1990
Although the Bush administration doubled its estimate for bailing out the savings & loan industry to $130,000,000,000, congress appropriated half that figure.
Former Philippines first lady Imelda Marcos went on trial in the U.S. for fraud charges.
Michael Milken, the so-called Junk Bond King, was convicted for violating securities laws. He was sentenced to 10 years, fined $200,000,000 and ordered to pay back $400,000,000.
A House subcommittee determined that Americans were spending $30,000,000,000 a year on weight-loss products or programs that were ineffective or threatened their health.
Ivana Trump filed for a divorce from Donald Trump.
87 died when the illegal Happy Land Social Club burned in the Bronx, New York. Julio Gonzales was later convicted for arson and 87 counts of murder.
29 died in flash flooding in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Fog was blamed for 75 collisions that killed 15 and injured 55 on Interstate 75 in Tennessee.
Former ambassador to the U.K., Walter H. Annenberg, donated $50,000,000 to the United Negro College Fund.
Operation Desert Shield consisted of 527,000 American military personel sent to Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf after Iraq invaded Kuwait.
Officials said the AIDS epidemic was spreading throughout all societal factions in America at an alarming rate. Act Up! members disrupted the opening of The CBS Evening News With Dan Rather, chanting, "Fight AIDS, not Arabs!" The opening segment was re-recorded for broadcast in the western time zones.
Paintings valued at $100,000,000 were stolen from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
The Supreme Court ruled that police must stop interrogating a suspect after her or she requests an attorney be present.
"I've fallen and I can't get up!" became a catch phrase due to a frequently-running TV ad for Lifeline, an emergency call necklace marketed to seniors.
Puppeteer and Muppets co-creator Jim Henson died at age 53 from a strain of strep known as "the flesh-eating virus."
A Chorus Line wrapped up its run on Broadway after 6,237 performances ... nearly twice the run of the former record-holder, Grease.
James "Buster" Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson to receive the world heavyweight boxing championship, only to be knocked out 8 months later by Evander Holyfield.
Kevin Costner won Best Picture and Best Director Oscars for Dances With Wolves.
TV's Beverly Hills 90210 debuted. Cheers, thirtysomething and Murphy Brown were top-rated shows.
Hit songs included Escapade by Janet Jackson, Love Takes Time by Mariah Carey, Black Velvet by Alannah Miles, Step By Step by New Kids On The Block, It Must Have Been Love by Roxette and How Am I Supposed To Live Without You? by Michael Bolton.
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1991
Less than 48 hours after Iraq ignored a U.N. deadline for withdrawing troops from Kuwait, President Bush announced that the U.S. and coalition forces had attacked Baghdad. The high-tech Operation Desert Storm, dubbed the Persian Gulf War, ended 41 days later with an announcement that Kuwait had been liberated. Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein remained in power.
White Los Angeles police officers were videotaped beating black construction worker Rodney King during a traffic stop.
The body of President Zachary Taylor was exhumed to determine whether or not he was assassinated by a dose of arsenic. Tests showed no traces of arsenic.
Arkansas governor Bill Clinton announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president.
The full Senate confirmed Clarence Thomas to replace retiring justice Thurgood Marshall on the supreme court, despite claims of sexual harrassment by University of Oklahoma law professor Anita Hill.
25 died as 79 spring tornadoes raced through seven central and southern states in a 24-hour period.
Jane Fonda and Ted Turner were married.
Magic Johnson announced his retirement from the NBA after testing positive for HIV.
The Postal Service raised the first class stamp from 25¢ to 29¢.
President Bush and the Soviet Union's Mikhail Gorbachev signed a treaty to reduce nuclear weapons inventories.
The Census Bureau announced that the U.S. population had reached 252,000,000.
Children's author Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel died at age 87.
Jazz greats Miles Davis and Stan Getz both died at the age of 65.
The top-selling novel of the year was Scarlett, Alexandra Ripley's sequel to Gone With The Wind.
Both Best Actor Tonys went to Englishmen — Nigel Hawthorne for the play Shadowlands and Jonathan Price for the musical Miss Saigon.
