This Day In History

On July 16, 1941, Joe DiMaggio extended his record-setting hitting streak to 56 straight games, a Major League mark that still stands. For more than two months, the New York Yankees center fielder had turned each trip to the plate into a national sports story.

Lyricist Dorothy Fields was born on July 15, 1904, in Allenhurst, New Jersey. She wrote more than 400 songs for Broadway and film, including “The Way You Look Tonight” and “On the Sunny Side of the Street.”

On July 14, 1853, President Franklin Pierce opened a glass-and-iron palace in New York City filled with machinery, art, and manufactured goods from around the world. The Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations became the first major world’s fair in the United States and tested whether New York could rival London as a center of industry and culture.

On July 13, 1930, the inaugural FIFA World Cup began in Montevideo, Uruguay. Thirteen national teams gathered for a new competition designed to determine soccer’s world champion outside the Olympic Games.

America’s first joint issue stamp was created to honor the completion of the St. Lawrence Seaway. The US and Canada worked together to create the seaway to connect the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.

Singer, songwriter, and actress Édith Giovanna Gassion, better known as Édith Piaf was born on December 19, 1915, in Belleville, Paris, France. She was France’s most popular singer in the 1940s, earning worldwide acclaim for her signature song “La Vie en Rose.”

On October 12, 1989, the USPS issued the first stamp in the America Series. The stamp series was a collaboration between the 24 Western Hemisphere countries in the Postal Union of the Americas and Spain (PUAS).

On October 9, 1994, the USPS released its first joint-issue stamps with China. The stamps picture two different species of cranes – one from each country.

On July 17, 1955, Walt Disney realized one of his long-time dreams when he opened his Disneyland amusement park in Anaheim, California. For decades, it was the most-visited park in the world.

James Francis Cagney was born on July 17, 1899, in New York City, New York. Best known for playing gangsters, he was also a talented dancer and had excellent comic timing.

On July 17, 1976, Queen Elizabeth II presided over the opening ceremonies of the Games of the XXI Olympiad in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. These were the first and only Summer Olympics held in Canada.

American diplomat Hiram Bingham IV was born on July 17, 1903, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Over a short period during World War II, he helped more than 2,500 refugees escape France.