1998 in the United States
Encyclopedia
Incumbents
- PresidentPresident of the United StatesThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
: Bill ClintonBill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
(DemocraticDemocratic Party (United States)The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
) - Vice PresidentVice President of the United StatesThe Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
: Al GoreAl GoreAlbert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
(DemocraticDemocratic Party (United States)The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
) - Chief JusticeChief Justice of the United StatesThe Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...
: William RehnquistWilliam RehnquistWilliam Hubbs Rehnquist was an American lawyer, jurist, and political figure who served as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States and later as the 16th Chief Justice of the United States... - Speaker of the House of RepresentativesSpeaker of the United States House of RepresentativesThe Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
: Newt GingrichNewt GingrichNewton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich is a U.S. Republican Party politician who served as the House Minority Whip from 1989 to 1995 and as the 58th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999....
(RRepublican Party (United States)The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
-Georgia) - Senate Majority Leader: Trent LottTrent LottChester Trent Lott, Sr. , is a former United States Senator from Mississippi and has served in numerous leadership positions in the House of Representatives and the Senate....
(RRepublican Party (United States)The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
-Mississippi) - CongressUnited States CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
: 105th105th United States CongressThe One Hundred Fifth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1997 to January 3, 1999, during the fifth and...
January
- January 1 – Smoking is banned in all CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
bars and restaurants. - January 4–10 – A massiveNorth American ice storm of 1998The North American ice storm of 1998 was a massive combination of five smaller successive ice storms which combined to strike a relatively narrow swath of land from eastern Ontario to southern Quebec to Nova Scotia in Canada, and bordering areas from northern New York to central Maine in the...
winter stormWinter stormA winter storm is an event in which the dominant varieties of precipitation are formed that only occur at low temperatures, such as snow or sleet, or a rainstorm where ground temperatures are low enough to allow ice to form...
, partly caused by El Niño, strikes New EnglandNew EnglandNew England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
, southern OntarioOntarioOntario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, QuebecQuebecQuebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, and New BrunswickNew BrunswickNew Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
, resulting in widespread power failures, severe damage to forests, and numerous deaths. - January 8 – Ramzi YousefRamzi YousefRamzi Yousef was one of the main perpetrators of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and a co-conspirator in the Bojinka plot. In 1995, he was arrested at a guest house in Islamabad, by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence and United States Diplomatic Security Service, then extradited to the...
is sentenced to life in prison for planning the 1993 World Trade Center bombing1993 World Trade Center bombingThe 1993 World Trade Center bombing occurred on February 26, 1993, when a truck bomb was detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The 1,336 lb urea nitrate–hydrogen gas enhanced device was intended to knock the North Tower into the South Tower , bringing...
. - January 14 – Researchers in Dallas, TexasDallas, TexasDallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
present findings about an enzymeEnzymeEnzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...
that slows aging and cell death (apoptosisApoptosisApoptosis is the process of programmed cell death that may occur in multicellular organisms. Biochemical events lead to characteristic cell changes and death. These changes include blebbing, cell shrinkage, nuclear fragmentation, chromatin condensation, and chromosomal DNA fragmentation...
). - January 16 – NASANASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
announces that John GlennJohn GlennJohn Herschel Glenn, Jr. is a former United States Marine Corps pilot, astronaut, and United States senator who was the first American to orbit the Earth and the third American in space. Glenn was a Marine Corps fighter pilot before joining NASA's Mercury program as a member of NASA's original...
will return to space when the Space Shuttle DiscoverySpace Shuttle DiscoverySpace Shuttle Discovery is one of the retired orbiters of the Space Shuttle program of NASA, the space agency of the United States, and was operational from its maiden flight, STS-41-D on August 30, 1984, until its final landing during STS-133 on March 9, 2011...
blasts off in October. - January 17 – Paula JonesPaula JonesPaula Corbin Jones is a former Arkansas state employee who sued U.S. President Bill Clinton for sexual harassment. The lawsuit was dismissed before trial on the grounds that Jones failed to demonstrate any damages...
accuses U.S. President Bill ClintonBill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
of sexual harassmentSexual harassmentSexual harassment, is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In some contexts or circumstances, sexual harassment is illegal. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild transgressions and...
. - January 25 – Super Bowl XXXIISuper Bowl XXXIISuper Bowl XXXII was an American football game played on January 25, 1998 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California to decide the National Football League champion following the 1997 regular season...
: The Denver BroncosDenver BroncosThe Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver, Colorado. They are currently members of the West Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
become the first AFCAmerican Football ConferenceThe American Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . This conference and its counterpart, the National Football Conference , currently contain 16 teams each, making up the 32 teams of the NFL....
team in 14 yearsSuper Bowl XVIIISuper Bowl XVIII was an American football game played on January 22, 1984, at Tampa Stadium in Tampa, Florida, deciding the National Football League champion following the 1983 regular season. The American Football Conference champion Los Angeles Raiders defeated the National Football Conference...
to win the Super BowlSuper BowlThe Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
, as they defeat the Green Bay PackersGreen Bay PackersThe Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
, 31–24. - January 26 – Lewinsky scandalLewinsky scandalThe Lewinsky scandal was a political sex scandal emerging in 1998 from a sexual relationship between United States President Bill Clinton and a 25-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The news of this extra-marital affair and the resulting investigation eventually led to the impeachment of...
: On American television, President Bill ClintonBill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
denies he had "sexual relations" with former White HouseWhite HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
intern Monica LewinskyMonica LewinskyMonica Samille Lewinsky is an American woman with whom United States President Bill Clinton admitted to having had an "improper relationship" while she worked at the White House in 1995 and 1996...
. - January 26 – CompaqCompaqCompaq Computer Corporation is a personal computer company founded in 1982. Once the largest supplier of personal computing systems in the world, Compaq existed as an independent corporation until 2002, when it was acquired for US$25 billion by Hewlett-Packard....
buys Digital Equipment CorporationDigital Equipment CorporationDigital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
. - January 27 – U.S. First Lady Hillary Rodham ClintonHillary Rodham ClintonHillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
appears on The Today Show, calling the attacks against her husband part of a "vast right-wing conspiracyVast Right-Wing Conspiracy"Vast right-wing conspiracy" was a conspiracy theory advanced by then United States First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in 1998 in defense of her husband, President Bill Clinton, and his administration during the Lewinsky scandal, characterizing the Lewinsky charges as the latest in a long,...
". - January 28 – Ford Motor CompanyFord Motor CompanyFord Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
announces the buyout of Volvo CarsVolvo CarsVolvo Car Corporation, or Volvo Personvagnar AB, is a Swedish automobile manufacturer founded in 1927, in Gothenburg, Sweden. It is owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. Volvo was originally formed as a subsidiary company to the ball bearing maker SKF. When Volvo AB was introduced on the Swedish...
for $6.45 billion. - January 29 – In Birmingham, AlabamaBirmingham, AlabamaBirmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
, a bomb explodes at an abortion clinic, killing 1 and severely wounding another. Serial bomber Eric Rudolph is the prime suspect.
February
- February – Iraq disarmament crisisIraq disarmament crisisThe issue of Iraq's disarmament reached a crisis in 2002-2003, when U.S. President George W. Bush demanded a complete end to what he alleged was Iraqi production of weapons of mass destruction and that Iraq comply with UN Resolutions requiring UN weapons inspectors unfettered access to areas those...
: The United States SenateUnited States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
passes Resolution 71, urging U.S. President Bill ClintonBill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
to "take all necessary and appropriate actions to respond to the threat posed by IraqIraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs." - February 3 – Cavalese cable car disaster: a United States Military pilot causes the deaths of 20 people near TrentoTrentoTrento is an Italian city located in the Adige River valley in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. It is the capital of Trentino...
, ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, when his low-flying plane severs the cable of a cable-car. - February 3 – Karla Faye TuckerKarla Faye TuckerKarla Faye Tucker was convicted of murder in Texas in 1984 and put to death in 1998. She was the first woman to be executed in the United States since 1984, and the first in Texas since 1863...
is executed in TexasTexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, becoming the first woman executed in the United States since 1984 and the first to be executed in TexasTexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
since the American Civil WarAmerican Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. - February 6 – Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan Washington National AirportRonald Reagan Washington National AirportRonald Reagan Washington National Airport is a public airport located south of downtown Washington, D.C., in Arlington County, Virginia. It is the commercial airport nearest to Washington, D.C. For many decades, it was called Washington National Airport, but this airport was renamed in 1998 to...
. - February 7 – Roger Nicholas Angleton commits suicide in a prison cell in Houston, TexasTexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
by cutting himself with razor blades. He admits to murdering socialite Doris AngletonDoris AngletonDoris Angleton was a Texas socialite and murder victim. Doris Angleton's husband, Robert Angleton, had been accused of planning the crime...
in her River Oaks home in his suicide note. - February 10 – Voters in MaineMaineMaine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
repeal a gay rights law passed in 1997, becoming the first U.S. stateU.S. stateA U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
to abandon such a law. - February 12 – The presidential line-item vetoLine-item vetoIn United States government, the line-item veto, or partial veto, is the power of an executive authority to nullify or cancel specific provisions of a bill, usually a budget appropriations bill, without vetoing the entire legislative package...
is declared unconstitutional by a United States federal judge. - February 14 – The Department of JusticeUnited States Department of JusticeThe United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
announces that Eric Robert RudolphEric Robert RudolphEric Robert Rudolph , also known as the Olympic Park Bomber, is a criminal responsible for a series of bombings across the southern United States between 1996 and 1998, which killed two people and injured at least 150 others in the name of an anti-abortion and anti-gay agenda...
is a suspect in an AlabamaAlabamaAlabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
abortion clinic bombing. - February 15 – Dale EarnhardtDale EarnhardtRalph Dale Earnhardt, Sr. was an American race car driver, best known for his involvement in stock car racing for NASCAR...
wins the Daytona 500Daytona 500The Daytona 500 is a -long NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held annually at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is one of four restrictor plate races on the Cup schedule....
on his 20th attempt. - February 18 – Two white separatists are arrested in NevadaNevadaNevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, accused of plotting biological warfareBiological warfareBiological warfare is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi with intent to kill or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war...
on New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
subwayRapid transitA rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
s. - February 19 – Larry Wayne Harris of the Aryan NationsAryan NationsAryan Nations is a white supremacist religious organization originally based in Hayden Lake, Idaho. Richard Girnt Butler founded the group in the 1970s, as an arm of the Christian Identity organization Church of Jesus Christ–Christian...
and William Leavitt are arrested in Henderson, New YorkHenderson, New YorkHenderson is a town in Jefferson County, New York, United States. The population was 1,360 at the 2010 census. The town is named after William Henderson, the original land owner....
, for possession of military grade anthraxAnthraxAnthrax is an acute disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Most forms of the disease are lethal, and it affects both humans and other animals...
. - February 20 – Iraq disarmament crisisIraq disarmament crisisThe issue of Iraq's disarmament reached a crisis in 2002-2003, when U.S. President George W. Bush demanded a complete end to what he alleged was Iraqi production of weapons of mass destruction and that Iraq comply with UN Resolutions requiring UN weapons inspectors unfettered access to areas those...
: Iraqi President Saddam HusseinSaddam HusseinSaddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
negotiates a deal with U.N. Secretary General Kofi AnnanKofi AnnanKofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...
, allowing weapons inspectors to return to BaghdadBaghdadBaghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
, preventing military action by the United States and BritainUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. - February 23 – Florida El Niño Outbreak: TornadoTornadoA tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...
es in central FloridaFloridaFlorida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42.
March
- March 4 – Gay rights: Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore ServicesOncale v. Sundowner Offshore ServicesOncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, , was a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States. The case arose out of a suit for sex discrimination by a male oil-rig worker, who claimed that he was repeatedly subjected to sexual harassment by his male co-workers with the acquiescence of his...
: The Supreme Court of the United StatesSupreme Court of the United StatesThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
rules that federal laws banning on-the-job sexual harassmentSexual harassmentSexual harassment, is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In some contexts or circumstances, sexual harassment is illegal. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild transgressions and...
also apply when both parties are the same sex. - March 5 – NASANASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
announces that the ClementineClementine missionClementine was a joint space project between the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization and NASA...
probe orbiting the Moon has found enough water in polar craters to support a human colony and rocket fueling station. - March 5 – NASA announces the choice of United States Air ForceUnited States Air ForceThe United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
Lt. Col. Eileen CollinsEileen CollinsEileen Marie Collins is a retired American astronaut and a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel. A former military instructor and test pilot, Collins was the first female pilot and first female commander of a Space Shuttle. She was awarded several medals for her work. Col. Collins has logged 38 days 8...
as commander of a future Space Shuttle ColumbiaSpace Shuttle ColumbiaSpace Shuttle Columbia was the first spaceworthy Space Shuttle in NASA's orbital fleet. First launched on the STS-1 mission, the first of the Space Shuttle program, it completed 27 missions before being destroyed during re-entry on February 1, 2003 near the end of its 28th, STS-107. All seven crew...
mission to launch an X-rayX-rayX-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...
telescope, making Collins the first woman to command a space shuttleSpace ShuttleThe Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
mission. - March 7 – The Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux KlanKu Klux KlanKu Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
is fined for burning a cross in his garden and infringing air regulations in CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. - March 10 – United States troops stationed in the Persian GulfPersian GulfThe Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
begin to receive the first anthraxAnthraxAnthrax is an acute disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Most forms of the disease are lethal, and it affects both humans and other animals...
vaccineVaccineA vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...
. - March 23 – The 70th Academy Awards70th Academy AwardsThe 70th Academy Awards were noted for their high ratings and the 11 wins obtained by the Best Picture Titanic. Billy Crystal hosted the ceremony for the sixth time, and received an Emmy award for his performance....
, hosted by Billy CrystalBilly CrystalWilliam Edward "Billy" Crystal is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian and film director. He gained prominence in the 1970s for playing Jodie Dallas on the ABC sitcom Soap and became a Hollywood film star during the late 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the critical and box office successes...
, are held at the Shrine AuditoriumShrine AuditoriumThe Shrine Auditorium is a landmark large-event venue, in Los Angeles, California, USA. It is also the headquarters of the Al Malaikah Temple, a division of the Shriners.-History:...
in Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
with the film TitanicTitanic (1997 film)Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
winning a record 11 Oscars. - March 27 – The Food and Drug AdministrationFood and Drug AdministrationThe Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
approves Viagra for use as a treatment for erectile dysfunctionErectile dysfunctionErectile dysfunction is sexual dysfunction characterized by the inability to develop or maintain an erection of the penis during sexual performance....
, the first pill to be approved for this condition in the United States. - March 29 – A series of 3 tornadoes in southern MinnesotaMinnesotaMinnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
kills 3 people.
April
- April 7 – Citicorp and Travelers Group announce plans to merge, creating the largest financial-services conglomerate in the world, CitigroupCitigroupCitigroup Inc. or Citi is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Citigroup was formed from one of the world's largest mergers in history by combining the banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomerate...
. - April 8 – April 1998 Birmingham tornado: An F5 tornadoTornadoA tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...
strikes the western portion of the Birmingham, AlabamaBirmingham, AlabamaBirmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
area, killing 32 people. - April 16 – An F3 tornado passes through downtown Nashville, TennesseeNashville, TennesseeNashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, the first significant tornado in 11 years to directly hit a major city. An F5 tornado travels through rural portions south of Nashville (see 1998 Nashville tornado outbreak). - April 22 – The Disney's Animal KingdomDisney's Animal KingdomDisney's Animal Kingdom is an animal theme park located at the Walt Disney World Resort. The fourth park built at the resort, it opened on April 22, 1998, and it is the largest single Disney theme park in the world, covering more than . It is also the first Disney theme park to be themed entirely...
theme park at Walt Disney World opens to the public for the first time. - April 27 – The Aladdin Hotel & Casino in Las VegasLas Vegas StripThe Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
is imploded to make way for the brand new Aladdin Hotel & Casino
May
- May 13 – India carries out 2 more nuclear tests at PokhranPokhranPokhran is a city and a municipality located in Jaisalmer district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is a remote location in the Thar Desert region and served as the test site for India's first underground nuclear weapon detonation.-Geography:Pokhran http://marupradesh.org/ located at...