The Silence Of The Lambs, starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins, swept the top Oscar Awards — Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress. Bill Murray proved to be the perfect antagonist for Richard Dreyfus in What About Bob?
60 Minutes regained its position as the number one TV show. Coverage of the Persian Gulf War helped CNN's cable news networks surge in popularity.
The Grammy Awards' Record Of The Year was Another Day In Paradise by Phil Collins. Quincy Jones' Back On The Block was named Album Of The Year. Hits included Baby Baby by Amy Grant and One More Try by Timmy T.
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1992
One of the world's most destructive hurricanes, Andrew, killed 37 people, totaled nearly 100,000 buildings and caused an estimated $20,000,000,000 damage in Florida.
Billionaire H. Ross Perot said he'd seek the presidency if volunteers got him on all the state ballots. Citing unspecified family threats, Perot withdrew from the race in July, but re-entered it in October.
While news cameras rolled, President Bush threw up and passed out while dining at the home of Japan's prime minister. He was diagnosed with a case of the flu.
Saying it would "retard technology," President Bush told the Earth Summit in Brazil that the U.S. would not sign a treaty that would protect endangered plants and animals. 172 other nations supported the measure.
Vice President Dan Quayle said the plot line to Murphy Brown, in which Candice Bergen's character chose to be a single mother, was an attack on family values.
Democrats Bill Clinton and Al Gore defeated incumbant Republicans George Bush and Dan Quayle for the presidency and vice presidency. Independent H. Ross Perot received over 18,000,000 votes, but received no electoral votes.
Six weeks after his defeat at the polls, President Bush pardoned six Reagan Administration members — including Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger — for any charges or convictions in the Iran-Contra operation.
Riots, looting and burning broke out in Los Angeles after the acquittal of four white police officers on the major counts in the beating of Rodney King. King appealed to blacks and whites to get along.
Large department store chains began to show losses, with Alexander's, Woolworth and Macy's closing stores. Macy's filed for bankruptcy.
A 20-block area in Chicago's Loop was paralyzed for a week when the Chicago River leaked into underground tunnels and caused widespread flooding.
The FDA warned recipients of a mechanical heart valve implant to have the valves replaced. The manufacturer reported that two-thirds of the recipients had died from the valve's mechanical failure.
By a 3-to-1 margin, Americans voted on a younger image of Elvis Presley for use on a commemorative stamp.
Glassboro State College changed its name to Rowan College of New Jersey after manufacturer Henry Rowan made a $100,000,000 donation to the facility.
Broadcast TV was beginning to lose large numbers of viewers to cable-only channels.
After three decades, Johnny Carson retired as host of The Tonight Show. Because NBC had ignored Carson's recommendation that he be succeeded by David Letterman, Carson never mentioned that Jay Leno had been chosen to take over the show. Letterman struck a multi-million-dollar deal with CBS to compete with Tonight.
The National Space & Air Museum opened an exhibit of Star Trek memorabilia, including the ears of Mr. Spock.
Basic Instinct was the year's most popular movie.
Broadway, now a 50/50 mixture of new productions and revivals, reported that its 1991-1992 season was the most financially successful ever.
Hit tunes included I'm Too Sexy by Right Said Fred, Save The Best For Last by Vanessa Williams and Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me by George Michael & Elton John.
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1993
Bill Clinton was inaugurated as America's 42nd president. Fleetwood Mac, whose song Don't Stop had been used by the Clinton campaign, reunited for the inaugural ball. Group member Lindsey Buckingham commented that the music and political scenes were surprisingly similar.
In the first major act of terrorism in the continental U.S., a bomb explosion at New York's World Trade Center killed five and injured 290.
Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood were both withdrawn as candidates for Attorney General because they had employed illegal aliens as domestics. Janet Reno was confirmed for the position in March.
Branch Dividian cult members in Waco, Texas killed four officers attempting to arrest leader David Koresch in February. The standoff continued until April, when Federal officers attacked the cult's fortified compound. The resulting fire killed Koresch and 80 followers and their children. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms contended that the compound had been rigged to self-destruct.
Withdrawal began of GIs, marines and navy SEALs who had been sent to Somalia for Operation Restore Hope. 12 Americans died in the operation, which began shortly before Christmas 1992.
