🔪 This Week In History - O.J. Simpson Arrested

Welcome back History Nerds,

Thanks for sticking around for another week of the LOL History Newsletter! This week in history was absolutely wild, Oj Simpson was arrested, Benjamin Franklin was nearly electrocuted, and Ford Motor was founded. We hope you enjoy reading this week’s edition just as much as we enjoyed writing it. Don’t forget to respond to this email if you think we missed something!

Did You Know? On April 5, 1909, Explorer Robert Peary claimed to be the first person to reach the North Pole. He planted a flag, snapped a photo—and sparked a century of controversy. Critics argued his calculations were off, while others insisted he faked parts of the journey. Whether he made it or not, one thing’s for sure: traveling hundreds of miles across Arctic ice with dogsleds and frozen beard hair takes guts.

During Your History Lesson You’ll Learn About:

• Catching Lightning: Benjamin Franklin’s 1752 Experiment

• Ford Motor Company Founded

• Hotline to Peace: The 1963 U.S.-Soviet Connection

• O.J.’s Arrest Grips the Nation

Benjamin Franklin and the Electric Kite of 1752

In 1752, Benjamin Franklin flew a kite into a stormy sky—and pulled down proof that lightning was, in fact, electricity. A printer by trade and polymath by reputation, Franklin wasn’t just chasing sparks for spectacle. He’d been immersed in the mysterious world of electricity for years, reading European experiments and conducting his own in Philadelphia. But theories weren’t enough—he wanted evidence. So, on a cloudy June day, he and his son William took to a field with a simple setup: a silk kite, a metal key, and a length of twine. The storm did the rest.

As the sky darkened and the thunder rolled in, Franklin’s kite danced among the clouds. Soon, the key attached to the string began to spark—clear, shocking proof that lightning and electricity were one and the same. He didn’t get struck down by Zeus, as some feared, but he did get the confirmation he needed. With a single kite, Franklin electrified the world of science.

This wasn’t just a clever stunt or a stroke of luck. Franklin’s experiment challenged long-held beliefs and reframed nature’s most fearsome display as something measurable, understandable—even harnessable. The implications were vast: his findings laid the groundwork for the lightning rod, a device that would protect homes and ships, and marked a shift toward seeing science not as sorcery but as system.

Of course, Franklin wasn’t acting in isolation. Enlightenment thinking was coursing through Europe and the colonies alike—a belief that reason and observation could unlock the universe’s secrets. Franklin’s kite experiment didn’t just prove a point; it captured that moment’s bold spirit. He wasn’t chasing fame. He was chasing truth—and, in the process, became a symbol of curiosity in a charged and changing world.

Nearly three centuries later, that image—man, kite, storm—still holds power. It reminds us that discovery sometimes begins not in a lab, but in a field, with a question, a string, and the courage to fly into the storm.

America Hits the Gas: Ford Motor Company Founded

On June 16, 1903, Henry Ford and 11 investors got together in Detroit and officially launched the Ford Motor Company. They started with just over $28,000, a small rented factory, and a dream to put America on wheels. At the time, cars were mostly for the rich—expensive, unreliable, and about as common as pet lions. But Ford had a different vision: he wanted to build a car the average person could afford and trust not to explode.

That dream hit the road in 1908 with the Model T, a sturdy, no-nonsense car that quickly became a national obsession. Thanks to assembly line production—another Ford innovation—the company could build cars faster and cheaper than anyone else. Suddenly, the middle class was cruising down dirt roads in their very own automobiles, waving at horses like they were yesterday’s news.

Ford didn’t just change transportation—he changed the entire economy. His idea of mass production and fair wages (he famously paid workers $5 a day) helped build the modern middle class. By making cars accessible to millions, Ford turned a luxury into a necessity and set the pace for the American century. Over 100 years later, the company that started in a little Detroit shop is still rolling strong.

Red Phone Revolution: U.S. and Soviet Link in 1963

On June 20, 1963, the United States and the Soviet Union installed a direct line of communication—a “hotline” linking Washington and Moscow—not to chat, but to keep the world from burning.

The Cold War had turned Earth into a pressure cooker. Nuclear arsenals were growing, ideologies clashing, and mistrust thickening by the minute. Then came October 1962. The Cuban Missile Crisis brought the planet to the edge, with U.S. and Soviet leaders forced to make life-or-death decisions in a high-stakes game of diplomatic telephone—slow, fragmented, and terrifyingly unclear.

Both sides got the message: next time, better communication could mean survival.

By August 1963, the Moscow–Washington hotline was officially in place. Not a red telephone, as Hollywood liked to imagine, but a secure teletype line stretching from the Pentagon to the Kremlin via cables under the Atlantic and a radio link through Scandinavia. It was quiet, clinical, and decidedly unflashy. But its purpose was anything but small.

This wasn’t about chitchat. It was about clarity. A way to cut through the fog of war, avoid miscalculation, and give leaders a chance to breathe before launching missiles. The first message? A simple test: “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” The most urgent sentence ever typed in the name of peace.

The hotline didn’t stop the Cold War. It didn’t erase fear or dismantle nukes. But it did inject something new into a dangerously overheated rivalry: restraint. It reminded two superpowers that dialogue—even under duress—was better than silence loaded with suspicion.

Over time, the line evolved, upgraded to satellite and computer-based systems. But its core function stayed the same: talk first, strike never.

The Juice on the Loose: O.J.’s Arrest Grips the Nation

On June 17, 1994, one of the most bizarre moments in American history unfolded live on TV: O.J. Simpson, a former NFL star, was charged with the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. But instead of turning himself in, O.J. led police on a slow-speed chase across Los Angeles in a white Ford Bronco—with his friend Al Cowlings behind the wheel and half the nation watching like it was the Super Bowl.

The arrest kicked off what would become “the trial of the century.” With celebrity lawyers, courtroom drama, and wall-to-wall media coverage, it felt more like reality TV than real life. The case had everything—famous names, shocking evidence, racial tension, and one very controversial glove. When the verdict finally came in 1995, the nation was stunned: O.J. was acquitted. Some cheered, others were outraged, but no one looked away.

The case left a deep mark on America, shaping how we talk about race, fame, and justice. Even decades later, people still debate what really happened. O.J. walked free, but the story never really ended—it just kept evolving, one headline at a time.

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See You Next Time!

We hope that you enjoyed this edition of the LOL History newsletter! See you next week!

— Evan & Derek - LOL History Co-Founders