseball player to veto his trade
1974 First World Football League Bowl, Birmingham Americans beat Florida
1974 Airport terminal roof collapses killing 17 (Teheran, Iran)
1977 Egypt breaks diplomatic relations with Syria, Libya, Algeria, Iraq, and S. Yemen
1978 Phillies Pete Rose becomes highest paid baseball player
1981 Marcus Allen of USC wins the Heisman Trophy
1982 Herschel Walker of Georgia wins the Heisman Trophy
1983 LA Dodger pitcher Steve Howe is suspended for one year for cocaine use
1985 Dow Jones Industrial Average breaks 1,500 level for First time
1988 Shuttle Atlantis launches world's first nuclear-war-fighting satellite
1990 Former Noriega aide Luis del Cid pleads guilty
1991 Charles Keating, Jr. (Lincoln Savings & Loan fraud), found guilty
1991 NY Daily News files for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11

Birthdays which occurred on December 5th:

1782 Martin Van Buren, Kinderhook, NY, (D) 8th US President (1837-41)
1830 Christina Rossetti, London, poet (Winter Rain, Passing Away)
1839 George Armstrong Custer, General, of Little Big Horn fame
1863 Paul Painlev‚ French PM (1917, 1925), mathematician
1901 Walter Elias Disney, Chicago, animator (Mickey Mouse)
1901 Werner Heisenberg, discovered uncertainty (Nobel 1932)
1902 J. Strom Thurmond, (Sen-D/R-SC)
1905 Otto Preminger, movie director/producer (Laura, Exodus)
1915 Margaret Hayes, Baltimore, actress (Robert Montgomery Presents)
1921 Peter Hansen, Oakland, actor (General Hospital)
1926 George "Telly" Savalas, Bronx NY, actor (Kojak)
1927 King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Rama IX of Thailand 
1932 Little Richard, [Penniman], rocker (Tutty Fruity)
1934 Joan Didion, US writer (Salvador)
1935 Calvin Trillin, author (New Yorker)
1938 J. J. Cale, Oklahoma City, rocker (After Midnight)
1942 Randy Kirby, Chicago, actor (Randy-Girl From UNCLE)
1947 Jim Messina, rocker (Loggins & Messina-Your Mamma Don't Dance)
1947 Jugderdemidyin Gurragcha, First Mongolian space traveler (Soyuz 39)
1951 Morgan Brittany, Hollywood Calif, actress (Katherine-Dallas)
1953 Jonathan Lewis, trombonist (Atlantic Star-Touch a 4 Leaf Clover)
1957 Phil Collen, rocker (Def Leppard)
1962 Connie Needham Newton, Anaheim, actress (Elizabeth-8 is Enough)
1966 Michael Gallagher, Lufkin TX, sends this list out each day

Deaths which occurred on December 5th:

1560 Francis II, King of France (1559-60), dies at 16
1594 Gerardus Mercator, geographer
1784 Philis Wheatley, poet, dies in Boston
1791 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer, dies in Vienna, Austria, at 35
1951 Shoeless Joe Jackson, of baseball's Black Sox scandal
1974 Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman, tennis player (US Open 1909-11) dies at 87
1983 Robert Aldrich, dir/producer dies at 65
1991 Richard Speck, mass murderer, dies a day before his 50th birthday