Space Shuttle Endeavour astronauts successfully repaired the orbiting Hubble Telescope.
Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott was suspended from baseball for a year for making racist comments.
The North American Free Trade Agreement was enacted.
Robert Kennedy, Jr. and Ed Begley, Jr. were among those who attended the funeral for union activist Cesar Chavez in Delano, California.
Home computers and the Internet became the hottest new technologies embraced by consumers.
Radio's Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern and TV's Jerry Seinfeld authored non-fiction best-sellers.
Former President George Bush lampooned himself when he made a guest appearance on Saturday Night Live.
Picket Fences took the Emmy for Best Drama series. Seinfeld was chosen Best Comedy.
Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park and Schindler's List were on the big screen. Tom Hanks starred in Sleepless In Seattle and Philadelphia. Other hit films included The Firm, The Piano and The Fugitive.
Whitney Houston's love song from The Bodyguard, I Will Always Love You, was the top-selling song.
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1994
Americans celebrated as South Africa's white government voted itself out of existence and African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela assumed the presidency. Sadly, the good news was tempered by reports from Rwanda that 100,000 had died in a bloody civil war and reports of escalating violence between Muslims and Serbs in Bosnia.
The U.S. population exceeded 265,000,000.
The agenda announced in President Clinton's State Of The Union Address — including national health insurance, gun control and federal drug treatment programs — caused a bitter backlash among conservatives. Increasingly vocal Republicans — from radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh to Representative Newt Gingrich — launched media-blitz attacks on Clinton's social reform, effectively killing federally-guaranteed health care. Conservative media pundits intensified their denouncements of Clinton's alleged financial and personal misconduct. Offering a "Contract With America" to restore conservativism to the federal government, Republicans gained control of the House and Senate, under the leadership of Gingrich and Senator Bob Dole.
Breathtaking photos of forming galaxies were relayed to Earth by the Hubble telescope.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died of cancer. Her son, John F. Kennedy, Jr., announced her death to admirers and media persons who had gathered outside her Manhattan condo building.
Actor and former football great O.J. Simpson failed to appear in court on charges of brutally murdering his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. Millions watched live TV coverage as Simpson's white Ford Bronco, driven by friend Al Cowlings, led police on a "slow speed chase" through Los Angeles County. Simpson was taken into custody at the journey's end — Simpson's Brentwood estate. Simpson vehemently denied committing the murders.
A major league baseball strike over the issue of salary caps caused cancelation of the World Series. There was plenty of Texas pride as Dallas took the Super Bowl and Houston won the NBA Playoffs.
Self-annointed "King of Pop" Michael Jackson — wearing a bandage on his nose — married Elvis Presley's daughter, Lisa Marie, in the Dominican Republic. Jackson said "why not?" instead of "I do" in the brief civil ceremony.
At age 47, George Foreman regained the world heavyweight title by defeating 27-year-old Michael Moorer.
Photographer and animal rights activist Linda McCartney toured the U.S. to promote her line of vegetarian frozen foods. Ex-Beatle and husband Paul made surprise appearances from the reporters' section at several of her press conferences.
Pulp Fiction — directed by Quentin Tarantino — took highest honors at the Cannes Film Festival.
Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was found dead from a self-inflected gunshot wound in the apartment over the garage of his Seattle home.
As alternative rock and urban hip-hop clashed on the pop music charts, hundreds of U.S. radio stations switched to "Modern Rock" or "Adult Alternative Album" formats. Others adjusted from mainstream pop to "Urban Contemporary," highlighting rhythm and blues and rap.
Acts as diverse as Cypress Hill, Metallica, Sheryl Crow, CSN, Salt-N-Peppa, Bob Dylan and the Cranberries performed at Woodstock '94, marking the 25th anniversary of the original event.
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1995
In the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history, the front half of the federal building in Oklahoma City was literally blown to bits, killing 168 and injuring hundreds more. The sound of the blast was recorded on a notetaking machine at a municipal building across the street, which also sustainted heavy damage. Army buddies Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were arrested in the case.
After a long, televised trial in which much physical evidence was determined to be tainted and not admissible, O.J. Simpson was found not guilty of murdering his estranged wife and her friend.
