What Happened in December 1998

Historical Events

Hugo Chávez Elected

Dec 6 Hugo Chávez is elected President of Venezuela

Dec 8 Tadjena massacre: 81 people are killed by armed groups in Algeria.

Sen Awarded Economics Nobel

Dec 10 Indian Professor Amartya Sen is awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics for his contributions to welfare economics

Economist and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen

Dec 11 Thai Airways Airbus A310-200 crashes near Surat Thani Airport, killing 101

International Team's 1st Win

Dec 13 Presidents Cup Golf, Royal Melbourne GC: International team wins for first time; Shigeki Maruyama and Steve Elkington unbeaten as Internationals beat US 20½–11½

Dec 14 64th Heisman Trophy Award: Ricky Williams, Texas (RB)
Dec 16 Iraq disarmament crisis: Operation Desert Fox - the United States and United Kingdom bomb targets in Iraq to degrade its ability to produce, store, maintain, and deliver weapons of mass destruction

You've Got Mail

Dec 18 Romantic comedy film "You've Got Mail", starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, directed by Nora Ephron, and written by sisters Nora and Delia Ephron, is released

Novelist, Screenwriter and Director Nora Ephron

US House Impeaches Clinton

Dec 19 US House of Representatives votes to impeach President Bill Clinton over the Lewinsky scandal, forwarding the articles of impeachment to the Senate for a trial

Tickets issued to former President Gerald Ford and his wife Betty

Award to Zidane

Dec 22 Ballon d'Or: Juventus' French midfielder Zinedine Zidane is named best football player in Europe ahead of Real Madrid striker Davor Šuker and Inter forward Ronaldo

Football Player and Manager Zinedine Zidane

Dec 26 Iraq announces its intention to fire upon U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern no-fly zones
Dec 26 Severe gales over Ireland, northern England, and southern Scotland cause widespread disruption and widespread power outages in Northern Ireland and southern Scotland
Dec 29 Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed over a million people
Dec 31 Exchange rates between the euro and legacy currencies in the Eurozone become fixed.
Dec 31 US movie box office hits record $6.24 billion for year

Events in 1998

Famous Birthdays

Juice WRLD (1998-2019)

Dec 2 American rapper and singer-songwriter (All Girls Are the Same, Lucid Dreams), born in Chicago, Illinois

Conan Gray (25 years old)

Dec 5 American singer-songwriter (Sunset Season, Superache), born in Lemon Grove, California

Dec 17 Manu Ríos, Spanish actor and singer (Elite), born in Calzada de Calatrava, Spain
Dec 17 Martin Odegaard, Norwegian footballer, youngest to play for Real Madrid, born in Drammen, Norway

Dylan Wang (25 years old)

Dec 20 Chinese actor and singer (Meteor Garden), born in Chengdu, Sichuan

Kylian Mbappé (25 years old)

Dec 20 French soccer forward (France, PSG, Monaco), born in Paris, France

Dec 22 Casper Ruud, Norwegian tennis player (French Open 2022, 23 & US Open 2022 runner-up), born in Oslo, Norway
Dec 22 Latto [Alyssa Michelle Stephens], American rapper (Big Energy), born in Columbus, Ohio
Dec 27 Briar Nolet, Canadian actress and dancer (The Next Step, Blood Hunters), born in Toronto, Ontario
Dec 29 Danny Wagner, American drummer (Greta Van Fleet), born in Frankenmuth, Michigan
Dec 31 Hunter Schafer, American model, actress and LGBTQ activist, born in Trenton, New Jersey

Born in 1998

Famous Weddings

Dec 12 TV personality Melissa Rivers (30) weds horse breeder John Endicott at The Plaza Hotel in New York City
Dec 19 American actress Vivica A. Fox (34) weds American singer Christopher Harvest at the Park Plaza in Los Angeles, California; divorce in 2002
Dec 20 "Def Jam" business magnate Russell Simmons (41) weds model Kimora Lee (23) on the French Caribbean island of Saint Barthelemy

Angela Merkel

Dec 30 Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel (44) weds quantum chemist Joachim Sauer (49) in Bonn, Germany

Clyde Drexler

Dec 30 NBA player Clyde Drexler (36) weds attorney Gaynell Floyd; divorce in 2011

