World Wide Web. (Oct. 29)Galileobecomes the
first space probe to visit an asteroid as it makes its
closest approach to 951 Gaspra.
Environment and health:The Food and Drug Ad-
ministration approves the use of Didanosine, also
known as ddI, as a treatment for acquired immu-
nodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). (Mar. 13) The
Department of Justice announces that Exxon has
agreed to pay $1 billion for the cleanup of the
Exxon Valdezoil spill in Alaska. (Nov. 7) Magic
Johnson, point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers,
announces that he has human immunodefi-
ciency virus (HIV).
Arts and literature:Julia Alvarez publishesHow the
Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents,about three sisters
from the Dominican Republic who try to assimi-
late to American life. (Apr. 10)Rabbit at Restby
novelist John Updike and the playLost in Yonkers
by Neil Simon are among the year’s Pulitzer Prize
winners. (Sept. 22) The Huntington Library in
San Marino, California, makes the Dead Sea
Scrolls available to the public for the first time.
Popular culture:(Feb. 20) Natalie Cole sweeps the
Grammy Awards, capturing Album of the Year for
Unforgettableand Record of the Year and Song of
the Year awards for her single recording of the
same name. (Aug. 13) Nintendo releases its
Super Nintendo Entertainment System, a video-
game console, in the United States.
Sports:(Jan. 27) The New York Giants defeat the
Buffalo Bills by a score of 20-19 to win Super Bowl
XXV. (Jun. 12) The Chicago Bulls win their first
National Basketball Association championship
when the team defeats the Los Angeles Lakers by
four games to one in the best-of-seven series.
Crime:(Jan. 16) Aileen Carol Wuornos confesses to
the murders of six men. (Feb. 5) A Michigan
court prohibits physician Jack Kevorkian from
performing assisted suicides. (Mar. 3) An ama-
teur video captures a group of Los Angeles police
officers beating Rodney King, an African Ameri-
can, when they were attempting to arrest him.
(Mar. 15) Four Los Angeles police officers are
indicted for the beating of King after the video-
taped incident has been seen by millions of televi-
sion viewers. (Jul. 22) Jeffrey Dahmer is arrested
after the remains of eleven men and boys are
found in his Milwaukee apartment. Police later
learn that he was involved in six additional mur-
ders.
1992
International events:(Jan. 15) The Socialist Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia begins to collapse, as Slove-
nia and Croatia become independent and are rec-
ognized by some Western countries. (Feb. 7) The
Maastricht Treaty is signed, establishing the Euro-
pean Union. (Mar. 1) Serb snipers fire on civilians
after a majority of the Bosniak and Bosnian Croat
communities vote for Bosnian independence
from Serbia. (Apr. 9) The Conservative Party, lead
by Prime Minister John Major, is reelected in the
United Kingdom’s general election. (Dec. 3) The
United Nations Security Council unanimously
adopts a resolution allowing a coalition of U.N.
peacekeepers, led by the United States, to form a
task force that will establish peace and ensure that
humanitarian aid is distributed in Somalia.
Government and politics: (Mar. 10) President
George H. W. Bush, a Republican, and Arkansas
governor Bill Clinton, a Democrat, are the top
vote-getters in the Super Tuesday primary elec-
tions. (Mar. 18) During a television interview,
Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot announces he will
run as an independent candidate for the presi-
dency if volunteers in all fifty states can place his
name on the ballot. (Jul. 16) The Democrats hold
their convention in New York City, nominating
Clinton for president and U.S. senator Al Gore
for vice president. (Aug. 20) Meeting in Houston,
Texas, the Republicans renominate President
Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle. (Sept. 18)
Supporters of Perot are able to place his name on
the ballot in all fifty states, despite Perot’s earlier
withdrawal from the presidential race. (Oct. 1)
Perot reenters the 1992 presidential campaign.
(Oct. 26) Canadian voters in a national referen-
dum defeat the Charlottetown Accord, a package
of constitutional amendments. (Nov. 3) Clinton
defeats President Bush and Ross Perot in the pres-
idential election.
Military and war:(Jan. 26) Russian president Boris
Yeltsin announces that Russia will no longer target
American cities with nuclear weapons. (Mar. 9)
The People’s Republic of China ratifies the Nu-
clear Non-Proliferation Treaty. (Apr. 6) The As-
sembly of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, without the presence of Serbian
delegates, proclaims independence from the So-
cialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Serbs living
in Bosnia and Herzegovina participate in a massThe Nineties in America Time Line 1029