tary takes place in Tiananmen Square. (Nov. 9)
The Berlin Wall falls as East Germany opens
checkpoints, allowing its citizens to freely travel to
West Germany; celebrating Germans begin tear-
ing down the wall. (Nov. 17) The Velvet Revolu-
tion begins in Czechoslovakia as a peaceful stu-
dent demonstration in Prague is severely repelled
by police. (Nov. 28) With other communist re-
gimes falling all around it and with growing street
protests, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
announces that it will relinquish its monopoly on
political power. (Dec. 29) Václav Havel is elected
president of Czechoslovakia, the country’s first
noncommunist leader in more than forty years.
Government and politics:(Jan. 20) George H. W.
Bush becomes the forty-first president of the
United States. (Feb. 10) Ron Brown is elected
chairman of the Democratic National Commit-
tee, the first African American to lead a major po-
litical party. (Nov. 7) David Dinkins becomes the
first African American mayor of New York City,
while Douglas Wilder of Virginia is the first elected
African American governor.
Military and war:. (Feb. 23) The Senate Armed Ser-
vices Committee rejects President Bush’s nomi-
nation of John Tower for secretary of defense.
Society:(Mar. 14) President Bush bans the importa-
tion of assault weapons into the United States.
(Jun. 1) The SkyDome stadium, now known as
Rogers Centre, opens in Toronto. (Sept. 5) During
his first televised news conference, President Bush
holds up a bag of cocaine purchased at Lafayette
Park, across the street from the White House.
Business and economics:(Mar. 9) A strike forces
Eastern Air Lines into bankruptcy. (Aug. 7) Fed-
eral Express buys Flying Tigers, originally a volun-
teer group of pilots who fought in World War II.
(Oct. 13) In what is later called the Friday the
Thirteenth Minicrash, the Dow Jones Industrial
Average plummets 190.58 points to close at
2,569.26, most likely a result of the collapsing
junk bond market.
Transportation and communications:(Mar. 1) The
United States ratifies the Berne Convention, an
international treaty on copyrights. (Mar. 4) Time,
Inc., and Warner Communications announce
plans to merge and create Time Warner.
Science and technology:(Mar. 23) Stanley Pons and
Martin Fleischmann announce that they have
achieved cold fusion at the University of Utah.
(Jul. 26) A federal grand jury indicts Cornell Uni-
versity student Robert Tappan Morris, Jr., for re-
leasing a computer virus, making him the first
person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Com-
puter Fraud and Abuse Act. (Aug. 25) Voyager II
flies past the planet Neptune and its moon Triton.
Environment and health:(Feb. 14) Union Carbide
agrees to pay the Indian government $470 mil-
lion for the damages caused in the 1984 chemical
leak disaster in Bhopal. (Mar. 24) TheExxon
Valdezoil tanker runs aground, spilling 240,000
barrels, or 11 million gallons, of oil into Prince
William Sound in Alaska.
Arts and literature:(Feb. 14) Iranian leader Ayatol-
lah Khomeini encourages Muslims to kill author
Salman Rushdie for writing his novelThe Satanic
Verses; Khomeini later offers a three-million-dollar
bounty for Rushdie’s murder. (Jun. 12) The
Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., re-
moves an exhibit of erotic photos by Robert Map-
plethorpe.
Popular culture:(Apr. 16) TheDilbertcomic strip is
syndicated for the first time. (Jul. 5) The sitcom
Seinfeldpremieres on television. (Nov. 15) Dis-
ney’sThe Little Mermaidis released in theaters.
(Dec. 17) The first full-length episode ofThe
Simpsonsairs on FOX.
Sports:(Apr. 2) Hulk Hogan defeats Randy Savage
to become the World Wrestling Federation cham-
pion. (May 25) The Calgary Flames win their first
Stanley Cup with a 4-2 victory over the Montreal
Canadiens. (Aug. 24) Baseball player Pete Rose
consents to a lifetime ban from the sport following
allegations of illegal gambling; he also is barred
from induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Crime:(Jan. 24) Serial killer Ted Bundy is executed
in Florida. (Apr. 19) A Central Park jogger is bru-
tally attacked during an evening run in the New
York City park. (Aug. 20) Lyle and Erik Menendez
murder their wealthy parents in the den of the
family’s Beverly Hills home. (Dec. 6) In the worst
single-day massacre in Canadian history, a twenty-
five-year-old man who hates women goes to the
École Polytechnique in Montreal and kills four-
teen women, injures thirteen others, and then
shoots himself.
Rebecca KuzinsThe Eighties in America Time Line 1155