July 17, 1955
Disneyland opens
Disneyland, Walt Disney's metropolis of nostalgia, fantasy, and futurism, opens on July 17, 1955. The $17 million theme park was built on 160 acres of former orange groves in Anaheim, California, and soon brought in staggering profits. Today, Disneyland hosts more than 14 million visitors a year, who spend close to $3 billion.
Walt Disney, born in Chicago in 1901, worked as a commercial artist before setting up a small studio in Los Angeles to produce animated cartoons. In 1928, his short film Steamboat Willy, starring the character "Mickey Mouse," was a national sensation. It was the first animated film to use sound, and Disney provided the voice for Mickey. From there on, Disney cartoons were in heavy demand, but the company struggled financially because of Disney's insistence on ever-improving artistic and technical quality. His first feature-length cartoon, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1938), took three years to complete and was a great commercial success.
Disney is present all over the world.Countries in which Disney world is present
Brazil, Disney Latino, U.S.A, Canada, Australia, China, Taiwan, Middle East, Japan, Korea, Belgique, Danmark, Finland, France, Deutschland, Italia, Nederland, Norge, España, Sverige, Polska, Portugal, Россия, UK, South Africa
July 17, 1975
Superpowers meet in space
As part of a mission aimed at developing space rescue capability, the U.S. spacecraft Apollo 18 and the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 19 rendezvous and dock in space. As the hatch was opened between the two vessels, commanders Thomas P. Safford and Aleksei Leonov shook hands and exchanged gifts in celebration of the first such meeting between the two Cold War adversaries in space. Back on Earth, United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim congratulated the two superpowers for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project and praised their unprecedented spirit of cooperation and peace in planning and executing the mission.
July 17, 1996
Flight 800 explodes over Long Island
Shortly after takeoff from New York's Kennedy International Airport, a TWA Boeing 747 jetliner bound for Paris explodes over the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 230 people aboard. Flight 800 had just received clearance to initiate a climb to cruise altitude when it exploded without warning. Because the plane was loaded with fuel for the long transatlantic journey, it vaporized within moments, creating a fireball seen almost all along the coastline of Long Island.
When it was revealed that several U.S. Navy vessels were training in the Long Island area on the night of the blast, some began to suspect that Flight 800 had been accidentally downed by a navy test missile. U.S. authorities ruled out the possibility of an errant missile strike by the navy, but a number of conspiracists, including former White House press secretary Pierre Salinger, supported the theory. The much-criticized Flight 800 investigation ended in late 1998, with investigators concluding that the explosion resulted from mechanical failure, not from a bomb or a missile.
July 17, 1862
Confiscation Act approved
In a big step toward emancipation, President Lincoln approves the Confiscation Act, which declares that any slaves whose owners were in rebellion against the government, would be freed when they came into contact with the Union army.
July 17, 1793
French assassin Charlotte Corday is guillotined
Assassin Charlotte Corday is executed by guillotine in Paris, France. The 25-year-old woman had killed leading French politician Jean Paul Marat four days earlier in his home. Blaming him for the revolutionary war that was breaking out in France, Corday confessed to the murder.
Marat was a scientist-turned-politician who always championed the populist cause. During the French Revolution, Marat's opposition to the entrenched powers made him a very popular figure. But he was also the target of powerful interests in France, and thus he required heavy protection.
Although Corday denied the existence of a conspiracy, many people refused to believe that a young woman would commit such a crime without being prompted and encouraged.
July 17, 1944
Port Chicago disaster
An ammunition ship explodes while being loaded in Port Chicago, California, killing 332 people on this day in 1944. The United States’ World War II military campaign in the Pacific was in full swing at the time. Poor procedures and lack of training led to the disaster.
Port Chicago, about 30 miles north of San Francisco, was developed into a munitions facility when the Naval Ammunition Depot at Mare Island, California, could not fully supply the war effort. By the summer of 1944, expansion of the Port Chicago facility allowed for loading two ships at once around the clock. The Navy units assigned to the dangerous loading operations were generally segregated African-American units. For the most part, these men had not been trained in handling munitions. Additionally, safety standards were forgotten in the rush to keep up frenetic loading schedules.
On the evening of July 17, the SS Quinault Victory and SS E.A. Bryan, two merchant ships, were being loaded. The holds were being packed with 4,600 tons of explosives--bombs, depth charges and ammunition. Another 400 tons of explosives were nearby on rail cars. Approximately 320 workers were on or near the pier when, at 10:18 p.m., a series of massive explosions over several seconds destroyed everything and everyone in the vicinity. The blasts were felt as far away as Nevada and the resulting damage extended as far as San Francisco. Every building in Port Chicago was damaged and people were literally knocked off their feet. Smoke and fire extended nearly two miles into the air. The pilot of a plane flying at 9,000 feet in the area claimed that metal chunks from the explosion flew past him.
The Port Chicago disaster eventually led to the implementation of far safer procedures for loading ammunition. In addition, greater emphasis was put on proper training in explosives handling and the munitions themselves were altered for greater safety. There is now a national memorial to the victims at the site.
July 17, 1916
Farmers get relief
America's cash-strapped farmers got a dose of relief on this day in 1916, as Congress passed the Federal Farm Loan Act. The legislation called for the creation of a land bank that would dole out loans to farmers who sorely needed funds to preserve and upgrade their crops. The passage of the bill was celebrated by the nation's farm owners, who had long struggled to secure equitable loans from commercial banks. The farmer's credit woes were only compounded by Federal laws, which, until 1913, had capped the maturity of commercial loans at a mere five years. In turn, the Farm Loan Act was something of a conscious attempt by the government to redress this situation. Indeed, the legislation was an outgrowth of a Federal investigation of America's farm finances, as well as the agrarian credit plans used by other nations. The Farm Loan Act, which was signed by President Woodrow Wilson later in 1916, featured a number of the recommendations from the government study, including the recommendation to model the farm bank on a German cooperative credit system from the late eighteenth century. But, neither the passage of the Farm Loan Act nor the concurrent establishment of the Federal Farm Bureau could prevent America's economy from sinking into a mild depression in 1920; the economic slump was particularly cruel to the nation's farmers and suppressed both crop prices and profits well into the decade.
Source:
http://www.history.com/ ( find much more update here)
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