World Events

  • US rescues Mexico’s economy with $20-billion aid program (Feb. 21).
  • Russian space station Mir greets first Americans (March 14). US shuttle docks with station (June 27).
  • Nerve gas attack in Tokyo subway kills eight and injures thousands. The Aum Shinrikyo (“Supreme Truth”) cult is to blame (March 20). Background: International Terrorism
  • Death toll 2,000 in Rwanda massacre (April 22).
  • Fighting escalates in Bosnia and Croatia (May 1). Warring parties agree on cease-fire (Oct. 5); sign peace treaty (Dec. 14).
  • France explodes nuclear device in Pacific; wide protests ensue (Sept. 5). Background: nuclear weapons
  • Israelis and Palestinians agree on transferring West Bank to Arabs (Sept. 24). Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin slain by Jewish extremist at peace rally (Nov. 4).
U.S. Events
  • Murder trial for O. J. Simpson opens in California (Jan. 24).
  • Scores killed as terrorist’s car bomb blows up block-long Oklahoma City federal building (April 19); Timothy McVeigh, 27, arrested as suspect (April 21); authorities seek second suspect, link right-wing paramilitary groups to bombing (April 22).
  • Los Angeles jury finds O. J. Simpson not guilty of murder charges (Oct. 3).
  • Pope John Paul II visits US on whirlwind tour (Oct. 4-8).
  • Million Man March draws hundreds of thousands of black men to capital (Oct. 16).
Economics

US GDP (1998 dollars):   $7,269.60 billion
Federal spending:   $1519.13 billion
Federal debt:   $4921.0 billion
Median Household Income
(current dollars):  $34,076
Consumer Price Index:   152.4
Unemployment:   5.6%
Cost of a first-class stamp:   $0.32 (as of 1/1/95)

Sports

Super Bowl
San Francisco d. San Diego (49-26)

World Series
Atlanta Braves d. Cleveland (4-2)

NBA Championship
Houston d. Orlando (4-0)

Stanley Cup
New Jersey d. Detroit (4-0)

Wimbledon
Women: Steffi Graf d. A.S. Vicario (4-6 6-1 7-5)
Men: Pete Sampras d. B. Becker (6-7 6-2 6-4 6-2)

Kentucky Derby Champion
Thunder Gulch

NCAA Basketball Championship
UCLA d. Arkansas (89-78)

NCAA Football Champions
Nebraska (12-0-0)

Entertainment

Events

  • The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum opens in Cleveland. Renowned architect I. M. Pei designed the ultra-modern, 150,000 square-foot building.
  • Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia dies.
  • An estimated 150 million people watch as the not guilty verdict is read in the O. J. Simpson verdict.
  • The Metropolitan Opera installs screens on audience seats that display captions, to attract a wider audience.

Movies

  • Babe, Braveheart, Leaving Las Vegas, The Usual Suspects, Dead Man Walking

Books

  • Pat Barker, The Ghost Road
  • Richard Ford, Independence Day
Science
  • First solo transpacific balloon flight. Steve Fossett made a flight of more than 5,430 mi. from Seoul, South Korea, to Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada, in a helium-filled balloon. Also set record for distance (Feb. 18–21, 1995). Background: Famous Firsts in Aviation
  • Drs. Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell (UK) create the world’s first cloned sheep, Megan and Morag, from embryo cells. Background: Cloning Milestones
Deaths
  • Howard Cosell
  • Jerry Garcia
  • Rose Kennedy
  • Howard Koch
  • Mickey Mantle
  • Ginger Rogers
  • Terry Southern
  • Selena Quintanilla

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The movie “Braveheart” came out
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