1994 in the United States explained
Events from the year 1994 in the United States.
Incumbents
Federal government
Events
January
- January - The National Archives at College Park opens.[1]
- January 1 - The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is established.
- January 6 - In Detroit, Michigan, Nancy Kerrigan is clubbed on the right leg by an assailant, under orders from figure skating rival Tonya Harding's ex-husband.
- January 11 - The Superhighway Summit is held at UCLA's Royce Hall. It is the first conference to discuss the growing information superhighway and is presided over by U.S. Vice President Al Gore.
- January 14 - U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin sign the Kremlin accords, which stop the preprogrammed aiming of nuclear missiles toward each country's targets, and also provide for the dismantling of the nuclear arsenal in Ukraine.
- January 17 - The 6.5–6.7 Northridge earthquake shakes the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 57 people dead and more than 8,700 injured.
- January 19 - Record cold temperatures hit the eastern United States. The coldest temperature ever measured in Indiana state history, -360NaN0, is recorded in New Whiteland, Indiana.
- January 20 - In South Carolina, Shannon Faulkner becomes the first female cadet to attend The Citadel, but soon drops out.
- January 25 - U.S. President Bill Clinton delivers his first State of the Union address, calling for health care reform, a ban on assault weapons, and welfare reform.
- January 30 - Super Bowl XXVIII in football: The Dallas Cowboys hand the Buffalo Bills their fourth consecutive Super Bowl loss, 30–13.
February
March
- March 1
- March 7 - Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that parodies of an original work are generally covered by the doctrine of fair use.
- March 8 - Nine Inch Nails' second studio album, The Downward Spiral, is released to critical acclaim.
- March 15 - U.S. troops are withdrawn from Somalia.
- March 16 - In Portland, Oregon, Tonya Harding pleads guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution for trying to cover-up an attack on figure skating rival Nancy Kerrigan. She is fined $100,000 and banned from the sport.
- March 17 - Serial killer Dana Sue Gray is arrested in California in connection with three murders and one attempted murder of elderly women.[6]
- March 21 - The 66th Academy Awards, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, are held at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Steven Spielberg's Holocaust drama, Schindler's List, wins seven Oscars out of 12 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. The telecast garners over 46.2 million viewers.
- March 23 - Green Ramp disaster: Two military aircraft collide over Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina, causing 24 fatalities and over 100 injuries.
- March 27 - 1994 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak: The biggest tornado outbreak of the year occurs in the southeastern United States; one tornado hits a Goshen United Methodist Church in Piedmont, Alabama, killing 22 people.
April
- April 7 – A deadheading Federal Express flight engineer attempts to hijack and intentionally crash Federal Express Flight 705, a cargo flight from Memphis, Tennessee to San Jose, California.[7] The attempt is unsuccessful, resulting in severe injuries to the attempted hijacker and the 3 other pilots on board. The aircraft makes a successful emergency return landing in Memphis.[8]
- April 8 - Kurt Cobain, songwriter and frontman for the band Nirvana, is found dead at his Lake Washington home. It would be later be confirmed that Cobain had committed suicide three days prior.[9]
- April 14 - The heads of the major tobacco industries testify before a House subcommittee where they infamously state that tobacco is not addictive.
- April 16 - 1994 Popeyes shooting: Two robbers shoot and kill three employees at a Popeyes restaurant in Gadsden, Alabama. The gunman is arrested and executed in 2017.
- April 19 - Rapper Nas releases classic album Illmatic.
- April 22 - Former President Richard Nixon dies in New York City at 81. He is buried at his presidential library on April 26, following a state funeral.
- April 25 - The largest high school arson ever in the United States is started at Burnsville High School, in Burnsville, Minnesota, resulting in over 15 million dollars in damages. The same arsonist also goes on to set fires at Edina High School and Minnetonka High School.[10]
May
June
- June 12 - Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman are murdered outside the Simpson home in Los Angeles. O. J. Simpson is later acquitted of the killings, but is held liable in a civil suit.
- June 14 - The New York Rangers defeat the Vancouver Canucks, 3–2, in Game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals at Madison Square Garden to win their first championship in 54 years.
