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| 1998, Jan. 28–Nov. 4 |
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| The Justice Department indicted 14 fund-raising members of the Democratic Party over the course of the year in its probe of 1996 campaign finance abuses. No independent counsel probes were provided by Attorney General Janet Reno on Pres. Clinton or V.P. Al Gore. | 1 |
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| March 27 |
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| The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Viagra, a prescription pill to counteract impotence. In its first two years, the medicine was prescribed more than any medicine in history, particularly in such a short amount of time. | 2 |
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| June 17 |
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| A proposed $516 billion nationwide settlement of smoking-related lawsuits against the tobacco industry failed in the Senate. On Nov. 20 the 46 states and tobacco industry involved that had not reached prior settlements agreed to a much smaller deal. | 3 |
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| June 25–July 3 |
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| Pres. Clinton became the first U.S. president to visit China since the violence at Tiananmen Square erupted in 1989. | 4 |
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| July 22 |
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| Pres. Clinton signed a bill reforming the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). | 5 |
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| Aug. 6 |
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| Although bipartisan support passed it in the House, a substantial campaign finance reform bill was blocked by a Republican majority in the Senate. | 6 |
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| Aug. 7 |
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| Bombs exploded at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing over 250 people and injuring thousands more. The bombings were thought to be organized by Islamic extremist and terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, who had been hiding in Afghanistan for some time (See Sept. 10). On Aug. 20 in a largely retaliatory attack the U.S. destroyed several weapons-manufacturing facilities in Afghanistan and the Sudan with cruise missile assaults. | 7 |
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| Sept. 30 |
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| The 1998 fiscal year ended with the U.S. government having its first federal budget surplus in three decades. | 8 |
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| Oct. 19 |
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| Microsoft Corp., a software company owned by Bill Gates, went on trial for two antitrust lawsuits filed on May 18 by 20 states and the U.S. Justice Department. The lawsuits accused Microsoft of abusing its quasi-monopoly in the market for computer operating systems. | 9 |
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| Oct. 23 |
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| At a Camp David, Maryland, summit that included Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat, and U.S. president Clinton, the Wye Memorandum was signed as a reinforcement of a peace accord created earlier in the year. The pact set a three-stage plan for Israel to withdraw from the West Bank; the plan represented some of the greatest progress made in Middle East peace negotiations in many years. | 10 |
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| Oct. 29–Nov. 7 |
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| Senator John Glenn, who had in 1962 been the first American to orbit the Earth, returned to space at age 77 on a mission in the shuttle Discovery. Two other important space flights were launched on Nov. 20 and on Dec. 4 when the Russians and Americans, respectively, sent their first modules for the planned international space station into orbit. | 11 |
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| Nov. 3 |
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| The Democratic Party gained five seats in the House of Representatives during midterm elections. Despite impeachment proceedings against party leader president Clinton, the election gains were enough to cause GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich to resign on Nov. 6. | 12 |
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