Seven died when storm waters washed out a two-lane bridge on Interstate 5 near Coalinga, California. The state had been warned as early as 1969 that the structure was weak.
Air Force Captain Scott O'Grady became a national hero. After his F-16 was shot down over Bosnia, Captain O'Grady survived on rainwater and insects until rescued by the Marines six days later.
Speaker Newt Gingrich, whose U.S. House came under Republican control for the first time in 40 years, raised eyebrows by declaring women unfit for battle in the armed forces.
A quarter-million federal employees were temporarily unemployed during a partial shutdown of the government due to budget haggling between President Clinton and the now-Republican Congress.
Republican Senator Bob Packwood of Oregon resigned after an ethics committee accused him of sexual misconduct. Democratic Congressman Mel Reynolds of Illinois resigned after his conviction on felony charges resulting from an affair with an underage assistant.
Susan Smith — who had claimed her sons, aged 1 and 3, were kidnapped during a carjacking by a black man — was convicted of murder. She had strapped the boys into her car and rolled it into a South Carolina lake.
After much hype and promotion, the Microsoft computer operating system Windows 95 was released to brisk sales.
Baseball great Mickey Mantle died of cancer.
John F. Kennedy, Jr. launched George magazine.
Superman star Christopher Reeve was paralyzed after falling off a horse at an equestrian event in Virginia.
Forrest Gump won six Academy Awards. Its star, Tom Hanks, was awarded the Best Actor Oscar for the second year in a row.
Republican Senate leader Bob Dole announced he was running for president on Late Night With David Letterman.
Grateful Dead founder Jerry Garcia died of a heart attack at a drug rehabilitation center.
Shortly before the release of her first English-language album, Tejano superstar Selena was shot and killed. Police arrested the leader of her fan club, Yolanda Saldivar, who was found guilty a few months later.
Hits included One Sweet Day by Mariah Carey & Boys II Men, I Can Love You Like That by All-4-One and Kiss From A Rose by Seal.
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1996
Former Secretary of the Interior James Watt pleaded guilty to grand jury-tampering in a 1980s HUD influence-peddling investigation.
55 people perished as a result of a blizzard which dropped record amounts of snow from Maine to South Carolina.
Billionaire John duPont was charged with the shooting death of Olympic wrestler Dave Schultz.
5 died when a Navy F-14 fighter crashed into a residential neighborhood in Nashville.
12 were killed and 39 injured when Amtrak and Maryland Rail Commuter trains collided during heavy snow outside Washington, D.C.
John Salvi III was convicted of murder in the 1994 attacks on two Massachusetts abortion clinics. He killed himself in his jail cell eight months later.
After a tip to authorities from his brother, the notorious mail-bomb terrorist known as the Unabomber — Ted Kaczynski — was arrested at a remote cabin outside of Lincoln, Montana.
Former congressman Dan Rostenkowski was sentenced to 17 months in prison and ordered to pay $100,000 in fines on two counts of mail fraud.
7-year-old Jessica Dubroff was killed while attempting to become the youngest person to fly cross-country. Her father and a flight instructor also died when the overweight plane attempted to take off during bad weather in Wyoming.
109 died when ValuJet flight 592 crashed into the Everglades.
230 perished when TWA flight 800 exploded off Long Island, New York.
Nearly 200,000 school children were part of a rally at the Lincoln Memorial to protest Congress' cuts in social and educational programs.
8 people died when a Scottstown, Ohio fireworks store caught fire and exploded on the day before Independence Day.
Lyle and Erik Menendez were sentenced to life without parole following their convictions for slaying their parents.
Richard Allen Davis was convicted and sentenced to death in the high-profile murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas from Petaluma, California.
During testimony in the Whitewater case, President Clinton denied he had attempted to obtain an illegal loan for the venture. James and Susan MacDougal and Arkansas Governor Jim Tucker — former business partners of Bill and Hillary Clinton — were convicted of fraud. Susan MacDougal was held in contempt for refusing to tell a grand jury whether or not President Clinton perjured himself. Herby Branscum, Jr. and Robert Hill were cleared of misusing bank funds.
