On this day
Revisit the news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
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issue of US land policies seen obscuring main questions in Japanese Upper House election
BLS compares hrly pay, '55, of auto, coal, steel and gen factory workers; table, '401 '46, '52 and Apr '56
special 9-member Com on Fed Loyalty and Security Program, set up Dec '54, makes rept
UN repts E-W trade growth; analyzes effects of slowdown among developed nations
Made Deputy Min of Engineering
1956Tom Hanks, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter[†]
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Hanks is ranked as the fourth-highest-grossing American film actor. His numerous awards include two Academy Awards, seven Emmy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards; he has also been nominated for five BAFTA Awards and a Tony Award. He received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2002, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2014, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, and the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2020.
1956Michael Lederer, American author, poet, and playwright[†]
Michael Lederer is an American playwright, screenwriter, novelist, short story writer, poet, and essayist currently living in Berlin, Germany. Die Welt has called him "an archaeologist among the great American writers."
1956The 7.7 Mw Amorgos earthquake shakes the Cyclades island group in the Aegean Sea with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). The shaking and the destructive tsunami that followed left fifty-three people dead. A damaging M7.2 aftershock occurred minutes after the mainshock.[†]
The 1956 Amorgos earthquake occurred at 03:11 UTC on July 9. It had a magnitude of 7.7 on the moment magnitude scale and a maximum perceived intensity of IX on the Mercalli intensity scale. The epicentre was to the south of the island of Amorgos, the easternmost island of the Cyclades in the Aegean Sea. There was significant damage on Amorgos and the neighbouring island of Santorini. It was the largest earthquake in Greece in the 20th century. It was followed 13 minutes later by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake near Santorini. It triggered a major tsunami with a maximum run-up of 30 m. The combined effects of the earthquake shaking and the tsunami caused the deaths of 53 people with a further 100 injured.
In 1956, the world population was approximately 2,795,409,994 people[†]