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Virginia
Business 20th Anniversary
National events of the past 20 years
Virginia Business
March 2006 1986
- The space shuttle Challenger
explodes 73 seconds after liftoff on Jan. 28 killing
six astronauts and New Hampshire
teacher Christa McAuliffe.
- Ivan Boesky, who had been accused of insider trading,
agrees to plead guilty to unspecified criminal charges
1987
- Senate and House committees
hold hearings from May through August as part of their
investigation of the
Iran-contra affair.
- The stock market crashes on Oct.
19. The Dow plunges 508 points to 1738, ending a
bull market that had begun
in 1982.
1988
- Vice President George H.W.
Bush is elected president on Nov. 8.
- Drexel Burnham
Lambert agrees to plead guilty on Dec. 21 to insider
trading and other charges, paying a then-record
penalty of $650 million.
1989
- The Exxon Valdez oil tanker
strikes a reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound, creating
a major oil spill.
- President Bush signs into law on
Aug. 9 a congressional measure attempting to rescue
the nation's savings and
loan industry.
- An earthquake strikes the San Francisco
Bay area on Oct. 19 just before a World Series game.
Sixty-two
people are killed.
1990
- Junk bond financier Michael
Milken pleads guilty to fraud-related charges on April
14 and agrees to pay
$500 million in restitution. He later is sentenced
to 10 years in prison.
- President Bush signs the Americans With Disabilities
Act on July 26.
1991
- The U.S. and its allies defeat
Iraq in the Persian Gulf War. Bush declares a cease-fire
on Feb. 27.
- An eight-month recession shows signs of
ending in March. The Dow Jones average closes above
3,000 for
the first time on April 17.
1992
- South Central Los Angeles is
racked by riots on April 27 after a jury acquits four
white policemen in the
beating of black motorist Rodney King.
- Arkansas Gov.
Bill Clinton is elected president on Nov. 3.
1993
- Four federal agents are killed
on Feb. 28 during a raid on the Branch Davidian compound
near Waco, Texas.
The compound burns down on April 19, leaving more than
70 cult members dead.
- President Clinton signs a bill
on Aug. 10 designed to cut the federal budget deficit
by $496 billion over
five years.
1994
- The North American Free Trade Agreement takes effect
on Jan. 1.
- Kenneth Starr is named on Aug. 5 as independent
counsel to investigate the Whitewater affair.
1995
- On April 19, a truck bomb explodes
outside a federal office building in Oklahoma City
killing 168 people.
Timothy McVeigh is arrested two days later.
- Former
football star O.J. Simpson is acquitted on Oct. 3
in the 1994 killings of his former wife and
her friend.
1996
- A bomb explodes in Atlanta
on July 27 during the Summer Olympic Games, killing
one person.
- Welfare reform bill is signed into law on
Aug. 22.
- Clinton is re-elected on Nov. 5.
1997
- McVeigh is convicted of conspiracy
and murder in the Oklahoma City bombing on June 2.
He is executed in
2001.
- The Dow falls 554.26 points, its biggest point
decline ever. The market rebounds 337.17 points the
next day.
1998
- Terrorist bombs explode at
U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania on Aug. 7, killing
257 people.
- The nation's four largest tobacco companies
sign a settlement on Nov. 23 with 46 states, the
District
of Columbia and four territories, agreeing to pay $206
billion over 25 years to cover public health-care costs
related to smoking.
1999
- President Clinton is acquitted
in an impeachment trial on Feb. 12. He had been charged
with perjury and obstruction
of justice in a cover-up of his sexual relationship
with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
- Fourteen
people, including two teenage gunmen, die in shootings
at Columbine High School in Littleton,
Colo., on April 20.
2000
- America Online announces on
Jan. 10 that it will buy Time Warner Inc.
- The presidential
election held on Nov. 7 is undecided because of disputed
vote counts in Florida. The U.S.
Supreme Court rules against Democratic Vice President
Al Gore in his effort to get a new recount. Gore concedes
to Republican Texas Gov. George W. Bush on Dec. 13.
2001
- Congress approves on May 26
a $1.35 trillion tax cut spread over 10 years.
- On Sept.
11, terrorists attack the World Trade Center in New
York and the Pentagon
in Northern Virginia.
About 3,000 people are killed in the attack, which
begins U.S.-led "War on Terror."
- Houston-based Enron files for bankruptcy on Dec.
2.
2002
- WorldCom announces on June
25 that it has overstated its cash flow by billions
of dollars. It declares bankruptcy
on July 21.
- The U.S. House and Senate give Bush authorization
to use military force against Iraq on Oct. 10-11.
- Two
men are arrested on Oct. 24 in a series of sniper shootings
in Virginia, Maryland and the District of
Columbia that leave 10 dead.
2003
- The space shuttle Columbia
breaks apart during descent on Feb. 1, killing its
crew of seven.
- U.S.-led military offensive against Saddam
Hussein begins March 19. Bagdad is in U.S. hands
by April 8.
Saddam is captured on Dec. 13.
- The Massachusetts Supreme
Court rules on Nov. 18 that gay couples have the right
to marry under the state
constitution.
2004
- Media entrepreneur Martha Stewart
is convicted on March 5 of conspiracy and obstruction
of justice. She
is later sentenced to five months in prison.
- President
Bush is re-elected on Nov. 2.
- Indian Ocean tsunami kills
an estimated 150,000 people in Asia and Africa on Dec.
26.
2005
- Iraq holds first democratic
election in more than 50 years on Jan. 30.
- Pope John
Paul II dies April 2. He is succeeded by 78-year-old
Pope Benedict XVI.
- The announced retirement of Justice
Sandra Day O'Connor and the death of Chief Justice
William H. Rehnquist
opens two critical spots on the U.S. Supreme Court.
In September, the Senate approves Federal Appeals Court
Judge John G. Roberts to become chief justice.
2006
- In January, longtime US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan
Greenspan retired. One of the most powerful central
bankers of modern times, Greenspan's tenure lasted
18 ½ years. He was succeeded as chairman by
Ben Bernanke.
Source: World Almanac and Book of Facts
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