President Clinton — on a theme of bridging the gap to the 21st century — defeated Bob Dole to keep his presidency, but Republicans remained in control of Congress.
The U.S. fired cruise missiles into Iraq after the country invaded safe havens for the Kurds. The next day, U.S. forces destroyed an Iraqi radar site after Iraqi anti-aircraft missiles fired on U.N. forces in the No-Fly Zone.
Evander Holyfield defeated Mike Tyson for the heavyweight championship.
Radio, TV and movie comedian George Burns died at age 100.
Upon learning the clothing products bearing her name may have been made by children in foreign sweatshops, Kathie Lee Gifford implored investigators to ban offending manufacturers from exporting goods to the United States.
"Pigmania" was taking place with the popularity of the movie Babe, but it was the Sesame Street doll Tickle Me Elmo that caused stampedes at American toy stores during the Christmas season.
Three productions each received four Tony Awards: Rent, Bring In 'Da Funk and the revival of The King And I.
A paralyzed Christopher Reeve received a 3-minute standing ovation when he appeared at the Academy Awards ceremony.
Elizabeth Taylor filed for divorce from husband #7, Larry Fortensky.
Lisa Marie Presley filed for divorce from Michael Jackson. 10 months later, Jackson married his plastic surgeon's nurse, Debbie Rowe, who was pregnant with his baby.
Madonna gave birth to a daughter, Lourdes Maria Ciccone.
Rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg was acquitted of murder in a gang slaying.
Hit songs included I Believe I Can Fly by R. Kelly and Sunny Came Home by Shawn Colvin.
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1997
O.J. Simpson was found liable for the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman in a civil trial. He was ordered to pay $33,500,000 in compensation.
Timothy McVeigh was convicted in the Oklahoma City bombing.
39 members of the Heaven's Gate cult were found dead in their California headquarters. Detectives uncovered a video tape by leader Marshall Applewhite, who said the cult planned to travel to new bodies in a space ship accompanying the Comet Hale-Bopp.
In a 33-hour spacewalk, astronauts recalibrated the Hubble Telescope. The space shuttle Atlantis docked with Russia's Mir space station twice in four months to drop off and pick up astronaut Michael Foale. The Mars Sojourner became the first vehicle to navigate the surface of another planet.
California and Nevada flooded under heavy winter rains and melting snowpacks. 53,000 were evacuated and visitors were trapped inside Yosemite National Park. 50,000 residents were forced to abandon Grand Forks, North Dakota due to flooding. The Ohio River went over its banks at Louisville, Kentucky. Winter blizzards crippled portions of the midwest. A hard freeze in Florida destroyed $298,000,000 worth of crops. Tornadoes and severe thunderstorms tore through portions of Arkansas, killing 20.
Vice President Al Gore admitted to soliciting political contributions from his White House office. A senate panel investigating 1996 campaign contributions issued 52 subpoenas to Democratic donors and members of the Clinton administration shortly after Clinton and Gore were sworn in for their second terms. A couple months later, Republicans were found to have taken illegal contributions from a Hong Kong company and announced the money would be returned.
Newt Gingrich became the first Speaker of the House in U.S. history to be censured and fined for ethical misconduct. Former Senate leader Bob Dole offered to loan Gingrich the money to pay his fine.
President Clinton re-dedicated the renovated Library of Congress on its 100th anniversary.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Paula Jones could persue her sexual harrassment case against President Clinton while he was in office. Well-off Republicans rallied to finance her lawyer fees, clothing, coiffures, living expenses and cosmetic surgery.
156 were injured when an Amtrak train derailed on a Kingman, Arizona bridge. Later in the year, President Clinton signed a $2,300,000,000 package intended to give the financially-strapped railway the ability to manage itself.
Best Stores closed all 180 outlets in 24 states. The 117-year-old Woolworth chain closed its last 405 stores.
Army drill sergeant Delmar Simpson was sentenced to 25 years for raping six subordinates.
Beth Ann Hogan became the first female to attend the Virginia Military Institute.
Over 1,300 African-American employees shared a $115,000,000 race discrimination settlement from Texaco.
President Clinton rejected an international ban on land mines that had been endorsed by 89 other countries.
