1990 Jan 2, On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended
the day above 2,800 for the first time, at 2,810.15.
(AP, 1/2/00)
1990 Jan 2, Alan Hale Jr. (71), Skipper on Gilligan's Island,
died of cancer.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1990 Jan 3, Ousted Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega surrendered
to U.S. forces, 10 days after taking refuge in the Vatican's diplomatic
mission.
(AP, 1/3/98)
1990 Jan 4, Charles Stuart, who had claimed a gunman had killed
his pregnant wife and wounded him, leaped to his death from a Boston Harbor
bridge after he became a suspect.
(AP, 1/4/00)
1990 Jan 4, Deposed Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega was arraigned
in federal district court in Miami on drug-trafficking charges.
(AP, 1/4/00)
1990 Jan 4, A train disaster killed over 210 people in Sindh
Province, Pakistan.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A15)
1990 Jan 5, President Bush told a news conference the United States
had a strong case against deposed Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega and
said he was convinced Noriega would receive a fair trial on drug-trafficking
charges.
(AP, 1/5/00)
1990 Jan 6, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney told CNN the U.S. invasion
of Panama should not be viewed as a new "Bush doctrine" inclined toward
military intervention in countries where democratic elections had been
subverted.
(AP, 1/6/00)
1990 Jan 7, The president of El Salvador, Alfredo Cristiani, said
in a nationally broadcast address that military men two months earlier
had massacred six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter.
(AP, 1/7/00)
1990 Jan 8, Terry Thomas (78), English comic (Heroes), died of
Parkinson's disease.
(MC, 1/8/02)
1990 Jan 8, Military tribunals in Romania began trials of the
country's dreaded security forces who stood accused of resisting the revolution
that toppled Nicolae Ceausescu.
(AP, 1/8/00)
1990 Jan 9, The space shuttle Columbia was launched on a 10-day
mission that included retrieving a drifting scientific satellite.
(AP, 1/9/00)
1990 Jan 10, NCAA approved the random drug testing for college
football players.
(MC, 1/10/02)
1990 Jan 10, Chinese Premier Li Peng lifted Beijing's 7-month-old
martial law and said that by crushing pro-democracy protests the army had
saved China from "the abyss of misery."
(AP, 1/10/00)
1990 Jan 11, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev visited Lithuania,
where he sought to assure supporters of independence that they would have
a say in their republic's future.
(AP, 1/11/00)
1990 Jan 12, Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Columbia retrieved
an 11-ton floating science laboratory in a rescue mission that kept the
satellite from plunging to Earth.
(AP, 1/12/00)
1990 Jan 12, Civil Rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton was stabbed
in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.
(MC, 1/12/02)
1990 Jan 12, Laurence J. Peter (70), author (Peter Principle),
died of a stroke.
(MC, 1/12/02)
1990 Jan 13, L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia, the nation's first
elected black governor, took the oath of office in Richmond.
(AP, 1/13/00)
1990 Jan 14, "Simpsons" premiered on Fox-TV.
(MC, 1/14/02)
1990 Jan 14, The Denver Broncos and the San Francisco 49ers earned
a trip to the Super Bowl by winning the American and National Football
Conference championships.
(AP, 1/14/00)
1990 Jan 16, Two Bank of Credit and Commerce (BCCI) members pleaded
guilty to money laundering.
(MC, 1/16/02)
1990 Jan 16, The Soviet Union sent more than 11,000 reinforcements
to the Caucasus to halt a civil war between Armenians and Azerbaijanis.
(AP, 1/16/00)
1990 Jan 17, A federal judge in Miami set March 1990 for the trial
of ex-Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega on drug trafficking charges. After
initial delays, Noriega was tried and convicted of racketeering and conspiracy
to distribute cocaine, and was sentenced to 40 years in prison, later cut
to 30 years.
(AP, 1/17/00)
1990 Jan 18, In an FBI sting, Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry
was arrested for drug possession. He was later convicted of a misdemeanor.
(AP, 1/18/00)
1990 Jan 18, A jury in Los Angeles acquitted former preschool
operators Raymond Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, of 52 child
molestation charges.
(AP, 1/18/00)
1990 Jan 19, Arthur J. Goldberg, former Supreme Court justice,
labor secretary and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was found dead
in his Washington apartment at age 81.
(AP, 1/19/00)
1990 Jan 19, Elias Zayek, leader of the Christian Phalange party
of Lebanon was shot and killed in Byblos. Samir Geagea, leader of the of
the Lebanese Forces militia, was later accused and convicted (5/20/96)
of the murder.
(SFC, 5/21/96, p.A-11)
1990 Jan 19, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (58), Indian guru (Osho),
died. [see 1981]
(MC, 1/19/02)(SFC, 12/13/02, p.K6)
1990 Jan 20, The space shuttle Columbia returned from an 11-day
mission.
(AP, 1/20/00)
1990 Jan 20, Actress Barbara Stanwyck died in Santa Monica, Calif.,
at age 82.
(AP, 1/20/00)
1990 Jan 20, The Soviets attacked Baku, leaving dozens dead and
wounded. Gen'l. Lebed led Russian forces in Baku to crush the nationalist
Azeri Popular Front. 62 civilians were killed and more than 200 wounded
when the Soviet army stormed into the city of Baku to end what Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev called fratricidal killing between Muslim Azerbaijanis
and Christian Armenians.
(WSJ, 12/18/96, p.A21)(CO, Grolier's Amer. Acad. Enc./ Azerbaijan)(WSJ,
8/7/96, p.A15)(AP, 1/20/00)(MC, 1/20/02)
1990 Jan 21, Pres. Aliyev made his first public appearance since
his 1987 resignation from the Soviet Politburo. He broke the information
blackout and urged int'l. condemnation of the Soviet attack.
(WSJ, 12/18/96, p.A21)
1990 Jan 21, In the Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, mutinous military
cadets fired on troops patrolling the capital during a crackdown on a nationalist
uprising.
(AP, 1/21/00)
1990 Jan 22, A jury in Syracuse, N.Y., convicted graduate student
Robert T. Morris of federal computer tampering charges for unleashing a
"worm" that crippled a computer network.
(AP, 1/22/00)
1990 Jan 22, Up to 2 million Azerbaijanis marched through the
republic's capital to mourn those killed when Soviet troops put down a
nationalist revolt.
(AP, 1/22/00)
1990 Jan 23, The 101st Congress convened its second session, facing
an agenda that included clean air legislation and deficit reduction.
(AP, 1/23/00)
1990 Jan 24, The House voted 390-25 to override President Bush's
veto of legislation protecting Chinese students from deportation. Bush
prevailed in a Senate vote the next day.
(AP, 1/24/00)
1990 Jan 25, Kidnapped former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega
was transferred to a Miami federal jail.
(MC, 1/25/02)
1990 Jan 25, An Avianca Boeing 707 ran out of fuel and crashed
in Cove Neck, N.Y.; 73 of the 161 people aboard were killed.
(AP, 1/25/00)
1990 Jan 25, Actress Ava Gardner, star in 60 films, died in London
at age 67. Her 3 husbands included Mickey Rooney (1942-1943), Artie Shaw
(1945-1946) and Frank Sinatra (1951-1957).
(AP, 1/25/00)(SFEC, 3/12/00, Par p.2)
1990 Jan 26, Attorneys for Manuel Noriega challenged the jurisdiction
of U.S. courts to try the deposed Panamanian leader on drug-trafficking
charges, and said Noriega should be declared a prisoner of war.
