This Day in History
On May 8, 1945, President Harry S. Truman announced on radio that Nazi Germany’s forces had surrendered, and that “the flags of freedom fly all over Europe.”
On this date:
In 1541, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River.
In 1846, the first major battle of the Mexican-American War was fought at Palo Alto, Texas; U.S. forces led by Gen. Zachary Taylor were able to beat back Mexican forces.
In 1958, Vice President Richard Nixon was shoved, stoned, booed and spat upon by anti-American protesters in Lima, Peru.
In 1970, anti-war protests took place across the United States and around the world; in New York, construction workers broke up a demonstration on Wall Street.
In 1973, militant Amer- ican Indians who had held the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for 10 weeks surrendered.
In 1978, David R. Berkow- itz pleaded guilty in a Brook- lyn courtroom to murder, at- tempted murder and assault in connection with the “Son of Sam” shootings that claimed six lives and terrified New Yorkers. (Berkowitz was sen- tenced to six consecutive life prison terms.)
In 1984, the Soviet Union announced it would boycott the upcoming Summer Olym- pic Games in Los Angeles.
In 1987, Gary Hart, dogged by questions about his person- al life, including his relation- ship with Miami model Donna Rice, withdrew from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
In 1993, the Muslim-led government of Bosnia-Her- zegovina and rebel Bosnian Serbs signed an agreement for a nationwide cease-fire.
In 1996, South Africa took another step from apartheid to democracy by adopting a con- stitution that guaranteed equal rights for blacks and whites.
In 2003, the Senate unan- imously endorsed adding to NATO seven former communist nations: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Ten years ago: Republican Sen. Bob Bennett of Utah, tar- geted by tea party activists and other groups, lost his bid to serve a fourth term after failing to advance past the GOP state convention in Salt Lake City. A coal mine in western Sibe- ria was rocked by the first of two methane explosions that claimed the lives of 90 miners.