May eighth

Today's Highlight in History:
On May eighth, 1945, President Truman announced in a radio address that World War Two had ended in Europe.

On this date:
In 1541, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River.

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

In 1884, the 33rd president of the United States, Harry S. Truman, was born near Lamar, Missouri.

In 1886, Atlanta pharmacist John Styth Pemberton invented the flavor syrup for "Coca-Cola."

In 1944, the first "eye bank" was established, in New York City.

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

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

In 1973, militant American Indians who'd held the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for ten weeks surrendered.

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

In 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.

Ten years ago: One crewman was killed, 18 others injured in a pre-dawn fire that broke out aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS "Conyngham" in the Atlantic, about 100 miles southeast of Norfolk, Virginia.

Five years ago: Fifty years after Nazi Germany's capitulation in World War Two, leaders representing the victorious powers gathered in Berlin to remember the dead and pledge peace for the future. A monster storm began dumping 18 inches of rain on southeast Louisiana, flooding homes and killing five people.

One year ago: NATO expressed regret for a mistaken attack on the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, but pledged to pursue the bombing campaign. Demonstrators in Beijing retaliated by throwing rocks and smashing cars at the US Embassy. The Citadel, South Carolina's formerly all-male military school, graduated its first female cadet, Nancy Ruth Mace. British actor Sir Dirk Bogarde died in London at age 78.

"What you see is news, what you know is background, what you feel is opinion."

-- Lester Markel, American editor (1894-1977).