(AP, 1/26/00)
1990 Jan 27, In Romania, four top associates of executed dictator
Nicolae Ceausescu went on trial, charged with abetting genocide.
(AP, 1/27/00)
1990 Jan 28, The San Francisco 49ers routed the Denver Broncos,
55-10, in the 24th Super Bowl.
(AP, 1/28/00)
1990 Jan 29, Former Exxon Valdez skipper Joseph Hazelwood went
on trial in Anchorage, Alaska, on charges stemming from the nation's worst
oil spill; Hazelwood later was acquitted of the major charges and convicted
of a misdemeanor.
(AP, 1/29/00)
1990 Jan 30, A federal judge ordered former President Reagan to
provide excerpts of his personal diaries to John M. Poindexter for the
former national security adviser's Iran-Contra trial. The judge later reversed
himself, deciding the material was not essential.
(AP, 1/30/00)
1990 Jan 31, McDonald's Corp. opened its first fast-food restaurant
in Moscow.
(AP, 1/31/98)
1990 Jan, Mt Redoubt again erupted in Alaska and sent baseball-sized
pieces of pumice more than 20 miles from the volcano.
(AAM, 3/96, p.84)
1990 Jan, In Oregon Keith Hunter Jesperson began his career as
a serial killer with the sexual assault and murder of Taunja Bennett. He
went on to murder 8 women. In 2002 Jack Olsen (d.2002) authored "I: The
Creation of a Serial Killer."
(SSFC, 8/18/02, p.M2)
1990 Jan, In Albania demonstrations at Shkodra forced authorities
to declare a state of emergency.
(www, Albania, 1998)
1990 Jan, Azerbaijani attacks on Armenians triggered a Soviet
army occupation of the Azerbaijani capital.
(WSJ, 3/18/98, p.A18)
1990 Feb 1, East Germany's Communist premier, Hans Modrow, appealed
for negotiations with West Germany to forge a "united fatherland."
(AP, 2/1/00)
1990 Feb 2, In a dramatic concession to South Africa's black majority,
President F.W. de Klerk lifted a ban on the African National Congress and
promised to free Nelson Mandela.
(AP, 2/2/00)
1990 Feb 3, The parliament of Bulgaria elected economist Andrei
Lukanov to replace a hard-line Communist as premier. Lukanov became the
prime minister after rising to the number 2 spot of the Communist hierarchy
under Zhivkov. He oversaw the party's formal break with Stalinism and victory
in the first free elections.
(SFC, 10/5/96, p.A10)(AP, 2/3/00)
1990 Feb 4, Nine people were killed as guerrillas attacked a bus
carrying Israeli tourists near Cairo, Egypt.
(AP, 2/4/00)
1990 Feb 4, Cheering protesters thronged Moscow streets to demand
that the Communists surrender their stranglehold on power.
(AP, 2/4/00)
1990 Feb 5, Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev told the Communist
Party it had to earn the right to rule, instead of treating it as an unchallenged
right.
(AP, 2/5/00)
1990 Feb 6, Soviet Communist Party leaders decided to extend a
two-day party session by an extra day amid controversy over Soviet leader
Mikhail S. Gorbachev's proposals to revamp the country's political structure.
(AP, 2/6/00)
1990 Feb 6, Jane Novak (94), silent screen actress (Ghost Town),
died of stroke.
(MC, 2/6/02)
1990 Feb 7, An 811-foot tanker, the American Trader, spilled hundreds
of thousands of gallons of Alaskan crude oil off the coast of Huntington
Beach, Calif.
(AP, 2/7/00)
1990 Feb 7, Karachi police killed 22 anti-nationalistic demonstrators.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1990 Feb 7, The Soviet Union's Communist Party agreed to let
other political parties compete for control of the country, thereby giving
up its monopoly on power.
(AP, 2/7/00)
1990 Feb 8, CBS television temporarily suspended Andy Rooney for
his anti-gay and anti-black remarks in a gay magazine interview.
(HN, 2/8/99)(MC, 2/8/02)
1990 Feb 9, John Gotti (1940-2002) was acquitted of charges that
he commissioned the Westies gang to shoot a union official in Manhattan's
Hell's Kitchen. This earned him the nickname "The Teflon Don."
(SFC, 6/11/02, p.A2)
1990 Feb 9, Perrier Group of America Inc. announced it was voluntarily
recalling its inventory of mineral water in the United States after tests
showed the presence of benzene in a small number of bottles.
(AP, 2/9/00)
1990 Feb 9, The Galileo satellite flew by Venus.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1990 Feb 10, South African President F.W. de Klerk announced that
black activist Nelson Mandela would be released the next day after 27 years
in captivity.
(AP, 2/10/00)
1990 Feb 11, In a stunning upset, heavyweight champion Mike Tyson
was knocked out in the 10th round of his fight with Buster Douglas in Tokyo.
(AP, 2/11/00)
1990 Feb 11, Nelson Mandela was released from a South African
prison after being detained for 27 years as a political prisoner fighting
against Apartheid.
(AP, 2/11/97)(HN, 2/11/99)
1990 Feb 12, President Bush rejected Soviet President Mikhail
S. Gorbachev's new initiative for troop reductions in Europe, but predicted
a "major success" on arms control at the superpower summit in June.
(AP, 2/12/00)
1990 Feb 13, At a conference in Ottawa, the United States and
its European allies forged agreement with the Soviet Union and East Germany
on a two-stage formula to reunite Germany.
(AP, 2/13/00)
1990 Feb 14, Perrier recalled 160 million bottles of sparkling
water after traces of benzene, a carcinogen, were found in some bottles.
(MC, 2/14/02)
1990 Feb 14, Space probe Voyager 1 took photographs of entire
solar system.
(MC, 2/14/02)
1990 Feb 14, Ninety-four people were killed when an Indian Airlines
passenger jet crashed while landing at a southern Indian airport.
(AP, 2/14/00)
1990 Feb 15, Professional baseball owners locked out their players.
(440 Int'l., 2/15/99)
1990 Feb 15, President Bush and the leaders of Colombia, Bolivia
and Peru met in Cartagena, Colombia for a drug-fighting summit.
(AP, 2/15/00)
1990 Feb 16, Former President Reagan began two days of giving
a videotaped deposition in Los Angeles for the Iran-Contra trial of former
national security adviser John Poindexter.
(AP, 2/16/00)
1990 Feb 17, Former President Reagan spent a second day in a Los
Angeles courtroom, giving videotaped testimony about the Iran-Contra affair
for the trial of his former national security adviser, John Poindexter.
(AP, 2/17/00)
1990 Feb 18, In general elections, Japan's conservative governing
party held onto its 34-year-old majority in the Parliament's lower house.
(AP, 2/18/00)
1990 Feb 19, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, snubbed by Philippine
President Corazon Aquino, met in Manila with Defense Minister Fidel Ramos
to discuss the future of U.S. bases in the country.
(AP, 2/19/00)
1990 Feb 19, Police killed 8 demonstrators for multi party system
in Nepal.
(MC, 2/19/02)
1990 Feb 19, Michael Powell (84), English director (Life &
Death of Col Blimp), died.
(MC, 2/19/02)
1990 Feb 20, President Bush welcomed Czechoslovak President Vaclav
Havel to the White House, promising trade rewards for Prague's moves toward
democracy.
