Top News Stories from 1990

Previous Year | Next Year

Year by Year: 1900-2014

View a 1990 calendar

World Events

World Statistics

Population: 4.378 billion

population by decade

Nobel Peace Prize: Mikhail S. Gorbachev (USSR)

More World Statistics...

General Manuel Noriega surrenders in Panama (Jan. 3).
Yugoslav Communists end 45-year monopoly of power (Jan. 22).
Communist Party relinquish sole power in Soviet government (Feb. 7). Background: Dissolution of the USSR
South Africa frees Nelson Mandela, imprisoned 27½ years (Feb. 11).
US-Soviet summit reaches accord on armaments (June 1).
Western Alliance ends Cold War and proposes joint action with Soviet Union and Eastern Europe (July 6).
Iraqi troops invade Kuwait, setting off the Persian Gulf War (Aug. 2 et seq.). Background: The Persian Gulf War
East and West Germany reunited (Aug. 31 et seq.).
Margaret Thatcher resigns as British Prime Minister (Nov. 22); John Major succeeds her (Nov. 28).
Lech Walesa wins Poland's runoff Presidential election (Dec. 9).

U.S. Events

U.S. Statistics

President: George Bush

Vice President: J. Danforth Quayle

Population: 249,438,712

Life expectancy: 75.4 years

Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 58.2

Property Crime Rate (per 1,000) 50.9

More U.S. Statistics...

US Supreme Court upsets law banning flag burning (June 11).
US Appeals Court overturns Oliver North's Iran-Contra conviction (July 20).
Republicans set back in midterm elections (Nov. 8).

Economics

US GDP (1998 dollars): $5,743.80 billion

Federal spending: $1252.52 billion

Federal debt $3206.6 billion

Median Household Income(current dollars): $29,943 billion

Consumer Price Index: $130.7

Unemployment: 5.6%

Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.25

More Economics...

Sports

Sports Links

Pro Football Summary

Pro Basketball Summary

Pro Baseball Summary

Super Bowl

San Francisco d. Denver

World Series

Cincinnati d. Oakland A's (4-0)

NBA Championship

Detroit d. Portland

Stanley Cup

Edmonton d. Boston

Wimbledon

Women: Martina Navratilova d. Z. Garrison (6-4 6-1)
Men: Stefan Edberg d. B. Becker (6-2 6-2 3-6 3-6 6-4)

Kentucky Derby Champion

Unbridled

NCAA Basketball Championship

UNLV d. Duke

NCAA Football Champions

Colorado (AP, FW, NFF) (11-1-1) & Georgia Tech (UPI) (11-0-1)

World Cup

W. Germany d. Argentina

Entertainment

Entertainment Awards

Pulitzer Prizes

Fiction: The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, Oscar Hijeulos

Music: Duplicates: A Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, Mel Powell

Drama: The Piano Lesson, August Wilson

Academy Award, Best Picture: Driving Miss Daisy, Richard D. Zanuck and Lili Fini Zanuck, producers (Warner Bros.)

Nobel Prize for Literature: Octavio Paz (Mexico)

Record of the Year: "Wind Beneath My Wings," Bette Midler

Album of the Year: Nick of Time, Bonnie Raitt (Capitol)

Song of the Year: "Wind Beneath My Wings," Larry Henley and Jeff Silbar, songwriters

Miss America: Debbye Turner (MO)

More Entertainment Awards...

Events

The X rating is replaced by NC-17 (no children under 17).
Ninety-nine percent of U.S. households have at least one radio, with the average owning five.
The Simpsons debuts on Fox and becomes an instant hit.
Euro dance band Milli Vanilli admits to lip-synching hits such as "Girl You Know Its True," and has its Grammy award revoked.
Seinfeld debuts on NBC.
Entertainment Weekly hits newsstands.

Movies

Dances with Wolves, GoodFellas, Henry and June, Reversal of Fortune

Books

Robert Bly, Iron John
A.S. Byatt, Possession: A Romance
Alice Munro, Friend of My Youth
John Updike, Rabbit at Rest

Science

Nobel Prizes in Science

Chemistry: Elias James Corey (US), for developing new ways to synthesize complex molecules ordinarily found in nature

Physics: Richard E. Taylor (Canada), Jerome I. Friedman, and Dr. Henry W. Kendall (both US), for their ""breakthrough in our understanding of matter"" that confirmed the reality of quarks

Physiology or Medicine: Joseph E. Murray and E. Donnall Thomas (both US), for their pioneering work in transplants

More Nobel Prizes in 1998...

The Hubble Space Telescope is launched (Apr. 25).
President Bush signs the Clean Air Act, mandating a variety of pollution-reducing changes in the automobile and fuel industries. Background: Environment & Nature
The FDA approves use of the surgically-implanted contraceptive Norplant. Background: Birth & Contraception