A Sample of Events from 1996
President Clinton’s State of the Union address focuses on crime and drug policy, and includes support for a ‘grassroots’ effort to prevent teen pregnancy, which continues to climb. A week later, Clinton announces the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, with a board of directors including former New Jersey governor Thomas Kean, advertising executive Charlotte Beers, and actress Whoopi Goldberg. The National Campaign pointedly excludes DPCHE and former Surgeon General Elders, and focuses its efforts on advertising.
A Chicago-bound Amtrak train, the Capitol Limited, collides with a MARC commuter train bound for Washington, D.C., killing 11 people. In response, President Clinton calls for increased funding for rail safety.
The Australian government introduces a nationwide ban on the private possession of both automatic and semi-automatic rifles, in response to the Port Arthur massacre.
President Clinton signs an anti-terrorism bill which expands the FBI’s authority to wiretap suspects, limits death row appeals, and enables law enforcement to trace all explosive materials.
The Centennial Olympic Park bombing at the 1996 Summer Olympics kills one person and injures 111. Everyone agrees that the casualty count would have been much worse but for the intervention of security guard Richard Jewell, who discovered the bomb in a backpack. Jewell is awarded the Olympic Order during the closing ceremony, and will be invited to the 1997 State of the Union Address. The bomber, anti-abortion extremist Eric Rudolph, is quickly identified by tracing the gunpower he’d used in the bombs. A nationwide manhunt captivates the press.
With his support ebbing as a result of the booming economy and increasing public attention to the racist fringes of the Reform Party, Ross Perot fails to secure any electoral votes. Democrats retake control of Congress with 242 seats in the House and a 50-50 split in the Senate. Dick Gephardt becomes Speaker of the House.
President Clinton’s State of the Union address focuses on crime and drug policy, and includes support for a ‘grassroots’ effort to prevent teen pregnancy, which continues to climb. A week later, Clinton announces the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, with a board of directors including former New Jersey governor Thomas Kean, advertising executive Charlotte Beers, and actress Whoopi Goldberg. The National Campaign pointedly excludes DPCHE and former Surgeon General Elders, and focuses its efforts on advertising.
A Chicago-bound Amtrak train, the Capitol Limited, collides with a MARC commuter train bound for Washington, D.C., killing 11 people. In response, President Clinton calls for increased funding for rail safety.
The Australian government introduces a nationwide ban on the private possession of both automatic and semi-automatic rifles, in response to the Port Arthur massacre.
President Clinton signs an anti-terrorism bill which expands the FBI’s authority to wiretap suspects, limits death row appeals, and enables law enforcement to trace all explosive materials.
The Centennial Olympic Park bombing at the 1996 Summer Olympics kills one person and injures 111. Everyone agrees that the casualty count would have been much worse but for the intervention of security guard Richard Jewell, who discovered the bomb in a backpack. Jewell is awarded the Olympic Order during the closing ceremony, and will be invited to the 1997 State of the Union Address. The bomber, anti-abortion extremist Eric Rudolph, is quickly identified by tracing the gunpower he’d used in the bombs. A nationwide manhunt captivates the press.
With his support ebbing as a result of the booming economy and increasing public attention to the racist fringes of the Reform Party, Ross Perot fails to secure any electoral votes. Democrats retake control of Congress with 242 seats in the House and a 50-50 split in the Senate. Dick Gephardt becomes Speaker of the House.