. The United States and Japan impose economic sanctions on India. - May 18 – United States v. MicrosoftUnited States v. MicrosoftUnited States v. Microsoft was a set of civil actions filed against Microsoft Corporation pursuant to the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 Section 1 and 2 on May 8, 1998 by the United States Department of Justice and 20 U.S. states. Joel I. Klein was the lead prosecutor...
: The United States Department of JusticeUnited States Department of JusticeThe United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
and 20 U.S. stateU.S. stateA U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
s file an antitrust case against MicrosoftMicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
. - May 21 – At Thurston High SchoolThurston High SchoolThurston High School is a public high school located in the Thurston area of Springfield, Oregon, United States.-Academics:In 2008, 80% of the school's seniors received their high school diploma...
in Springfield, OregonSpringfield, OregonSpringfield is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States. Located in the Southern Willamette Valley, it is within the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. Separated from Eugene to the west, mainly by Interstate 5, Springfield is the second-most populous city in the metropolitan area...
, Kipland Kinkel (who was suspended for bringing a gunGunA gun is a muzzle or breech-loaded projectile-firing weapon. There are various definitions depending on the nation and branch of service. A "gun" may be distinguished from other firearms in being a crew-served weapon such as a howitzer or mortar, as opposed to a small arm like a rifle or pistol,...
to school) shoots a semi-automatic rifleSemi-automatic rifleA semi-automatic rifle is a type of rifle that fires a single bullet each time the trigger is pulled, automatically ejects the spent cartridge, chambers a fresh cartridge from its magazine, and is immediately ready to fire another shot...
into a room filled with students, killing 2 and wounding 25 others, after killing his parents at home. - May 21 – In Miami, FloridaMiami, FloridaMiami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, 5 abortion clinicAbortion clinicAn abortion clinic is a medical facility that primarily performs or specializes in abortions. Such clinics may be public medical centers or private medical practices.-Canada:*There were 197 abortion providers in Canada in 2001....
s are hit by a butyric acidButyric acidButyric acid , also known under the systematic name butanoic acid, is a carboxylic acid with the structural formula CH3CH2CH2-COOH. Salts and esters of butyric acid are known as butyrates or butanoates...
attacker. - May 22 – Lewinsky scandalLewinsky scandalThe Lewinsky scandal was a political sex scandal emerging in 1998 from a sexual relationship between United States President Bill Clinton and a 25-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The news of this extra-marital affair and the resulting investigation eventually led to the impeachment of...
: A federal judge rules that United States Secret ServiceUnited States Secret ServiceThe United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
agents can be compelled to testify before a grand juryGrand juryA grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
concerning the scandal. - May 27 – Oklahoma City bombingOklahoma City bombingThe Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. It was the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives, including 19...
: Michael FortierMichael FortierMichael M. Fortier, PC is a former Canadian Minister of International Trade and a former Conservative senator from Quebec...
is sentenced to 14 years in prison and fined $200,000 for failing to warn authorities about the terrorist plot. - May 28 – Nuclear testingNuclear testingNuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the effectiveness, yield and explosive capability of nuclear weapons. Throughout the twentieth century, most nations that have developed nuclear weapons have tested them...
: In response to a series of Indian nuclear tests, Pakistan explodes 5 nuclear devices of its own in the Chaghai hills of Baluchistan, prompting the United States, Japan and other nations to impose economic sanctions.
June
- June 2 – CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
voters approve Proposition 227, abolishing the state's bilingual education program. - June 4 – Terry NicholsTerry NicholsTerry Lynn Nichols is a convicted bomber's accomplice. Prior to his incarceration, he held a variety of short-term jobs, working as a farmer, grain elevator manager, real estate salesman, ranch hand, and house husband. He met his future co-conspirator, Timothy McVeigh, during a brief stint in the...
is sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Oklahoma City bombingOklahoma City bombingThe Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. It was the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives, including 19...
. - June 5 – A strikeStrike actionStrike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
begins at the General Motors Corporation parts factory in Flint, MichiganFlint, MichiganFlint is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit. The U.S. Census Bureau reports the 2010 population to be placed at 102,434, making Flint the seventh largest city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Genesee County which lies in the...
, quickly spreading to 5 other assembly plants and lasting 7 weeks. - June 7 – Three white supremacists murder James Byrd Jr. in Jasper, TexasJasper, TexasJasper is the county seat of Jasper County, Texas, in the United States. The population was 8,247 at the 2000 census. Jasper is situated in the Deep East Texas subregion, about northeast of Houston. The city is best known for the 1998 murder of James Byrd, Jr., an event which gained national...
. - June 12 – A jury in Hattiesburg, MississippiHattiesburg, MississippiHattiesburg is a city in Forrest County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 44,779 at the 2000 census . It is the county seat of Forrest County...
, convicts 17-year-old Luke Woodham of killing 2 students and wounding 7 others at Pearl High School. - June 12 – Christina Marie WilliamsChristina Marie WilliamsChristina Marie Williams was a 13-year-old Filipino-American girl who was kidnapped in Seaside, California on June 12, 1998 while taking her dog Greg out for a walk. Christina left her home at around 7:30 PM. Greg returned at 8:20 PM trailing his leash...
, 13, is kidnapped in Seaside, CaliforniaSeaside, CaliforniaSeaside is a city in Monterey County, California, United States, with a population of 33,025 as of the 2010 census. Seaside is located east-northeast of Monterey, at an elevation of 33 feet...
while walking her dog. - June 14 – The Chicago BullsChicago BullsThe Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, playing in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was founded in 1966. They play their home games at the United Center...
win their 6th NBANational Basketball AssociationThe National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
title in 8 years when they beat the Utah JazzUtah JazzThe Utah Jazz is a professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. They are currently a part of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
, 87–86 in Game 6. This is also Michael JordanMichael JordanMichael Jeffrey Jordan is a former American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats...
's last game as a Bull, clinching the game in the final seconds on a fadeaway jumper. - June 16 – The Detroit Red WingsDetroit Red WingsThe Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League , and are one of the Original Six teams of the NHL, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, New York...
sweep the Washington CapitalsWashington CapitalsThe Washington Capitals are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Since their founding in 1974, "The Caps" have won one conference championship to reach the 1998 Stanley Cup...
in 4 games in the 1998 Stanley Cup Finals1998 Stanley Cup Finals- Detroit Red Wings - 1998 Stanley Cup Champions :- Stanley Cup engravings :* Wally Crossman was oldest person engraved on the Stanley Cup at age 87....
. - June 25 – Clinton v. City of New YorkClinton v. City of New YorkClinton v. City of New York, , is a legal case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the line-item veto as granted in the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 violated the Presentment Clause of the United States Constitution because it impermissibly gave the President of the United...
: The United States Supreme Court rules that the Line Item Veto Act of 1996Line Item Veto Act of 1996The Line Item Veto Act of 1996 enacted a line-item veto for the Federal government of the United States, but its effect was brief due to judicial review....
is unconstitutional. - June 25 – Microsoft releases Windows 98Windows 98Windows 98 is a graphical operating system by Microsoft. It is the second major release in the Windows 9x line of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on 15 May 1998 and to retail on 25 June 1998. Windows 98 is the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid...
(First Edition).
July
- July 5 – Japan launches a probe to MarsMarsMars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
, joining the United States and Russia as an outer spaceOuter spaceOuter space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....
-exploring nation. - July 10 – The DNADNADeoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
-identified remains of United States Air ForceUnited States Air ForceThe United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie arrive home to his family in St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, after being in the Tomb of the UnknownsTomb of the UnknownsThe Tomb of the Unknowns is a monument dedicated to American service members who have died without their remains being identified. It is located in Arlington National Cemetery in the United States...
since 1984. - July 10 – Catholic priests' sex abuse scandal: The Diocese of Dallas agrees to pay $23.4 million to 9 former altar boys who claimed they were sexually abused by former priest Rudolph Kos.
