1994 in the United States

Incumbents

Federal government

• President: Bill Clinton
• Vice President: Al Gore
• Chief Justice: William Rehnquist
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Tom Foley
• Senate Majority Leader: George J. Mitchell
• Congress: 103rd

  Governors

Lieutenant governors

Events

January

• January - National Archives at College Park opens.
• January 6 - In Detroit, Michigan, Nancy Kerrigan is clubbed on the right leg by an assailant, under orders from figure 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 Northridge earthquake shakes the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX, 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 first State of the Union address, calling for health care reform, a ban on assault weapons, and welfare reform.
• January 30 - Super Bowl XXVIII: 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.
• February 3 - William Perry is sworn in as the new Secretary of Defense, succeeding Les Aspin.
• 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 5 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 of office 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 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 21 - The 66th Academy Awards, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Steven Spielberg's Holocaust drama, Schindler's List, wins 7 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director.
• 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 - The biggest tornado outbreak in 1994 occurs in the southeastern United States; one tornado hits a Goshen United Methodist Church in Piedmont, Alabama, killing 22 people.

  April

• April 8 - Kurt Cobain, songwriter and frontman for the band Nirvana, is found dead at his Lake Washington home. He is believed to have committed suicide three days before he was found.
• 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 by lethal injection for the murder of 33 young men and boys.
• May 19 - Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, former First Lady of the United States, dies of cancer at the age of 64.

  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 15 - The Lion King is released in theaters, making $422,783,777 in the United States. It is the highest-grossing film of the year.
• 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.
• June 20 - Dean Mellberg kills four and injures 23 at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, Washington.
• 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.
• 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 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.

  July

• 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 19 - Four 26-pound ceiling tiles fall from the roof of the Kingdome in Seattle, Washington, just hours before a scheduled Seattle Mariners game.

  August

• August 12 - Woodstock '94 begins in Saugerties, New York. It is the 25-year anniversary of the 1969 Woodstock festival.
• 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 Blaisdell Arena.
• 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.

  September

• 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 12 - Frank Eugene Corder crashes a Cessna 150 into the South Lawn of the White House; he is killed, and is 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. 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 15 – September 21 – Hurricane Gert crosses from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean through Central America and Mexico.
• September 17
• *Heather Whitestone becomes the first hearing impaired contestant to win the Miss America entitlement. Whitestone becomes Miss America 1995.
• * Russian troops withdraw from Poland.
• September 19
• *American troops stage a bloodless invasion of Haiti in order to restore the legitimate elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to power.
• *1993 Polish parliamentary election: A coalition of the Democratic Left Alliance and the Polish People's Party led by Waldemar Pawlak comes into power.
• 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 - NASA loses radio contact with the Magellan spacecraft as the probe descends into the thick atmosphere of Venus.
• 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 3 years of U.S. exile, Haiti's president Aristide returns to his country.
• October 29 - Francisco Martin Duran fires over 2 dozen 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 announces that he has Alzheimer's disease.
• 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 and US$514M in damage.
• 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 dies two days later.
• November 30
• * The National Football League announces that the Jacksonville Jaguars will become the league's 30th franchise.
• * Rapper Tupac Shakur is shot five times and robbed after entering the lobby of Quad Recording Studios in Manhattan.

  December

• December - The unemployment rate drops to 5.5%, the lowest since the start of the early 1990s recession in July 1990.
• 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.
• December 27 - After experiencing a hacker attack by Kevin Mitnick, computer security expert Tsutomu Shimomura started to receive prank calls that popularized the trope "My kung fu is stronger than yours".

  Ongoing

• Iraqi no-fly zones
• Operation Uphold Democracy

  Sport

• June 14 – The New York Rangers win their fourth Stanley Cup by defeating the Vancouver Canucks 4 games to 2. The deciding Game 7 was 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.
• July 6 – The Canadian Football League establish the Las Vegas Posse, Shreveport Pirates, and Baltimore Stallions.
• 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.

Births

[January]

• January 4 – Derrick Henry, American football player
• January 6 – Jameis Winston, American football player
• January 10 – Landon Collins, American football player
• January 21 – Booboo Stewart, actor
• January 23 – Addison Russell, baseball player

  [February]

• February 10 – Makenzie Vega, American actress
• February 11 – Dansby Swanson, baseball player
• February 21 – Hayley Orrantia, actress
• February 23 – Dakota Fanning, actress
• February 24 – Earl Sweatshirt, hip-hop artist

  [March]

• March 1 – Tyreek Hill, American football player
• March 7
• * Christina Gao, figure skater
• * Chase Kalisz, swimmer
• March 12 – Christina Grimmie, singer/songwriter/musician/actress/YouTuber
• March 14 – Ansel Elgort, actor/singer/DJ
• March 25 – Justin Prentice, actor
• March 30 – Alex Bregman, baseball player

  [April]

• April 3 – Dylann Roof, mass murderer
• April 14 – Skyler Samuels, actress
• April 15 – Jacquees, singer/songwriter
• April 16 – Will Fuller, American football player
• April 24 – Jordan Fisher, singer/dancer/actor
• April 27 – Corey Seager, American baseball player

  [May]