(AP, 2/20/00)
1990 Feb 21, Addressing the U.S. Congress, Czechoslovak President
Vaclav Havel said his nation welcomed U.S. help after decades of Soviet
domination, but also said Europe should eventually "decide for itself"
how long American and Soviet troops should remain.
(AP, 2/21/00)
1990 Feb 22, Former President Reagan's videotaped testimony for
the trial of former national security adviser John Poindexter was released
in Washington; in his deposition, Reagan said he never had "any inkling"
his aides were secretly arming the Nicaraguan Contras.
(AP, 2/22/00)
1990 Feb 23, James Gavin (82), commandant US 82nd Airborne Div
(Normandy), died.
(MC, 2/23/02)
1990 Feb 23, Former Salvadoran President Jose Napoleon Duarte
died at age 64.
(AP, 2/23/00)
1990 Feb 24, Magazine publisher Malcolm Forbes died in Far Hills,
N.J. at age 70.
(AP, 2/24/00)
1990 Feb 24, Johnnie Ray, fifties balladeer (Cry), died in Los
Angeles of liver failure at age 63.
(AP, 2/24/00)(MC, 2/24/02)
1990 Feb 25, Nicaraguans voted in an election that led to an upset
victory for opponents of the ruling Sandinistas. Violeta Chamorro was elected
president.
(WSJ, 3/12/96, p. A-16)(AP, 2/25/98)
1990 Feb 26, USSR agreed to withdraw all 73,500 troops from Czechoslovakia
by July, 1991.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1990 Feb 26, Daniel Ortega, communist president of Nicaragua,
suffered a shocking election defeat at the hands of Violeta Chamorro.
(HN, 2/26/99)
1990 Feb 27, The US Supreme Court ruled that prison officials
could force inmates to take powerful anti-psychotic drugs without a judge's
consent.
(AP, 2/27/00)
1990 Feb 27, Exxon Corp and Exxon Shipping were indicted on 5
criminal counts for the oil spill at Valdez, Alaska.
(MC, 2/27/02)
1990 Feb 28, Space shuttle Atlantis blasted off from Cape Canaveral,
Fla. on a secret mission to place a spy satellite in orbit.
(AP, 2/28/00)
1990 Feb, Cisco Systems Corp. went public.
(SFC,11/5/97, p.D1)
1990 Mar 1, The controversial Seabrook, N.H. nuclear power plant
won federal permission to go on line after two decades of protests and
legal struggles.
(AP, 3/1/00)
1990 Mar 1, Benin nullified its constitution.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1990 Mar 1, Luis Alberto Lacelle was sworn in as President of
Uruguay.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1990 Mar 2, More than 6,000 drivers went on strike against Greyhound
Lines Inc. The company, later declaring an impasse in negotiations, fired
the strikers.
(AP, 3/2/00)
1990 Mar 2, A grenade attack in downtown Panama killed
a U.S. soldier and injured 28 other people at the My Place discotheque
on Via Espania and Calle 50. [AP posted this event in 1990, the EW posted
it in 1989]
(AP, 3/2/00)(EW)
1990 Mar 3, President Bush sparked controversy by expressing opposition
to the settlement of Soviet Jewish refugees in East Jerusalem.
(AP, 3/3/00)
1990 Mar 3, Carole Gist (20) of Michigan was 1st black crowned
39th Miss USA.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1990 Mar 4, 20th Easter Seal Telethon.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1990 Mar 4, US 65th manned space mission STS 36 (Atlantis 6)
returned from space.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1990 Mar 4, Voters in the Soviet republics of Russia, Byelorussia
and the Ukraine participated in local and legislative elections, resulting
in notable gains for reformists and nationalists.
(AP, 3/4/00)
1990 Mar 5, To the cheers of onlookers, workers in Bucharest,
Romania, finally succeeded in removing a 25-foot, seven-ton bronze statue
of Vladimir Lenin from its foundation.
(AP, 3/5/00)
1990 Mar 6, The Soviet parliament overwhelmingly approved legislation
allowing people to own factories and hire workers for the first time in
nearly seven decades.
(AP, 3/6/00)
1990 Mar 7, Health and Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan
announced the government would propose a more informative food-labeling
system that would require the disclosure of the fat, fiber and cholesterol
content of nearly all packaged foods.
(AP, 3/7/00)
1990 Mar 8, Opening arguments were heard in the Iran-Contra trial
of former national security adviser John M. Poindexter.
(AP, 3/8/00)
1990 Mar 8, NYC's Zodiac killer shoot his 1st victim, Mario Orosco.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1990 Mar 9, Dr. Antonia Novello was sworn in as surgeon general,
becoming the first woman and the first Hispanic to hold the job.
(AP, 3/9/98)
1990 Mar 10, Haitian ruler Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril resigned during
a popular uprising against his military regime.
(AP, 3/10/00)
1990 Mar 11, In Chile General Augusto Pinochet gave up power after
16 years of rule.
(SFC, 8/23/96, p.A20)(SFC, 3/25/99, p.A3)
1990 Mar 11, The Lithuanian parliament voted to break away from
the Soviet Union and restore its independence. The Supreme Council promulgated
the historic document: "On the Re-establishment of the Independent State
of Lithuania." Validity of the 1938 Constitution was briefly reinstated
and the provisional Fundamental Law was adopted. Vytautas Landsbergis was
elected president of Lithuania under the party Sajudis. Landsbergis was
elected Chairman of the Council with Bronislovas Juozas Kuzmickas, Kazimieras
Motieka and Ceslovas Stankevicius as Vice Chairmen, with Liuvikas Sabutis
as Secretary. Four governments were formed under tenure of the Council.
They were led by Kazimiera Danute Prunskiene, Albertas Simenas, Gediminas
Vagnorius and Aleksandras Algirdas Abisala. Moscow responded with an economic
blockade that brought industry and transportation to a standstill. In June
the Lithuanians agreed to suspend independence.
(DrEE, 10/5/96, p.5)(CSOE)(HN, 3/11/98)(AP, 3/11/00)
1990 Mar 12, Vice President Quayle met in Santiago, Chile, with
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who promised to peacefully relinquish
power to Violeta Chamorro, the U.S.-backed candidate who had won Nicaragua's
presidential election.
(AP, 3/12/00)
1990 Mar 12, Exxon pleaded guilty to criminal charges and agreed
to pay $100 million fine in a $1.1 billion settlement of the Exxon Valdez
oil spill.
(MC, 3/12/02)
1990 Mar 13, President Bush lifted trade sanctions against Nicaragua
in a show of support for President-elect Violeta Chamorro.
(AP, 3/13/00)
1990 Mar 13, Indian troops left Sri Lanka.
(SFC, 7/24/96, p.A9)
1990 Mar 13, The Soviet Congress of People's Deputies approved
Mikhail S. Gorbachev's proposals for a multiparty political system headed
by a powerful president.
(AP, 3/13/00)
1990 Mar 13, Bruno Bettelheim (86), Austrian-US psychoanalyst,
committed suicide. His books included "The Empty Fortress" (1967), on infantile
autism and "the Use of Enchantment" (1976), a study of fairy tales. In
1996 Richard Pollak wrote: "The Creation of Dr. B: A Biography of Bruno
Bettelheim." In 2002 Theron Raines authored "Rising to the Light: A Portrait
of Bruno Bettelheim."