Famous Deaths

Dec 1 Albert de Klerk, Dutch organist, composer, and conductor, dies at 81
Dec 1 Bertil Nordahl, Swedish soccer midfielder and manager (15 caps; Atalanta; Olympic gold 1948), dies at 81
Dec 1 Freddie Young, British cinematographer (Lawrence of Arabia), dies at 96
Dec 2 Bob Haggart, American dixieland, swing jazz, and session double bass player, and composer ("What's New?"), dies at 84
Dec 3 Ed Widseth, American College Football Hall of Fame tackle (University of Minnesota; Pro Bowl 1938; NY Giants), dies at 88
Dec 3 Pierre Hétu, French Canadian conductor and pianist, dies at 62
Dec 5 Al Gore, Sr., American politician (b. 1907)
Dec 6 César Baldaccini, French sculptor, dies at 77
Dec 7 John Addison, British composer (b. 1920)
Dec 7 Rick Frank, American drummer (Elephant's Memory), dies at 56

Archie Moore (1913-1998)

Dec 9 American light-heavyweight boxing champion (1952-60), dies at 84

Dec 9 Shaughnessy Cohen, Canadian politician (b. 1948)
Dec 11 André Lichnerowicz, Polish-French physicist (b. 1915)
Dec 11 [James] Lynn Strait, American singer (Snot), dies in a car accident at 30
Dec 12 Lawton Chiles, U.S. Senator from Florida (1971-89) and Governor of Florida (1991-98), dies at 68
Dec 12 Marco Denevi, Argentine writer (b. 1922)
Dec 12 Mo Udall, American politician (Rep-D-AZ, 1961-91), dies at 76
Dec 13 Lew Grade, British TV mogul (ATV), movie producer (Boys from Brazil), dies at 91
Dec 13 Richard Thomas, British admiral (Royal Navy) and NATO representative, dies at 66
Dec 14 Aloyisus Leon Higginbotham, Jr., American civil rights activist and author, dies at 70
Dec 14 Annette Strauss, American philanthropist, dies at 74
Dec 14 Norman Fell, American actor (Three's Company, The End, Graduate), dies of bone marrow cancer at 74
Dec 15 Jan Meyerowitz, German-American composer, dies at 85
Dec 16 William Gaddis, American writer (b. 1922)
Dec 18 Lev Demin, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1926)
Dec 19 Antonio Ordóñez, Spanish bullfighter (over 3,000 bullfights), dies of liver cancer at 66
Dec 19 Mel Fisher, American treasure hunter (b. 1922)
Dec 20 Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, British biophysicist (Nobel 1963), dies at 84
Dec 20 Chester P. Lyons, Canadian naturalist and author (b. 1915)
Dec 20 Irene Hervey, American actress (b. 1910)
Dec 21 Ernst-Günther Schenck, German doctor and member of the SS whose memoirs proved historically valuable, dies at 94
Dec 21 Karl Denver [Angus McKenzie], Scottish pop singer ("Never Say Goodbye"; "Wimoweh"), dies of a brain tumor at 67
Dec 21 Roger Avon, British actor (Doctor Who, Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.), dies at 84
Dec 22 Michelle Thomas, American actress (b. 1969)
Dec 22 Virginia Graham, American TV personality (Girl Talk, Where Was I), dies at 86

Raemer Schreiber (1910-1998)

Dec 24 American Physicist (Manhattan Project) who helped develop the first atomic bomb during World War II and prepared the Fat Man bomb that was used in the bombing of Nagasaki, dies at 88

Dec 25 Bryan MacLean, American singer, musician and songwriter (Love) (b. 1946)
Dec 25 Hugh Martell, British Vice Admiral, dies at 86
Dec 25 John Pulman, English snooker player (World Champion 1957-68; News of the World Snooker Tournament 1954, 57, 58), dies after a fall at 75
Dec 27 Ricardo Tormo, Spanish Grand Prix motocycle racer, dies at 46
Dec 29 Donald "Don" Taylor, American director and actor (Father's Little Dividend, Escape from the Planet of the Apes), dies of heart failure at 78
Dec 29 Jean-Claude Forest, writer and illustrator of comics (Barbarella) (b. 1930)
Dec 29 Jeanne Stern, German screenwriter (The Condemned Village), dies at 90
Dec 30 George Webb, British actor (Keeping Up Appearances), dies of natural causes at 86
Dec 30 Johnny Moore, American singer (The Drifters) (b. 1934)

On This Day