• May 7 – Dylan Gelula, actress
• May 16 – Miles Heizer, actor
• May 22 – Aly Raisman, artistic gymnast
• May 25 – Kylee, Japanese-American singer

  [June]

• June 3 – Anne Winters, actress
• June 17
• * Amari Cooper, American football player
• * Shaq Lawson, American football player
• June 18 – Takeoff, rapper
• June 20 – Leonard Williams, American football player
• June 29 – Camila Mendes, actress

  [July]

• July 6
• *Andrew Benintendi, baseball player
• *Corey Coleman, American football player
• July 16 – Mark Indelicato, American actor
• July 17 – Derrick Henry, American football player
• July 22 – Jaz Sinclair, actress
• July 31 – Lil Uzi Vert, hip hop recording artist

  [August]

• August 2 – Laremy Tunsil, American football player
• August 3 – Todd Gurley, American football player
• August 4 – Bobby Shmurda, rapper/songwriter
• August 9 – Kelli Hubly, American soccer player
• August 12 - Bex Taylor-Klaus, actress
• August 16 – Tippy Dos Santos, actress and singer
• August 17
• *Jack Conklin, American football player
• *Taissa Farmiga, actress
• August 22 – Israel Broussard, actor
• August 27 – Ellar Coltrane, actor

  [September]

• September 8 – Cameron Dallas, internet personality
• September 13 – Mitch Holleman, actor
• September 29 – Halsey, singer/songwriter

  [October]

• October 14 – Jared Goff, American football player
• October 23 – Margaret Qualley, actress
• October 24 – Jalen Ramsey, American football player
• October 26 – Allie DeBerry, American actress and model

  [November]

• November 2 – Jordan Howard, American football player
• November 4 – Deion Jones, American football player
• November 10 – Zoey Deutch, actress
• November 15
• * Tyler Boyd, American football player
• * Emma Dumont, American actress, model, and dancer
• November 30 – Nyjah Huston, skateboarder

  [December]

• December 3 – Jake T. Austin, actor
• December 7 – Hunter Henry, American football player
• December 9 – Zach Veach, race car driver
• December 16 – Christopher Bell, race car driver
• December 17 – Nat Wolff, actor
• December 23 – Tajae Sharpe, American football player
• December 24 – LaShawn Tináh Jefferies, actress
• December 26 – Dalyn Dawkins, American football player

  Deaths

[January]

• January 1 – Cesar Romero, actor

  [February]

• February 6 – Jack Kirby, comic book artist
• February 9 – Bud Wilkinson, football player, coach and broadcaster

  [March]

• March 2 – Anita Morris, actress/singer/dancer

  [April]

• April 2 – Betty Furness, American actress, author, and consumer advocate
• April 5 – Kurt Cobain, American singer and songwriter
• April 16 – Ralph Ellison, American writer
• April 17 – Roger Wolcott Sperry, American neurobiologist
• April 22 – Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States
• April 29 – Russell Kirk, American political philosopher
• April 30 – Richard Scarry, American author

  [May]

• May 5 – Joe Layton, American director and choreographer
• May 7 – Clement Greenberg, American art critic
• May 8 – George Peppard, American actor
• May 10 – John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer
• May 12
• * Erik Erikson, Danish-American developmental psychologist
• * Roy J. Plunkett, American chemist
• May 14 – W. Graham Claytor, Jr., American businessman and naval officer
• May 15
• * Royal Dano, American actor
• * Gilbert Roland, American actor
• May 19
• * Henry Morgan, American comedian
• * Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, American socialite, conservationist, and First Lady of the United States
• May 26 – Sonny Sharrock, American jazz musician
• May 28 – Julius Boros, American golfer
• May 30 – Ezra Taft Benson, American religious leader

  [June]

• June 1 – Frances Heflin, actress
• June 4 – Stephen McNally, American actor
• June 6 – Barry Sullivan, American actor
• June 8 – Dorothy Shoemaker McDiarmid, legislator from Virginia
• June 10
• * Mary Maxwell Gates, American businesswoman
• * Edward Kienholz, American artist and sculptor
• June 12 – Nicole Brown Simpson, wife of O.J. Simpson/murder victim
• June 12
• * Ron Goldman, American model, waiter
• * Menachem Mendel Schneerson, American Hasidic rabbinical leader
• * Nicole Brown Simpson, German-American actress, waitress
• June 13 – K. T. Stevens, American actress
• June 14 – Henry Mancini, American composer and arranger
• June 16 – Kristen Pfaff, American bassist
• June 20 – Jay Miner, American computer pioneer
• June 21 – William Wilson Morgan, American astronomer and astrophysicist

  [July]

• July 7
• * Anita Garvin, American actress
• * Cameron Mitchell, American actor
• July 8 – Dick Sargent, American actor
• July 11 – Gary Kildall, American computer inventor
• July 16 – Julian Schwinger, American physicist

  [August]

• August 21 – Danitra Vance, comedian/actress

  [September]

• September 17 – John Delafose, accordion player

  [October]

• October 19 – Martha Raye, comic actress/singer

  [November]

• November 13 – John Bailey, actor/screenwriter

  [December]

• December 3 – Elizabeth Glaser, AIDS activist/child advocate/wife of actor and director Paul Michael Glaser