Today In History. What Happened This Day In History
A Timeline Of Events That Occurred On This Day In History
A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on this day in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened today in history.
Today in History
May 8
| 1450 | Jack Cade's Rebellion–Kentishmen revolt against King Henry VI. | |
| 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. | |
| 1794 | The United States Post Office is established. | |
| 1846 | The first major battle of the Mexican War is fought at Palo Alto, Texas. | |
| 1862 | General 'Stonewall' Jackson repulses the Federals at the Battle of McDowell, in the Shenendoah Valley. | |
| 1864 | Union troops arrive at Spotsylvania Court House to find the Confederates waiting for them. | |
| 1886 | Atlanta pharmacist John Pemberton invents Coca Cola. | |
| 1895 | China cedes Taiwan to Japan under Treaty of Shimonoseki. | |
| 1904 | U.S. Marines land in Tangier, North Africa, to protect the Belgian legation. | |
| 1919 | The first transatlantic flight by a navy seaplane takes-off. | |
| 1933 | Hahatma Gandhi begins a hunger strike to protest British oppression in India. | |
| 1940 | German commandos in Dutch uniforms cross the Dutch border to hold bridges for the advancing German army. | |
| 1942 | The Battle of the Coral Sea between the Japanese Navy and the U.S. Navy ends. | |
| 1945 | The final surrender of German forces is celebrated as VE (Victory Europe) day. | |
| 1952 | Allied fighter-bombers stage the largest raid of the war on North Korea. | |
| 1958 | President Eisenhower orders the National Guard out of Little Rock as Ernest Green becomes the first black to graduate from an Arkansas public school. | |
| 1967 | Boxer Muhammad Ali is indicted for refusing induction in U.S. Army. | |
| 1984 | The Soviet Union announces it will not participate in Summer Olympics planned for Los Angeles. | |
| 1995 | Jacques Chirac is elected president of France. | |
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Born on May 8 |
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| 1668 | Alain Rene Lesage, French writer (The Adventures of Gil Blas, Turcaret). | |
| 1753 | Miguel Hidalgo, Mexican nationalist. | |
| 1828 | Jean Henri Dunant, Swiss philanthropist, founder of the Red Cross and YMCA, first recipient (jointly) of the Nobel Peace Prize. | |
| 1829 | Louis Moreau Gottschalk, American pianist. | |
| 1884 | Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States (1945-1953). | |
| 1895 | Edmund Wilson, American critic and essayist. | |
| 1906 | Roberto Rossellini, Italian film director. | |
| 1910 | Mary Lou Williams, jazz pianist and composer. | |
| 1920 | Sloan Wilson, American author (The man in the Gray Flannel Suit, A Summer Place). | |
| 1928 | Theodore Sorenson, advisor to John F. Kennedy. | |
| 1930 | Gary Snyder, beat poet. | |
| 1937 | Thomas Pynchon, novelist (Gravity's Rainbow). | |
| 1940 | Peter Benchley, novelist (Jaws, The Deep). | |
| 1952 | Beth Henley, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (Crimes of the Heart). | |
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