Samuel Delorenzo (1912 - 1986)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Samuel's lifetime.

In 1912, in the year that Samuel Delorenzo was born, New Mexico became the 47th state of the Union in January. Previously a province of Mexico, then a territory of the United States and mostly populated by Native Americans and Mexicans, once it became a U.S. territory it was increasingly colonized by European-American settlers. Its population was over 327,000 when it became a state.

In 1929, when he was 17 years old, American Samoa officially became a U.S. territory. Although a part of the United States since 1900, the Ratification Act of 1929 vested "all civil, judicial, and military powers in the President of the United States of America".

In 1936, Samuel was 24 years old when on November 2nd, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) debuted the world's first regular high-definition television service. The channel had a short schedule - Monday through Saturday, 3:00p to 4:00p and 9:00p to 10:00p. The first broadcast was "Opening of the BBC Television Service".

In 1975, at the age of 63 years old, Samuel was alive when on September 5th, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme tried to assassinate President Ford in Sacramento, California. She failed when her gun wouldn't fire. President Ford escaped a second assassination attempt 17 days later on September 22 when Sarah Jane Moore tried to shoot him in San Francisco. A bystander saw her raise her arm, grabbed it, and the shot went wild.

In 1986, in the year of Samuel Delorenzo's passing, on January 28th, the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after launch. All seven crew members died. The cause of the explosion was later found to be a failed O-ring. The O-ring failure was due to the unusually cold conditions at Cape Canaveral.