I'm not really arguing that WASM was the first to target previously existing languages, I'm arguing that WASM has a reason to exist because (1) it's an extant project and (2) it solves for other requirements (e.g., streaming compilation) that weren't previously addressed. I could well be wrong, and if so I'd genuinely like to hear how CLR actually solves all of WASM's requirements (essentially how we should have just shoved CLR into browser engines and called it a day!).

CLR didn't need to be shoved into the browser, it was there already via ActiveX first and Silverlight second.

As for the others since 1950's, plenty of stuff to study there.