America and the world mourned as Princess Diana and her fiancé died in a firey car crash in Paris while being persued by photographers. George Clooney held a press conference to denounce the tactics of the tabloid press. Four days later, the world was thrown into more grief with the passing of Mother Teresa, who died of a heart attack at 87.
Book distributor Baker & Taylor was accused of overcharging libraries and schools by hundreds of millions of dollars.
200,000 children were innoculated for hepatitis A after the disease was traced to frozen strawberries in the school lunch program.
A U.S. court overturned the life sentence for British nanny Louise Woodward in the shaking death of baby Matthew Eappan.
American Volkswagen dealers were swamped with advance orders when the redesigned Beetle model was re-introduced.
The day after a 554-point drop, the Stock Market posted its biggest-ever one-day gain to date, with 1,100,000,000 shares traded.
Comic book and trading card collector stores began springing up after a 1939 Batman comic book commanded $68,500 at an auction.
Suspected serial killer Andrew Cunanan was found dead from a self-inflicted wound after the murder of fashion designer Gianni Varsache.
Living septuplets were born to Bobbie & Kenny McCaughey of Iowa.
Nearly a half-million Christian men rallied at a Promise Keepers event in Washington.
3 were killed and 5 injured when a 14-year-old fired shots into a prayer group at a West Paducah, Kentucky high school.
Bill Cosby's son, Ennis, was shot to death in a roadside robbery on a Los Angeles-area freeway. A woman claiming to be the senior Cosby's love child, Autumn Jackson, was tried for attempting to extort hush money.
The Green Bay Packers defeated the New England Patriots 35 to 10 at Super Bowl XXI.
On the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson becoming the first black major league baseball player, his number, 42, was retired.
Mike Tyson was disqualified after biting off a piece of Evander Holyfield's ear during the heavyweight title match.
After public denial, sportscaster Marv Albert pleaded guilty to biting a lover. NBC-TV fired him within an hour of his plea. Albert avoided jail time by publicly apologizing to the woman.
Tiger Woods became the first non-white golfer to win the Masters. He was also the youngest winner and the best-scorer in the tournament's history.
The Southern Baptist Convention voted to boycott all Disney products and media, including ABC-TV, which broadcast the "coming out" episode of the sitcom Ellen.
Entertainment icons James Stewart, Burgess Meredith, Red Skelton and Robert Mitchum died. Intense Saturday Night Live comedian Chris Farley was found dead in his Chicago apartment of an overdose of drugs and alcohol.
The English Patient won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Frances McDormand won the Best Actress Oscar for Fargo. Geoffrey Rush was named Best Actor for his role in Shine. Long lines formed at theaters throughout the U.S. upon the opening of Titanic.
John Denver died when his experimental plane crashed off the coast of Monterey, California.
Rapper Notorious B.I.G. was murdered in a drive-by shooting.
The self-proclaimed King of Pop, Michael Jackson, named his first-born son Prince.
Hit songs included As Long As You Love Me by the Backstreet Boys.
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1998
Linda Tripp — who in 1997 pitched literary agent Lucianne Goldberg on a White House sex scandal book — handed over her secretly-taped conversations with intern Monica Lewinsky to Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr. Starr broadened the investigation to include President Clinton's relationship with Lewinsky, which Clinton emphatically denied. As Starr was armed with evidence that Clinton lied about the affair during a deposition in the Paula Jones harassment case, the president admitted the misconduct during grand jury testimony and confessed in a TV address. Starr posted explicit testimony about the Lewinsky affair on the internet and accused Clinton of 11 impeachable offenses. His report to congress cost taxpapers over $40,000,000. At the end of the year, the Republican House voted three articles of impeachment and sent the matter on to the Senate.
As the White House scandal raged on, President Clinton's approval rating with the public soared to an all-time high.
The U.S. budget posted its biggest surplus since 1969 — $70,000,000,000.
After losing the support of his fellow Republicans, House Speaker Newt Gingrich resigned. Republicans endorsed Bob Livingston — a vocal critic of President Clinton's sexual misconduct — as Gingrich's successor. But Livingston withdrew when it was disclosed that he had an extramarital affair, too.
