Today is Friday, May 8, the 128th day of 2026. There are 237 days left in the year.

Today in history:
On May 8, 1945, President Harry S. Truman announced in a radio address that Nazi Germany’s forces had surrendered, stating that “the flags of freedom fly all over Europe” on V-E (Victory in Europe) Day.

Also on this date:
In 1541, Spanish explorer

Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River, the first recorded European to do so.

In 1846, U.S. forces led by Gen.

Zachary Taylor defeated Mexican forces near modern- day Brownsville, Texas, in the first major battle of the Mexican-American War.

In 1886, the first serving of Coca-Cola, which contained cocaine, was sold at a pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia. (The drink became fully cocaine-free in 1929.)

In 1973, members of the
American Indian Movement
and the Oglala Lakota

tribe, who had occupied the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for 10 weeks, surrendered to federal authorities.

In 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.)

In 1984, the Soviet Union announced it would boycott the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

In 1996, South Africa took a major step from apartheid to democracy by adopting a constitution that guaranteed
equal rights for Blacks
and whites.
In 2020, U.S. unemployment surged to 14.7%, a level last seen when the country was in the throes of the Great Depression; the government reported that more than 20 million Americans had lost their jobs in April amid the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

Today’s Birthdays: Biologist/ TV presenter David Attenborough is 100. Poet Gary Snyder is 96. Singersongwriter Toni Tennille is 86. Pianist Keith Jarrett is 81. Singer Philip Bailey (Earth, Wind and Fire) is 75. Rock musician Chris Frantz (Talking Heads) is 75. Rock musician Alex Van Halen is 73. Football Hall of Fame coach Bill Cowher is 69. Football Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott is 67. Filmmaker Michel Gondry is 63. Actor Melissa Gilbert is 62. Singer Enrique Iglesias is 51.