Today in History—July 30: The Day We Officially Put Our Trust in God

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 decision would prove controversial.

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.

“In God We Trust” was first printed on 2-cent coins during the Civil War, per an order by Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase, who directed the U.S. Mint to add a reference to religion to coins wherever it would fit. Over the following decades, the phrase began appearing on other coins, but it wasn’t added consistently.

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In the midst of the Cold War—in which the U.S. actively opposed the official atheism of the Soviet Union—Eisenhower championed a greater public role for religious language. In 1954 he officially added the words “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance. Making “In God We Trust” the country’s official motto—and requiring that the phrase appear on all American currency—followed two years later.

Not all Americans approved. Critics argued that the measures were in violation of the First Amendment, which declares that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” Opponents also noted the motto’s disregard of Americans who were atheists or polytheists. The motto, as well as the revision of the Pledge of Allegiance, were challenged in federal courts for decades but were never found to be unconstitutional. Supporters argued successfully that the phrase was understood not as an establishment of religion but as an expression affirming the country’s unity in secular terms.

Today, “In God We Trust” appears on all U.S. currency, and many states have also adopted it as their own motto or display it in schools or public buildings. What began on a Civil War coin has now become one of the most recognizable phrases of American public life.

Famous Birthdays

1920: Marie Tharp—American woman who mapped the ocean floor

1944: Jimmy Cliff—Jamaican singer and songwriter

1970: Christopher Nolan—British film director and writer

1980: Celeste Ng—American novelist