Browse Historical Events by Day: What Happened on July 30th?

The Hudson's Bay Company receives a royal charter from King Charles II, granting it exclusive trading rights in the Hudson Bay region of North America.

The New Orleans Massacre: a mob of ex-Confederates led an armed attack on a group of Louisiana Republicans and their African American supporters as they convened in the Mechanics Institute Building in New Orleans., site of a reconvened Louisiana Constitutional Convention 38 people were killed and 146 wounded. More

The USS Indianapolis is torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and sinks within minutes. Only 316 of the 1,196 men on board survived. The Indianapolis had just completed its major mission; the delivery to Tinian Island in the South Pacific of a key components of the atomic bomb that would be dropped a week later at Hiroshima. 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.

Medicare is signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri. His gesture drew attention to the 20 years it had taken Congress to enact government health insurance for senior citizens after Harry Truman had proposed it. In fact, Medicare’s history dated back even further. More

Japanese Air Force, Fighter Jet collides with a passenger plane, Boeing 727 operated by All Nippon Airways (ANA). causing both aircraft to crash. All 162 people aboard the airliner were killed, while the Sabre pilot, a trainee with the JASDF, freed himself from his airplane after the collision and parachuted to safety. More

Vanuatu, achieves independence from the United Kingdom and France under Prime Minister Walter Lini.