(SFC, 12/29/96, BR p.1)(SSFC, 9/8/02, p.M4)(MC, 3/13/02)
1990 Mar 14, The United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, France,
and West and East Germany held their first formal meeting on reunifying
the German states.
(AP, 3/14/00)
1990 Mar 14, The Soviet Congress elected Mikhail S. Gorbachev
president of the Soviet Congress, a day after creating the post.
(HN, 3/14/98)(AP, 3/14/00)
1990 Mar 15, Iraq executed London-based journalist Farzad Bazoft,
claiming he was a spy.
(AP, 3/15/00)
1990 Mar 15, The Israeli government of Prime Minister Yitzhak
Shamir lost a vote of confidence in the Knesset after Shamir refused to
accept a U.S. plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
(AP, 3/15/00)
1990 Mar 16, South African President F.W. de Klerk announced that
exiled African National Congress leaders could return home for talks with
the white-led government.
(AP, 3/16/00)
1990 Mar 18, There was a theft of 11 art works from the Isabella
Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. 2 men dressed as policemen made off with
masterworks that included Rembrandt's "The Storm on the Sea of Galilee,"
Vermeer's "The Concert," Manet's "Chez Tortoni," and 5 paintings and drawings
by Edgar Degas and a 1200 BC Chinese bronze beaker valued at $300 million.
The theft led Sen. Edward Kennedy to sponsor the museum theft provision
of the 1994 Omnibus Crime Act.
(WSJ, 8/9/96, p.A8)(WSJ, 5/13/97, p.A21)(SFC, 8/26/97, p.A3)(SFC,12/15/97,
p.A3)
1990 Mar 18, An alliance of conservative parties won a surprising
victory over the Communists in East Germany's first free elections.
(AP, 3/18/00)(MC, 3/18/02)
1990 Mar 19, Latvia's political opposition claimed victory in
the republic's first free elections in 50 years, and reformers also claimed
victories in crucial runoffs held in Russia, Byelorussia and Ukraine.
(AP, 3/19/00)
1990 Mar 19, Kremlin warned Lithuania against taking over factories,
putting up border posts.
(AP, 3/19/03)
1990 Mar 20, Namibia became an independent nation, marking the
end of 75 years of South African rule. The South African colony gained
independence after 25 years of guerrilla war. Namibians began petitioning
the U.N. as early as 1947, developing political parties, most notably SWAPO
(South West Africa People's Organization) to voice opposition to South
African rule. Armed resistance to South African rule began in earnest in
the 1970s and continued into the 1980s, which combined with drought and
other factors, contributed to an overwhelming drain to South Africa's economy.
The UN Security Council eventually demanded independence for Namibia, but
transition elections were not agreed to by South Africa until December
1988 after a military disaster involving Angola. The UN Transition Assistance
Group (UNTAG) started work in April 1989 with elections giving SWAPO 57%
of the vote. On March 21 of the following year, the South African flag
was lowered and the Namibian flag raised in Namibia's National Stadium.
(LVRJ, 11/1/97, p.20A)(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.T4)(AP, 3/20/00)(HNQ,
2/13/01)
1990 Mar 21, Secretary of State James Baker met black nationalist
leader Nelson Mandela in Namibia.
(AP, 3/21/00)
1990 Mar 21, Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev increased pressure
on the breakaway republic of Lithuania, ordering its citizens to turn in
their guns.
(AP, 3/21/00)
1990 Mar 22, A jury in Anchorage, Alaska, found former tanker
captain Joseph Hazelwood innocent of three major charges in connection
with the Exxon Valdez oil spill, but convicted him of a minor charge of
negligent discharge of oil.
(HN, 3/22/97)(AP, 3/22/00)
1990 Mar 23, Former Exxon Valdez Captain Joseph Hazelwood was
sentenced by a judge in Anchorage, Alaska, to help clean up Prince William
Sound and pay $50,000 in restitution for his role in the 1989 oil spill.
(AP, 3/23/00)
1990 Mar 24, Indian troops left Sri Lanka. [see Mar 13]
(MC, 3/24/02)
1990 Mar 24, Soviet military vehicles rumbled through the heart
of the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius as lawmakers in the breakaway Baltic
republic voted to transfer their power to foreign soil if they were attacked
or arrested.
(AP, 3/24/00)
1990 Mar 24, Rene Enriquez (56), actor (Hill St Blues), died
of pancreatic cancer.
(MC, 3/24/02)
1990 Mar 25, 10th Golden Raspberry Awards: Star Trek V won.
(MC, 3/25/02)
1990 Mar 25, Eighty-seven people, most of them Honduran and Dominican
immigrants, were killed when an arson fire raced through the illegal Happy
Land Social Club in New York City. Julio Gonzalez, 36, was charged with
arson and murder.
(AP, 3/25/97)(SFC, 3/31/99, p.A3)(MC, 3/25/02)
1990 Mar 26, "Driving Miss Daisy" won best picture at the 62nd
annual Academy Awards and captured the best actress prize for Jessica Tandy;
Daniel Day-Lewis was named best actor for "My Left Foot."
(AP, 3/26/00)
1990 Mar 26, Designer Halston died in San Francisco at age 57.
(AP, 3/26/00)
1990 Mar 27, The U.S. began test broadcasts of TV Marti to Cuba,
which promptly jammed the signal.
(AP, 3/27/00)
1990 Mar 27, Soviet soldiers began rounding up Lithuanians who
had fled the Red Army after the republic's declaration of independence.
(AP, 3/27/00)
1990 Mar 28, Jesse Owens (d.1980) received the Congressional Gold
Medal from President George Bush.
(HN, 3/28/98)
1990 Mar 28, British customs officials announced they had foiled
an attempt to supply Iraq with 40 American-made devices for triggering
nuclear weapons, following an 18-month investigation by U.S. and British
authorities.
(AP, 3/28/00)
1990 Mar 29, President Bush, addressing the National Leadership
Coalition on AIDS, declared his administration "on a wartime footing" against
the disease, and called for compassion, not discrimination, toward those
infected with the virus.
(AP, 3/29/00)
1990 Mar 30, Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus vetoed a highly restrictive
state abortion measure, saying the bill gave a woman and her family no
flexibility in cases of rape and incest.
(AP, 3/30/00)
1990 Mar 30, Harry Bridges (b.1901), Australian-born SF labor
activist, died.
(SFC, 7/27/01, p.A19)
1990 Mar 31, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev warned the
defiant Baltic republic of Lithuania to annul its declaration of independence
or face "grave consequences."
(AP, 3/31/00)
1990 Mar 31, Hundreds of people were injured in rioting in London
over Britain's so-called "poll tax."
(AP, 3/31/00)
1990 Mar, Over 700 people from around the world gathered for the
First International Ecocity Conference in Berkeley, Ca.
(PacDis, Spring '94, p. 27)
1990 Mar, Namibia, the South African colony, gained independence.
(LVRJ, 11/1/97, p.20A)
1990 Apr 1, CBS fired sportscaster Brent Mussburger.
(MC, 4/1/02)
1990 Apr 1, It became illegal in Salem, Oregon, to be within
2' of nude dancers.
(MC, 4/1/02)
1990 Apr 1, More Soviet military vehicles rolled through the
Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, a day after Soviet President Mikhail S.
Gorbachev warned the Baltic republic to annul its declaration of independence.
