Today is May 8. On this date in:
1429
The Siege of Orleans during the Hundred Years’ War ended as English troops withdrew after defeat by French forces under Joan of Arc.
1541
Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River.
1794
Antoine Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry, was executed on the guillotine during France’s Reign of Terror.
1877
The Cincinnati Enquirer sports reporter O.P. Caylor first used the baseball term “bullpen” in a story that appeared the next day.
1921
Sweden’s Parliament voted to abolish the death penalty.
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.”
1958
Vice President Richard Nixon was shoved, stoned, booed and spat upon by anti-American protesters in Lima, Peru.
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.
1973
Militant American Indians who had held the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for 10 weeks surrendered.
1978
David R. Berkowitz pleaded guilty in a Brooklyn courtroom to murder, attempted murder and assault in connection with the “Son of Sam” shootings that claimed six lives and terrified New Yorkers. (Berkowitz was sentenced to six consecutive life prison terms.)
1984
The Soviet Union announced it would boycott the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
1987
Gary Hart, dogged by questions about his personal life, including his relationship with Miami model Donna Rice, withdrew from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
1996
South Africa took another step from apartheid to democracy by adopting a constitution that guaranteed equal rights for blacks and whites.
2018
President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the nuclear accord with Iran.
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