- July 24 – Russell Eugene Weston Jr. bursts into the United States CapitolUnited States CapitolThe United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...
and opens fire, killing 2 police officers. He is later ruled incompetent to stand trial. - July 25 – The United States NavyUnited States NavyThe United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
commissions the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and puts her into service. - July 28 – Monica Lewinsky scandal: Ex-White HouseWhite HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
intern Monica LewinskyMonica LewinskyMonica Samille Lewinsky is an American woman with whom United States President Bill Clinton admitted to having had an "improper relationship" while she worked at the White House in 1995 and 1996...
receives transactional immunity, in exchange for her grand juryGrand juryA grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
testimony concerning her relationship with U.S. President Bill ClintonBill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
.
August
- August 7 – 1998 U.S. embassy bombings: The bombings of the United States embassies in Dar es SalaamDar es SalaamDar es Salaam , formerly Mzizima, is the largest city in Tanzania. It is also the country's richest city and a regionally important economic centre. Dar es Salaam is actually an administrative province within Tanzania, and consists of three local government areas or administrative districts: ...
, TanzaniaTanzaniaThe United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
, and NairobiNairobiNairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
, KenyaKenyaKenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
kill 224 people and injure over 4,500; they are linked to terrorist Osama Bin LadenOsama bin LadenOsama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
, an exile of Saudi ArabiaSaudi ArabiaThe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
. - August 14 – Gary C. Evans, infamous in New York's Capital RegionCapital regionA capital region, also called a national capital region, capital district or capital territory is a common term for the region or district surrounding the capital city of a country or any other administrative division...
for killing 5 people, escapes police custody and kills himself by jumping off a bridge. - August 19 – Monica Lewinsky scandal: On the day of his 52nd birthday, U.S. President Bill ClintonBill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with White HouseWhite HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
intern Monica LewinskyMonica LewinskyMonica Samille Lewinsky is an American woman with whom United States President Bill Clinton admitted to having had an "improper relationship" while she worked at the White House in 1995 and 1996...
. He also admits before the nation that night in a nationally televised address that he "misled people" about his sexual affair with Lewinsky. - August 20 – 1998 U.S. embassy bombings: The United States military launches cruise missileCruise missileA cruise missile is a guided missile that carries an explosive payload and is propelled, usually by a jet engine, towards a land-based or sea-based target. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhead over long distances with high accuracy...
attacks against alleged Al-QaedaAl-QaedaAl-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
camps in AfghanistanAfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and a suspected chemical plant in SudanSudanSudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of American embassies in KenyaKenyaKenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
and TanzaniaTanzaniaThe United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
. The al-Shifa pharmaceutical factoryAl-Shifa pharmaceutical factoryThe Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum North, Sudan, was constructed between 1992 and 1996 with components imported from the United States, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, India, and Thailand....
in KhartoumKhartoumKhartoum is the capital and largest city of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile flowing north from Lake Victoria, and the Blue Nile flowing west from Ethiopia. The location where the two Niles meet is known as "al-Mogran"...
is destroyed in the attack. - August 26 – Iraq disarmament crisisIraq disarmament crisisThe issue of Iraq's disarmament reached a crisis in 2002-2003, when U.S. President George W. Bush demanded a complete end to what he alleged was Iraqi production of weapons of mass destruction and that Iraq comply with UN Resolutions requiring UN weapons inspectors unfettered access to areas those...
: Scott Ritter resigns from UNSCOM, sharply criticizing the ClintonBill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
administration and the U.N. Security Council for not being vigorous enough about insisting that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction be destroyed. Ritter tells reporters that "Iraq is not disarming," "Iraq retains the capability to launch a chemical strike."
September
- September 2 – A McDonnell Douglas MD-11McDonnell Douglas MD-11The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 is a three-engine medium- to long-range widebody jet airliner, manufactured by McDonnell Douglas and, later, by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Based on the DC-10, it features a stretched fuselage, increased wingspan with winglets, refined airfoils on the wing and smaller...
airliner (Swissair Flight 111Swissair Flight 111Swissair Flight 111 was a Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-11 on a scheduled airline flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, United States to Cointrin International Airport in Geneva, Switzerland...
) crashes near Peggys Cove, Nova ScotiaPeggys Cove, Nova ScotiaPeggys Cove is one of the busiest tourist attractions in Nova Scotia and is a prime attraction on the Lighthouse Trail scenic drive. The community's famous lighthouse marks the eastern entrance of St. Margarets Bay and is officially known as the Peggys Point Lighthouse.Peggys Cove has a classic...
, after taking off from New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
en-route to GenevaGenevaGeneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
; all 229 people on board are killed. - September 4 – GoogleGoogleGoogle Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, Inc. is founded in Menlo Park, CaliforniaMenlo Park, CaliforniaMenlo Park, California is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, in the United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the south; Atherton, North Fair Oaks, and Redwood City...
, by Stanford UniversityStanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
Ph.D. candidates Larry PageLarry PageLawrence "Larry" Page is an American computer scientist and internet entrepreneur who, with Sergey Brin, is best known as the co-founder of Google. As of April 4, 2011, he is also the chief executive of Google, as announced on January 20, 2011...
and Sergey BrinSergey BrinSergey Mikhaylovich Brin is a Russian-born American computer scientist and internet entrepreneur who, with Larry Page, co-founded Google, one of the largest internet companies. , his personal wealth is estimated to be $16.7 billion....
. - September 8 – St. Louis CardinalsSt. Louis CardinalsThe St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
first baseman Mark McGwireMark McGwireMark David McGwire , nicknamed "Big Mac", is an American former professional baseball player who played his major league career with the Oakland Athletics and the St. Louis Cardinals. He is currently the hitting coach for the St...
breaks baseball's single-season home runHome runIn baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...
record, formerly held since 1961 by Roger MarisRoger MarisRoger Eugene Maris was an American Major League Baseball right fielder. During the 1961 season, he hit a record 61 home runs for the New York Yankees, breaking Babe Ruth's single-season record of 60 home runs...
. McGwire hits #62 at Busch Stadium in the 4th inning off of Chicago CubsChicago CubsThe Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
pitcher Steve TrachselSteve TrachselStephen Christopher Trachsel , nicknamed "The Human Rain Delay", is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He is known for the long amount of time he takes to deliver the ball to home plate in between pitches. Games in which he pitches are known to be considerably longer than most games, leading...
. - September 25–28 – Major creditors of Long-Term Capital ManagementLong-Term Capital ManagementLong-Term Capital Management L.P. was a speculative hedge fund based in Greenwich, Connecticut that utilized absolute-return trading strategies combined with high leverage...
, a Greenwich, ConnecticutGreenwich, ConnecticutGreenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 61,171. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut and is 38+ minutes ...
-based hedge fundHedge fundA hedge fund is a private pool of capital actively managed by an investment adviser. Hedge funds are only open for investment to a limited number of accredited or qualified investors who meet criteria set by regulators. These investors can be institutions, such as pension funds, university...
, after days of tough bargaining and some informal mediation by Federal Reserve officials, agree on terms of a re-capitalization. - September 29 – Iraq disarmament crisisIraq disarmament crisisThe issue of Iraq's disarmament reached a crisis in 2002-2003, when U.S. President George W. Bush demanded a complete end to what he alleged was Iraqi production of weapons of mass destruction and that Iraq comply with UN Resolutions requiring UN weapons inspectors unfettered access to areas those...
: The U.S. Congress passes the Iraq Liberation ActIraq Liberation ActThe Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 is a United States Congressional statement of policy calling for regime change in Iraq. It was signed into law by President Bill Clinton, and states that it is the policy of the United States to support democratic movements within Iraq...
, which states that the United States wants to remove Saddam HusseinSaddam HusseinSaddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
from power and replace the government with a democratic institution.
