Important Historical Events of the year 1989, Year 1989 in History

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List of 1989 Major News Events in History, Most Important Historical Events in 1989

What happened in the year 1989?

Date	Event
January 1, 1989	The Montreal Protocol comes into force, stopping the use of chemicals contributing to ozone depletion.
January 4, 1989	Second Gulf of Sidra incident: A pair of Libyan MiG-23 "Floggers" are shot down by a pair of US Navy F-14 Tomcats during an air-to-air confrontation.
January 6, 1989	Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh are sentenced to death for conspiracy in the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi; the two men are executed the same day.
January 8, 1989	Kegworth air disaster: British Midland Flight 92, a Boeing 737-400, crashes into the M1 motorway, killing 47 of the 126 people on board.
January 24, 1989	Notorious serial killer Ted Bundy, with over 30 known victims, is executed by the electric chair at the Florida State Prison.
January 29, 1989	Cold War: Hungary establishes diplomatic relations with South Korea, making it the first Eastern Bloc nation to do so.
January 30, 1989	The American embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan is closed.
February 2, 1989	Soviet–Afghan War: The last Soviet armoured column leaves Kabul.
February 3, 1989	After a stroke two weeks previously, South African President P. W. Botha resigns as leader of the National Party, but stays on as president for six more months.
February 3, 1989	A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay since 1954.
February 6, 1989	The Round Table Talks start in Poland, thus marking the beginning of the overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe.
February 8, 1989	Independent Air Flight 1851 strikes Pico Alto mountain while on approach to Santa Maria Airport (Azores) killing all 144 passengers on board.
February 10, 1989	Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee, becoming the first African American to lead a major American political party.
February 14, 1989	Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million to the Indian government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal disaster.
February 14, 1989	Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa encouraging Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses.
February 15, 1989	Soviet–Afghan War: The Soviet Union officially announces that all of its troops have left Afghanistan.
February 19, 1989	Flying Tiger Line flight 66 crashes into a hill near Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Malaysia, killing four.
February 24, 1989	United Airlines Flight 811, bound for New Zealand from Honolulu, rips open during flight, blowing nine passengers out of the business-class section.
March 2, 1989	Twelve European Community nations agree to ban the production of all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by the end of the century.
March 7, 1989	Iran and the United Kingdom break diplomatic relations after a fight over Salman Rushdie and his controversial novel, The Satanic Verses.
March 12, 1989	Sir Tim Berners-Lee submits his proposal to CERN for an information management system, which subsequently develops into the World Wide Web.
March 19, 1989	The Egyptian flag is raised at Taba, marking the end of Israeli occupation since the Six Days War in 1967 and the Egypt–Israel peace treaty in 1979.
March 21, 1989	Transbrasil Flight 801 crashes into a slum near São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport, killing 25 people.
March 24, 1989	In Prince William Sound in Alaska, the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (38,000 m3) of crude oil after running aground.[61]
April 1, 1989	Margaret Thatcher's new local government tax, the Community Charge (commonly known as the "poll tax"), is introduced in Scotland.
April 2, 1989	Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Havana, Cuba, to meet with Fidel Castro in an attempt to mend strained relations.
April 3, 1989	The US Supreme Court upholds the jurisdictional rights of tribal courts under the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 in Mississippi Choctaw Band v. Holyfield.
April 7, 1989	Soviet submarine Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea off the coast of Norway, killing 42 sailors.
April 9, 1989	Tbilisi massacre: An anti-Soviet peaceful demonstration and hunger strike in Tbilisi, demanding restoration of Georgian independence, is dispersed by the Soviet Army, resulting in 20 deaths and hundreds of injuries.
April 15, 1989	Hillsborough disaster: A human crush occurs at Hillsborough Stadium, home of Sheffield Wednesday, in the FA Cup Semi-final, resulting in the deaths of 97 Liverpool fans.
April 15, 1989	Upon Hu Yaobang's death, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 begin in China.
April 19, 1989	A gun turret explodes on the USS Iowa, killing 47 sailors.
April 21, 1989	Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: In Beijing, around 100,000 students gather in Tiananmen Square to commemorate Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang.
April 26, 1989	The deadliest known tornado strikes Central Bangladesh, killing upwards of 1,300, injuring 12,000, and leaving as many as 80,000 homeless.
