1993
International events:(Jan. 1) Czechoslovakia be-
comes two separate countries—the Czech Repub-
lic and Slovakia. (Jan. 26) Playwright Václav Havel
is elected president of the newly created Czech
Republic. (Sept. 13) Yasir Arafat, leader of the
Palestine Liberation Organization, and Israeli
prime minister Yitzhak Rabin sign the Oslo Ac-
cords in Washington, D.C. (Sept. 28) Russian citi-
zens take to the streets of Moscow to protest Boris
Yeltsin’s attempt to dissolve the constitution and
implement a series of reforms. Russian lawmakers
also oppose Yeltsin’s political maneuvers and
have voted to impeach him. (Oct. 2) The protest
against Yeltsin expands, becoming a mass upris-
ing in the Kremlin. Military and security forces
are employed to quell the disturbance and re-
move lawmakers from a government building
where they have barricaded themselves. (Oct. 5)
The Russian constitutional crisis ends, leaving
187 killed in the worst street fighting in Moscow
since the Russian Revolution. (Oct. 19) Benazir
Bhutto is elected president of Pakistan, the first
woman elected to lead a postcolonial Muslim na-
tion. (Nov. 17-22) The North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is passed by legisla-
tures in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Government and politics:(Jan. 20) Bill Clinton is in-
augurated as the forty-second president of the
United States. (Feb. 24) Canadian prime minister
Brian Mulroney resigns from office. (Mar. 11)
Janet Reno becomes the first female attorney gen-
eral of the United States when she is confirmed
and sworn in by the U.S. Senate. (Jun. 25) Kim
Campbell becomes the first female prime minis-
ter of Canada. (Jul. 19) President Clinton an-
nounces his “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy regard-
ing gays in the military. (Oct. 25) Jean Chrétien
and his Liberal Party are the big winners in Can-
ada’s federal elections, decisively defeating the
governing Progressive Conservative Party, which
maintains only two seats—the lowest number in
the nation’s history.
Military and war:(Apr. 16) The United Nations Se-
curity Council passes a resolution to declare
Srebrenica, scene of some of the bloodiest battles
in the Bosnian War, a “safe area which should be
free from any armed attack or any other hostile
act.” The resolution, however, is ignored by both
Serbian and rival Bosniak forces. (Jun. 27) Presi-
dent Bill Clinton orders a cruise missile attack on
Iraqi intelligence headquarters in Baghdad. The
attack is a response to Iraq’s attempted assassina-
tion of former President George H. W. Bush dur-
ing his visit to Kuwait in April. (Oct. 3) In some of
the worst fighting in the Somali Civil War, Ameri-
can soldiers battle the local militia in Mogadishu,
resulting in the deaths of eighteen Americans
and five hundred Somalis.
Society:Beanie Babies, a line of moderately priced
stuffed animals, make their first appearance at
the World Toy Fair in New York City. The stuffed
animals will become one of the hottest selling toys
of the decade (Jan.)Wired, a monthly magazine
focusing on how technology affects culture, the
economy, and politics, publishes its first issue.
(Feb. 23) Former child actor Gary Coleman wins
a $1.28 million lawsuit against his parents in
which he alleged they misappropriated his trust
fund. (Jun. 23) After an argument with her hus-
band, John, Lorena Bobbitt cuts off his penis with
a kitchen carving knife. Lorena is later tried for
the attack and found not guilty by reason of in-
sanity.
Business and economics:(Jan. 19) International
Business Machines (IBM) announces it lost $4.97
billion in 1992, the largest one-year corporate loss
in American history. (Nov. 20) In another devel-
opment in the savings and loan scandal, the U.S.
Senate Ethics Committee censures Senator Alan
Cranston for his dealings with Lincoln Savings ex-
ecutive Charles Keating. Cranston is one of the
Keating Five—five senators who received large
campaign contributions from Keating, leading to
allegations that these donations caused them to
inadequately regulate Keating’s savings and loan.
Transportation and communications:(Feb. 8) Gen-
eral Motors Corporation (GM) sues the National
Broadcasting Company (NBC), alleging that a
television program rigged two crashes to show
that some GM pickup trucks could easily catch
fire upon collision. NBC settles the lawsuit the
next day. (Oct. 13) Twenty-three years after
Boeing Commercial Airplanes delivered its new
747 jet to its first customer, the company makes its
one-thousandth delivery, providing a 747 to Sin-
gapore Airlines.
Science and technology:(Mar. 22) Intel Corpora-
tion delivers its first Pentium computer chips.
(Apr. 22) Version 1.0 of Mosaic, the first popu-The Nineties in America Time Line 1031