1978: NOAA announces gender-neutral hurricane naming system
Federal News Network presents a daily update of important moments in the history of the U.S. government.
Janet Reno became the first female U.S. attorney general on this day in 1993, being sworn in one day after being unanimously confirmed by the Senate. Raised in Miami, she was a graduate of Cornell University and Harvard Law School, and worked at private law firms before joining government as a staff member of the Judiciary Committee of the Florida House of Representatives. She later worked for the Dade County State Attorney’s Office, and was the first woman to serve as a state attorney in Florida, a position she was re-elected to four times. She established the first drug court and prosecuted a large number of child abusers. Her tenure as attorney general included the Branch Dividian Compound siege in Waco, Texas; an antitrust suit brought against Microsoft for its operating system; the capture and convictions of the Unabomber and Oklahoma City bomber; the Elián González custody battle; and the Fiske investigation of the Whitewater controversy.
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