- January 23
- Pope John Paul II condemns US embargo against Cuba. [1]
- January 26
- 25th American Music Awards: Spice Girls and Babyface win. [1]
- On American television, President Bill Clinton denies he had "sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. [1] [19]
- January 27
- Crane crashes into Roosevelt Island tram (New York City, New York), injuring 10. [1]
- January 29
- In Birmingham, Alabama, a bomb explodes at an abortion clinic, killing one and severely wounding another. Serial bomber Eric Rudolph is the prime suspect. [1] [19]
- February 1
- The United States Senate passes Resolution 71, urging U.S. President Bill Clinton to "take all necessary and appropriate actions to respond to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs." [19]
- February 3
- Karla Faye Tucker, age 38, is executed in Texas, becoming the first to be executed in Texas since the American Civil War. [1] [19]
- A United States Military pilot causes the deaths of 20 people near Trento, Italy, when his low-flying plane severs the cable of a cable-car. [1] [19]
- February 6
- Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. [19]
- February 10
- AOL raises monthly flat rate Internet access from $19.95 to $21.95. [1]
- Voters in Maine repeal a gay rights law passed in 1997, becoming the first U.S. state to abandon such a law. [19]
- February 11
- KVBC-FM (Las Vegas) offers Monica Lewinsky $5 million for interview. [1]
- February 12
- Intel unveils its first graphics chip, the i740. [1]
- US district judge T Hogan declares the presidential line-item veto law is unconstitutional. [1] [19]
- February 18
- Robert Merrill, songwriter ("Funny Girl"), commits suicide at age 76. [1]
- Two white separatists are arrested in Nevada, accused of plotting biological warfare on New York City subways. [19]
- February 19
- Larry Wayne Harris of the Aryan Nations and William Leavitt are arrested in Henderson, New York, for possession of military grade anthrax. [19] (February 17 [1])
- February 20
- US movie box office hits quickest $1 billion for year (51 days). [1]
- February 23
- US Supreme Court lets Megan's Law stand. [1]
- Tornadoes in central Florida destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42. [1] [19]
- February 24
- Hustler publisher Larry Flynt is acquitted on charges of defaming Jerry Falwell. [19]
- February 26
- Oprah Winfrey beats Texas cattlemen in beef trial. [1]
- February 27
- FBI arrests Ten Most Wanted suspected serial killer Tony Ray Amati. [1]
- March 4
- US Attorney General Janet Reno declares it is illegal to transmit sports-wagering info over telephone lines, including the Internet. [328.105]
- The Supreme Court of the United States rules that federal laws banning on-the-job sexual harassment also apply when both parties are the same sex. [19]
- March 6
- Matt Beck, an angry lottery accountant kills four at Connecticut state lottery. [1]
- March 7
- The Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan is fined for burning a cross in his garden and infringing air regulations in California. [19]
- March 23
- 70th Academy Awards: Titanic wins 11 Oscars, Jack Nicholson best actor, Helen Hunt best actress. [1] [19]
- March 27
- The US Food and Drug Administration approves Viagra for use as a treatment for male sexual impotence, the first pill to be approved for this condition in the United States. [19] [129]
- March 29
- A series of tornadoes in southern Minnesota kills three people. [19]
- April 7
- Citicorp and Travelers Group announce plans to merge, creating the largest financial-services conglomerate in the world, Citigroup. [19]
- April 8
- A Force 5 tornado strikes the western portion of the Birmingham, Alabama area, killing 32. [19]
- April 15
- Intel announces the 266 MHz Celeron processor with 32 kB Level 1 cache. The Celeron is a Pentium II processor with no secondary cache, making it cheaper and slightly less powerful, targeting home computer users. [4]
- April 16
- A Force 3 tornado passes through downtown Nashville, Tennessee - the first tornado in 11 years to directly hit a major city. An F5 tornado travels through rural portions south of Nashville. [19]
- April 18
- The Walt Disney Company launches the Toon Disney cable television network in the USA. [6]
- April 22
- Disney's Animal Kingdom opens to the public at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. [5] [6]
- May 4
- Astronaut Buzz Aldrin and Buzz Lightyear attend the re-opening of the Moonliner attraction in Disneyland, California. The original Moonliner was removed in 1966. [6]
- May 16
- First Global Street Party, with events in Czech Republic, Netherlands, Finland, Germany, USA, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, England. Total of 30 Reclaim The Streets events are held in 20 countries, on sections of public roads, by hundreds or thousands of people. [287.320]
