World Events
Population: 5.276 billion
Nobel Peace Prize: Mikhail S. Gorbachev (USSR)
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
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
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
Consumer Price Index: 130.7
Unemployment: 5.6%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.25
US Supreme Court upsets law banning flag burning (June 11).
US Appeals Court overturns Oliver North's Iran-Contra conviction (July 20).
Midterm elections result in major losses for Republican party (Nov. 8).
Sports
Super Bowl
San Francisco d. Denver (55-10)
World Series
Cincinnati d. Oakland A's (4-0)
NBA Championship
Detroit d. Portland (4-1)
Stanley Cup
Edmonton d. Boston (4-1)
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 (103-73)
NCAA Football Champions
Colorado (AP, FW, NFF) (11-1-1) & Georgia Tech (UPI) (11-0-1)
World Cup
W. Germany d. Argentina (1-0)
Entertainment
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
Oscars awarded in 1990
Academy Award, Best Picture: Driving Miss Daisy, Richard D. Zanuck and Lili Fini Zanuck, producers (Warner Bros.)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Octavio Paz (Mexico)
Grammys awarded in 1990
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
Miss America: Debbye Turner (MO)
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.
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.
Deaths
B.F. Skinner
Jim Henson
Greta Garbo
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Le Duc Tho
José Napoleón Duarte