Discover what happened on June 10 with HISTORY's summaries of major events, anniversaries, famous births and notable deaths.

June 10

Discover what happened on June 10 with HISTORY&#8217;s summaries of major events, anniversaries, famous births and notable deaths.

What Happened on June 10 | HISTORY

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1692

Black and white print of an older colonial-era Salem woman standing on a wooden cart, having a noose put around her neck. Bridget Bishop was the first person executed as part of the Salem witch trials.

Drawing of Bridget Bishop Being Hanged for Witchcraft

In 1942, the U.S. Navy defeated the Japanese Navy in the Battle of Midway, a turning point of the war in the Pacific, while in Germany, Nazi officials met to plan the “Final Solution” and Anne Frank’s family went into hiding. As FDR ordered Japanese Americans into wartime incarceration camps, false reports of a Japanese attack set California skies ablaze with anti-aircraft fire in the “Battle of Los Angeles.” Americans supported the war effort with scrap drives and victory gardens.

1942

1928

Riots in Detroit… San Francisco's Summer of Love… the Six-Day War in the Middle East… Elvis and Priscilla's Vegas wedding... 1967 was a momentous year around the world. It also a year of firsts: the first successful human heart transplant in South Africa (the recipient lasted 18 days), the confirmation of the first Black Supreme Court Justice in the U.S. (Thurgood Marshall) and the first McDonald’s Big Mac (price: 45 cents).

1967

1940

1980

1772

1935

1752

The turbulence of 1968 began on New Year’s Day with the Tet Offensive, shocking Americans with the unwinnable realities of the Vietnam War. The assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy darkened the national mood and deepened domestic unrest. Mass protests erupted around the globe, from Chicago to Prague to France, Mexico and beyond. In space, Apollo 8 orbited the moon, while back on earth, “Laugh-In” topped TV ratings, “Hair” premiered on Broadway and McDonald’s debuted the iconic Big Mac.

1968

Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day in 1944, the largest amphibious invasion in history. Weeks later, the Allies liberated Paris from its Nazi occupiers. Meanwhile, Soviet forces battered the Nazis on WWII’s eastern front. In the U.S., Franklin Roosevelt won an unprecedented fourth presidential term and Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall starred in their first film together, “To Have and Have Not,” introducing the immortal line, “You know how to whistle, don’t you?” 

1944

U.S. President James A. Garfield took the oath of office in March, only to die from an assassin’s bullet six months later. Out West, Indian leader Sitting Bull surrendered to the U.S. Army, while lawmen and cattle rustlers had a 30-second gunfight at the O.K. Corral. In Russia, the assassination of Czar Alexander II led to violent attacks—or “pogroms”—on Russian Jews. Black educator Booker T. Washington founded the Tuskegee Institute, and nurse-humanitarian Clara Barton established the American Red Cross.

1881

2007

As the Depression era ended, World War II began. Nazi troops goosestepped into Poland, and in response, France and Great Britain declared war on Germany. Hitler ally Francisco Franco seized power in Spain, having defeated the democratically elected government in the Spanish Civil War. In the still-neutral U.S., a terrorist bomb exploded at the New York World’s Fair, while in fictional Gotham City, Batman made his comic book debut. College students, meanwhile, battled to see who could gulp the most live goldfish.

1939

2002

1953

The “shot heard round the world”—the opening salvo of the American Revolution, fired at the Battles of Lexington and Concord—got 1775 off with a bang. Before the year was out, the Second Continental Congress had appointed George Washington to command the troops and Benjamin Franklin to run the post office. Meanwhile in France, King Louis XVI was crowned, likely unaware that he’d one day face his own revolution—and the guillotine.

1775

Colonial America was a vast land settled by Spanish, Dutch, French and English immigrants who established colonies such as St. Augustine, Florida; Jamestown, Virginia; and Roanoke in present-day North Carolina.

Colonial America

The Vietnam War pitted communist North Vietnam and the Viet Cong against South Vietnam and the United States. The war ended when U.S. forces withdrew in 1973 and Vietnam unified under Communist control two years later.

Vietnam War

Crime has been a dark and powerful undercurrent in human society throughout history. Uncover the facts behind some of the most daring robberies, brazen scams and brutal murders ever committed.

Crime

Sports and recreation are an integral part of human history, from the ancient Olympics to the Kentucky Derby, Jackie Robinson, Negro League Baseball, the Super Bowl and more.

Sports

The Revolutionary War waged by the American colonies against Britain influenced political ideas and revolutions around the globe, as a small fledgling nation won its freedom from the greatest military force of its time.

American Revolution

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History.com Editors

Art history tells the complex story of human civilization through art, literature and design. It ranges from prehistoric art of the Neolithic period through Renaissance masterpieces, Impressionism, Modernism, the Bauhaus and contemporary art.

Art, Literature and Film History

World War II was the biggest and deadliest war in history, involving more than 30 countries. Sparked by the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland, the war dragged on for six bloody years until the Allies defeated the Axis powers of Nazi Germany, Japan and Italy in 1945. Explore the battles, leaders and atrocities from the war and its impact on geopolitics and humankind.

World War II

Inventions from the telephone to the Model T and the computer have defined human history, and inventors like Leonardo da Vinci, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Eli Whitney and Alexander Graham Bell have transformed our society.

Inventions & Science

The Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union lasted for decades and resulted in anti-communist suspicions and international incidents that led two superpowers to the brink of nuclear disaster.

Cold War

The Middle East is a large and diverse region composed of several countries and cultures in north Africa and western Asia. Its complex history includes the Persian Gulf War, the Iran Hostage Crisis, the Yom Kippur War, Zionism and more.

Middle Eastern History

The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, lasting from 1929 to 1939. Explore topics on the era, from the stock market crash of 1929, to the Dust Bowl, to FDR’s response to the economic calamity—the New Deal.

Great Depression

Africa is a large and diverse continent that extends from South Africa northward to the Mediterranean Sea. The continent makes up one-fifth of the total land surface of Earth. Widely recognized as the birthplace of humankind, Africa saw the rise of great kingdoms, faced the trans-Atlantic slave trade, colonization and Apartheid.

This Day In History: June 10

First Salem witch hanging

Also on This Day in History June | 10

In brutal reprisal, Nazis annihilate Czech village of Lidice

“Where the Wild Things Are” author Maurice Sendak is born

This Day in History Video: What Happened on June 10

Six‑Day War ends

Norway surrenders to Germany

Nelson Mandela’s first major political statement from prison is published

British vessel burned off Rhode Island

Alcoholics Anonymous founded

Benjamin Franklin flies kite during thunderstorm

Italy declares war on France and Great Britain

General Westmoreland gives farewell press conference in Saigon

Joe Nuxhall makes MLB debut at 15

Tolstoy disguises himself as a peasant and leaves on a pilgrimage

Last episode of “The Sopranos” airs

Famous scene from “Gone with the Wind” filmed

Doughnut truck thief arrested

Eisenhower rejects calls for U.S. isolationism

John Adams proposes a Continental Army

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