October
- October 4 – Leafie Mason is murdered in her Hughes Springs, TexasHughes Springs, TexasHughes Springs is a city in Cass and Morris Counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 1,856 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Hughes Springs is located at ....
house by Angel Maturino ResendizÁngel Maturino ReséndizAngel Maturino Reséndiz, aka The Railroad Killer/The Railway Killer , was an itinerant Mexican serial killer responsible for as many as thirty murders across the United States and Mexico during the 1990s. Some also involved sexual assault...
. She is his second victim in his second incident. - October 6 – College student Matthew ShepardMatthew ShepardMatthew Wayne Shepard was a student at the University of Wyoming who was tortured and murdered near Laramie, Wyoming, in October 1998...
is found tied to a fence near Laramie, WyomingLaramie, WyomingLaramie is a city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 30,816 at the . Located on the Laramie River in southeastern Wyoming, the city is west of Cheyenne, at the junction of Interstate 80 and U.S. Route 287....
. He dies October 12, becoming a symbol of gay-bashing victims and sparking public reflection on homophobiaHomophobiaHomophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
in the U.S. - October 7 – The United States CongressUnited States CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
passes the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, which gives copyright holders 20 more years of copyright privilege on work they control. This effectively freezes the public domainPublic domainWorks are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
to works created before 1923 in the United States. - October 12 – The Congress of the United States passes the Digital Millennium Copyright ActDigital Millennium Copyright ActThe Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization . It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to...
. - October 14 – Eric Robert RudolphEric Robert RudolphEric Robert Rudolph , also known as the Olympic Park Bomber, is a criminal responsible for a series of bombings across the southern United States between 1996 and 1998, which killed two people and injured at least 150 others in the name of an anti-abortion and anti-gay agenda...
is charged with 6 bombings (including the 1996 Olympic bombing) in Atlanta, GeorgiaAtlanta, GeorgiaAtlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
. - October 15 – American AirlinesAmerican AirlinesAmerican Airlines, Inc. is the world's fourth-largest airline in passenger miles transported and operating revenues. American Airlines is a subsidiary of the AMR Corporation and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas adjacent to its largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport...
becomes the first airline to offer electronic ticketing in all 44 countries it serves. - October 15 – The Bellagio Hotel & Casino in Las VegasLas Vegas StripThe Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
opens on the former grounds of the Dunes HotelDunes (hotel and casino)The Dunes Hotel was a Paradise, Nevada, hotel and casino that operated from May 23, 1955 to January 26, 1993, and was the tenth resort to open on the Las Vegas Strip. The Bellagio now stands on the former grounds.-History:... - October 17–18 – severe flooding takes place in south Central Texas.
- October 21 – The New York YankeesNew York YankeesThe New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
defeat the San Diego PadresSan Diego PadresThe San Diego Padres are a Major League Baseball team based in San Diego, California. They play in the National League Western Division. Founded in 1969, the Padres have won the National League Pennant twice, in 1984 and 1998, losing in the World Series both times...
to sweep them in the World Series1998 World SeriesThe 1998 World Series, the 94th edition of Major League Baseball's championship series, matched the New York Yankees against the San Diego Padres . The Yankees swept the Series in four games to capture their second championship in three years, and their 24th overall...
. The Yankees finish with 114 regular-season wins and 11 postseason victories (125 total – the most by any team in 123 years of Major League baseball). - October 29 – STS-95STS-95STS-95 was a Space Shuttle Discovery mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 29 October 1998. It was the 25th flight of Discovery and the 92nd mission flown since the start of the Space Shuttle program in April 1981. It was a highly publicized mission due to former Project Mercury...
: The Space Shuttle DiscoverySpace Shuttle DiscoverySpace Shuttle Discovery is one of the retired orbiters of the Space Shuttle program of NASA, the space agency of the United States, and was operational from its maiden flight, STS-41-D on August 30, 1984, until its final landing during STS-133 on March 9, 2011...
blasts off with 77-year-old John GlennJohn GlennJohn Herschel Glenn, Jr. is a former United States Marine Corps pilot, astronaut, and United States senator who was the first American to orbit the Earth and the third American in space. Glenn was a Marine Corps fighter pilot before joining NASA's Mercury program as a member of NASA's original...
on board, making him the oldest person to go into space. (He became the first American to orbit the Earth on February 20, 1962.) - October 29 – In Freehold Borough, New JerseyFreehold Borough, New JerseyFreehold is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 12,052. It is the county seat of Monmouth County....
, Melissa DrexlerMelissa DrexlerMelissa Drexler , gained infamy for delivering a baby in a restroom stall at her high school prom and putting the body in the trash before returning to the dance. She pled guilty to aggravated manslaughter, and was sentenced to fifteen years of imprisonment...
pleads guilty to aggravated manslaughterManslaughterManslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...
for killing her baby moments after delivering him in the bathroom at her senior promPromIn the United States and Canada, a prom, short for promenade, is a formal dance, or gathering of high school students. It is typically held near the end of the senior year. It figures greatly in popular culture and is a major event among high school students...
, and is sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.
November
- November 3 – Jesse VenturaJesse VenturaJames George Janos , better known as Jesse Ventura, is an American politician, the 38th Governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003, Navy UDT veteran, former SEAL reservist, actor, and former radio and television talk show host...
, former professional wrestler, is elected Governor of MinnesotaGovernor of MinnesotaThe Governor of Minnesota is the chief executive of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty different people have been governors of the state, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory. Alexander Ramsey, the first territorial...
. - November 5 – Lewinsky scandalLewinsky scandalThe Lewinsky scandal was a political sex scandal emerging in 1998 from a sexual relationship between United States President Bill Clinton and a 25-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The news of this extra-marital affair and the resulting investigation eventually led to the impeachment of...
: As part of the impeachmentImpeachment of Bill ClintonBill Clinton, President of the United States, was impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice on December 19, 1998, but acquitted by the Senate on February 12, 1999. Two other impeachment articles, a second perjury charge and a charge of abuse of...
inquiry, House Judiciary Committee chairman Henry HydeHenry HydeHenry John Hyde , an American politician, was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 2007, representing the 6th District of Illinois, an area of Chicago's northwestern suburbs which included O'Hare International Airport...
sends a list of 81 questions to U.S. President Bill ClintonBill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
. - November 5 – The journal NatureNature (journal)Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
publishes a genetic study showing compelling evidence that Thomas JeffersonThomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
fathered his slave Sally HemingsSally HemingsSarah "Sally" Hemings was a mixed-race slave owned by President Thomas Jefferson through inheritance from his wife. She was the half-sister of Jefferson's wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson by their father John Wayles...
' son Eston Hemings Jefferson. - November 7 – John GlennJohn GlennJohn Herschel Glenn, Jr. is a former United States Marine Corps pilot, astronaut, and United States senator who was the first American to orbit the Earth and the third American in space. Glenn was a Marine Corps fighter pilot before joining NASA's Mercury program as a member of NASA's original...
returns to EarthEarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
aboard the Space Shuttle DiscoverySpace Shuttle DiscoverySpace Shuttle Discovery is one of the retired orbiters of the Space Shuttle program of NASA, the space agency of the United States, and was operational from its maiden flight, STS-41-D on August 30, 1984, until its final landing during STS-133 on March 9, 2011...
. - November 9 – In the largest civil settlement in United States history, a federal judge approves a US$1.03 billion settlement requiring dozens of brokerage houses (including Merrill LynchMerrill LynchMerrill Lynch is the wealth management division of Bank of America. With over 15,000 financial advisors and $2.2 trillion in client assets it is the world's largest brokerage. Formerly known as Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., prior to 2009 the firm was publicly owned and traded on the New York...
, Goldman SachsGoldman SachsThe Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational bulge bracket investment banking and securities firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients...
, and Salomon Smith Barney) to pay investors who claim they were cheated in a widespread price-fixing scheme on the NASDAQNASDAQThe NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...
