12 Jan.

President Bill Clinton asks Attorney General Janet Reno to appoint a special counsel to investigate the Whitewater real estate dealings.

5 Feb.

The Family and Medical Leave Act is enacted. The statute expands the rights of millions of American workers by mandating that employers provide covered employees up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave for certain family and medical problems.

26 Feb.

The World Trade Center in New York City is bombed, killing six and injuring more than a thousand people. Several Islamic extremists are later arrested and convicted for the attack.

28 Feb.

The standoff between federal agents and the Branch Davidians begins when ninety heavily armed Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) agents attempt to serve a search-and-arrest warrant at the Mt. Carmel compound near Waco, Texas. Four agents and several Davidians are killed.

19 Apr.

The fifty-day standoff at Mt. Carmel ends in a massive conflagration of the...