Milestones
Ten years ago: The Commerce Department reported that a record level of export sales gave the United States its lowest monthly trade deficit in three years in March 1988, totaling $9.7 billion.
Five years ago: President Clinton visited the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, the birthplace of the atomic bomb to promote a five-year, $20 billion defense-conversion plan.
One year ago: Rebel leader Laurent Kabila declared himself president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire. Russia’s Mir space station received a new oxygen generator and a fresh American astronaut, courtesy of space shuttle Atlantis. Silver Charm won the Preakness.