Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was the de facto ruler of Panama from 1983 to 1989. An authoritarian ruler who amassed a personal fortune through drug trafficking operations, he had longstanding ties to United States intelligence agencies before the U.S. invasion of Panama (December 1989 to January 1990) removed him from power.

Jeffrey Dahmer committed the murder and dismemberment of 17 men and boys from 1978 to 1991. Many of his later murders involved necrophilia, cannibalism, and the permanent preservation of body parts. He was sentenced to 15 terms of life imprisonment on February 15, 1992, but served less than three years before he was beaten to death by a fellow inmate.

Nelson Mandela served 27 years in prison for conspiring to overthrow the white-minority government of South Africa. Amid growing domestic and international pressure, and with fears of a racial civil war, President F. W. de Klerk released him in 1990. Mandela and de Klerk led efforts to negotiate an end to apartheid, which resulted in the 1994 multiracial general election in which Mandela became the country's first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election.

The impeachment was based on accusations that Clinton committed perjury and obstruction of justice for the purpose of concealing his affair with Monica Lewinsky, a 22-year-old White House intern. He was acquitted by the Senate and completed his second term in office.

At his peak, John Gotti was one of the most powerful and dangerous crime bosses in the United States. While his peers avoided attracting attention, especially from the media, Gotti became known as "The Dapper Don", for his expensive clothes and personality in front of news cameras. He was later given the nickname "The Teflon Don" after three high-profile trials in the 1980s resulted in his acquittal, though it was later revealed that the trials had been tainted by jury tampering, juror misconduct, and witness intimidation. The authorities finally caught up with Gotti in 1992 after Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano agreed to turn state's evidence and testify against him. Gotti was convicted of five murders, conspiracy to commit murder, racketeering, obstruction of justice, tax evasion, illegal gambling, extortion, and loansharking. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The Gulf War (2 August 1990 - 28 February 1991) was a war waged by coalition forces from 35 nations led by the United States against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait. After 42 days of relentless attacks by the allied coalition in the air and on the ground, Iraqi forces fled Kuwait.

Britney Spears is credited with powering the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s, when her first two studio albums, Baby One More Time (1999) and Oops!... I Did It Again (2000) made her the best-selling teenage artist of all time.