This Day in History: 05/08/1945 - V-E Day is celebrated in American and Britain - HISTORY

This Day in History - May 8, 1945, was the day Nazi Germany declared an end to the war. People called the day V-E Day, or Victory in Europe Day, for it was a celebration of their victory.

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In a This Day in History video, learn that on July 8, 1960, United States pilot Gary Powers was charged with espionage by the Soviet Union. At the height of the Cold War, Powers was cruising over Russia in his U-2, a flying spy-plane, when shot down. The U.S. government tried to dismiss the charge, but Nikita Kruschef had the U-2 confirming that Powers was a spy. President Eisenhower was forced to publically justify the surveillance and Powers was sentenced to ten years in prison, but was swapped two years later for a high-ranking Soviet spy.

This Day in History - May 17, 1954, Brown vs. Board of Education trial came to an end with courts deciding racial segregation of public schools was unequal. This was the first time blacks and whites could sit together in one classroom. To find out more about this day, check out this video clip.

In This Day in History video clip - May 5, 1961: The first American in space - Cape Canaveral, Florida, Navy Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. is launched into space aboard the Freedom 7 space capsule, becoming the first American astronaut to travel into space. The suborbital flight, which lasted 15 minutes and reached a height of 116 miles into the atmosphere, was a major triumph for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

President Harry Truman orders the Enola Gay to drop the atom bomb on Hiroshima, Cy Young joined major league baseball, the first woman swims the English Channel, and Jamaican independence is declared in This Day in History video. The date is August 6th. The atom bomb was also dropped on Nagasaki which helped end World War II when Japan surrendered.

Watch what happened on November 20 throughout history in this This Day in History video. On November 20, 1947, Princess Elizabeth of England married Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, who was once prince of Greece and Denmark. On November 20, 1962, President John F. Kennedy removed a month long naval blockade of Cuba. This ended the Cuban Missile Crisis. On November 20, 2003, singer Michael Jackson was arrested on charges of child molestation. Jackson was later acquitted of the charges. Lastly, on November 20, 1945, Nazi officials were put on trial in Nuremberg, Germany. This was the first time where military leaders had to answer to the actions. The trials led to twenty-two indictments, mostly for crimes against humanity.

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