TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – MAY 8
1541 Hernando de Soto discovers the Mississippi River which he calls Rio de Espiritu Santo.
1559 An act of supremacy defines Queen Elizabeth I as the supreme governor of the church of England.
1660 English parliament asks King Charles II to resign
1792 US establishes military draft
1794 US Post Office established
1794 Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry, was guillotined during the Reign of Terror.
1835 1st installment of Hans Christian Andersen “Fairy Tales” published by C. A. Reitzel in Copenhagen, Denmark
1846 The first major battle of the Mexican War is fought at Palo Alto, Texas.
1886 Atlanta pharmacist John Pemberton invents Coca Cola.
1904 U.S. Marines land in Tangier, North Africa, to protect the Belgian legation.
1933 Mahatma Gandhi—actual name Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi—begins a hunger strike to protest British oppression in India.
1945 V-E Day: WWII ends in Europe after Germany signs an unconditional surrender
1952 Mad Magazine debuts
1958 President Dwight Eisenhower orders the National Guard out of Little Rock as Ernest Green becomes the first black to graduate from an Arkansas public school.
1970 Construction workers break up an anti-war rally in NYC’s Wall Street
1973 The 10-week Wounded Knee occupation ended when members of the American Indian Movement surrendered.
1978 David Berkowitz, a.k.a. the “Son of Sam,” plead guilty to killing six people in New York City.
1980 World Health Organization announces smallpox has been eradicated
1984 The Soviet Union announces it will not participate in Summer Olympics planned for Los Angeles.
1987 Gary Hart quits democratic presidential race (Donna Rice affair)
1993 16 year old Keron Thomas disguises himself as a motorman & takes NYC subway train & 2,000 passengers on a 3 hour ride
1994 President Clinton announces US will no longer repatriate boat people
2006 The Iranian President Ahmadinejad sent a lengthy letter to United States President Bush, the first time such a move had been made in twenty-seven years. According to US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, the letter covered such topics as history and philosophy, but did not make any comment or diplomatic address to the nuclear concerns and conflicts the two nations had been facing.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