President Clinton settled Paula Jones' sexual harrassment suit with $850,000 and no apology nor admission of guilt. To the chagrin of the conservative Christian Republicans who had paid her expenses during her long fight against Clinton, Jones used the money to start a psychic hotline.
At age 77, former astronaut John Glenn returned to space aboard the shuttle Discovery.
12 Americans were among nearly 500 killed at U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates donated $100,000,000 to help children in developing countries get basic immunization.
The U.S. Army charged Major General David Hale with improper relationships with the wives of four officers.
The U.S. found itself in yet another standoff with dictator Saddam Hussein after Iraq banned American members of the United Nations weapons inspection teams.
The Chrysler Corporation was purchased by the owner of Mercedes-Benz for $37,000,000,000.
After killing over 200 in the Caribbean, Hurricane Georges caused $400,000,000 damage in Florida. January ice storms claimed 16 lives and knocked out power to millions in the northeast states. 127 died in ten southern states during heavy spring thunderstorms and tornadoes. Summer heat and drought in 11 states resulted in the appropriation of over $100,000,000 in federal disaster aid.
Unabomber Theordore Kaczynski received life in prison without parole in exchange for pleading guilty to five federal bombing counts.
Three white Texans were charged with the vehicular dragging death of African-American James Byrd, Jr.
An American military jet severed a ski tram cable in Italy, killing 20.
Astronomers determined a one-mile-diameter astroid — which some had thought was on a collision course with Earth — would miss the planet by 600,000 miles. Meanwhile, NASA announced there was enough frozen water on the moon to support a colony.
Terry Nichols received a life sentence for his part in the Oklahoma City bombing.
Tawana Brawley — an African-American who mustered the support of Bill Cosby and Jesse Jackson when she claimed she was raped by whites — was fined $185,000 for fabricating her story.
15-year-old Kip Kinkel killed his parents, then opened fire on a Springfield, Oregon school cafeteria, killing 1 and wounding 23.
The FDA approved the use of Viagra for the treatment of impotence.
Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris' 37-year-old single-season home run record.
The Yankees defeated the Padres in the World Series.
Tara Lipinski became the youngest Winter Olympics figure skater to take the gold medal.
Bob Barker hosted his 5,000th episode of the TV game show The Price Is Right.
Legendary singer Frank Sinatra died.
Photographer, animal rights activist and vegetarian foods mogul Linda McCartney died of breast cancer.
Track legend and 1988 triple gold medalist Florence Griffith Joyner died at age 38.
U.S. Representative Sonny Bono was killed in a skiing accident. Ex-wife Cher eulogized him and his widow, Mary, took over his House seat.
An audit found improprieties in the books of Livent, the company which produced the Broadway hit musical Ragtime.
Saturday Night Live veteran and Newsradio star Phil Hartman was shot to death by his mentally unstable wife while he slept in bed. Brynn Hartman killed herself after describing her crime to a friend. Hartman co-starred with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the box office holiday hit, Jingle All The Way.
James Cameron's Titanic, starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, tied an Academy Awards record by garnering 11 Oscars.
Frasier won its fifth consecutive Best Comedy Series Emmy.
CBS-TV was flooded with complaints after airing footage of assisted-suicide advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian administering lethal drugs to a terminally ill patient.
The Cable News Network retracted a report that U.S. forces may have used nerve gas on American defectors in the Viet Nam War.
Hit songs included 1997 holdover My Heart Will Go On (Love Theme From "Titanic") by Celine Dion, You're Still The One by Shania Twain, I'll Be by Edwin McCain and My Father's Eyes by Eric Clapton.
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1999
President Clinton's impeachment trial began in the Senate on January 7th. He was acquitted on Lincoln's Birthday.
Linda Tripp was indicted by a grand jury on charges of violating Maryland's wiretap laws. Monica Lewinsky expressed her feelings about Tripp in a Saturday Night Live sketch in which John Goodman portrayed Tripp on a call-in show.
5 died and over 100 were injured when a rare force-4 tornado ripped a mile-wide path through Haysville and Witchita, Kansas. A force-5 tornado killed 46 and injured 800 in the Oklahoma City area.
