History of 8 May
1914 – The U.S. Congress passed a Joint Resolution that designated the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.
1915 – H.P. Whitney’s Regret became the first filly to win the Kentucky Derby.
1919 – The U.S. Navy’s first transatlantic flight took off with three Curtiss NC flying boats.
1921 – Sweden abolished capital punishment.
1933 – Gandhi began a hunger strike to protest British oppression in India.
1939 – Clay Puett’s electric starting gate was used for the first time.
1943 – The Germans suppressed a revolt by Polish Jews and destroyed the Warsaw Ghetto.
1945 – U.S. President Harry Truman announced that World War II had ended in Europe.
1954 – Parry O’Brien became the first to toss a shot put over 60 feet. O’Brien achieved a distance of 60 feet 5 1/4 inches.
1956 – Alfred E. Neuman appeared on the cover of “Mad Magazine” for the first time.
1958 – U.S. President Eisenhower ordered the National Guard out of Little Rock as Ernest Green became the first black to graduate from an Arkansas public school.
1959 – Mike and Marian Ilitch founded “Little Caesars Pizza Treat”.
1960 – Diplomatic relations between Cuba and the Soviet Union resumed.
1961 – New Yorkers selected a new name for their new National League baseball franchise. They chose the Mets.
1970 – Construction workers broke up an anti-war protest on New York City’s Wall Street.
1973 – Militant American Indians who had held the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for 10 weeks surrendered.
1984 – The Soviet Union announced that they would not participate in the 1984 Summer Olympics Games in Los Angeles.
1984 – Joanie (Erin Moran) and Chachi (Scott Baio) got married on ABC-TV’s “Happy Days.”
1985 – “New Coke” was released to the public on the 99th anniversary of Coca-Cola.
1986 – Reporters were told that 84,000 people had been evacuated from areas near the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Soviet Ukraine.
1997 – Larry King received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1998 – A pipe burst leaving a million residents without water in Malaysia’s capital area. This added to four days of shortages that 2 million already faced.
1999 – The first female cadet graduated from The Citadel military college.
2019 – The 2019 South African general election is held.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Stephen Amell, Canadian actor
- 1981 – Andrea Barzagli, Italian footballer
- 1981 – Tatyana Dektyareva, Russian hurdler
- 1981 – Bjorn Dixgard, Swedish singer-songwriter, and guitarist
- 1981 – Manny Gamburyan, Armenian-American mixed martial artist
- 1981 – John Maine, American baseball player
- 1982 – Buakaw Banchamek, Thai kick-boxer
- 1982 – Christina Cole, English actress
- 1982 – Adrian Gonzalez, American baseball player
- 1982 – Ugur Yıldırım, Turkish-Dutch footballer
- 1983 – Juan Martin Goity, Argentinian-German rugby player
- 1983 – Bershawn Jackson, American hurdler
- 1983 – Lawrence Vickers, American football player
- 1983 – Vicky McClure, English actress
- 1984 – David King, English figure skater
- 1985 – Tommaso Ciampa, American wrestler
- 1985 – Silvia Stroescu, Romanian gymnast
- 1985 – Sarah Vaillancourt, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1985 – Usama Young, American football player
- 1986 – Pemra Ozgen, a Turkish tennis player
- 1986 – Galen Rupp, American runner
- 1986 – Marvell Wynne, American soccer player
- 1987 – Felix Jones, American football player
- 1987 – Aarne Nirk, Estonian hurdler
- 1987 – Mark Noble, English footballer
- 1987 – Kurt Tippett, Australian footballer
- 1988 – Tanel Kurbas, Estonian basketball player
- 1988 – Maicon Pereira de Oliveira, Brazilian footballer (d. 2014)
- 1989 – Liam Bridcutt, English footballer
- 1989 – Lars Eller, Danish ice hockey player
- 1989 – Dinesh Patel, Indian baseball player
- 1990 – Kemba Walker, American basketball player
- 1991 – Ethan Gage, Canadian soccer player
- 1991 – Valentijn Lietmeijer, Dutch basketball player
- 1991 – Anamaria Tamarjan, Romanian gymnast
- 1992 – Kevin Hayes, American ice hockey player
- 1993 – Pat Cummins, Australian cricketer
- 1996 – 6ix9ine, American rapper
- 2001 – Jordyn Huitema, Canadian soccer player
- 2003 – Moulay Hassan, Crown Prince of Morocco