- May 18
- The US Department of Justice and twenty state attorneys general file a lawsuit against Microsoft, charging the company with violations of the Sherman Act: exclusive dealing and unlawful tying, monopoly maintenance in the operating system market, and attempted monopoly of the browser market. [4]
- May 19
- The US aircraft Yorktown is located by searchers, three miles below the ocean surface, where she sank on June 7, 1942. [10]
- May 21
- At Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon, Kipland Kinkel (who was suspended for bringing a gun to school) shoots a semi-automatic rifle into a room filled with students, killing two and wounding 25 others, after killing his parents at home. [19]
- In Miami, Florida, five abortion clinics are hit by a butyric acid attacker. [19]
- May 22
- Tomorrowland at Disneyland in California re-opens after extensive remodelling. [6]
- The Rocket Rods attraction opens in Tomorrowland at Disneyland, California. It occupies the old PeopleMover track. [6]
- DisneyQuest opens at Downtown Disney West Side in Walt Disney World in Florida. It provides five stories of high-tech attractions, including Explore Zone, Create Zone, and Replay Zone. [6]
- A federal judge rules that United States Secret Service agents can be compelled to testify before a grand jury concerning the Lewinsky-Clinton scandal. [19]
- May 27
- Oklahoma City bombing: Michael Fortier is sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $200,000 for failing to warn authorities about the terrorist plot. [19]
- May 28
- In Encino, California, the wife of Saturday Night Live comedian Phil Hartman kills him and commits suicide afterwards. [1] [19]
- May 29
- US President Bill Clinton signs Public Law 105-176 authorizing the US Mint to move certain emblems from the reverse to the obverse of coins, to leave more room for State quarter dollar designs. [415.52]
- June 2
- California voters approve Proposition 227, abolishing the state's bilingual education program. [19]
- June 4
- Terry Nichols is sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing. [19]
- June 5
- A strike begins at the General Motors Corporation parts factory in Flint, Michigan. (The strike action quickly spreads to five other assembly plants and lasts seven weeks.) [19]
- June 7
- Three white supremacists murder James Byrd Jr. in Jasper, Texas. [19]
- The Walt Disney Company's stage show The Lion King wins six Tony Awards: Best Scenic Design, Best Lighting Design, Best Costume Design, Best Choreography, Best Director of a Musical, and Best Musical. [6]
- June 8
- Actor Charlton Heston becomes president of the National Rifle Association. [19]
- June 12
- A jury in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, convicts 17-year-old Luke Woodham of killing two students and wounding 7 others at Pearl High School. [19]
- June 13
- In Portales, New Mexico, USA a meteorite penetrates a barn roof. [521]
- June 19
- Disney releases the Walt Disney Pictures animated feature film Mulan to theaters in the USA. [6]
- June 25
- The United States Supreme Court rules that the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 is unconstitutional. [19]
- Microsoft releases the Windows 98 operting system. It features integrated Internet Explorer 4.0 Web browser, and Universal Serial Bus support. Code-name during development was Memphis. Total sales on the first day are 271,000 units. [4]
- July 10
- The DNA-identified remains of United States Air Force 1st Lieutenant Michael Joseph Blassie arrive home to his family in St. Louis, Missouri, after being in the Tomb of the Unknowns since 1984. [19]
- July 24
- The US Senate votes 90 to 10 to make gambling on the Internet illegal. [387.162]
- Russell Eugene Weston Jr. bursts into the United States Capitol and opens fire, killing two police officers. He is later ruled incompetent to stand trial. [19]
- July 25
- The United States Navy commissions the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and puts her into service. [19]
- July 30
- The Disney Cruise Line launches its first cruise ship, the Disney Magic, from Port Canaveral, Florida. [60.407] [61.4] [62.393] [69]
- August 7
- The bombings of the United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya kill 224 people and injure over 4,500; they are linked to terrorist Osama Bin Laden, an exile of Saudi Arabia. [19]
- August 17
- US President Bill Clinton testifies before a grand jury, acknowledging that he had had an extramarital affair with Monica Lewinsky. [129]
- August 19
- On the day of his 52nd birthday, U.S. President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. He also admits before the nation that night in a nationally televised address that he "misled people" about his sexual affair with Lewinsky. [19]
