Today in history

On May 8, 1541, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto discovered the Mississippi River south of present-day Memphis, Tenn.

In 1737 historian Edward Gibbon, author of “History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” was born in Putney, England.

In 1794 Antoine Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry, was executed by guillotine during France's Reign of Terror.

In 1828 Swiss philanthropist Jean Henri Dunant, the founder of the Red Cross, was born in Geneva. In 1846 American forces led by Gen. Zachary Taylor won the first major battle of the Mexican War, at Palo Alto, Texas.

In 1884 Harry Truman, the 33rd president, was born near Lamar, Mo.

In 1886 Atlanta pharmacist John Styth Pemberton created the flavoring syrup for Coca-Cola.

In 1926 comedian Don Rickles was born in New York.

In 1936 James R. Thompson, who would become governor of Illinois (1976-90), was born in Chicago.

In 1945, in a radio address, President Harry Truman declared V-E (Victory in Europe) Day, announcing

the surrender of Germany and officially ending the European phase of World War II.

In 1970 construction workers broke up a demonstration against the Vietnam War in New York's financial district, causing injury to 70 protesters.

In 1973 militant American Indians surrendered after holding the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for 71 days. (Wounded Knee was the site of the Army's 1890 massacre of 300 Native Americans.)

In 1994 actor George Peppard (“Breakfast at Tiffany's,” “Banacek”) died; he was 65.