This Year in History:
1998
Discover what happened in this year with HISTORY’s summaries of major events, anniversaries, famous births and notable deaths.
University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard dies after a vicious anti‑gay attack. After meeting Shepard in a Laramie, Wyoming, gay bar, The Fireside Lounge, Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney lured…
On this day in 1998, a pipeline explosion in Jesse, Nigeria, kills 700 people. The resulting fire burned for nearly a week. Nigeria is an oil‑rich country on the west…
Doctor Barnett Slepian is shot to death inside his home in Amherst, New York by an anti‑abortion radical. His killing marks the fifth straight year that an abortion‑providing doctor in upstate…
Hurricane Mitch hits Central America on this day in 1998. The storm, the most deadly hurricane to hit the Western Hemisphere in more than 200 years, went on to kill…
On October 28, 1998, President Bill Clinton signs into law the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The legislation was written in order to strengthen existing federal copyright protections against new…
Nearly four decades after he became the first American to orbit the Earth, Senator John Herschel Glenn Jr. is launched into space again as a payload specialist aboard the space…
On November 3, 1998, former professional wrestler Jesse “The Body” Ventura is elected governor of Minnesota with 37 percent of the vote. His opponents, seasoned politicians Hubert Humphrey III (son…
On November 6, 1998, President Bill Clinton declares that part of Detroit will become an “Automobile National Heritage Area.” The designation restricted land use and drew attention to what Michigan…
On this day in 1998, the brand‑new DaimlerChrysler began trading its shares on the New York Stock Exchange. The company had formed five days earlier, when the American Chrysler Corporation…
On this day, Alice McDermott beats out front‑runner Tom Wolfe for the National Book Award with her novel Charming Billy, losing a bet with her children. McDermott felt she was…
On December 16, 1998, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on the Judiciary releases a 265‑page report recommending the impeachment of President Bill Clinton for high crimes and misdemeanors. The…
On December 16, 1998, President Bill Clinton announces he has ordered air strikes against Iraq because it refused to cooperate with United Nations (U.N.) weapons inspectors. Clinton’s decision did not…
After nearly 14 hours of debate, the House of Representatives approves two articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, charging him with lying under oath to a federal grand jury…