- June 15 - Walt Disney Pictures' 32nd feature film, The Lion King, is released in theaters to critical acclaim, making $422,783,777 in the United States ($951,583,777 worldwide). It is the highest-grossing film of the year and the highest grossing traditionally-animated film of all time.
- June 17
- June 18 - The USMNT debuted as a local against Switzerland at the Pontiac Silverdome, being the first game played in a stadium with a roof, the game ended tied 1-1.
- June 20 - Dean Mellberg kills four and injures 23 at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, Washington.
- June 22 - In the second match of the USMNT, they would face Colombia in Pasadena, California, and the Americans would win 2-1, breaking a 44-year streak of not winning a match in a World Cup.
- June 24 - 1994 Fairchild Air Force Base B-52 crash: U.S. Air Force pilot Bud Holland crashes a B-52 in Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington as a result of pilot error.
- June 26 - The USMNT lost their last group match against Romania 0-1, but qualified for the second round as one of the four best third-place teams.
- June 30 - July 10 - Tropical Storm Alberto causes heavy flooding, intense winds and extensive problems directly over the Southeastern United States and the Caribbean Islands. Thirty two individuals are directly killed by the storm, and property damage is assessed at $1 billion (1994 USD).
July
- July 4 - While celebrating the 218th anniversary of Independence, the USMNT faced Brazil in the Round of 16 of the World Cup played in Stanford, where they were defeated 1-0 and were eliminated.
- July 5 - Amazon is founded by Jeff Bezos.
- July 6 - Fourteen firefighters die in the South Canyon wildfire on Storm King Mountain in Colorado. The event inspires the 1999 book Fire on the Mountain.
- July 12 - The Allied occupation of Berlin ends with a casing of the colors ceremony attended by U.S. President Bill Clinton.
- July 17 - Brazil wins the 1994 FIFA World Cup, defeating Italy 3–2 in a penalty shootout in the final (full-time 0–0) at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
- July 19 - Four 26-pound ceiling tiles fall from the roof of the Kingdome in Seattle, Washington, just hours before a scheduled Seattle Mariners baseball game.
August
- August 3 - Stephen Breyer is sworn in as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court.
- August 12
- Major League Baseball players go on strike. The strike eventually results in the cancellation of the World Series for the first time since 1904. The strike lasts until April 1995, making it the longest labor dispute in MLB history.
- Woodstock '94 begins in Saugerties, New York. It is the 25-year anniversary of Woodstock in 1969.
- august 18 - Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants: a 12-person jury reaches its verdict to award Stella Liebeck $2,860,000 in compensatory and punitive damages, later reduced to $640,000, for burns she received from a spilled hot coffee. McDonald's and Liebeck will later settle out of court.
- August 20 - In Honolulu, Hawaii, during a circus international performance, an elephant named Tyke crushes her trainer Allen Campbell to death before hundreds of horrified spectators at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center. She then escapes the arena, and runs amok in the streets for half an hour, before police officers shoot her 86 times. She eventually collapses from her wounds and dies.
- August 23 - Eugene Bullard is posthumously commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force, 33 years after his death, and 77 years to the day after his rejection for U.S. military service in 1917.
- c. August – Pizza Hut becomes the first restaurant to offer online food ordering, in California.[13] [14]
September
- September - Trudy McFall and Nancy Rase found "Homes for America" in Annapolis, Maryland.
- September 8 - USAir Flight 427, a Boeing 737 with 132 people on board, crashes on approach to Pittsburgh International Airport; there are no survivors.
- September 10 - The Magic School Bus debuts on PBS.
- September 12 - Frank Eugene Corder crashes a Cessna 150 into the South Lawn of the White House and is killed, the sole casualty.
- September 13
- President Bill Clinton signs the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which bans the manufacture of new firearms with certain features for a period of 10 years.
- President Bill Clinton signs the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA). The Act provided $1.6 billion toward investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against women, imposed automatic and mandatory restitution on those convicted, and allowed civil redress in cases prosecutors chose not to prosecute. The Act also established the Office on Violence Against Women within the Department of Justice.
- September 14 - The World Series is cancelled for the first time in 90 years due to a strike by the MLB Players Association.
- September 17 - Heather Whitestone becomes the first hearing impaired contestant to win the Miss America entitlement. Whitestone becomes Miss America 1995.
