July 30
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1956: “In God We Trust” is the official motto of the United States
On this day in 1956, Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation making “In God We Trust” the official motto of the United States. The following year the phrase began appearing on $1 bills, and it was later added to larger denominations. The new motto replaced the country’s long-standing unofficial one, “E pluribus unum” (Latin: “Out of many, one”), which was featured on the Great Seal of the United States, created in 1782. Read on to discover why the decision was controversial.
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© Ruslan/Adobe Stock; Photo Illustration Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Featured Event
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph
The sinking of the Indianapolis
The USS Indianapolis was sunk this day in 1945 by a Japanese submarine shortly after delivering the internal components of the atomic bombs that were later dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Some 900 men died, many of whom succumbed to shark attacks, dehydration, and salt poisoning as they awaited rescue. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about World War II.]
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
Gisèle Freund
Drawing and sculpture are the same thing…one an illusion of the other.
Henry Moore, born this day in 1898, was an English sculptor whose organically shaped abstract figures in bronze and stone constitute the major 20th-century manifestation of the humanist tradition in sculpture.
Famous Birthdays
More on July 30
NASA/JPL-Caltech
2020
NASA began its Mars 2020 mission with the launch of the rover Perseverance from Cape Canaveral in Florida. [Learn more about NASA’s previous Mars rovers.]
Camera Press/Globe Photos
2007
Swedish screenwriter and director Ingmar Bergman—who was known for his bleak depiction of human loneliness, vulnerability, and torment—died at age 89. [Take our film buff quiz.]
© CT/AP/REX/Shutterstock.com
1975
Former Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa disappeared in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, under mysterious circumstances. [Read more about Jimmy Hoffa and eight other people who have mysteriously disappeared.]
© Archive Photos
1974
After receiving a subpoena from the U.S. Supreme Court, President Richard Nixon released the Watergate tapes to a special prosecutor. Also by this date, the House Judiciary Committee had adopted three articles of impeachment against him. [Learn more about Watergate and other U.S. political scandals.]
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum/NARA
1965
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed amendments to the Social Securities Act (1935) that established Medicare and Medicaid. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about U.S. presidents.]
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-GLB13-0779)
1942
Frank Sinatra sang with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in his last recording before his solo career. [How much do you know about Frank Sinatra?]
James Mitchell—Ebony Collection/AP Images
1936
Blues musician Buddy Guy, admired for his slashing electric guitar riffs and passionate vocals, was born in Lettsworth, Louisiana. [Take our quiz about musicians.]
© Hannah Peters/Getty Images
1930
Uruguay defeated Argentina to win the first World Cup in football (soccer). [Find out what’s new for the World Cup in 2026.]
Courtesy of the Banting and Best Department of Medical Research, University of Toronto
1921
Insulin was first isolated as a pancreatic extract by the Canadian scientists Sir Frederick G. Banting and Charles H. Best. [Take our quiz about medical terms and pioneers.]
© Costfoto—NurPhoto/Getty Images
1909
French chemist Eugène Schueller—who two years previously had developed a hair dye that was both safe and effective—established the Société Française de Teintures Inoffensives pour Cheveux (French Company of Safe Inoffensive Hair Dyes), which was soon changed to L’Oréal.
Archiv für Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin
1898
Otto von Bismarck—who, as prime minister of Prussia (1862–73, 1873–90), used ruthlessness and moderation to unify Germany, founding the German Empire (1871) and serving as its first chancellor (1871–90)—died. [How much do you know about German history?]
Ford Motor Company
1863
American industrialist and automobile manufacturer Henry Ford, who revolutionized factory production with his assembly-line methods, was born in Michigan. [Read what Ford wrote for Britannica in 1926.]
Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1540
English Lutheran clergyman Robert Barnes was burned as a heretic after being used by Thomas Cromwell and King Henry VIII to gain European support for their antipapal movement.