103rd United States Congress - Major Events

Major Events

• January 20, 1993: Bill Clinton succeeds George H.W. Bush as the 42nd President of the United States.
• February 26, 1993: World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a van bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing 6 and injuring over 1,000.
• February 28-April 19, 1993: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, with a warrant to arrest leader David Koresh on federal firearms violations. Four agents and 5 Davidians die in the raid and a 51-day standoff begins, and ends with a fire that kills 76 people, including Koresh. South Dakota governor George Mickelson and seven others are killed when a state-owned aircraft crashes in Iowa.
• July 19, 1993: President Bill Clinton announces his Don't ask, don't tell policy regarding gays in the American military.
• October 3, 1993: The U.S. Army conducts Operation Gothic Serpent in the city of Mogadishu, Somalia using Task Force Ranger. Two UH-60 Blackhawks are shot down and the operation leaves over 1000 Somalians dead and over 73 Americans WIA, 19 KIA, and 1 captured.
• January 17, 1994: The 1994 Northridge earthquake, magnitude 6.7, hits the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles at 4:31 a.m., killing 72 and leaving 26,029 homeless.
• February 22, 1994: 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, 1994: 4 United States F-16s shoot down 4 Serbian J-21s over Bosnia and Herzegovina for violation of the Operation Deny Flight and its no-fly zone.
• September 13, 1994: President Bill Clinton signs the Assault Weapons Ban, which bans the manufacture of new weapons with certain features for a period of 10 years.
• September 19, 1994: American troops stage a bloodless invasion of Haiti in order to restore the legitimate elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to power.
• October 1, 1994: Palau achieved independence and became an associated state under the Compact of Free Association.
• November 8, 1994: Georgia Representative Newt Gingrich leads the Republican Party in taking control of both the House and the Senate in midterm congressional elections, the first time in 40 years the Republicans secure control of both houses of Congress.