August 5
August 5
Mother charged with smothering her eight children
On August 5, 1998, Marie Noe, age 70, is arrested at her Philadelphia home and charged in the smothering deaths of eight of her children, who died between 1949 and…
A Year In History: 1998
This Year in History:
1998
Discover what happened in this year with HISTORY’s summaries of major events, anniversaries, famous births and notable deaths.
August 7
August 7
U.S. embassies in East Africa bombed
At 10:30 a.m. local time, a massive truck bomb explodes outside the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. Minutes later, another truck bomb detonated outside the U.S. embassy in Dar es…
August 17
August 17
President Clinton testifies before grand jury
On August 17, 1998, President Bill Clinton becomes the first sitting president to testify before the Office of Independent Counsel as the subject of a grand‑jury investigation. The testimony came after a…
September 1
September 1
Federal legislation makes airbags mandatory
On September 1, 1998, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 finally goes into effect. The law required that all cars and light trucks sold in the United States…
October 12
October 12
Matthew Shepard, victim of anti‑gay hate crime, dies
University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard dies after a vicious anti‑gay attack. After meeting Shepard in a Laramie, Wyoming, gay bar, The Fireside Lounge, Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney lured…
October 23
October 23
Doctor is killed by anti‑abortion radical
Doctor Barnett Slepian is shot to death inside his home in Amherst, New York by an anti‑abortion radical. His killing marks the fifth straight year that an abortion‑providing doctor in upstate…
October 28
October 28
President Bill Clinton signs the Digital Millennium Copyright Act into law
On October 28, 1998, President Bill Clinton signs into law the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The legislation was written in order to strengthen existing federal copyright protections against new…
October 29
October 29
John Glenn returns to space
Nearly four decades after he became the first American to orbit the Earth, Senator John Herschel Glenn Jr. is launched into space again as a payload specialist aboard the space…
November 3
November 3
Former wrestler Jesse “The Body” Ventura is elected governor of Minnesota
On November 3, 1998, former professional wrestler Jesse “The Body” Ventura is elected governor of Minnesota with 37 percent of the vote. His opponents, seasoned politicians Hubert Humphrey III (son…
December 16
December 16
President Clinton orders air attack on Iraq
On December 16, 1998, President Bill Clinton announces he has ordered air strikes against Iraq because it refused to cooperate with United Nations (U.N.) weapons inspectors. Clinton’s decision did not…
December 16
December 16
U.S. House of Representatives recommends impeaching Clinton
On December 16, 1998, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on the Judiciary releases a 265‑page report recommending the impeachment of President Bill Clinton for high crimes and misdemeanors. The…
December 19
December 19
President Clinton impeached
After nearly 14 hours of debate, the House of Representatives approves two articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, charging him with lying under oath to a federal grand jury…