. - November 12 – Daimler-BenzDaimler-BenzDaimler-Benz AG was a German manufacturer of automobiles, motor vehicles, and internal combustion engines; founded in 1926. An Agreement of Mutual Interest - which was valid until year 2000 - was signed on 1 May 1924 between Karl Benz's Benz & Cie., and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft, which had...
completes a merger with Chrysler Corporation to form Daimler-Chrysler. - November 13–14 – Iraq disarmament crisisIraq disarmament crisisThe issue of Iraq's disarmament reached a crisis in 2002-2003, when U.S. President George W. Bush demanded a complete end to what he alleged was Iraqi production of weapons of mass destruction and that Iraq comply with UN Resolutions requiring UN weapons inspectors unfettered access to areas those...
: U.S. President Bill ClintonBill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
orders airstrikes on IraqIraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, then calls them off at the last minute when IraqIraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
promises once again to "unconditionally" cooperate with UNSCOM. - November 19 – Lewinsky scandalLewinsky scandalThe Lewinsky scandal was a political sex scandal emerging in 1998 from a sexual relationship between United States President Bill Clinton and a 25-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The news of this extra-marital affair and the resulting investigation eventually led to the impeachment of...
: The United State House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee begins impeachmentImpeachment of Bill ClintonBill Clinton, President of the United States, was impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice on December 19, 1998, but acquitted by the Senate on February 12, 1999. Two other impeachment articles, a second perjury charge and a charge of abuse of...
hearings against U.S. President Bill ClintonBill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
. - November 20 – A court in Taliban-controlled AfghanistanAfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
declares accused terrorist Osama bin LadenOsama bin LadenOsama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
"a man without a sin" in regard to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in KenyaKenyaKenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
and TanzaniaTanzaniaThe United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
. - November 24 – America Online announces it will acquire Netscape Communications in a stock-for-stock transaction worth US$4.2 billion.
- November 30 – Deutsche BankDeutsche BankDeutsche Bank AG is a global financial service company with its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. It employs more than 100,000 people in over 70 countries, and has a large presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and the emerging markets...
announces a US$10 billion deal to buy Bankers TrustBankers TrustBankers Trust was an historic American banking organization. The bank merged with Alex. Brown & Sons before being acquired by Deutsche Bank in 1998.-History:A consortium of banks created Bankers Trust to perform trust company services for their clients....
, thus creating the largest financial institution in the world.
December
- December – Grade school children in Aurora, ColoradoAurora, ColoradoCity of Aurora is a Home Rule Municipality spanning Arapahoe, Adams, and Douglas counties in Colorado. Aurora is an eastern suburb of the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area . The city is the third most populous city in the Colorado and the 56th most populous city in the...
, collect $35,000 to purchase and free slave children in SudanSudanSudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
. - December 1 – ExxonExxonExxon is a chain of gas stations as well as a brand of motor fuel and related products by ExxonMobil. From 1972 to 1999, Exxon was the corporate name of the company previously known as Standard Oil Company of New Jersey or Jersey Standard....
announces a US$73.7 billion deal to buy MobilMobilMobil, previously known as the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, was a major American oil company which merged with Exxon in 1999 to form ExxonMobil. Today Mobil continues as a major brand name within the combined company, as well as still being a gas station sometimes paired with their own store or On...
, thus creating Exxon-Mobil, the second-largest company on the planet by revenue. - December 5 – D.C. UnitedD.C. UnitedD.C. United is an American professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league since its inception, in 1996.Over the...
defeats Vasco da GamaVasco da GamaVasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India...
2–1 on aggregate to win the Interamerican Cup (one of the greatest triumphs in the history of U.S. club soccer). - December 16–19 – Iraq disarmament crisisIraq disarmament crisisThe issue of Iraq's disarmament reached a crisis in 2002-2003, when U.S. President George W. Bush demanded a complete end to what he alleged was Iraqi production of weapons of mass destruction and that Iraq comply with UN Resolutions requiring UN weapons inspectors unfettered access to areas those...
: U.S. President Bill ClintonBill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
orders American and British airstrikes on IraqIraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. UNSCOM withdraws all weapons inspectors from Iraq. - December 17 – Claudia Benton, of West University Place, TexasTexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, is murdered in her house by Angel Maturino ResendizÁngel Maturino ReséndizAngel Maturino Reséndiz, aka The Railroad Killer/The Railway Killer , was an itinerant Mexican serial killer responsible for as many as thirty murders across the United States and Mexico during the 1990s. Some also involved sexual assault...
(his third victim in his third incident). - December 19 – Lewinsky scandalLewinsky scandalThe Lewinsky scandal was a political sex scandal emerging in 1998 from a sexual relationship between United States President Bill Clinton and a 25-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The news of this extra-marital affair and the resulting investigation eventually led to the impeachment of...
: President Bill ClintonBill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
is impeachedImpeachment of Bill ClintonBill Clinton, President of the United States, was impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice on December 19, 1998, but acquitted by the Senate on February 12, 1999. Two other impeachment articles, a second perjury charge and a charge of abuse of...
by the United States House of RepresentativesUnited States House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
. (He was later acquitted of any wrongdoing.) - December 21 – Iraq disarmament crisisIraq disarmament crisisThe issue of Iraq's disarmament reached a crisis in 2002-2003, when U.S. President George W. Bush demanded a complete end to what he alleged was Iraqi production of weapons of mass destruction and that Iraq comply with UN Resolutions requiring UN weapons inspectors unfettered access to areas those...
: UN Security Council members France, Germany and Russia call for sanctions to end against IraqIraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. The 3 Security Council members also call for UNSCOM to either be disbanded or for its role to be recast. The U.S. says it will veto any such proposal. - December 26 – Iraq disarmament crisisIraq disarmament crisisThe issue of Iraq's disarmament reached a crisis in 2002-2003, when U.S. President George W. Bush demanded a complete end to what he alleged was Iraqi production of weapons of mass destruction and that Iraq comply with UN Resolutions requiring UN weapons inspectors unfettered access to areas those...
: IraqIraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
announces its intention to fire upon U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern "no-fly zones".
Ongoing
- Iraqi no-fly zonesIraqi no-fly zonesThe Iraqi no-fly zones were a set of two separate no-fly zones , and were proclaimed by the United States, United Kingdom and France after the Gulf War of 1991 to protect the Kurdish people in northern Iraq and Shiite Muslims in the south. Iraqi aircraft were forbidden from flying inside the zones...
(1991–2003) - Dot-com bubbleDot-com bubbleThe dot-com bubble was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2000 during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the more...
(c. 1995–c. 2000) - Lewinsky scandalLewinsky scandalThe Lewinsky scandal was a political sex scandal emerging in 1998 from a sexual relationship between United States President Bill Clinton and a 25-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The news of this extra-marital affair and the resulting investigation eventually led to the impeachment of...
(1998–1999)
Births
- January 1 - Marlene LawstonMarlene LawstonMarlene Lawston is an American child actress.-Career:Lawston's acting debut was in the 2005 movie Flightplan, where she played Julia, the six-year-old daughter of Kyle Pratt who was kidnapped onboard a plane. In 2006 she played Julie Grant in the Law & Order episode "Thinking Makes It So"...
, actress - January 6 - Emmanuel SavaryEmmanuel SavaryEmmanuel Savary ; born January 6, 1998) is an American mens figure skater. He is the 2009 intermediate mens U.S. champion and the 2010 U.S. novice mens silver medalist. Emmanuel won the 2009 Intermediate Mens National Championship at just 10 years old...
, figure skater - January 12 - Nathan GambleNathan GambleNathan Gamble is an American child actor who made his feature film debut in Babel , for which he was nominated for a 2007 Young Artist Award....
, actor - January 13 - Kamron DoyleKamron DoyleKamron Doyle is an American ten-pin bowler from Brentwood, Tennessee. He is the youngest person in USBC history to record an 800 series—a three-game set with scores adding to at least 800—which he accomplished on March 14, 2009 at the age of 11 years, 60 days. He is also the third-youngest...
, ten-pin bowler - January 28 - Ariel WinterAriel WinterAriel Winter Workman , known in television shows and films as Ariel Winter, is an American teen actress and singer. Winter is best known for her current role as Alex Dunphy in the TV series Modern Family, for which she has won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble in a Comedy Series, along...
