Today in History....... May 8

On this day in …

* 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

* 1846, the first major battle of the Mexican War was fought at Palo Alto, Texas, resulting in victory for Gen. Zachary Taylor's forces

* 1886, Atlanta pharmacist John Styth Pemberton invented the flavor syrup for Coca-Cola

* 1945, President Truman announced in a radio address that World War II had ended in Europe

* 1958, Vice President Nixon was shoved, stoned, booed and spat upon by anti-American protesters in Lima, Peru

* 1970, construction workers broke up an anti-war protest on New York's Wall Street

* 1973, militant American Indians who'd held the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for 10 weeks surrendered

* 1978, David R. Berkowitz pleaded guilty in a Brooklyn courtroom to the "Son of Sam" killings that had terrified New Yorkers

* 1996, postal inspectors wrapped up a two-year sting operation in
36 states against a child pornography ring. ALSO: South Africa took another step from apartheid to democracy by adopting a constitution that guaranteed equal rights for blacks and whites. Julie Andrews declined her Tony Award nomination after her show, "Victor/Victoria," was snubbed for best musical

* 2001, China protested the resumption of U.S. surveillance flights off its coast and said it would refuse to let the United States fly out a crippled Navy spy plane

* 2005, President Bush and Vladimir Putin, meeting in Moscow, went out of their way to take a unified stand on Middle East peace and terrorism after sharp words in recent days about democratic backsliding and postwar Soviet domination. ALSO: Steve Nash edged Shaquille O'Neal by 34 points to win the NBA's most valuable player award