(AP, 4/1/00)
1990 Apr 2, The University of Nevada at Las Vegas won the NCAA
college basketball championship, defeating Duke 103-73.
(AP, 4/2/00)
1990 Apr 2, In a conciliatory gesture, the president of Lithuania
invited Kremlin officials to discuss the republic's secession drive.
(AP, 4/2/00)
1990 Apr 3, Sarah Vaughan (66), Jazz singer, died in suburban
Los Angeles.
(AP, 4/3/00)
1990 Apr 3, A delegation from the rebellious republic of Lithuania
met with an adviser to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.
(AP, 4/3/00)
1990 Apr 4, Secretary of State James Baker met in Washington with
his Soviet counterpart, Eduard Shevardnadze, for three days of talks on
the Lithuanian crisis and arms control.
(AP, 4/4/00)
1990 Apr 4, Security law violator Ivan Boesky was released from
federal custody.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1990 Apr 5, It was announced that President Bush and Soviet President
Gorbachev would hold their first full-scale summit in the United States.
(AP, 4/5/00)
1990 Apr 5, Paul Newman won a court victory over Julius Gold
to keep giving all profits from Newman foods to charity.
(MC, 4/5/02)
1990 Apr 6, Secretary of State James Baker and Soviet Foreign
Minister Eduard Shevardnadze concluded three days of talks in Washington,
after which Shevardnadze handed President Bush a letter from Soviet President
Mikhail S. Gorbachev.
(AP, 4/6/00)
1990 Apr 7, A display of Robert Mapplethorpe photographs opened
at Cincinnati's Contemporary Arts Center, the same day the center and its
director were indicted on obscenity charges. Both were later acquitted.
(AP, 4/7/00)
1990 Apr 7, Michael Milken pleaded innocent to security law violations.
(MC, 4/7/02)
1990 Apr 7, Former national security adviser John M. Poindexter
was convicted of five counts at his Iran-Contra trial. However, a federal
appeals court later reversed the convictions.
(HN, 4/7/97)(AP, 4/7/00)
1990 Apr 7, An arson fire aboard a ferry en route from Norway
to Denmark killed 158 people.
(AP, 4/7/00)
1990 Apr 8, The cult series Twin Peaks premiered on ABC TV. It
ran until Apr 18, 1991.
(SFC, 2/19/96, zz-1 p.3)(AP, 4/8/00)
1990 Apr 8, Ryan White (18), the teen-age AIDS patient whose
battle for acceptance gained national attention, died in Indianapolis.
The Ryan White Foundation was established for AIDS education programs after
his death and it closed its doors due to dwindling funds in 1999.
(AP, 4/8/97)(SFC, 10/19/99, p.A3)
1990 Apr 9, The baseball season opened a week late because of
a labor dispute.
(AP, 4/9/00)
1990 Apr 9, Humorist John Henry Faulk, who challenged his blacklisting
in the entertainment industry in the 1950s, died in Austin, Texas, at age
76.
(AP, 4/9/00)
1990 Apr 10, Three European hostages -- a French woman, a Belgian
man and their two-year-old daughter, who was born in captivity -- were
released in Lebanon by the Abu Nidal Palestinian guerrilla group following
an appeal by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
(AP, 4/10/00)
1990 Apr 10, In Hong Kong Teddy Wang Tei-huei (57), real estate
tycoon, was kidnapped for a 2nd time and abductors demanded $60 million.
His wife Nina Wang paid a $34 million installment, but it was too late.
His body was never found.
(WSJ, 10/20/99, p.A23)
1990 Apr 11, Funeral services were held in Indianapolis for AIDS
patient Ryan White, who had died three days earlier at age 18. Among the
1,500 mourners were first lady Barbara Bush and singers Elton John and
Michael Jackson.
(AP, 4/11/00)
1990 Apr 12, Greyhound Bus hired new drivers to replace strikers.
(MC, 4/12/02)
1990 Apr 12, James Brown moved to a work-release center after
serving 15 months.
(MC, 4/12/02)
1990 Apr 12, In its first meeting, East Germany's first democratically
elected parliament acknowledged responsibility for the Nazi Holocaust,
and asked the forgiveness of Jews and others who had suffered.
(AP, 4/12/00)
1990 Apr 13, The Soviet Union accepted responsibility for the
World War II murders of thousands of imprisoned Polish officers in the
Katyn Forest, a massacre the Soviets had previously blamed on the Nazis.
(AP, 4/13/97)
1990 Apr 14, Lithuanian officials, facing a Kremlin deadline to
back away from their declaration of independence, acknowledged that an
economic blockade threatened by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev could result
in huge layoffs.
(AP, 4/14/00)
1990 Apr 15, Actress Greta Garbo died in New York City at age
84. In 1997 Karen Swenson authored "Greta Garbo: A Life Apart." In 2000
the Rosenbach Museum in Philadelphia opened 55 letters written by Garbo
to her lesbian friend Mercedes de Acosta (d.1968) between 1931-1959. Acosta
was a Spanish aristocrat turned Hollywood screenwriter.
(AP, 4/15/97)(SFEC, 4/16/00, p.A5)
1990 Apr 16, The Supreme Court rejected appeals by Dalton Prejean,
a nearly retarded man, who was condemned to die for the 1977 murder of
a Louisiana state trooper. Prejean was executed the following month. The
court also let stand a ban on school dances in the Bible Belt town of Purdy,
Mo.
(AP, 4/16/00)
1990 Apr 17, President Bush warned the Soviet Union against carrying
out an economic blockade of Lithuania, hinting at "appropriate responses."
(AP, 4/17/00)
1990 Apr 17, The Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy, the civil rights activist
and top aide to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., died in Atlanta at age 64.
(AP, 4/17/00)
1990 Apr 18, The US Supreme Court ruled that states may make it
a crime to possess or look at child pornography, even in one's home.
(AP, 4/18/00)
1990 Apr 18, Bankruptcy court forced Frank Lorenzo to give up
Eastern Airlines.
(MC, 4/18/02)
1990 Apr 18, The Soviet Union shut off a pipeline that supplied
the rebellious republic of Lithuania with crude oil; a day later, the Soviets
severely reduced the flow of natural gas.
(AP, 4/18/00)
1990 Apr 19, Nicaragua's nine-year-old civil war appeared near
an end as Contra guerrillas, leftist Sandinistas and the incoming government
agreed to a truce and a deadline for the rebels to disarm.
(AP, 4/19/00)
1990 Apr 20, Former junk bond financier Michael Milken agreed
to plead guilty to six felonies and pay $600 million in penalties to settle
the largest securities fraud case in history.
(AP, 4/20/00)
1990 Apr 20, Pete Rose pleaded guilty to hiding $300,000 in income.
(MC, 4/20/02)
1990 Apr 21, A National League umpire was arrested for stealing
baseball cards.
(MC, 4/21/02)
1990 Apr 21, Pope John Paul II was greeted by hundreds of thousands
of people as he visited Czechoslovakia to help celebrate the nation's peaceful
overthrow of communist rule.
(AP, 4/21/00)
1990 Apr 22, Pro-Iranian kidnappers in Lebanon freed American
hostage Robert Polhill after nearly 39 months of captivity.
(AP, 4/22/00)
1990 Apr 22, Millions of Americans joined in a worldwide 20th
anniversary celebration of the first Earth Day.
