Today in History - History - May 8th

1984Minnesota Twins Kirby Puckett debuts with 4 singles

1994"Rise & Fall of Little Voice" closes at Neil Simon NYC after 9 perfs

1899Ernest Rutherford publishes his discovery of two different kinds of radiation (Alpha and Beta Particles)

1541Hernando de Soto discovers Mississippi River

1993Lennox Lewis beats Tony Tucker in 12 for heavyweight boxing title

1963JFK offers Israel assistance against aggression

1858John Brown holds antislavery convention

1933Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast in protest against British oppression in India.

1521Parliament of Worms installs edict against Martin Luther

1994President Clinton announces US will no longer repatriate boat people

1975Enrique Iglesias, Madrid, Spanish singer-songwriter and King of Latin Pop (Bailamos, Hero)

1753Phillis Wheatley, American poet who was both the second published African-American poet and first published African-American woman.

1884Harry Truman, Lamar Missouri, 33rd US President (D) (1945-1953), (d. 1972)

1932Sonny Liston, Sand Slough Arkansas, American heavyweight boxer

1968Omar Camporese, Bologna Italy, tennis star

1737Edward Gibbon, Putney, English historian (The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire)

1911Robert Johnson, blues singer (King of Delta Blues Singer)

1940Peter Benchley, NYC, novelist (Jaws, The Deep), (d. 2006)

1926David Attenborough, London UK, Naturalist, TV producer and host (BBC "Life" Series)

1957Bill Cowher, Crafton Pennsylvania, American football coach

1959Actress Raquel Welch (18) weds high school sweetheart James Welch

1910Film producer Samuel Goldwyn (27) weds first wife Blanche Lasky

1981Author John Grisham (26) weds Renee Jones

1783First American flag seamstress Betsy Ross (31) weds John Claypoole at Christ Church

1873John Stuart Mill, great Empiricist philosopher, dies at 66

1819Kamehameha I, King of Hawaii (1782-1819)