1994 in the United States

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Last updated February 16, 2025

Events from the year 1994 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal government

Governors and lieutenant governors
Governors Governor of Alabama: Jim Folsom Jr. (Democratic) Governor of Alaska: Wally Hickel (Alaskan Independence)/(Republican) (until December 5), Tony Knowles (Democratic) (starting December 5) Governor of Arizona: Fife Symington III (Republican) Governor of Arkansas: Jim Guy Tucker (Democratic) Governor of California: Pete Wilson (Republican) Governor of Colorado: Roy Romer (Democratic) Governor of Connecticut: Lowell P. Weicker Jr. (A Connecticut) Governor of Delaware: Thomas R. Carper (Democratic) Governor of Florida: Lawton Chiles (Democratic) Governor of Georgia: Zell Miller (Democratic) Governor of Hawaii: John D. Waihee III (Democratic) (until December 5), Ben Cayetano (Democratic) (starting December 5) Governor of Idaho: Cecil D. Andrus (Democratic) Governor of Illinois: Jim Edgar (Republican) Governor of Indiana: Evan Bayh (Democratic) Governor of Iowa: Terry E. Branstad (Republican) Governor of Kansas: Joan Finney (Democratic) Governor of Kentucky: Brereton Jones (Democratic) Governor of Louisiana: Edwin W. Edwards (Democratic) Governor of Maine: John R. McKernan Jr. (Republican) Governor of Maryland: William Donald Schaefer (Democratic) Governor of Massachusetts: William F. Weld (Republican) Governor of Michigan: John Engler (Republican) Governor of Minnesota: Arne H. Carlson (Republican) Governor of Mississippi: Kirk Fordice (Republican) Governor of Missouri: Mel Carnahan (Democratic) Governor of Montana: Marc Racicot (Republican) Governor of Nebraska: Ben Nelson (Democratic) Governor of Nevada: Bob Miller (Democratic) Governor of New Hampshire: Steve Merrill (Republican) Governor of New Jersey: James Florio (Democratic) (until January 18), Christine Todd Whitman (Republican) (starting January 18) Governor of New Mexico: Bruce King (Democratic) Governor of New York: Mario Cuomo (Democratic) (until end of December 31) Governor of North Carolina: Jim Hunt (Democratic) Governor of North Dakota: Ed Schafer (Republican) Governor of Ohio: George Voinovich (Republican) Governor of Oklahoma: David Walters (Democratic) Governor of Oregon: Barbara Roberts (Democratic) Governor of Pennsylvania: Robert P. Casey (Democratic) Governor of Rhode Island: Bruce Sundlun (Democratic) Governor of South Carolina: Carroll A. Campbell Jr. (Republican) Governor of South Dakota: Walter Dale Miller (Republican) Governor of Tennessee: Ned McWherter (Democratic) Governor of Texas: Ann Richards (Democratic) Governor of Utah: Mike Leavitt (Republican) Governor of Vermont: Howard Dean (Democratic) Governor of Virginia: Douglas Wilder (Democratic) (until January 15), George Allen (Republican) (starting January 15) Governor of Washington: Mike Lowry (Democratic) Governor of West Virginia: Gaston Caperton (Democratic) Governor of Wisconsin: Tommy Thompson (Republican) Governor of Wyoming: Mike Sullivan (Democratic) Lieutenant governors Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: vacant Lieutenant Governor of Alaska: Jack Coghill (Alaskan Independence) (until December 5), Fran Ulmer (Democratic) (starting December 5) Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas: Mike Huckabee (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of California: Leo T. McCarthy (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: Mike Callihan (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Samuel H. Cassidy (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Eunice Groark (A Connecticut) Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: Ruth Ann Minner (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Florida: Buddy MacKay (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Georgia: Pierre Howard (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii: Ben Cayetano (Democratic) (until December 2), Mazie Hirono (Democratic) (starting December 2) Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: Butch Otter (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Bob Kustra (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Frank O'Bannon (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: Joy Corning (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Jim Francisco (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Paul E. Patton (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Melinda Schwegmann (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Maryland: Melvin A. Steinberg (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Paul Cellucci (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Connie Binsfeld (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Joanell Dyrstad (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: Eddie Briggs (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Roger B. Wilson (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Montana: Denny Rehberg (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: Kim M. Robak (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Sue Wagner (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico: Casey Luna (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of New York: Stan Lundine (Democratic) (until end of December 31) Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Dennis A. Wicker (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Rosemarie Myrdal (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Mike DeWine (Democratic) (until November), vacant (starting November) Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma: Jack Mildren (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Mark Singel (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Robert Weygand (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Nick Theodore (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: Steve T. Kirby (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: John S. Wilder (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Texas: Bob Bullock (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Utah: Olene S. Walker (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Barbara W. Snelling (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Don Beyer (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Washington: Joel Pritchard (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Scott McCallum (Republican)

