- January 16
- UPN (Universal-Parmount Network) begins telecasting. [1]
- January 21
- 52th Golden Globes: Forrest Gump, Tom Hanks, Jessica Lange, Brad Pitt. [1]
- January 30
- 22nd American Music Awards: Boyz II Men and Ace of Base win. [1]
- January 31
- U.S. President Bill Clinton invokes emergency powers to extend a $20 billion loan to help Mexico avert financial collapse. [29]
- February 1
- Amtrak New York-Tampa run ends. [1]
- February 3
- US space shuttle mission STS 63 (Discovery 19) launches into orbit. [1]
- February 10
- Chelsi Smith, 21, Miss Texas, crowned 44th Miss USA. [1]
- February 15
- Kevin Mitnick is arrested by the FBI and charged with breaking into some of the United States' most "secure" computers systems. [5] [29]
- February 17
- Colin Ferguson is convicted of six counts of murder for the December 1993 Long Island Rail Road shootings and later receives a 200+ year sentence. [1] [29]
- Federal judge allows lawsuit claiming US tobacco makers knew nicotine was addictive and manipulated its levels to keep customers hooked. [1]
- February 18
- Disney releases the film The Lion King on videocassette in the US, for US$26.99. (Twenty million copies are sold in the first week.) [6]
- February 23
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 30.28 to close at 4,003.33 - the Dow's first ever close above 4,000. [1] [29]
- February 27
- In Denver, Colorado, the old Stapleton Airport closes; it is replaced by a new Denver International Airport, the largest airport in the United States. [29]
- February 28
- Members of the group Patriot's Council are convicted in Minnesota of manufacturing ricin. [29]
- Denver International Airport opens in Colorado, USA. [1]
- March 1
- 37th Grammy Awards: "All I Want to Do", "Streets of Philadelphia", Sheryl Crow. [1]
- Part of Houston begins using new area code 261. [1]
- Yahoo! web site is founded in Santa Clara, California. [29]
- March 3
- The Indiana Jones Adventure - Temple of the Forbidden Eye ride opens in Adventureland at Disneyland. This is the largest attraction at Disneyland. [6]
- March 4
- Blind teenage boy receives a 'Bionic Eye' at a Washington Hospital. [1]
- March 5
- 21st People's Choice Awards: Tim Allen wins. [1]
- March 6
- 9th American Comedy Awards: Rodney Dangerfield wins. [1]
- March 7
- New York becomes 38th state to have the death penalty. [1]
- March 13
- 9th Soul Train Music Awards: Boyz II Men, Anita Baker win. [1]
- David Daliberti and William Barloon, two Americans working for a military contractor in Kuwait, are arrested after straying into Iraq. [29]
- March 14
- Astronaut Norman Thagard becomes the first American to ride into space aboard a Russian launch vehicle (the Soyuz TM-21), lifting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. [5] [29]
- March 16
- Mississippi House of Representatives ratifies 13th Amendement; formally abolishes slavery. [1]
- March 17
- Sinn-Fein leader Gerry Adams visits White House. [1]
- US approves first chicken pox vaccine, Varivax by Merck and Co. [1]
- March 18
- NASA space shuttle mission STS 67 (Endeavour 8) lands after 16.5 days in orbit. [1]
- March 19
- Arizona begins using new area code 520 outside of Phoenix. [1]
- March 26
- 15th Golden Raspberry Awards: Color of Night wins. [1]
- March 27
- 67th Academy Awards: Forest Gump, Tom Hanks and Jessica Lange win. [1]
- March 31
- In Corpus Christi, Texas, Latin superstar Selena Quintanilla Perez is shot and killed by Yolanda Saldivar, the president of her own fan club. [1] [29]
- April 1
- The Blizzard Beach water park opens at Walt Disney World. [6]
- April 2
- New York Police Department and New York Transit Police merge into one organization. [1]
- North and Western Colorado begin using new area code 970. [1]
- April 5
- The U.S. House of Representatives votes 246-188 to cut taxes for individuals and corporations. [29]
- April 10
- New York City bans smoking in all restaurants that seat 35 or more. [1]
- April 14
- In Western Texas, a magnitude 5.7 earthquake occurs. [53]
- April 18
- Houston Post newspaper folds after 116 years. [1]
- April 19
- Oklahoma City bombing: 168 people, including 8 Federal Marshals and 19 children, are killed at the Murrah Federal Building. [1] [29]
- April 21
- FBI arrests Timothy McVeigh and charges him with Oklahoma City bombing. [1]
- April 23
- President Bill Clinton declares a national day of mourning for Oklahoma City bombing victims. [1]
- April 24
- Package bomb, linked to Unabomber, blows up killing lobbyist Gilbert B Murray in Sacramento, California. [1] [29]
- April 26
- American baseball season begins after lengthy strike. [1]
- May 10
- 30th Academy of Country Music Awards: Reba McEntire wins. [1]
- May 11
- Sega of America begins shipping the Saturn video game system in the US. Price is US$399 with the VirtuaFighter game. 30,000 units are available for the initial launch, with ten game titles available. (Total sales in North America over its lifetime: 1.3 million.) [9]
- The first Electronic Entertainment Expo is held in Los Angeles, over three days. The show takes its name from Electronic Entertainment magazine. 350 game companies show 1300 games for video game systems and personal computers. Total attendance is 28,000. Sony introduces the PlayStation in a US$4 million booth, including an appearance by Michael Jackson. [9]