, actress - February 15 - Zachary GordonZachary GordonZachary Adam Gordon is an American film and television actor, best known for playing Greg Heffley in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid films which are based on Jeff Kinney's #1 New York Times best seller Diary of a Wimpy Kid....
, actor - February 18 - Matthew DavidsonMatthew DavidsonMatthew Davidson ...Matthew Davidson, guitarist and vocalist, is a 13 year old child prodigy from Shreveport, LA. He won his first electric guitar in the 2007 James Burton Guitar Showdown. He was the youngest of eight student guitarists selected to play with Kenny Wayne Shepherd at his 2009...
, guitarist and vocalist - February 25 - Brendon BaergBrendon BaergBrendon Baerg is a child actor best known for playing "Logan Hughes" on the CBS sitcom Yes, Dear. He voiced Thumper in Bambi II .-External links:...
, actor - March 10 - Nicholas NipNicholas NipNicholas Nip is a United States Chess Federation National Master . In 2008, he became the youngest USCF Master in history, obtaining a rating of 2207 at the age of 9 years, 11 months and 26 days, a record that was surpassed in 2010 by Samuel Sevian.Nip's feat broke the record held for a decade...
, chess player - April 6
- Kwesi BoakyeKwesi BoakyeKwesi Boakye is an American actor who is most notable for his role as Manny in the Tyler Perry film I Can Do Bad All By Myself. He is the youngest of three brothers who are also actors; Kwame Boateng, 18, and Kofi Siriboe, 17. His family is originally from Ghana...
, actor - Peyton Roi List, actress and model
- Spencer ListSpencer ListSpencer List is an American child actor. List is best known from the Fox show Fringe where he played a mysterious mute child in the episode "Inner Child". He has also been on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit where he played the son of Leland Orser's character Kevin Walker...
, actor
- Kwesi Boakye
- April 9 - Elle FanningElle FanningMary Elle Fanning , credited as Elle Fanning, is an American actress. She is the younger sister of actress Dakota Fanning and mainly known for her starring roles in Phoebe in Wonderland, Somewhere, Super 8 and We Bought a Zoo which will receive a theatrical release on December 23,...
, actress - April 10 - Ashley AusburnAshley AusburnAshley Catherine Ausburn is an American child actress. She was born in Atlanta, Georgia and currently resides in Los Angeles, California....
, actress - April 14 - Brandon RatcliffBrandon RatcliffBrandon Ratcliff was born April 14, 1998 in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He relocated with his mother, Tonni Ratcliff from Highland Park, Illinois an affluent North Shore suburb of Chicago in 2003 to Los Angeles at the age of four to pursue an acting career and he currently resides in Studio City,...
, actor - April 24 - Ryan NewmanRyan Newman (actress)Ryan Whitney Newman is a 2010 Young Artist Award winning young actress, model, and singer. Newman is most famous for her roles as Ginger Falcone in Zeke and Luther and Cindy Collins in Zoom. Newman, as a child model has participated in many photo shoots such as Inspire Magazine, Kaiya Eve...
, actress and singer - May 6 - Lil PoisonLil PoisonVictor De Leon III aka Lil Poison is the youngest professional video gamer. Born on May 6, 1998 in Long Island, New York, Lil Poison became the youngest pro gamer at the age of 6 years old when a gaming league signed him as a professional gamer...
, youngest professional video gamer - May 12 - Dylan PoeDylan PoeDylan Joshua Poe is a American television personality and political analyst. He also hosts his own liberal political show on Ustream.-Early life:Dylan Poe was born on May 12, 1998...
, television personality and political analyst - June 8 - Arjun AyyangarArjun AyyangarArjun Ayyangar is an American pianist and child prodigy from New Jersey. Ayyangar was recognized by the Limca Book of Records and Ripley's Believe It or Not for his ability to play all United Nations recognized national anthems. In 2003, he appeared on NBC's America's Most Talented Kid,...
, pianist
June 11 - Renee Emerton, random person
- June 14
- Julia JoyceJulia JoyceJulia Joyce is an actress who was born on 14 June 1998, known for her three appearances as a younger version of Billie Piper in Doctor Who , Ruby in the Smoke and Mansfield Park. She is also the younger sister of the actress and model Lucy Joyce.-Filmography:-References:...
, actress - Daniel-Leon KitDaniel-Leon KitDaniel-Leon Kit is an American actor, singer, dancer, writer, and songwriter, best known as Vincent Ellis Ross, III in Stretch: the Movie, Walter Rat in the stage play of Thumbelina, and Santa Claus in the musical of Santa Dot Claus. He currently lives in Warner Robins, Georgia. On June 14, 2011,...
, actor, singer, dancer, writer, and songwriter - Mitchell NyeMitchell NyeMitchell Nye is an American child actor. He is best known for his role as Dean Lipvanchuk in the 2005 film The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico.- Films :...
, actor - Brianne Tju, actress
- Julia Joyce
- June 15 - Rachel CoveyRachel CoveyRachel Covey is an American child actress best known for her role as Morgan Philip in the Disney movie Enchanted. She also appeared in the film Duane Hopwood as the daughter of David Schwimmer's character....
, actress - June 19
- Joey JettJoey JettJoey "Jett" Hornish, born June 19, 1998 is a skateboarder from Maryland. He lives outside Baltimore with his mother, Isabella, father, Steve, and brother, Stephen. His mother, Isabel Cumming, came up with the name "Joey Jett", and it stuck as his professional name.-Experience:At the age of six,...
, skateboarder - Atticus ShafferAtticus ShafferAtticus Shaffer is an American actor known for portraying Matty Newton in the 2009 supernatural horror-thriller film The Unborn and Brick Heck in the ABC sitcom The Middle.-Personal life:...
, actor
- Joey Jett
- June 24 - Coy StewartCoy StewartTyson Coy Stewart better known as Coy Stewart is an American actor. He currently has a role in the TBS sitcom Are We There Yet? as Kevin Kingston-Persons, taking Philip Bolden's place.-Early life:...
, actor - July 6 - Jackson MurphyJackson MurphyJackson Murphy, known as Lights Camera Jackson is a teenaged movie critic, and author of the popular online column . He brands himself the "Kid Critic", offering family movie reviews on his website, and on television and radio...
- July 7 - Dylan SprayberryDylan SprayberryDylan Sprayberry is an American child actor known for his role in the television movie The Three Gifts where he portrayed Mike, a boy who wants to be adopted for Christmas. Sprayberry's sister, Ellery is also an actor.-Career:...
, actor - July 8 - Jaden SmithJaden SmithJaden Christopher Syre Smith is an American child actor, rapper, songwriter, dancer, and the son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. He is the elder brother of singer Willow Smith...
, actor, rapper, songwriter, dancer, and the son of Will SmithWill SmithWillard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. , also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor, producer, and rapper. He has enjoyed success in television, film and music. In April 2007, Newsweek called him the most powerful actor in Hollywood...
and Jada Pinkett SmithJada Pinkett SmithJada Koren Pinkett Smith is an American actress, producer, director, author, singer-songwriter, and businesswoman. She began her career in 1990, when she made a guest appearance in the short-lived sitcom True Colors. She starred in A Different World, produced by Bill Cosby, and she featured... - July 9 - Robert CapronRobert CapronRobert Capron is American child actor who is best known for starring as Rowley Jefferson, Greg Heffley's best friend in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies. He started off with a role in Bride Wars and later had small parts in Hachiko: A Dog's Story and the Disney film The Sorcerer's Apprentice...
, actor - July 10 - Haley PullosHaley PullosHaley Alexis Pullos is an American actress. She currently portrays Molly Lansing Davis on General Hospital.-Life and career:Pullos was born in Palo Alto, California. She has two brothers and two sisters...
, actress - July 15
- Spencir BridgesSpencir BridgesSpencir Bridges is an American child actor, best known for his role in Daddy Day Camp as Ben Hinton . He also had roles on iCarly, House, M.D. and ER.-Personal life:...