- September 19 - American troops stage a bloodless invasion of Haiti in order to restore the legitimate elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to power.
- September 22 - The pilot episode of Friends airs on NBC.
- September 24 - The Marvel Action Hour, featuring animated adaptations of Iron Man and the Fantastic Four, debuts in syndication.
- September–October - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq threatens to stop cooperating with UNSCOM inspectors and begins to once again deploy troops near its border with Kuwait. In response, the U.S. begins to deploy troops to Kuwait.
October
Following threats by the U.N. Security Council and the U.S., Iraq withdraws troops from its border with Kuwait.
November
- November 4 - The first conference devoted entirely to the subject of the commercial potential of the World Wide Web opens in San Francisco. Featured speakers include Marc Andreessen of Netscape, Mark Graham of Pandora Systems and Ken McCarthy of E-Media.
- November 5
- November 7 - WXYC, the student radio station of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, provides the world's first internet radio broadcast.
- November 8 - 21 - Hurricane Gordon strikes the Caribbean Islands and the Southeastern United States, causing 1,147 deaths (of which 1,122 are in Haiti) and US$514M in damage (estimated, 1994 dollars).
- November 8 - "Republican Revolution": Georgia Representative Newt Gingrich leads the Republican Party in taking control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in midterm congressional elections, the first time in 40 years the Republicans secure control of both houses of Congress. George W. Bush is elected Governor of Texas.
- November 16 - A federal judge issues a temporary restraining order prohibiting California from implementing Proposition 187, which would have denied most public services to illegal aliens.
- November 28 - At the Columbia Correctional Institution, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer and murderer Jesse Anderson are attacked by fellow inmate Christopher Scarver. Dahmer dies on the way to the hospital and Anderson two days later.[15] [16] [17]
- November 30 - Rapper Tupac Shakur is shot five times and robbed after entering the lobby of Quad Recording Studios in Manhattan.
- c. November - Online service America Online purchases Booklink as a browser to offer its users a gateway to the World Wide Web for the first time. This marks the beginning of easy accessibility of the Web to the average person in the U.S.[18] In 1996, AOL replaces Booklink with a browser based on Internet Explorer, allegedly in exchange for inclusion of AOL in Windows.[19]
December
- December - The unemployment rate drops to 5.5%, the lowest since the start of the early 1990s recession in July 1990.
- December 1 - Home & Garden Television debuts.
- December 14
- December 19
- December 21 - A homemade bomb explodes on the
- 4 train
on Fulton Street in New York City.[20]
- December 27 - After experiencing a hacker attack by Kevin Mitnick, computer security expert Tsutomu Shimomura starts to receive prank calls that popularize the trope "My kung fu is stronger than yours".[21]
Ongoing
Sport
Births
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
- August 2
- August 3 – Todd Gurley, American football player
- August 4 – Bobby Shmurda, rapper/songwriter
- August 8 – Lauv, singer/songwriter
- August 9
- August 11 – Alejandro Aranda, singer
- August 12 - Bex Taylor-Klaus, actress
- August 16 – Tippy Dos Santos, actress and singer
- August 17
- August 18 - Madelaine Petsch, actress and YouTuber
- August 20 – Jonathon Lillis, freestyle skier
- August 21 – Jacqueline Emerson, actress
- August 22 – Israel Broussard, actor
- August 26 – Alex Collins, American football player (died 2023)
- August 27 – Ellar Coltrane, actor
September
October
November
December
- December 2 – Aaron Jones, Amrrican football player
- December 3 – Jake T. Austin, actor
- December 8 – Trevor Daniel, American football player
- December 9 – Zach Veach, race car driver
- December 12 – Otto Warmbier, college student who was detained in North Korea (d. 2017)
