The Celebrate the Century Issue, released between February 1998 and May 2000, offered this period's most exciting contribution to the Modern Period. Like the Elvis Presley issue, the public actively particpated by selecting the issue's subject matter. Ten different sheets of fifteen stamps each comprised the issue, each sheet commemorating a different decade in the twentieth century. The range of subjects commemorated on the Celebrate The Century stamps captures the richness of American history and culture throughout the twentieth century.
The controversies surrounding President Bill Clinton, the Whitewater scandal, and scandals involving numerous women, including Monica Lewinsky, dominated the last years of the twentieth century. The scandals pushed the House of Repesentatives to impeach Clinton, who became the second president in history impeached, Andrew Johnson being the other. After the impeachment, the Senate conducted a trial on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice, but, like Johnson, President Clinton was not convicted of the two charges and not removed from office.
In other news, in 1998, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls won their sixth world championship since 1991. Following the championship win, Michael Jordan retired from professional basketball for the second time. Earlier in the year, on April 20, two students using various weapons killed twelve students at their Colorado high school in Colorado, a tragedy now known as the 'Columbine High School Massacre.' In 1999, Lance Armstrong, a cancer survivor, won his first Tour de France cycling race. The twenty-one-day, 3,500 kilometer (approximately 2175 miles) long race is considered the most grueling cycling race in the world.
