February 5
| 1556 | Henry II of France and Philip of Spain sign the truce of Vaucelles. | |
| 1631 | A ship from Bristol, the Lyon, arrives with provisions for the Massachusetts Bay Colony. | |
| 1762 | Martinique, a major French base in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, surrenders to the British. | |
| 1783 | Sweden recognizes U.S. independence. | |
| 1846 | The first Pacific Coast newspaper, Oregon Spectator, is published. | |
| 1864 | Federal forces occupy Jackson, Miss. | |
| 1865 | The three-day Battle of Hatcher’s Run, Va., begins. | |
| 1900 | The United States and Great Britain sign the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, giving the United States the right to build a canal in Nicaragua but not to fortify it. | |
| 1917 | U.S. Congress nullifies President Woordrow Wilson‘s veto of the Immigration Act; literacy tests are required. | |
| 1918 | The Soviets proclaim separation of church and state. | |
| 1922 | The Reader’s Digest begins publication in New York. | |
| 1922 | William Larned’s steel-framed tennis racquet gets its first test. | |
| 1945 | American and French troops destroy German forces in the Colmar Pocket in France. | |
| 1947 | The Soviet Union and Great Britain reject terms for an American trusteeship over Japanese Pacific Isles. | |
| 1952 | New York adopts three-colored traffic lights. | |
| 1961 | The Soviets launch Sputnik V, the heaviest satellite to date at 7.1 tons. | |
| 1968 | U.S. troops divide Viet Cong at Hue while the Saigon government claims they will arm loyal citizens. | |
| 1971 | Two Apollo 14 astronauts walk on the moon. | |
| 1972 | It is reported that the United States has agreed to sell 42 F-4 Phantom jets to Israel. | |
| 1985 | U.S. halts a loan to Chile in protest over human rights abuses. | |
| Born on February 5 | ||
| 1723 | John Witherspoon, Declaration of Independence signer. | |
| 1788 | Sir Robert Peel, British prime minister. | |
| 1837 | Dwight L. Moody, evangelist, founder of the Moody Bible Institute. | |
| 1848 | Belle Starr, Western outlaw. | |
| 1872 | Lafayette Benedict Mendel, biochemist. | |
| 1898 | Ralph McGill, editor and publisher of the Atlanta Constitution. | |
| 1900 | Adlai E. Stevenson II, Illinois governor and presidential candidate. | |
| 1914 | Sir Alan Hodgin, English physiologist and biophysicist. | |
| 1915 | Robert Hofstadter, physicist who won the Nobel prize in 1961 for his studies of neutrons and protons. | |
| 1926 | Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, longtime New York Times publisher. | |
| 1934 | Hank Aaron, American hall of fame baseball player. | |
| 1938 | John Guare, playwright (The House of Blue Leaves). | |