(AP, 4/22/00)
1990 Apr 23, Freed American hostage Robert Polhill, released in
Lebanon the day before, enjoyed his first full day of freedom in nearly
39 months at the U.S. Air Force hospital in Wiesbaden, West Germany.
(AP, 4/23/00)
1990 Apr 24, Security law violator Michael Milken pleaded guilty
to 6 felonies.
(MC, 4/24/02)
1990 Apr 24, The space shuttle Discovery blasted off from Cape
Canaveral, Fla., carrying the $1.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope. It cost
$2 billion. The orbital period of the telescope was 97 Minutes.
(AP, 4/24/97)(NG, 1/'94, p.23)(WSJ, 2/14/97, p.A1)(SFC, 3/21/98,
p.E3)
1990 Apr 24, West and East Germany agreed to merge currency and
economies on July 1.
(MC, 4/24/02)
1990 Apr 25, In the 25th Academy of Country Music Awards Clint
Black and Kathy Mattea won.
(SS, 4/25/02)
1990 Apr 25, The Hubble Space Telescope was deployed from the
space shuttle "Discovery."
(AP, 4/25/00)
1990 Apr 25, Dexter Gordon (67), jazz saxophonist, died in Philadelphia.
(SS, 4/25/02)
1990 Apr 25, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro was inaugurated as president
of Nicaragua for a six year term, ending 11 years of leftist Sandinista
rule.
(AP, 4/25/97)(HN, 4/25/98)
1990 Apr 26, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, leader of
the right-wing Likud bloc, was chosen to form a new government after Labor
Party leader Shimon Peres failed to form a coalition.
(AP, 4/26/00)
1990 Apr 27, The aperture door of the Hubble Space Telescope was
opened by ground controllers as the space shuttle Discovery, which had
carried the Hubble into orbit, prepared to return home.
(AP, 4/27/00)
1990 Apr 28, Anti-abortion demonstrators marched in Washington
D.C.; authorities put the number of protesters at 200,000, but organizers
claimed a turnout of about 700,000.
(AP, 4/28/00)
1990 Apr 29, The space shuttle Discovery landed safely at Edwards
Air Force Base in California after a mission which included deploying the
Hubble Space Telescope.
(AP, 4/29/00)
1990 Apr 29, Wrecking cranes began tearing down Berlin Wall at
Brandenburg Gate.
(MC, 4/29/02)
1990 Apr 30, Hostage Frank Reed was released by his captives in
Lebanon, the second American freed in eight days.
(AP, 4/30/00)
1990 Apr, In Japan the Aum Shinri Kyo cult sent three trucks into
central Tokyo to spray poisonous botulin mists. The convoy then attacked
US bases at Yokohama and Yokosuka. The botulin did not work and the cult
turned to use anthrax.
(SFC, 5/27/98, p.A12)
1990 Apr, A pro-independence coalition won in Slovenia.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)
1990 May 1, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev and other Kremlin
leaders were jeered by thousands of people during the annual May Day parade
in Red Square.
(AP, 5/1/00)
1990 May 2, David Rappaport (38), 3'11' actor (Wizard, LA Law),
shot himself.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1990 May 2, The government of South Africa and the African National
Congress opened their first formal talks aimed at paving the way for more
substantive negotiations on dismantling apartheid.
(AP, 5/2/00)
1990 May 3, The federal government approved the use of the drug
AZT to treat children infected with the AIDS virus.
(AP, 5/3/00)
1990 May 4, Latvia's parliament voted 138-0 (1 abstention) for
Independence.
(MC, 5/4/02)
1990 May 4, The South African government and the African National
Congress concluded historic talks in Cape Town with a joint statement agreeing
on a "common commitment toward the resolution of the existing climate of
violence."
(AP, 5/4/00)
1990 May 5, "Unbridled" won the 116th running of the Kentucky
Derby.
(AP, 5/5/00)
1990 May 6, Freed American hostage Frank Reed said at a news conference
in Arlington, Va., that he had been savagely beaten by his captors in Lebanon
after two unsuccessful escape attempts.
(AP, 5/6/00)
1990 May 6, Former president P.W. Botha quit South Africa's ruling
National Party.
(MC, 5/6/02)
1990 May 7, The White House put aside President Bush's pledge
of no new taxes, saying talks to strike a budget deal with Congress would
have "no preconditions."
(AP, 5/7/00)
1990 May 8, One crewman was killed, 18 others injured in a fire
aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Conyngham in the Atlantic, about
100 miles southeast of Norfolk, Va.
(AP, 5/8/00)
1990 May 9, President Bush and congressional leaders announced
plans for emergency budget talks, with tax increases and spending cuts
on the negotiating table.
(AP, 5/9/00)
1990 May 9, NY Newsday reporter Jimmy Breslin was suspended for
a racial slur.
(MC, 5/9/02)
1990 May 10, The government of China announced the release of
211 dissidents who had been involved in pro-democracy demonstrations a
year earlier.
(AP, 5/10/00)
1990 May 10, The French TGV-train hit record speed of 510.6 kph.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1990 May 10, Walker Percy (73), physician, novelist (Lancelot),
died of cancer.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1990 May 11, President Bush, on a two-day trip of college commencement
speeches, told reporters aboard Air Force One that there were "no conditions"
going into a budget summit with Congress.
(AP, 5/11/00)
1990 May 12, The presidents of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania forged
a united front by reviving a 1934 political alliance in hopes of enhancing
their drive for independence from the Soviet Union.
(AP, 5/12/00)
1990 May 14, In separate decrees, Soviet President Gorbachev declared
that the republics of Estonia and Latvia had no legal basis for moving
toward independence.
(AP, 5/14/00)
1990 May 15, Congressional leaders and Bush administration officials
began a bipartisan summit on the fiscal 1991 budget and its deficit.
(AP, 5/15/00)
1990 May 15, "Portrait of Doctor Gachet" by Vincent Van Gogh
sold for $825 million.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1990 May 16, Sammy Davis Jr. (64), entertainer, died in Los Angeles.
Davis owed the IRS $5 million at his death. A settlement was later reached
for $300,000.
(AP, 5/16/00)(SSFC, 1/21/01, Par p.2)
1990 May 16, Jim Henson (53), "Muppets" creator, died in New
York.
(AP, 5/16/00)
1990 May 17, European court ruled pension rights for both men
and women.
(MC, 5/17/02)
1990 May 17, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev met in Moscow
with Lithuanian Prime Minister Kazimiera Prunskiene, Gorbachev's first
face-to-face meeting with a senior official of the defiant Baltic republics.
(AP, 5/17/00)
1990 May 18, The TV movie "Return To Green Acres" aired.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1990 May 18, In the face of heated student protests, the trustees
of all-women Mills College in Oakland, Ca., voted to rescind their earlier
decision to admit men.
(AP, 5/18/00)
1990 May 18, East and West Germany signed a monetary union treaty.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1990 May 18, Jill Ireland (54), actress (Carry on Nurse, Family),
died of cancer.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1990 May 19, R.C., "Expression" by Salt-N-Pepa peaked at #26 on
the pop singles chart.
(DTnet, 5/19/97)
1990 May 19, R.C., "Sending All My Love" by Linear peaked at
#5 on the pop singles chart.
(DTnet, 5/19/97)
1990 May 19, R.C., "That's The Way Of The World" by D'Mob with
Cathy Dennis peaked at #59 on the pop singles chart.
(DTnet, 5/19/97)
1990 May 19, R.C., "Vogue" by Madonna peaked at #1 on the pop
singles chart.