- August 20
- The United States military launches cruise missile attacks against alleged Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical plant in Sudan in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum is destroyed in the attack. [19]
- September 2
- A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 airliner carrying Swissair Flight 111 crashes near Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia, after taking off from New York City en-route to Geneva. All 229 people on board are killed. [19]
- September 4
- Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two students at Stanford University in California, found Google. [5]
- September 7
- Google, Inc. is founded, in Menlo Park, California, by Stanford University Ph.D. candidates Larry Page and Sergey Brin. [5] [19]
- September 9
- Kenneth Starr submits his report and 18 boxes of supporting documents to the House of Representatives, outlining a case for impeaching Clinton on 11 grounds. [129]
- September 14
- At the end of the day's stock market trading Microsoft stands as America's most valuable company, at US$261.1 billion. Microsoft and General Electric were both valued at over US$300 billion in July, but Microsoft survived a stock market plunge better, putting it on top. [4]
- September 24
- The Federal Reserve releases to circulation Series 1996 $20 notes with new designs. [438.42] [550.56]
- September 25
- (to September 28) Major creditors of Long-Term Capital Management, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based hedge fund, after days of tough bargaining and some informal mediation by Federal Reserve officials, agree on terms of a re-capitalization. [19]
- September 29
- The U.S. Congress passes the "Iraq Liberation Act", which states that the United States wants to remove Saddam Hussein from power and replace the government with a democratic institution. [19]
- October 7
- The United States Congress 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 domain to works created before 1923 in the United States. [19]
- The Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin attraction opens in the Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World in Florida. [6]
- October 8
- The House of Representatives authorizes an impeachment inquiry into President Bill Clinton. [129]
- October 12
- The Congress of the United States passes the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. [19]
- October 14
- Eric Robert Rudolph is charged with six bombings (including the 1996 Olympic bombing) in Atlanta, Georgia. [19]
- October 15
- American Airlines becomes the first airline to offer electronic ticketing in all 44 countries it serves. [19]
- October
- The Internet Gambling Prohibition Act fails to pass as the US House of Congress adjourns. [387.162]
- October 17
- (to October 18) Severe flooding takes place in south Central Texas. [19]
- October 19
- Travelers Group changes its company name to Citigroup Incorporated. [228]
- October 29
- The NASA Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off with 77-year-old Senator John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space. [19] [129]
- November 3
- Jesse Ventura, former professional wrestler, is elected Governor of Minnesota. [19]
- 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 Lynch, Goldman Sachs, and Salomon Smith Barney) to pay investors who claim they were cheated in a wide-spread price-fixing scheme on the NASDAQ. [19]
- November 12
- Daimler-Benz completes a merger with Chrysler Corporation to form Daimler-Chrysler. [19]
- November 13
- (to November 14) U.S. President Bill Clinton orders airstrikes on Iraq, then calls them off at the last minute when Iraq promises once again to "unconditionally" cooperate with UNSCOM. [19]
- November 19
- The United State House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee begins impeachment hearings against U.S. President Bill Clinton. [19]
- November 23
- Nintendo releases the Game Boy Color handheld video game system in the USA. Price is US$79.95. [9]
- November 24
- America Online announces an agreement to acquire Netscape Communications for US$4.2 billion in stock. [4]
- December 11
- The House Judiciary Committee approves three articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton. [129]
- December 16
- U.S. President Bill Clinton orders American and British airstrikes on Iraq. UNSCOM withdraws all weapons inspectors from Iraq. [19]
- December 19
- The US House of Representatives approves two articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, charging him with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice. [19] [129]
- Year
- US movie box office hits record $6.24 billion for the year. [1]
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