1994 in the United States

Events from the year 1994 in the United States.

Incumbents Federal government President: Bill Clinton (D-Arkansas) Vice President: Al Gore (D–Tennessee) Chief Justice: William Rehnquist (Virginia) Speaker of the House of Representatives: Tom Foley (D–Washington) Senate Majority Leader: George J. Mitchell (D–Maine) Congress: 103rd

State governments Governors and lieutenant governorsGovernors

Lieutenant governors

Events January

January – The National Archives at College Park opens. January 1 – The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is established. January 6 – In Detroit, Michigan, figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is clubbed on the right leg by an assailant, under orders from skating rival Tonya Harding's ex-husband. January 7 – The body of Sopha Wonggoun is found in a sleeping bag off a deserted road in California. The discovery would spark a 12-year manhunt for her husband, Saner Wonggoun. 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, , 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 second 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 February 1 In Portland, Oregon, Tonya Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly pleads guilty for his role in attacking figure skater Nancy Kerrigan. He accepts a plea bargain, admitting to racketeering charges in exchange for testimony against Harding. Green Day release their breakthrough album Dookie, ushering in the mid-1990s punk revival. Dookie eventually achieves diamond certification. February 3 – William J. Perry is sworn in as the new Secretary of Defense, succeeding Les Aspin. February 5 – Byron De La Beckwith is convicted of the 1963 murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers. February 22 – Aldrich Ames and his wife are charged with spying for the Soviet Union by the United States Department of Justice. Ames is later convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment; his wife receives five years in prison. February 28 – United States F-16 pilots shoot down four Serbian fighter aircraft over Bosnia and Herzegovina for violation of the Operation Deny Flight and its no-fly zone.

March March 1 A lone terrorist kills Ari Halberstam during an attack on 14 Jewish students on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. Mary Ellen Withrow begins her term as Treasurer of the United States, serving under President Bill Clinton. 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. March 20 – The World Wrestling Federation holds WrestleMania X from Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. 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. 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. 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. 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.

May May 10 Illinois executes serial killer John Wayne Gacy in the Stateville Correctional Center by lethal injection for the murder of 33 young men and boys. A solar eclipse is visible from the U.S. Weezer released their first studio album Weezer. May 13 – Martina McBride and Jo Dee Messina with RCA record label RCA Nashville and RCA Records. May 18 – The Flavr Savr, a genetically modified tomato, is deemed safe for consumption by the FDA, becoming the first commercially grown genetically engineered food to be granted a license for human consumption. May 19 – Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, former First Lady of the United States, dies of cancer in New York City at the age of 64. May 24 – In a critical House of Representatives special election in the state of Kentucky, Republican Ron Lewis flips a Democrat-controlled seat formerly held by the late William Natcher, who served in the House from 1953 until his death on March 29, that had never held by the GOP in its history. The election result was viewed as an early sign of trouble for President Clinton and his party in the midterm elections. May 26 – Michael Jackson marries Lisa Marie Presley in the Dominican Republic.

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 seven of the 1994 Stanley Cup Final 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 NFL star O. J. Simpson and his friend Al Cowlings flee from police in his white Ford Bronco. The low-speed chase ends at Simpson's Brentwood, Los Angeles, California mansion, where he surrenders. The 1994 FIFA World Cup begins in the United States, with the opening match between Germany and Bolivia at Soldier Field in Chicago, the Germans won 1–0 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. August 29 – The World Wrestling Federation holds its SummerSlam event from the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. c. August – Pizza Hut becomes the first restaurant to offer online food ordering, in California.

September