, actor - Tanner MaguireTanner MaguireTanner James Maguire is an American child actor. He appears in the film Janie. He is most famous for his roles in Letters to God and, earlier, in Saving Sarah Cain, in which he plays the older brother of Hannah Cottrell, Josiah Cottrell...
, actor
- Spencir Bridges
- July 18 - Nixzmary BrownNixzmary BrownNixzmary Brown was a seven-year-old abused child and murder victim from the Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn section of New York City, New York...
, murder victim (died 20062006 in the United States-Incumbents:* President: George W. Bush * Vice President: Dick Cheney * Chief Justice: John Roberts* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Dennis Hastert * Senate Majority Leader: Bill Frist * Congress: 109th...
) - July 22 - Madison PettisMadison PettisMadison Michelle Pettis is an American teen actress, best known for playing Sophie Martinez on the Disney Channel sitcom Cory in the House and as Peyton Kelly in the 2007 film The Game Plan.-Life and career:...
, actress - July 31 - Rico Rodriguez IIRico Rodriguez IIRico Rodriguez is an American actor.Rodriguez currently plays the role of Manny Delgado on the ABC sitcom Modern Family. He is the younger brother of actress Raini Rodriguez.-Acting career:...
, actor - August 1 - Khamani GriffinKhamani GriffinKhamani Griffin is an American child actor and is best known for playing the voice of Tolee in the Nick Jr show Ni Hao, Kai-Lan....
, actor - August 25 - China Anne McClain, actress and singer
- September 13 - Eshaya DraperEshaya draperEshaya Draper is an American child actor. His first major role was in the 2008 Disney movie College Road Trip. He was chosen over thousands of children with a submitted videotape of himself acting.-Filmography:...
, actor - September 21 - Brino quadrupletsBrino quadrupletsLorenzo, Myrinda, Nikolas, and Zachary Brino are the quadruplets born to Tony and Shawna Brino. They have an older half-brother, their father's son from another marriage, named Antonio, who is in the U.S...
, actor - September 24 - Chandler FrantzChandler FrantzChandler Frantz is an American child actor. He first appeared on television in a 2007 episode of Dirty Sexy Money, playing Young Nick. He then started appearing in movies, including Everybody's Fine , My Own Love Song, and Forgetting the Girl .-External links:...
, actor - October 8 - Laila King, singer-songwriter and model
- October 28 - Nolan GouldNolan GouldNolan Gould is an American child actor best known for his starring role as Luke Dunphy on the ABC comedy Modern Family. He is the brother of Aidan Gould-Acting career:...
, actor - October 29 - Prince Konstantinos-Alexios of Greece and Denmark, eldest son and second child of Crown Prince PavlosPavlos, Crown Prince of GreecePavlos, Crown Prince of Greece, is the eldest son and heir apparent of Constantine II, who was King of Greece from 1964 to 1973....
and Crown Princess Marie-ChantalMarie-Chantal, Crown Princess of GreeceMarie-Chantal Claire, Crown Princess of Greece, Princess of Denmark , is a member of the Greek Royal Family through her marriage to Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece...
of GreeceGreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe.... - November - Gattlin GriffithGattlin GriffithGattlin Tadd Griffith is an American child actor, best known for portraying Walter Collins in the 2008 film Changeling. He also had episodic roles on TV series such as Supernatural.Griffith was born to Tad and Wendy Griffith...
, actor - November 4 - Darcy Rose ByrnesDarcy Rose ByrnesDarcy Rose Byrnes is an American child actress and singer. She is most famous for her role in the soap opera The Young and the Restless where she portrayed Abby Carlton from 2003 to 2008, she also appeared on The Bold and the Beautiful...
, actress and singer - November 18 - Ruby JerinsRuby JerinsRuby Jerins is an American child actress best known for playing Grace Peyton in the hit comedy Nurse Jackie, and Caroline in the film Remember Me.-Life and career:...
, actress - November 24
- Brecken PalmerBrecken PalmerBrecken Palmer is an American actor who played Ely Beardsley in Yours, Mine and Ours. He started acting when they were four years old, following the footsteps of their older sister, Jaelin, who has a small part as a bully in the film. She also plays "The Cracker" in the Hannah Montana episode,...
, actor - Bridger PalmerBridger PalmerBridger Palmer is an American actor who played Otter Beardsley in Yours, Mine and Ours. He started acting when they were four years old, following the footsteps of their older sister, Jaelin, who has a small part as a bully in the film...
, actor
- Brecken Palmer
- November 25 - Bradley Steven PerryBradley Steven PerryBradley Steven Perry is an American actor, best known for his role as Gabe Duncan on the Disney Channel family sitcom Good Luck Charlie, and for his role as Roger Elliston III in Disney's High School Musical spin-off film Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure.-Career:In 2007, Perry began his professional...
, actor - November 28 - Dylan BluestoneDylan BluestoneDylan Bluestone born in is an American child actor. He is most famous for the role of Daniel Hughes, Emily Stewart and Tom Hughes's son on the soap opera As the World Turns.-Early career:...
, actor - December - Chukwu octupletsChukwu octupletsThe Chukwu octuplets were the first set of octuplets live-born in the United States.-Family history:The six girls and two boys were born in December 1998 at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston, Texas. Their parents — mother, Nkem Chukwu, then 27, and father, Iyke Louis Udobi, then 41 — were...
- December 15 - Chandler CanterburyChandler CanterburyChandler Canterbury is an American child actor.-Life and career:Canterbury was born in Houston, Texas, to Kristine and Russell Canterbury, and resides in Houston. He starred in Summit Entertainment's thriller Knowing for director Alex Proyas , alongside Nicolas Cage and Rose Byrne...
, actor - December 22 - Genevieve Hannelius, actress
- December 29 - Seamus Davey-FitzpatrickSeamus Davey-FitzpatrickSeamus Davey-Fitzpatrick is an American child actor. His first film role was as Damien Thornin the 2006 remake of the thriller The Omen.-Personal life:...
, actor - Full date unknown
- Jordan Brown caseJordan Brown caseThe Jordan Brown case involves Jordan Anthony Brown , who faces charges of shooting his father's fiancee, Kenzie Houk, with a youth-model 20-gauge shotgun, designed for youth use, that belonged to the boy. Houk was pregnant at the time and both she and her unborn fetus died as a result of the attack...
- Erica GluckErica GluckErica Gluck , is an American child actress known for the role of Brittany Pitts on The Game. At the start of season 4, she was replaced. She attended Linwood E. Howe Elementary School in Culver City, California.-Filmography:-External links:...
, actress - Jesse KoochinJesse KoochinJesse Koochin was a 6-year-old boy from Utah who became the center of a legal battle between his parents, Steve and Gayle Koochin, and Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City....
(died 20042004 in the United StatesEvents from the year 2004 in the United States.-Incumbents:* President: George W. Bush * Vice President: Dick Cheney * Chief Justice: William Rehnquist* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Dennis Hastert...
) - Savannah RobinsonSavannah RobinsonSavannah Robinson is a young American singer.She rose to prominence while singing during the Long Beach Pride festival in the summer of 2010, performing twice on the smaller stage of the festival, and then asked to perform on the main festival stage...
, singer - Grayson RussellGrayson RussellGrayson Russell is an American film and television child actor best known for playing Texas Ranger Bobby, son of the title character in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Fregley in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies....
, actor - Kayden Troff, chess player
- Ada-Nicole SangerAda-Nicole SangerAda-Nicole Sanger is an American actress from South Florida. She is known for her role as Donna Lamonsoff in Sony Pictures' 2010 comedy Grown Ups, directed by Dennis Dugan. She became a contestant on the fifth episode of the Nickelodeon show BrainSurge in October 2009.- Film :-Television:-Theatre:*...
, actress and fashion designer
- Jordan Brown case
Deaths
- 24 February - Henny YoungmanHenny YoungmanHenry "Henny" Youngman was a British-born American comedian and violinist famous for "one-liners", short, simple jokes usually delivered rapid-fire...
, British-born comedian (born 19061906 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1906 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King Edward VII*Prime Minister - Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Liberal-Events:...
)