- In New York City, more than 170 countries decide to extend the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty indefinitely and without conditions. [29]
- May 13
- Chelsi Smith, 21, of USA, crowned 44th Miss Universe; Shanna Lynn Moakler, (age 19, Miss New York), replaces Chelsi Smith as Miss USA. [1]
- May 17
- Shawn Nelson, 35, goes on a tank rampage in San Diego, California. [29]
- May 23
- At the Sun World conference in San Francisco, California, Sun Microsystems introduces the Java interactive programming language. Code-name during development was Oak. [4]
- In Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the remains of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building are imploded. [29]
- May 26
- Microsoft chairman Bill Gates issues an internal memo "The Internet Tidal Wave", saying he believes the Internet to be the single most important development in the computer industry since the IBM Personal Computer. He gives the highest level of importance to the Internet, calling it "critical to every part of our business". [4]
- May 27
- In Culpeper, Virginia, actor Christopher Reeve is paralyzed from the neck down after falling from his horse in a riding competition. [29]
- June 6
- U.S. astronaut Norman Thagard breaks NASA's space endurance record of 14 days, 1 hour and 16 minutes, aboard the Russian space station Mir. [29]
- June 8
- Downed U.S. Air Force pilot Captain Scott O'Grady is rescued by U.S. Marines in Bosnia-Herzegovina. [29]
- June 16
- Salt Lake City, Utah, is selected as host city for the 2002 Winter Olympics. [29]
- June 20
- The Walt Disney Company announces plans for a fourth theme park in Florida: Disney's Animal Kingdom. The new park is expected to cost US$760 million to create, over a 200-hectare area. It is due to open in 1998. [6]
- June 27
- American space shuttle Atlantis blasts off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This is the 100th human space mission in American history. [129]
- June 29
- American space shuttle Atlantis docks with the Russian space station Mir to form the largest man-made satellite ever to orbit the Earth. This is the second time ships from two countries had linked up in space. [5] [29]
- July 5
- The U.S. Congress passes the Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act, requiring that producers of pornography keep records of all models who are filmed or photographed. This act also requires that all models be at least 18 years of age. [29]
- July 6
- IBM completes its US$3.5 billion acquisition of Lotus Development, making it a wholly-owned subsidiary. [4]
- July 12
- The House Banking Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy hears from Harvey Stack (New York coin dealer), David Ganz (ANA President), and Alan Stahl (American Numismatic Society curator) on abuses in the commemorative coin programs. Stack suggests the US Mint strike a series of circulating commemorative coins honoring the first 13 states, followed by coins for the remaining states, similar to the Canada 125 program of 25-cent coins for each province. [391.76]
- July 13
- Dozens of cities in the USA, most notably Chicago and Milwaukee, set all-time record high temperatures. Hundreds of people in these and other cities die as the heat wave reaches its peak. [29]
- July 17
- The Nasdaq Composite stock market index closes above the 1,000 mark for the first time. [5] [29]
- July 23
- David Daliberti and William Barloon, two Americans held as spies by Iraq, are released by Saddam Hussein. [29]
- July 27
- In Washington, DC, the Korean War Veterans Memorial is dedicated. [29]
- Disney agrees to buy Capital Cities / ABC for one Disney share plus US$65 cash per ABC share. Total value of the deal is about US$20 billion. [6]
- August 9
- Shares of Netscape Communications are first made available to the public on the NASDAQ stock exchange. Before trading, shares are priced at US$28. The stock opens at US$71, reaching a high of US$74.75. The market value of the company becomes US$2.2 billion. This is the best opening day for a stock in Wall Street history for an issue of its size. [4]
- August 14
- Michael Ovitz is appointed president of the Walt Disney Company. His contract is for five years, with base salary US$1 million per year, and options to purchase 5 million shares of the Disney company. [6]
- August 21
- US District Court Judge Thomas Jackson holds the first and only hearing on the consent decree between Microsoft and the US Department of Justice. Within 17 minutes, he signs his approval of it. The decree will govern Microsoft's licensing practices of Windows for the next 6.5 years, barring the company from linking unrelated software licenses. The ruling comes after five years of investigation of monopolistic licensing practices. [4]
- August 24
- Microsoft releases the Windows 95 operating system. This is the first consumer Windows version that does not require MS-DOS pre-installed. New features include integrated TCP/IP stack, dial-up networking, and long filenames. The software comprises over 11 million lines of code. The US$250 million publicity campaign includes US$12 million for the rights to the "Start Me Up" song by the Rolling Stones. This is the biggest marketing extravaganza for a consumer product ever. First day sales total about 300,000 copies. [4]