- December 16 – Christopher Bell, race car driver
- December 17 – Nat Wolff, actor[25]
- December 20
- Dylan Stump-Electrician
- December 22 – Calvin Tankman, pro wrestler
- December 23 – Tajae Sharpe, American football player
- December 24 – LaShawn Tináh Jefferies, actress
Deaths
January
- January 1 – Cesar Romero, American actor (born 1907)
- January 3 – Frank Belknap Long, American writer (born 1901)
- January 5 – Tip O'Neill, American politician (born 1912)
- January 8 – Pat Buttram, American actor (born 1915)
- January 9 – Johnny Temple, American baseball player and sportscaster (born 1927)
- January 12 – Samuel Bronston, American film producer and director (born 1908)
- January 14 – Esther Ralston, American actress (born 1902)
- January 15 – Harry Nilsson, American musician (born 1941)
- January 17 – Helen Stephens, American athlete (born 1918)
- January 22
- January 25 – Stephen Cole Kleene, American mathematician (born 1909)
- January 27 – Claude Akins, American actor (born 1926)
- January 28 – Hal Smith, American actor (born 1916)
- January 29 – Nick Cravat, American actor and acrobat (born 1912)
February
- February 1 – Olan Soule, American actor (b. 1909)
- February 2 – Marija Gimbutas, Lithuanian-American archeologist (b. 1921)
-
- Jack Kirby, comic book artist (born 1917)
- Bud Wilkinson, football player, coach and broadcaster (born 1916)
- February 11
- February 12 – Donald Judd, American artist (b. 1928)
- February 14 – Christopher Lasch, American historian, moralist and social critic (b. 1932)
- February 17 – Randy Shilts, journalist and author (b. 1951)
- February 22 – Papa John Creach, blues violinist
- February 24 – Dinah Shore, American actress and singer (b. 1917)[28]
- February 25
- February 26 – Bill Hicks, American comedian (b. 1961)
March
April
- April 2 – Betty Furness, American actress, author and consumer advocate (b. 1916)
- April 5
- Kurt Cobain, American singer-songwriter (b. 1967)
- Marlon Riggs, American filmmaker, educator, poet and activist (b. 1957)
- April 6 – Sheck Exley, American cave diver (b. 1949)
- April 16 – Ralph Ellison, American writer (b. 1914)
- April 17 – Roger Wolcott Sperry, American neurobiologist (b. 1913)
- April 22 – Richard Nixon, 37th president of the United States (b. 1913)
- April 29 – Russell Kirk, American political philosopher (b. 1918)
- April 30 – Richard Scarry, American author (b. 1919)
May
June
- June 1 – Frances Heflin, actress (b. 1923)
- June 4 – Stephen McNally, American actor (b. 1911)
- June 5 – Ish Kabibble, comedian and cornet player
- June 6 – Barry Sullivan, American actor (b. 1912)
- June 8 – Dorothy Shoemaker McDiarmid, legislator from Virginia (b. 1906)
- June 12
- June 13 – K. T. Stevens, American actress (b. 1919)
- June 14 – Henry Mancini, American composer and arranger (b. 1924)
- June 16 – Kristen Pfaff, American bassist (b. 1967)
- June 20 – Jay Miner, American computer pioneer (b. 1932)
- June 21 – William Wilson Morgan, American astronomer and astrophysicist (b. 1906)
- June 23 – Marv Throneberry, American baseball player (b. 1933)
July
August
September
October
November
- November 1 – Noah Beery Jr., American actor (b. 1913)
- November 4 – Sam Francis, American painter (b. 1923)
- November 8 – Michael O' Donoghue, American writer and performer (b. 1940)
- November 10 – Carmen McRae, American jazz singer (b. 1922)
- November 11 – Pedro Zamora, Cuban-American educator and TV personality (b. 1972)
- November 12 – Wilma Rudolph, American athlete (b. 1940)
- November 13 – John Bailey, actor/screenwriter (b. 1947)
- November 14 – Tom Villard, American actor (b. 1953)
- November 18 – Cab Calloway, American jazz singer and bandleader (b. 1907)
- November 21 – Willem Jacob Luyten, Dutch-American astronomer (b. 1899)
- November 28
- Jeffrey Dahmer, American serial killer (b. 1960)
- Jerry Rubin, American social activist and counterculture icon (b. 1938)
- November 30 – Lionel Stander, American actor (b. 1908)
December
See also
Notes and References
- Web site: Milestones of the U.S. Archival Profession and the National Archives, 1800-2011 . 15 August 2016 . U.S. National Archives and Records Administration . 25 August 2016.