April 26, 1989	People's Daily publishes the April 26 Editorial which inflames the nascent Tiananmen Square protests.
April 27, 1989	The April 27 demonstrations, student-led protests responding to the April 26 Editorial, during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
May 2, 1989	Cold War: Hungary begins dismantling its border fence with Austria, which allows a number of East Germans to defect.
May 4, 1989	Iran–Contra affair: Former White House aide Oliver North is convicted of three crimes and acquitted of nine other charges; the convictions are later overturned on appeal.
May 12, 1989	The San Bernardino train disaster kills four people, only to be followed a week later by an underground gasoline pipeline explosion, which kills two more people.
May 13, 1989	Large groups of students occupy Tiananmen Square and begin a hunger strike.
May 20, 1989	The Chinese authorities declare martial law in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations, setting the scene for the Tiananmen Square massacre.
May 29, 1989	Signing of an agreement between Egypt and the United States, allowing the manufacture of parts of the F-16 jet fighter plane in Egypt.
May 30, 1989	Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: The 10-metre high "Goddess of Democracy" statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators.
June 3, 1989	The government of China sends troops to force protesters out of Tiananmen Square after seven weeks of occupation.
June 4, 1989	In the 1989 Iranian Supreme Leader election, Ali Khamenei is elected as the new Supreme Leader of Iran after the death and funeral of Ruhollah Khomeini.
June 4, 1989	The Tiananmen Square protests are suppressed in Beijing by the People's Liberation Army, with between 241 and 10,000 dead (an unofficial estimate).[5]
June 4, 1989	Solidarity's victory in the 1989 Polish legislative election, the first election since the Communist Polish United Workers Party abandoned its monopoly of power. It sparks off the Revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe.
June 4, 1989	Ufa train disaster: A natural gas explosion near Ufa, Russia, kills 575 as two trains passing each other throw sparks near a leaky pipeline.
June 5, 1989	The Tank Man halts the progress of a column of advancing tanks for over half an hour after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
June 7, 1989	Surinam Airways Flight 764 crashes on approach to Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport in Suriname because of pilot error, killing 176 of 187 aboard.
June 16, 1989	Revolutions of 1989: Imre Nagy, the former Hungarian prime minister, is reburied in Budapest following the collapse of Communism in Hungary.
June 17, 1989	Interflug Flight 102 crashes during a rejected takeoff from Berlin Schönefeld Airport, killing 21 people.
June 21, 1989	The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397, that American flag-burning is a form of political protest protected by the First Amendment.
June 24, 1989	Jiang Zemin succeeds Zhao Ziyang to become the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre.
June 28, 1989	On the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo, Slobodan Milošević delivers the Gazimestan speech at the site of the historic battle.
June 30, 1989	A coup d'état in Sudan deposes the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and President Ahmed al-Mirghani.
July 5, 1989	Iran–Contra affair: Oliver North is sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell to a three-year suspended prison term, two years probation, $150,000 in fines and 1,200 hours community service. His convictions are later overturned.
July 6, 1989	The Tel Aviv–Jerusalem bus 405 suicide attack: Sixteen bus passengers are killed when a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad took control of the bus and drove it over a cliff.
July 17, 1989	First flight of the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber.
July 17, 1989	Holy See–Poland relations are restored.
July 19, 1989	United Airlines Flight 232 crashes in Sioux City, Iowa killing 111.
July 20, 1989	Burma's ruling junta puts opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.
July 26, 1989	A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student Robert T. Morris, Jr. for releasing the Morris worm, thus becoming the first person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
July 27, 1989	While attempting to land at Tripoli International Airport in Libya, Korean Air Flight 803 crashes just short of the runway. Seventy-five of the 199 passengers and crew and four people on the ground are killed, in the second accident involving a DC-10 in less than two weeks, the first being United Airlines Flight 232.
August 2, 1989	Pakistan is re-admitted to the Commonwealth of Nations after having restored democracy for the first time since 1972.
August 2, 1989	A massacre is carried out by an Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka killing 64 ethnic Tamil civilians.
August 7, 1989	U.S. Congressman Mickey Leland (D-TX) and 15 others die in a plane crash in Ethiopia.
August 8, 1989	Space Shuttle program: STS-28 Mission: Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on a secret five-day military mission.
August 16, 1989	A solar particle event affects computers at the Toronto Stock Exchange, forcing a halt to trading.