(DTnet, 5/19/97)
1990 May 19, Summer Squall won the Preakness Stakes.
(DTnet, 5/19/97)
1990 May 19, Secretary of State James A. Baker III concluded
an agreement with the Soviet Union to destroy chemical weapons and settle
longstanding disputes over limits on nuclear-tipped cruise missiles.
(DTnet, 5/19/97)(AP, 5/19/00)
1990 May 20, The Hubble Space Telescope sent back its first photographs.
(AP, 5/20/00)
1990 May 20, An Israeli opened fire on a group of Palestinian
laborers south of Tel Aviv, killing seven; the gunman was sentenced to
life in prison.
(AP, 5/20/00)
1990 May 20, Romania's ruling National Salvation Front scored
victories in the country's first free elections in more than 50 years.
(AP, 5/20/00)
1990 May 21, Israeli soldiers shot and killed three Palestinians
in violence sparked by the slayings of seven Palestinians by an Israeli
civilian a day earlier.
(AP, 5/21/00)
1990 May 22, Microsoft released Windows 3.0.
(MC, 5/22/02)
1990 May 22, Boxer Rocky Graziano died in New York at age 71.
(AP, 5/22/00)
1990 May 22, After years of conflict, pro-Western North Yemen
and pro-Soviet South Yemen merged to form the Republic of Yemen. The North
was conservative and the South was socialist.
(WSJ, 3/28/97, p.A1)(AP, 5/22/98)
1990 May 23, Clinton's campaign for a 5th term as governor of
Arkansas received a $60,000 loan from the Perry County Bank. More cash
was requested a few days later.
(SFC, 6/28/96, p.A7)
1990 May 23, Cost of rescuing US savings & loan failures
was put at up to $130 billion.
(MC, 5/23/02)
1990 May 23, Neil Bush, son of the president, denied any wrongdoing
as a director of a failed Denver savings-and-loan in testimony before Congress.
(AP, 5/23/00)
1990 May 23, The Soviet Union unveiled an economic-reform program
that included plans for a national referendum.
(AP, 5/23/00)
1990 May 24, Darryl Cherney and Judi Bari (11/7/49-3/2/97), environmental
activists in the Earth First! movement, were injured after a pipe bomb
exploded in their car as they drove through Oakland, Ca. They were arrested
while in the hospital on charges of transporting a bomb but the charges
were never filed. They later filed a suit against the FBI and Oakland police
for false arrest, illegal search and seizure and conspiracy to violate
free-speech rights. Bari died of liver cancer in 1997. In 2002 a jury awarded
$2.9 million to Bari's estate and $1.5 million to Cherney saying the FBI
had framed them as eco-terrorists.
(SFC, 3/1/97, p.C2)(SFC,10/21/97, p.A20)(SFC, 6/12/02, p.A1)
1990 May 24, The Edmonton Oilers won their fifth Stanley Cup
as they defeated the Boston Bruins, four games to one.
(AP, 5/24/00)
1990 May 25, A congressional report cast doubts on the US Navy's
official finding that a troubled sailor probably had caused the blast that
killed 47 servicemen aboard the battleship USS "Iowa."
(AP, 5/25/00)
1990 May 25, Vic Tayback (60), actor (Mel-Alice), died of a heart
attack.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1990 May 26, Soviet maverick politician Boris N. Yeltsin failed
in a second round of voting to win the presidency of the Russian Federation.
He succeeded in a third round of balloting three days later.
(AP, 5/26/00)
1990 May 27, The political opposition of Burma (Myanmar) scored
a victory in the country's first free, multiparty elections in three decades.
The military rulers allowed democratic elections but ignored the results
when the National League of Aung San Suu Kyi won 392 of 485 contested seats.
(SFC, 5/25/96, p.A12)(AP, 5/27/00)
1990 May 27, Cesar Gaviria Trujillo was elected president of
Colombia.
(AP, 5/27/00)
1990 May 27, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev tried to calm
his nation's economic nerves with a hastily scheduled television address.
The radical Democratic Party held its 1st political meetings in Moscow.
(AP, 5/27/00)(MC, 5/27/02)
1990 May 28, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein opened a two-day Arab
League summit in Baghdad with a keynote address in which he said if Israel
were to deploy nuclear or chemical weapons against Arabs, Iraq would respond
with "weapons of mass destruction."
(AP, 5/28/00)
1990 May 29, Dow Jones average hits a record 2,870.49.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1990 May 29, Boris N. Yeltsin was elected president of the Russian
republic in the third round of balloting by the Russian parliament. This
gave him a base from which to attack Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev.
(AP, 5/29/97)(HN, 5/29/99)
1990 May 29, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev visited
Canada en route to his Washington summit with President Bush.
(AP, 5/29/00)
1990 May 29, Peru was struck by an earthquake that claimed 56
lives. [see May 30]
(AP, 5/29/00)
1990 May 30, A 6.3 earthquake in northern Peru killed 137 people.
[see May 29]
(SSFC, 6/24/01, p.A16)
1990 May 30, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev arrived in
Washington for his summit with President Bush.
(AP, 5/30/00)
1990 May 31, Seinfeld, starring Jerry Seinfeld, debuted on NBC.
[see Jan 23, 1991]
(MC, 5/31/02)
1990 May 31, President Bush and his wife, Barbara, welcomed Soviet
President Mikhail S. Gorbachev in a ceremony on South Lawn of the White
House. The two leaders and their aides then held talks on German reunification.
(AP, 5/31/00)
1990 May 31, NYC's Zodiac killer shot a 3rd victim, Joseph Ponce.
(MC, 5/31/02)
1990 May, In Croatia Franjo Tudjman led a party that advocated
a Yugoslav confederation of sovereign states.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)
1990 Jun 1, President Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S.
Gorbachev signed more than a dozen bilateral accords in the second day
of their Washington summit. Meanwhile, Barbara Bush and Raisa Gorbachev
traveled to Wellesley College in Massachusetts to deliver commencement
addresses.
(AP, 6/1/00)
1990 Jun 1, E! Entertainment Television was launched.
(DTnet, 6/1/97)
1990 Jun 1, The Cowboy Channel on cable TV began transmitting.
(DTnet, 6/1/97)
1990 Jun 1, The Dow Jones Avg. hit a record high of 2,900.97.
(DTnet, 6/1/97)
1990 Jun 2, On the third day of their Washington summit, President
Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev held informal talks at the
Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland.
(AP, 6/2/00)
1990 Jun 2, Sir Rex Harrison (82), actor (My Fair Lady),
died in New York.
(AP, 6/2/00)
1990 Jun 3, President Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev
concluded their Washington summit with a joint news conference at the White
House. Gorbachev and his delegation then flew to Minnesota for a whirlwind
tour of Minneapolis-St. Paul.
(AP, 6/3/00)
1990 Jun 3, "City of Angels" won Best Musical and "The Grapes
of Wrath" won Best Play at the 44th Tony Awards.
(AP, 6/3/00)
1990 Jun 4, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev closed out his
US visit in northern California, where he held a reunion with former President
Reagan and met with South Korean President Roh Tae-woo in San Francisco,
and addressed students at Stanford University in Palo Alto.
(AP, 6/4/00)
1990 Jun 5, Authorities in Oakland County, Michigan, moved to
prevent Dr. Jack Kevorkian from continuing to make available a suicide
device that Janet Adkins, an Oregon woman diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease,
had used a day earlier to take her own life.