The Republican frontrunner for the presidential primary, George W. Bush, said questions about whether or not he used cocaine in college were part of a political media game.
Technicians scrambled to fix "Y2K bugs," problems that could render computers unusable should their two-digit date systems change years from 99 to 00.
John F. Kennedy, Junior, his wife, Carolyn Bessette and her sister, Lauren, died when the small plane he was piloting plane crashed into the ocean off the coast of Massachusetts.
Despite the fact that crime in the U.S. was steadily decreasing, there were several high-profile multiple-shooting murders during the year. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 11 students, 2 faculty members and themselves at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. In Atlanta, a live-in boyfriend killed a family of six and then himself. 17 days later in the same city, day trader Mark Barton entered a brokerage firm complex, killed 9, wounded 13 and killed himself. 3 died in two multiple-shooting incidents in Salt Lake City. Buford Furrow, Junior was charged with wounding 5 at a Los Angeles community center, then killing a mail carrier. 7 died when Larry Ashbrook tossed a bomb into a Fort Worth church, then shot 14 people and himself. A disgruntled employee killed 7 co-workers at a Xerox repair facility in Honolulu. A man wearing camouflage wounded 2 and killed 2 at a Seattle shipyard.
Sounding eerily like the type of calls he had introduced on Rescue 911, William Shatner phoned emergency services to report that he'd found his wife at the bottom their pool. She had drowned after falling in while drunk.
Tapes were released of O.J. Simpson making a non-emergency 911 call in Florida to complain about his girlfriend.
Laws were passed to prevent sweepstakes mailing abuses, after several companies that used mail contests to promote the sale of products were found to have committed fraud.
While the World Trade Organization met in Seattle, the media focused on widespread protests in the city's streets.
John King and William Brewer were sentenced to death for the dragging murder of a black man in Jasper, Texas.
The U.S. mourned the deaths of six Worcester, Massachusetts firefighters — the most to lose their lives in a single blaze. They had gone back into a fully-involved building on a false tip that some homeless people were inside. A memorial service was broadcast nationally and attended by fire department representatives from throughout North America.
The jury in a wrongful death trial determined that Martin Luther King, Junior's convicted assassin, James Earl Ray, had been the patsy in a government-mafia conspiracy. Ray had died a year earlier while still serving his sentence.
A Colorado grand jury returned no indictments in the murder of little-girl model JonBenet Ramsey, citing a lack of evidence.
The New York Yankees won their 25th World Series championship of the 1900s.
Sports legends Joe DiMaggio, Wilt Chamberlain and Walter Peyton died. Golfer Payne Stewart was among 5 killed on a runaway lear jet. Investigators say the jet lost cabin pressure, causing its occupants to pass out and flew uncontrolled from Florida to South Dakota before crashing.
Clayton Moore, best known as television's Lone Ranger, died of a heart attack at 85.
Other deaths among celebrities: singer-songwriters Curtis Mayfield and Mel Torme, film critic Gene Siskel, blues pioneer Charles Brown, saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr., director Stanley Kubrick and actors George C. Scott, Madeline Kahn and DeForest Kelley.
Japan's Pokemon card and video games became enormously popular with America's children. Pokemon: The First Movie had the most lucrative Thanksgiving weekend film opening of the 1900s.
Several surveys named Barbie as the most popular toy of the 1900s and she made her movie debut in the box office blockbuster Toy Story 2.
Upon her 19th nomination, Susan Lucci won her first Daytime Emmy for her role in All My Children.
Woodstock '99 was a far cry from the original 1969 peace-and-love-fest as concert-goers were arrested for vandalism, burglary, rape, assault and arson.
Just days before former Beatle George Harrison was injured in a stabbing attack by a deranged fan at his English estate, a delusional woman was arrested for breaking into and living inside his Maui, Hawaii getaway.
Hit tunes included I Want It That Way by the Backstreet Boys, You'll Be In My Heart — from the soundtrack of Disney's Tarzan — by Phil Collins and Mambo #5 by Lou Bega.
Ignoring the fact that a new century and millennium would actually begin with the year 2001, concert promoters, advertisers and the media — plus a majority of the public — considered New Year's Eve 1999 to be the moment of the transition.