August 18, 1989	Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia.
August 19, 1989	Polish president Wojciech Jaruzelski nominates Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki to be the first non-communist prime minister in 42 years.
August 19, 1989	Several hundred East Germans cross the frontier between Hungary and Austria during the Pan-European Picnic, part of the events that began the process of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
August 20, 1989	The pleasure boat Marchioness sinks on the River Thames following a collision. Fifty-one people are killed.
August 22, 1989	Nolan Ryan strikes out Rickey Henderson to become the first Major League Baseball pitcher to record 5,000 strikeouts.
August 23, 1989	Singing Revolution: Two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius–Tallinn road, holding hands.
August 24, 1989	Colombian drug barons declare "total war" on the Colombian government.
August 24, 1989	Tadeusz Mazowiecki is chosen as the first non-communist prime minister in Central and Eastern Europe.
August 25, 1989	Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Neptune, the last planet in the Solar System at the time, due to Pluto being within Neptune's orbit from 1979 to 1999.
August 25, 1989	Pakistan International Airlines Flight 404, carrying 54 people, disappears over the Himalayas after take off from Gilgit Airport in Pakistan. The aircraft was never found.
September 3, 1989	Varig Flight 254 crashes in the Amazon rainforest near São José do Xingu in Brazil, killing 12.
September 4, 1989	In Leipzig, East Germany, the first of weekly demonstration for the legalisation of opposition groups and democratic reforms takes place.
September 8, 1989	Partnair Flight 394 dives into the North Sea, killing 55 people. The investigation showed that the tail of the plane vibrated loose in flight due to sub-standard connecting bolts that had been fraudulently sold as aircraft-grade.
September 11, 1989	Hungary announces that the East German refugees who had been housed in temporary camps were free to leave for West Germany.
September 13, 1989	Largest anti-Apartheid march in South Africa, led by Desmond Tutu.
September 14, 1989	The Standard Gravure shooting where Joseph T. Wesbecker, a 47-year-old pressman, killed eight people and injured 12 people at his former workplace, Standard Gravure, before committing suicide.
September 19, 1989	A bomb destroys UTA Flight 772 in mid-air above the Tùnùrù Desert, Niger, killing all 170 passengers and crew.
September 20, 1989	USAir Flight 5050 crashes into Bowery Bay during a rejected takeoff from LaGuardia Airport, killing two people.
October 1, 1989	Denmark introduces the world's first legal same-sex registered partnerships.
October 3, 1989	A coup in Panama City is suppressed and 11 participants are executed.
October 15, 1989	Wayne Gretzky becomes the all-time leading points scorer in the NHL.
October 17, 1989	The 6.9 .mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}Mw Loma Prieta earthquake shakes the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Coast, killing 63.
October 17, 1989	The East German Politburo votes to remove Erich Honecker from his role as General Secretary.
October 19, 1989	The convictions of the Guildford Four are quashed by the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, after they had spent 15 years in prison.
October 21, 1989	In Honduras, 131 people are killed when a Boeing 727 crashes on approach to Toncontín International Airport near the nation's capital Tegucigalpa.
October 23, 1989	The Hungarian Republic officially replaces the communist Hungarian People's Republic.
October 23, 1989	Bankruptcy of Wärtsilä Marine; the biggest bankruptcy in the Nordic countries up until then.
October 23, 1989	An explosion at the Houston Chemical Complex in Pasadena, Texas, which registered a 3.5 on the Richter magnitude scale, kills 23 and injures 314.
October 26, 1989	China Airlines Flight 204 crashes after takeoff from Hualien Airport in Taiwan, killing all 54 people on board.
November 7, 1989	Douglas Wilder wins the governor's seat in Virginia, becoming the first elected African American governor in the United States.
November 7, 1989	David Dinkins becomes the first African American to be elected Mayor of New York City.
November 7, 1989	East German Prime Minister Willi Stoph, along with his entire cabinet, is forced to resign after huge anti-government protests.
November 9, 1989	Cold War: Fall of the Berlin Wall: East Germany opens checkpoints in the Berlin Wall, allowing its citizens to travel to West Berlin.
November 10, 1989	Longtime Bulgarian leader Todor Zhivkov is removed from office and replaced by Petar Mladenov.
November 10, 1989	Germans begin to tear down the Berlin Wall.