- Web site: Green Day's Dookie: 15 Years Later, Still A Genuine Punk Classic . https://archive.today/20140607182817/http://www.mtv.com/news/1611344/green-days-dookie-15-years-later-still-a-genuine-punk-classic/ . dead . June 7, 2014 . MTV . 2009-05-13 . 2016-07-23.
- Web site: Leslie Aspin . 2022-10-15 . history.defense.gov . en-US .
- Web site: William J. Perry . 2022-10-15 . history.defense.gov . en-US .
- Web site: Ari Halberstam Memorial Site. 14 October 2014. 5 July 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120705183421/http://www.arihalberstam.com/. dead.
- Web site: Woman Held in Perris Is Suspect in Series of Killings. March 18, 1994. Los Angeles Times.
- Web site: Garland . Max . 25 years ago, Federal Express Flight 705 was business as usual — until a hijacking attempt . 2023-12-04 . The Commercial Appeal . en-US.
- Web site: Federal Express crew attacked aboard DC-10 . 2023-12-04 . Tampa Bay Times . en.
- News: On This Day 1994: Rock musician Kurt Cobain 'shoots himself'. BBC News. 8 April 1994 . 14 October 2014.
- Web site: Our Lady of the Angels School Fire, Chicago December 1, 1958 - 2000 Essay Contest 3rd Place. 14 October 2014.
- News: Death of a First Lady; Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Dies of Cancer at 64. The New York Times.
- News: Edsall . Thomas B. . 1994-05-25 . GOP GAINS HOUSE SEAT NATCHER HELD . en-US . Washington Post . 2023-04-24 . 0190-8286.
- Web site: Pizza Hut Tells Twitter It Made The First Online Sale In 1994. HuffPost. 2021-11-15. 2013-09-09. 2019-11-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20191105115930/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pizza-hut_n_3894981. live.
- Web site: Hobbes' Internet Timeline 25. Zakon.org. 2018-08-14. 2020-11-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20201111235130/https://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/index.html?ver=293#1990s. live.
- Web site: Mass murderer killed in prison. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/mass-murderer-killed-in-prison-1440010.html . 2022-05-01 . subscription . live. The Independent. 29 November 1994 . 14 October 2014.
- Web site: Jeffrey Dahmer, Multiple Killer, Is Bludgeoned to Death in Prison. 29 November 1994. The New York Times. 16 July 2016.
- Web site: Inmate attacked with Dahmer dies from trauma | Jet | Find Articles at BNET . 2010-10-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100907013807/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_n7_v87/ai_15969799/ . 2010-09-07 . dead .
- News: America Online Buys 2 Internet Companies. 1994-11-10. Lewis, Peter. New York Times.
- News: CNET. AOL exec details choosing IE. Hu, Jim. 2002-01-02.
- Web site: Subway Bombing of 1994. Gothamist. 14 October 2014. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20151224195706/http://gothamist.com/2006/02/13/subway_bombing.php. 24 December 2015.
- Web site: The case of the kung fu 'phreak'. Kevin Poulsen. ZDNet. January 21, 2000. 12 May 2015.
- Book: Zenko . Micah . Between Threats and War: U.S. Discrete Military Operations in the Post-Cold War World . 3 August 2010 . Stanford University Press . 978-0-8047-7190-0 . 29 . en.
- Web site: Makenzie Jade Vega Norfolk (@makenzievega) • Instagram photos and videos. www.instagram.com. en. 2019-06-27.
- Web site: Alexandra Raisman . https://web.archive.org/web/20150321224057/http://www.teamusa.org/usa-gymnastics/athletes/Alexandra-Raisman . dead . March 21, 2015 . Team USA . 23 April 2019 . en.
- Web site: Nat Wolff Biography . . March 9, 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140309203603/http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/nat-wolff/bio/285686 . March 9, 2014 .
- News: Joseph Cotten, 88, Is Dead; Actor on Stage and in Films . . Peter B. . Flint . February 7, 1994 . May 7, 2010.
- Book: Harris M. Lentz. Obituaries in the Performing Arts. 1994. McFarland & Company. 978-0-7864-0254-0. 25.
- Book: Harris M. Lentz. Obituaries in the Performing Arts. 1994. McFarland & Company. 978-0-7864-0254-0. 160.