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, figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is clubbed on the right leg by an assailant, under orders from 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 M_w  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, −36 °F (−38 °C), 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

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.^[2]Dookie eventually achieves diamond certification.
February 3 – William J. Perry is sworn in as the new Secretary of Defense, succeeding Les Aspin.^[3]
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.^[4]
- 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.^[5]
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.^[6] 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.^[7]
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.^[8]
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.^[9]

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 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.^[10]
May 24 – In a critical House of Representatives special election in the state of Kentucky, Republican Ron Lewis flips a Democrat-controlled seat 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.^[11]
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 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
- 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.
c. August – Pizza Hut becomes the first restaurant to offer online food ordering, in California.^[12]

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

October 12 – Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen found DreamWorks Animation.
October 13 (UTC) – NASA loses radio contact with the Magellan spacecraft as the probe descends into the thick atmosphere of Venus and is presumed to burn up in the atmosphere.
October 14 – Pulp Fiction , a movie by Quentin Tarantino, premieres. It soon after becomes the highest grossing independent film ever made.
October 15
- Iraq disarmament crisis: Following threats by the U.N. Security Council and the U.S., Iraq withdraws troops from its border with Kuwait.
- After three years of U.S. exile, Haiti's president Aristide returns to his country.
October 29 – Francisco Martin Duran fires at least 29 shots at the White House; he is later convicted of trying to kill President Bill Clinton.
October 31 – An American Eagle ATR 72 crashes in Roselawn, Indiana, after circling in icy weather, killing 64 passengers.

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
- Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan releases an announcement that he has Alzheimer's disease.
- American boxer George Foreman wins the WBA and IBF World Heavyweight Championships by KO'ing Michael Moorer becoming the oldest heavyweight champion in history.
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.^[13]
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.^[14] In 1996, AOL replaces Booklink with a browser based on Internet Explorer, allegedly in exchange for inclusion of AOL in Windows.^[15]

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
- A Learjet piloted by Richard Anderson and Brad Sexton misses an elementary school and crashes into an apartment complex in Fresno, California, killing both pilots and injuring several apartment residents.
- A runaway Santa Fe freight train rear ends a Union Pacific train at the bottom of Cajon Pass, California.
December 19
- A planned exchange rate correction of the Mexican Peso to the US Dollar creates a massive financial meltdown in Mexico, unleashing the 'Tequila Effect' on global financial markets. This prompts a US$50 billion 'bailout' by the Clinton Administration.
- The Whitewater scandal investigation begins in Washington, D.C.
December 21 – A homemade bomb explodes on the #4 train on Fulton Street in New York City.^[16]
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".^[17]

Ongoing

Iraqi no-fly zones (1991–2003)^[18]
Operation Uphold Democracy (1994–1995)

Sport

June 14 – The New York Rangers win their fourth (and first since 1940) Stanley Cup by defeating the Vancouver Canucks 4 games to 2. The deciding Game 7 is played at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Corpus Christi, Texas' Brian Leetch becomes the first American to be awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy.
June 22 – The Houston Rockets defeat the New York Knicks at The Summit in Texas in Game 7 of the 1993–94 NBA season, to win their first NBA Championship. Hakeem Olajuwon is named MVP of the Finals.
July 6 – The Canadian Football League establish the Las Vegas Posse, Shreveport Pirates and Baltimore Stallions.
November 13 – Dale Earnhardt wins his 7th and final NASCAR championship.
November 27 – The BC Lions win their third Grey Cup by defeating the Baltimore Stallions 26–23 in the 82nd Grey Cup played at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia. New Iberia, Louisiana's Karl Anthony is awarded the game's Most Valuable Player.
November 30 – The National Football League announces that the Jacksonville Jaguars will become the league's 30th franchise.