Milestones: May 8, 2024

May 8, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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DE SOTO REACHES THE MISSISSIPI — THE 16TH-CENTURY SPANISH CONQUISTADOR AND ADVENTURER Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River on May 8, 1541, making him one of the first European explorers to accomplish this. These explorers, often in search of gold and silver, were called conquistadores (conquerors) for good reason: Whenever they found resource-rich land, they exploited and enslaved the Native tribes, claiming and plundering their land. They would also claim divinity. De Soto had made enemies of the Native tribes, who banded together to attack the Spaniards in 1540 during the battle of Mabila (near modern-day Mobile, Alabama) So de Soto and his men headed westward to what is now present-day Arkansas, doing so in the cover of night to avoid any skirmishes with the Natives, who were also armed.

Hernando de Soto did not make it past the Mississippi, having come down with a fatal fever. When he died on May 21, 1542, his men buried him in the river to avoid the Natives finding his body and learning that he was not divine, but mortal.

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VICTORY FURTHER UNFOLDS —FOLLOWING GERMANY’S SURRENDER on May 7, 1945, to the Allied Forces, Great Britain and the United States on May 8 celebrated Victory in Europe (V-E) Day with flags and banners to mark the defeat of Nazi forces. So did many Western nations that had been occupied. More than 13,000 British POWs were released and sent back to Great Britain. Meanwhile, German troops tried to elude the Soviets headed toward the Western front, but General Eisenhower had the Allies block them off, and the Soviet forces captured them. It would take another day for German-Soviet fighting to end.

The Russians took approximately two million prisoners in the period immediately following the German surrender.

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SOVIET BOYCOTT—THE SOVIET UNION on May 8, 1984, announced its boycott of that year’s Summer Olympic Games, being held in the United States at Los Angeles. The Soviets claimed that protests would break out and that they worried for their athletes’ security, and the Soviet government released propaganda with that claim. However, to most Americans, the Soviet boycott seemed an obvious retaliation for the United States’ boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow after Russia’s military intervention in Afghanistan. President Ronald Reagan’s administration dismissed the Soviets’ claims, calling them “a blatant political decision for which there was no real justification.” However, that did not stop 13 other communist countries from declaring that they, also, would boycott the Los Angeles Olympics.

The boycott’s diplomatic fallout was negligible. However, its impact on the 1984 Olympics became a defeat for the Soviets and East Germany; as the United States swept the gold, with a record 83 top medals and 174 overall medals across several sports, including gymnastics.

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‘GIVE ‘EM HELL, HARRY’ — HARRY S. TRUMAN, BORN MAY 8, 1884, became the 33rd U.S. president when Franklin D. Roosevelt died suddenly in April 1945. The Missouri-born Truman was the third of three vice presidents who served during FDR’s historic four elected terms as president. The first had been John Nance Garner, vice president from 1933-41 (the first two terms), and Henry Agard Wallace served during the entirety of Roosevelt’s third term. Truman, who took office on Jan. 20, 1945, was vice president for only three months before being finding himself president. His earlier public service had been as a senator and before that as a judge, during which time he demonstrated integrity and fairness even in the midst of political-machine corruption. Immensely outspoken and blunt, he gained from his supporters’ tee nickname “Give ’em Hell Harry.” Truman’s military service and action during World War I proved him to be a capable and quick-thinking leader and would serve him well as commander-in-chief.

As president, Truman had to make some tough decisions: using the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to get Japan to surrender; and, in 1951, firing the popular and respected General Douglas MacArthur for his insubordination during the Korean War.

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BROOKLYN’S WATERFRONT RAILROAD? — PROPOSALS FOR A WATERFRONT-ROUTE TRAIN between Brooklyn and Queens is not a new trend. Proponents of the current plans to build the BQX streetcar might be interested in knowing about a proposal that the Congress Club was discussing in the early 20th century, according to the May 8, 1914 edition of the Brooklyn Eagle. The members were incensed by news coming from Borough President Lewis H. Pounds that NY Gov. Martin H. Glynn had vetoed a widely-favored bill to enable the construction of a waterfront railroad — particularly after both houses of the state legislature had passed it. Borough President Pounds stated that “the bill, which makes possible the construction and operation of a marginal railroad, is absolutely necessary for the improvement of Brooklyn’s waterfront and consequent development that this borough is entitled to.”

Pounds urged both the Congress Club and the general citizenry to write letters, not only demanding a special session of the legislature to re-advance the bill but also to set up hearings about the waterfront railroad with the various civic clubs participating.

See previous milestones, here.