(AP, 6/5/00)
1990 Jun 6, A federal judge in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, declared
the 2 Live Crew album "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" to be obscene. The decision
was later overturned on appeal.
(AP, 6/6/00)
1990 Jun 7, South African President F.W. de Klerk announced he
was lifting a four-year-old state of emergency in three of the country's
four provinces, with the exception of Natal.
(AP, 6/7/00)
1990 Jun 8, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir announced he
had succeeded in forming a new right-wing coalition government, ending
a three-month-old political crisis.
(AP, 6/8/00)
1990 Jun 9, "Go and Go" won the 122nd running of the Belmont Stakes.
(AP, 6/9/00)
1990 Jun 10, Alberto Fujimori was elected president of Peru by
a narrow margin over novelist Mario Vargos Llosa.
(AP, 6/10/00)
1990 Jun 10, Two members of the rap group 2 Live Crew were arrested
in Hollywood, Florida. They and a third band member were acquitted of obscenity
charges October 20th.
(AP, 6/10/00)
1990 Jun 11, A federal judge sentenced former national security
adviser John M. Poindexter to six months in prison for making false statements
to Congress about the Iran-Contra affair. However, Poindexter's convictions
were later overturned.
(AP, 6/11/00)
1990 Jun 11, The Supreme Court struck down a federal law prohibiting
desecration of the American flag.
(AP, 6/11/00)
1990 Jun 12, In a speech to the Supreme Soviet legislature, President
Mikhail S. Gorbachev eased his objection to a reunified Germany holding
membership in NATO.
(AP, 6/12/00)
1990 Jun 12, Boris Yeltsin led a vote at the Congress of Peoples
Deputies on a "declaration of Sovereignty for Russia."
(SFC, 6/10/96, p.A16)
1990 Jun 13, Secretary of State James A. Baker the Third, testifying
before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, urged Israel to accept a US
plan for peace talks. Baker gave out the telephone number for the White
House switchboard, telling the Israelis publicly, "When you're serious
about this, call us."
(AP, 6/13/00)
1990 Jun 14, The US Supreme Court upheld, by a six-to-three vote,
police checkpoints that examine drivers for signs of intoxication.
(AP, 6/14/00)
1990 Jun 15, Real estate mogul Donald Trump missed a payment due
on junk bonds used to finance one of his Atlantic City, New Jersey, resorts.
(AP, 6/15/00)
1990 Jun 16, A crowd in the Netherlands welcomed African National
Congress leader Nelson Mandela, who thanked them for staunch Dutch support
for the anti-apartheid movement.
(AP, 6/16/00)
1990 Jun 17, South African black nationalist Nelson Mandela and
his wife, Winnie, arrived in Ottawa, Canada, en route to an eleven-day
tour of the United States.
(AP, 6/17/00)
1990 Jun 18, James Edward Pough went on a shooting rampage at
an auto-financing company office in Jacksonville, Florida, fatally wounding
nine people before killing himself.
(AP, 6/18/00)
1990 Jun 19, Opening statements were presented in the drug and
perjury trial of Washington DC Mayor Marion S. Barry Junior. Barry was
later convicted of a single count of misdemeanor drug possession, and sentenced
to six months in prison.
(AP, 6/19/00)
1990 Jun 20, South African black nationalist Nelson Mandela and
his wife, Winnie, arrived in New York City for a ticker-tape parade in
their honor as they began an eight-city US tour.
(AP, 6/20/00)
1990 Jun 20, The Communist Initiative created its neoconservative
Russian Communist Party. Among the founders were Gennady Zyuganov, Valentin
Kuptsov, and Alexander Rutskoi. Gorbachev still ran the country.
(SFC, 6/10/96, p.A16)
1990 Jun 21, An estimated 50,000 Iranians were killed in a magnitude
7.3 to 7.7 earthquake. The earthquake killed some 35,000 people in Gilan
and neighboring Zanjan province.
(SFC, 3/1/97, p.C1)(AP, 6/21/00)(AP, 6/22/02)
1990 Jun 22, George W. Bush, a director of Harken Energy Corp.,
a Texas oil company, sold 212,140 shares at $4 per share just before huge
losses were reported. Corporate disclosure of the sale was filed months
later.
(SFC, 7/4/02, p.A1)(SFC, 7/9/02, p.A12)(WSJ, 7/10/02, p.A8)
1990 Jun 22, African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela
addressed delegates at the United Nations, where he said victory for a
democratic, non-racial South Africa was "within our grasp."
(AP, 6/22/00)
1990 Jun 23, African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela received
a tumultuous welcome in Boston as he continued his US tour.
(AP, 6/23/00)
1990 Jun 24, Health and Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan
was virtually drowned out by jeering demonstrators as he addressed the
Sixth International AIDS conference in San Francisco.
(AP, 6/24/00)
1990 Jun 24, South African black nationalist Nelson Mandela arrived
in Washington.
(AP, 6/24/00)
1990 Jun 25, African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela met
with President Bush at the White House.
(AP, 6/25/00)
1990 Jun 26, President Bush, who'd campaigned for office on a
pledge of "no new taxes," conceded that tax increases would have to be
included in any deficit-reduction package worked out with congressional
negotiators.
(AP, 6/26/00)
1990 Jun 26, African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela
addressed the U.S. Congress, asking for "material resources" to hasten
the end of white-led rule.
(AP, 6/26/97)
1990 Jun 27, NASA announced that a flaw in the orbiting Hubble
Space Telescope was preventing the instrument from achieving optimum focus.
(AP, 6/27/00)
1990 Jun 28, Jurors in the drug and perjury trial of Washington
DC Mayor Marion S. Barry Junior viewed a videotape showing Barry smoking
crack cocaine during an FBI hotel-room sting operation. Barry was later
convicted of a single count of misdemeanor drug possession.
(AP, 6/28/00)
1990 Jun 29, Fernando Valenzuela of the Los Angeles Dodgers and
Dave Stewart of the Oakland A's became the first pitchers to hurl no-hitters
in both the National and American Leagues on the same day. Oakland shut
out the Blue Jays, 5-to-0, while Los Angeles blanked the St. Louis Cardinals,
6-to-0.
(AP, 6/29/00)
1990 Jun 30, Harken Energy reported a $23 million 2nd quarter
loss.
(SSFC, 7/28/02, p.A19)
1990 Jun, At Cunningham Lake near Omaha a fisherman caught a 2-pound
black piranha.
(NH, 8/96, p.66)
1990 Jun, In Michigan Dr. Jack Kevorkian asked Janet Good (d.1997
at 73) if he could use her house for his first assisted suicide. She initially
said ok but after conferring with her husband, a retired police officer,
declined the request on the grounds that it might be illegal.
(SFC, 8/27/97, p.A9)
1990 Jun, The FTC launched a probe into possible collusion between
Microsoft and IBM.
(Wired, 12/98, p.197)
1990 Jun, In Bulgaria the former Communist Party, renamed the
Socialist party, won parliamentary elections.
(SFC, 5/2/97, p.A14)
1990 Jun, In Romania miners, transported into Bucharest in government
vehicles, destroyed hundreds of Interior Ministry files. Over 2 years well
organized mobs of rural coal miners descended on Bucharest 4 times to knock
the heads of student leaders, opposition politicians and others.
(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A11)