- September 3
- Online auction company eBay is founded. [29]
- September 9
- Sony Electronics introduces the 32-bit CD-ROM game system, PlayStation, in North America. Price is US$299. (100,000 units sell in the first two days.) [9]
- September 22
- American millionaire Steve Forbes announces his candidacy for the 1996 Republican presidential nomination. [29]
- September 23
- Argentine national Guillermo "Bill" Gaede is arrested in Phoenix, Arizona on charges of industrial espionage. His sales to Cuba, China, North Korea and Iran are believed to have involved Intel and Advanced Micro Devices trade secrets worth US$10-20 million. [29]
- October 1
- Ten people are convicted of bombing the World Trade Center in 1993. [29]
- October 3
- O.J. Simpson is found not guilty of double murder for the deaths of former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. (He will be found liable in a civil trial in 1997.) [29]
- October 4
- Hurricane Opal makes landfall at Pensacola Beach, Florida as a Category 3 hurricane with 115 mph winds. [29]
- Nintendo releases the Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island game for the Super NES in the US. (Total sales: 4.12 million.) [9]
- October 9
- An Amtrak Sunset Limited train is derailed by saboteurs near Palo Verde, Arizona. [29]
- October 12
- Walt Disney World in Florida welcomes its 500-millionth guest. [6]
- October 16
- The Million Man March is held in Washington, D.C. The event was conceived by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. [29]
- October 23
- In Houston, Texas, Yolanda Saldivar is convicted of first degree murder in the shooting death of Selena Quintanilla Perez and three days later is sentenced to life in prison. Saldivar will be eligible for parole in 2025. [29]
- October 25
- A Metra commuter train slams into a school bus in Fox River Grove, Illinois, killing seven students. [29]
- November 1
- Participants in the Yugoslav War begin negotiations in Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. [29]
- The U.S. House of Representatives votes to ban "partial birth" abortions by a vote of 288-139. [29]
- Intel formally announces and begins shipping the Pentium Pro processor, at speeds of 150 to 200 MHz. The processor incorporates 5.5 million transistors. Prices range from US$974 to $1989. [4]
- November 3
- At Arlington National Cemetery, U.S. President Bill Clinton dedicates a memorial to the victims of the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing. [29]
- November 11
- In New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, the casino venture files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. [39]
- November 14
- A budget standoff between Democrats and Republicans in the Congress of the United States forces the federal government to temporarily close national parks and museums, and run most government offices with skeleton staff. [29]
- IBM, Apple Computer, and Motorola release the PowerPC Platform specifications, called the Common Hardware Reference Platform (CHRP). It encompasses support for Macintosh System 7, Windows NT, AIX, Solaris, NetWare, and OS/2. Windows 3.x and Windows 95 are excluded. [4]
- November 21
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 5,000 (5,023.55) for the first time. [29] [227]
- November 22
- Buena Vista Pictures releases the Walt Disney Pictures - Pixar computer animated feature film Toy Story to theaters in the USA. This is the first feature film completely animated by computers. The film was created using 800,000 hours of computing time on 300 Sun Microsystems microprocessors. (World theater gross receipts: US$360 million.) [6]
- November 28
- U.S. President Bill Clinton signs a highway bill that ends the federal 55 mph speed limit. [29]
- November 30
- Official end of Operation Desert Storm. [29]
- December 7
- Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and other executives give a seven-hour briefing speech and workshop in Seattle, Washington, on Microsoft's Internet strategy. Microsoft announces it has licensed Java from Sun Microsystems, and will add extensions to the technology for use with the Microsoft Network. Microsoft announces it has licensed browser technology from Spyglass for Windows 3.1 and the Macintosh, and will also offer Internet Explorer 2.0 on all platforms free of charge. The Microsoft Network will be redesigned as a Web site. [4]
- December 10
- Worst snowstorm in Buffalo history, 37.9 inches in 24 hours, breaking previous record of 25.3 inches in 1982. [1]
- December 12
- Amendment to make it illegal to physically desecrate the US flag turned down by senate 63-36 (need 66 votes). [1]
- December 13
- US Federal Court votes that cable companies must carry local stations. [1]
- December 15
- Because of the "quadruple-witching" option expiration, volume on the New York Stock Exchange hits 638 million shares, the highest single-day volume since October 20, 1987. [29]
- Year
- Legal gambling in the United States grosses over US$40 billion in revenues. [39]
- Worldwide sales for legal lotteries: US$95 billion. #1 is USA at US$28.7 million, #2 is Germany at US$9.2 billion. [39]
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