Giovanni Lagnese (born 1838)

In 1838, in the year that Giovanni Lagnese was born, on February 24th, Representatives William J. Graves (Kentucky) and Jonathan Cilley (Maine) fought a duel with rifles. They faced off at 94 yards. Cilley was hit on Graves' third try - in the femoral artery - and bled to death on the dueling field. The Panic of 1837 and Jackson's presidency had caused an extremely partisan Congress and the duel was a result.

In 1846, on February 26th, the Liberty Bell was rung for George Washington's birthday. It is said that when it was rung, a previous crack was worsened, leading to the crack seen today. A paper of the time said that at "around noon, it was discovered that the ringing had caused the crack to be greatly extended, and that the old Independence Bell...now hangs in the great city steeple irreparably cracked and forever dumb".

In 1853, on March 4th, Franklin Pierce became the 14th President of the United States. His son had been killed in a train accident that also involved Pierce and his wife on January 6 - the only of 3 sons to survive until then. Due to the resultant depression and his unpopular policies, he was not re-nominated for President and served only one term.

In 1944, on June 22nd, the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, called the G.I. Bill, was signed into law, pushed through by the veteran's organizations. Benefits provided for veterans to return to school (high school, vocational school, or college), obtain low interest home mortgages and low interest business loans, and (if needed) one year of unemployment insurance. Since most returning vets immediately found work, less than 20% of the unemployment benefits were distributed.

In 1958, on January 31st, Explorer I, the United States' answer to Sputnik I (and 2,) was launched. America had entered the Space Race. The first spacecraft to detect the Van Allen radiation belt, it remained in orbit until 1970.