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U.S Invasion of Panama
President Bush ordered the invasion of Panama to outs the dedicator Manuel Noriega. This was after a U.S troop was killed in Panama by Noriega's forces. U.S indicted Noriega with drug trafficking charges. Bush claimed to invade Panama to safeguard U.S citizens living there, defend democracy and human rights, combat drug trafficking into the U.S, and protecting the integrity of President Carter who agreed with Panama authorities to turn over Panama to the U.S by 2000. Lasted until Jan 31 1990. -
American's With Disabilities Act
The act was passed as an addition to protection against discrimination based on ability. It prohibitions discrimination based on disability in employment, state and local government programs and activities, public accommodations, transportation, and telecommunications. It was based on the Civil Rights act of 1964. It was passed to combat the exclusion from society that people with disabilities were facing and because of the disabilities rights movement. -
Rodney King Beating
King was on parole and was caught speeding while driving drunk. Fearing speeding would land him back in jail, he took off leading the police on a high speed chase. When they caught up to King he continued to resist arrest. At first they tasered him then officers Laurence Powell and Timothy Wind, began beating King with their nightsticks while another, Theodore Briseno, kicked King in the head. A bystander recorded the incident, riots broke out after the officers were acquitted. -
Magic Johnson's HIV Announcemnt
After the 91-92 NBA season, Johnson was diagnosed with HIV. He immediately announced he had the disease and his retirement. Many people did not know the difference between HIV and AIDS and though both were a death sentence. He promised he would live through it and he helped raise awareness for the disease. In 1996 he came back to play and was more welcomed now that people knew HIV could not be transmitted though sweat. He became the face of people surviving and being healthy with HIV. -
LA Riots
After the police officers who were acquitted for beating unarmed Rodney King, riots in L.A. broke out. Free ways were blocked, motorists were beaten, stores and buildings were wrecked and looted in downtown and more than 100 fires were set. The California governor sent the National Guard and also set a curfew. The riots lasted 3 days, 60 people were killed, 2,000 were injured, 7,000 arrests were made, and there was $1 billion in property damages. -
Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew was a category 5 storm that hit heavily on South Florida but also south Louisiana and the Bahamas. The storm was extremely concentrated and had tornado effects that had more wind than rain so it was able to move fast and cover more area. The storm cause 26 deaths, 25,000 homes, 8,000 businesses and 15,000 boats to be lost, and it cost about $35 billion in damages. The storm also spawned several tornadoes before it was downgraded to a tropical storm. -
Black Hawk Down
Two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down when the U.S. was leading a U.N. mission to end the famine and civil war in Somalia. Their goal was to capture the key allies to Mohamed Farah Aideed. U.S. rangers and Delta Force operators tried a rescue operation, but were caught in gunfire and trapped over night. Angry mobs dragged dead U.S. soldiers trough the capital and broad cased it. In total 18 Americans were killed and Hundreds of Somalis. Clinton decided to halt and withdraw from the mission. -
Passage of North American Free Trade Agreement
Signed in 1992, NAFTA was a copy of the European Economy Community. It was a conversational trade pact that would gradually eliminate most tariffs and trade barriers on products and services between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. It also contained provisions to secure intellectual property rights and strict measures against industrial theft. The 3 countries' legislatures ratified the agreement in 1993 and became effective Jan. 1st 1994. -
O.J Simpson Trial
O.J. was being charged with 2 counts of murder of his ex wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ron Goldman.After the victims were stabbed to death, Simpson was the prime suspect and hid in a truck and led police on a televised chase before he was arrested. Simpson pleaded not guilty and the defense said that the bloody glove evidence was planted in his home, the glove was also too small for his hands. About 150 witnesses took testified but Simpson never took stand, he was found not guilty. -
Explosion of TWA Flight 800
TWA flight 800 burst into flames after take off when going from JFK to Paris, the plane plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean. At first it was believed that it went down due to sabotage or a missile strike from a terror attack. Later it was discovered that the likely cause was a sparking wire in the fuel tank however no definite answer was found leading to many conspiracy theories. Everyone on board of the plane died. -
Olympic Park Bombing
An anonymous call to 911 from a pay phone said that a bomb would go off in Centennial Park in 30 min. A 40 lb bomb filled with nails and screws went off killing 1 (Alice Hawthorne) and causing another to have a heart attack (Melih Uzunyol), over 100 people were injured. This bombing was liked to two other bombings outside of an abortions center and at the patio of a gay and lesbian bar. Authorities were able to identify Eric Robert Rudolph as the suspect. -
Murder of James Byrd
He was an African American man who was walking home in Texas when his killers Berry, Brewer, and King (white supremacists) offered him a ride. He got in the bed of the truck where they took him to a clearing in the woods. They then beat and sprayed Byrd's face with black paint before trying his ankles to the bumper of the truck. They dragged him for 3 miles, he was alive for most of the 3 miles until he hit the edge of a concrete culvert. They disposed his body in a segregated black cemetery. -
Murder of Matthew Sheppard
Matthew Sheppard was an openly gay collegiate. After going to a bar he was lured by Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson into their car. They drove him to a remote area in the Sherman Hills and said they were going to rib him and were not gay. They punched and pistol whipped him before tying Sheppard to a buck-rail fence and continuing the attack while saying homophobic slurs. He was pistol whipped 19-21 times leading to his brain stem being severely damaged, he died in a coma at the hospital. -
NATO Bombing on Yugoslavia (Serbia)
During the Kosovo War, NATO bombed Yugoslavia from March 24- June 10 199 to get Yugoslavia forces out of Kosovo. NATO got involved to stop the ethnic cleansing and genocide of Albanians. In efforts to destabilize Milosevic (leader of Serbia's Communist Party) regime, NATO targeted government buildings and the countries infrastructure. Kosovar Albanians fled to neighboring counties before being airlifted to U.S. and other NATO counties. -
Columbine Massacre
Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris went to plant a bomb in Columbine High School's gym. When it did not go off, they began a shooting rampage starting with people that were outside of the school before entering. They killed 12 students and a teacher, injured 20 before committing suicide. They targeted athletes, minorities, and Christians. It is believed they were apart of a trench coat mafia and did it out of retaliation from bullying and to copy the Okalahoma City bombing. -
Y2K Scare
At first computer engineers programmed the computers so that 1960 would be 60, entering the year 2000 they feared the commuters would read 00 as 1900. If this was to happen many big industries much as medical would suffer from in accurate dates and times. Banks were afraid of system failures and their stocks fell. People feared airplanes would be affect and fall from the sky. New software programs were created with 4 digit dates but were expensive, only minor's system failures occurred.