November 13, 1989	Hans-Adam II, the present Prince of Liechtenstein, begins his reign on the death of his father.
November 16, 1989	El Salvadoran army troops kill six Jesuit priests and two others at Jose Simeon Canas University.
November 17, 1989	Cold War: Velvet Revolution begins: In Czechoslovakia, a student demonstration in Prague is quelled by riot police. This sparks an uprising aimed at overthrowing the communist government (it succeeds on December 29).
November 20, 1989	Velvet Revolution: The number of protesters assembled in Prague, Czechoslovakia, swells from 200,000 the day before to an estimated half-million.
November 22, 1989	In West Beirut, a bomb explodes near the motorcade of Lebanese President René Moawad, killing him.
November 24, 1989	After a week of mass protests against the Communist regime known as the Velvet Revolution, Miloš Jakeš and the entire Politburo of the Czechoslovak Communist Party resign from office. This brings an effective end to Communist rule in Czechoslovakia.
November 27, 1989	Avianca Flight 203: A Boeing 727 explodes in mid-air over Colombia, killing all 107 people on board and three people on the ground. The Medellín Cartel will claim responsibility for the attack.
November 28, 1989	Cold War: Velvet Revolution: In the face of protests, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announces it will give up its monopoly on political power.
December 1, 1989	Philippine coup attempt: The right-wing military rebel Reform the Armed Forces Movement attempts to oust Philippine President Corazon Aquino in a failed bloody coup d'état.
December 1, 1989	Cold War: East Germany's parliament abolishes the constitutional provision granting the Communist Party the leading role in the state.
December 2, 1989	The Peace Agreement of Hat Yai is signed and ratified by the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) and the governments of Malaysia and Thailand, ending the over two-decade-long communist insurgency in Malaysia.
December 3, 1989	In a meeting off the coast of Malta, U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev release statements indicating that the Cold War between NATO and the Warsaw Pact may be coming to an end.
December 6, 1989	The École Polytechnique massacre (or Montreal Massacre): Marc Lépine, an anti-feminist gunman, murders 14 young women at the École Polytechnique in Montreal.
December 10, 1989	Mongolian Revolution: At the country's first open pro-democracy public demonstration, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj announces the establishment of the Mongolian Democratic Union.
December 13, 1989	The Troubles: Attack on Derryard checkpoint: The Provisional Irish Republican Army launches an attack on a British Army temporary vehicle checkpoint near Rosslea, Northern Ireland. Two British soldiers are killed and two others are wounded.
December 15, 1989	Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights relating the abolition of capital punishment is adopted.
December 16, 1989	Romanian Revolution: Protests break out in Timișoara, Romania, in response to an attempt by the government to evict dissident Hungarian pastor László Tőkés.
December 17, 1989	Romanian Revolution: Protests continue in Timișoara, Romania, with rioters breaking into the Romanian Communist Party's District Committee building and attempting to set it on fire.
December 17, 1989	Fernando Collor de Mello defeats Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the second round of the Brazilian presidential election, becoming the first democratically elected President in almost 30 years.
December 17, 1989	The Simpsons premieres on television with the episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire".
December 20, 1989	The United States invasion of Panama deposes Manuel Noriega.
December 22, 1989	Romanian Revolution: Communist President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu is overthrown by Ion Iliescu after days of bloody confrontations. The deposed dictator and his wife Elena flee Bucharest in a helicopter as protesters erupt in cheers.
December 22, 1989	German reunification: Berlin's Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany.
December 25, 1989	Romanian Revolution: Deposed President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife, Elena, are condemned to death and executed after a summary trial.
December 26, 1989	United Express Flight 2415 crashes on approach to the Tri-Cities Airport in Pasco, Washington, killing all six people on board.
December 27, 1989	The Romanian Revolution concludes, as the last minor street confrontations and stray shootings abruptly end in the country's capital, Bucharest.
December 28, 1989	A magnitude 5.6 earthquake hits Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, killing 13 people.
December 29, 1989	Czech writer, philosopher and dissident Václav Havel is elected the first post-communist President of Czechoslovakia.
December 29, 1989	The Nikkei 225 for the Tokyo Stock Exchange hits its all-time intra-day high of 38,957.44 and closing high at 38,915.87, serving as the apex of the Japanese asset price bubble.