What Happened in July?

President Harry S. Truman signs a proclamation that reinstituted the military draft in the United States. This action, taken during a period of increasing Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union.  Expand +

President Harry S. Truman signs executive order 9981 banning segregation in the Armed Forces. More

The First test flight of the De Havilland DH 106 Comet, takes place. Developed and manufactured by De Havilland in the United Kingdom, went on to become the world's first commercial passenger jet aircraft to reach production and was commercially promising at its debut in 1952. Within a year, three Comets were lost after suffering catastrophic mishaps mid-flight. As a result, the Comet was extensively redesigned, with structural reinforcements and other changes. More

President Harry S. Truman appoints Douglas MacArthur as commander of the U.S. air and naval forces to South Korea in support of a U.N. resolution calling for an end to hostilities to aid the democratic nation in repulsing the invasion from North Korea which was supported by China and the Soviet Union. The fighting eventually ended with an armistice on July  27, 1953, formally dividing the country at the 38th parallel into North and South Korea. The Korean War was among the most destructive conflicts of the modern era, with approximately 3 million war fatalities including over 36,000 Americans. More

Paris, the capital city of France, celebrates turning 2,000 years old. While the exact date of Paris's founding is debated, it's believed to be around 250 B.C. by a Gallic tribe called the Parisii settled on an island in the Seine River, which runs through Paris. Expand +

The Egyptian army led by by Mohamed Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser launched a revolution toppling King Farouk in a coup d'état by the Free Officers Movement and, changing Egypt from a monarchy to a republic. The Revolution ushered in a wave of revolutionary politics in the Arab World, and contributed to the escalation of decolonization and the development of Third World solidarity during the Cold War. More

Puerto Rico officially becomes a U.S. Commonwealth, a significant transition following its status as a U.S. territory. This change allowed Puerto Rico to establish its own constitution and elect its own governor, legislature, and judiciary. government, while still remaining under the ultimate authority of the U.S. federal government, particularly in areas like foreign policy and defense. Luis Muñoz Marín, was Puerto Rico's first elected governor. 

Fidel Castro's revolutionary "26th of July Movement." is established. It eventually overthrows dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959. Although he once declared that Cuba would never again be ruled by a dictator, Castro's government became a Communist dictatorship.

The Korean War ended with the signing of an armistice by U.S. and North Korean delegates at Panmunjom, Korea and establishing a demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. It brought to an end three years of fighting that killed 2.5 million people. No peace treaty was signed. More

Disneyland, in Anaheim, California, has its Grand Opening after a year of construction and a $17 Million investment. The opening was a special 'International Press Preview' event, which was only open to the six thousand invited guests. More

Secretary of State John Foster Dulles announces that the United States had withdrawn its offer of financial aid to Egypt to build the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River. A project aimed at containing the annual cycle of floods and often droughts suffered in the valley from the river’s East African drainage basin for the previous 5,000 years. The announcement came shortly after the Soviet Union offered Egypt to finance the dam. Expand +

The Italian ocean liner, SS Andrea Doria and the Swedish liner MS Stockholm collide in the middle of a foggy night off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Both ships were traveling at high speeds despite the poor visibility. The Andrea Doria listed heavily after the collision, eventually capsizing and sinking the following day. Forty six passengers and crew members aboard the Andrea Doria and 5 crew members on the Stockholm died as a result of the collision and 1660 people were rescued. More 

Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalizes the foreign-owned Suez Canal Company, which administered the canal and was owned primarily by British and French shareholders. On October 29, Israel invades the Egyptian Sinai. and on November 5, Britain and France landed paratroopers along the Suez Canal. Political pressure from the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Nations led to a withdrawal by the three invaders. The episode humiliated the United Kingdom and France and strengthened Nasser. It later became clear that Israel, France and Britain had conspired to plan the invasion. More

Two years after pushing to have the phrase “under God” inserted into the pledge of allegiance, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a law officially declaring “In God We Trust” to be the nation’s official motto. The law, also mandated that the phrase be printed on all American paper currency. The phrase had been placed on U.S. coins since the Civil War.

Dwight D. Eisenhower became the first US President to utilize a helicopter for official travel. Eisenhower took his first flight aboard a Bell H-13J Sioux helicopter from the White House lawn as part of a simulated nuclear alert exercise. This event marked a significant shift in presidential transportation, paving the way for the routine use of helicopters like Marine One for short-range trips. The decision to embrace this new mode of transport was driven by a desire for greater flexibility and efficiency in navigating Washington's traffic, as well as the need for rapid relocation in the event of a national emergency during the Cold War. More

Surgeon General Leroy E. Burney announces that the official position of the U.S. Public Health Service is that there is a causal relationship between smoking and lung cancer. His warning had little effect on cigarette consumption but it did elicit the ire of the Tobacco industry. Burney was an American physician and public health official and the eighth Surgeon General of the United States from 1956 to 1961.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is officially formed as its creation statute enters into force on July 29, 1957. The first General Conference was held in Vienna in October 1957, where delegates decided to make Vienna the agency's headquarters. The IAEA had been created via an independent statue and opened for signatures on October 26, 1956.  Expand +

President Eisenhower signs into law the bill passed by the U. S. Congress establishing NASA. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration began operations on October 1, 1958. More

Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev accompanied Vice President Richard Nixon on a tour of the American National Exhibit, a fair sponsored by the United States to show the Soviet people how Americans lived. At the exhibit, with a team of journalists and photographers trailing them, the two leaders had a series of impromptu exchanges about the merits and flaws of their respective economies and political systems. One exchange took place during a visit to the model American kitchen featured in the exhibit which gave birth to the "Kitchen Debate" name. More

The Somali Republic is formed as a unification of the Trust Territory of Italian Somaliland, and British Somaliland. The independence day of Somalia is a national holiday observed annually in Somalia and the diaspora worldwide.