In the summer of 1752—possibly on the 10th of June—Benjamin Franklin flies a kite during a thunderstorm to collect ambient electrical charge in a Leyden jar, enabling him to demonstrate the connection between lightning and electricity. (Scholars debate the June 10 date, but agree it likely happened sometime in June of that year.) It is one of his most famous—and mythologized—experiments.

On June 10, 1775, John Adams proposes to Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, that the men laying siege to Boston should be considered a Continental Army led by a general.

On June 10, 1928, author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, who revolutionized children’s literature with such best-selling books as Where the Wild Things Are and became one of the most celebrated children’s authors in contemporary history, is born in Brooklyn, New York. First published in 1963, Where the Wild Things Are was pioneering in its realistic depiction of childhood anxieties and rebellious behavior at a time when many stories for young readers presented a sugar-coated version of life.

In Akron, Ohio, Bill Wilson and Dr. Robert Smith, two recovering alcoholics, found Alcoholics Anonymous, also known as "A.A.," a 12-step rehabilitation program that eventually helps countless people cope with alcoholism.

After two months of desperate resistance, the last surviving Norwegian and British defenders of Norway are overwhelmed by the Germans, and the country is forced to capitulate to the Nazis.

On June 10, 1942, Nazi troops obliterate the village of Lidice, Czechoslovakia after killing all adult males and deporting most of the surviving women and children to concentration camps. The brutal action came as part of a retaliation for the assassination of Nazi SS leader Reinhard Heydrich, known as Heydrich the Hangman—despite there being no solid evidence connecting the town to the assassination plot.

On June 10, 1944, 15-year-old Joe Nuxhall becomes the youngest person ever to play Major League Baseball when he pitches in a game for the Cincinnati Reds. Nuxhall threw two-thirds of the ninth inning in an 18-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals; he was pulled only after one wild pitch and allowing five runs on five walks and two hits. The game was played during World War II, when it became common for adolescent and older players to fill in for big leaguers fighting overseas.

The Six-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors ends with a United Nations-brokered cease-fire. The outnumbered Israel Defense Forces achieved a swift victory in the brief war, rolling over the Arab coalition and more than doubling the amount of territory under Israel’s control. The greatest fruit of victory lay in seizing the Old City of Jerusalem from Jordan; thousands of Jews wept while bent in prayer at the Second Temple’s Western Wall.

In South Africa, the African National Congress (ANC) publishes a statement by Nelson Mandela, the long imprisoned leader of the anti-apartheid movement. The message, which Mandela had written in response to the 1976 Soweto uprising, had been smuggled out of Robben Island prison years later under great risk. It ends with the rallying cry: “UNITE! MOBILISE! FIGHT ON! Between the anvil of united mass action and the hammer of the armed struggle we shall crush apartheid and white minority racist rule.”

On June 10, 2002, Clint Messina, 21, of Lacombe, Louisiana, is arrested and charged in the attempted murder of a police officer after driving into a patrol car while attempting to flee from sheriff’s deputies. Soon after, police discovered that he was already a wanted man.