The 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall

General highlights:

·         George H.W. Bush succeeds Ronald Reagan as the 41^st President of the United States of America

·         The Soviet military occupation of Afghanistan, lasting nine years, ends

·         Ayatollah Khomeini places a $3 million US bounty on the head of The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie

·         Stanley Pons and Martin Fleishman announce they have achieved cold fusion at the University of Utah

·         In Alaska’s Prince William Sound, the Exxon Valdez spills 11 million gallons of oil after running aground

·         The Dilbert comic strip is syndicated for the first time

·         Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World opens to the public for the first time.

·         The SkyDome (now known as Rogers Centre) opens in Toronto

·         The Tiananmen Square massacre takes place in Beijing on the army’s approach to the square and the final stand-off in the square is captured live on television

·         The television show Seinfeld premieres

·         In Beverly Hills, California, Lyle and Eric Menendez shoot their wealthy parents to death in the family’s den

·         Two million indigenous peoples of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, then still occupied by the Soviet Union, join hands and demand freedom and independence, forming an uninterrupted 600 km human chain called the Baltic Way

·         The Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations issue the Langkawi Declaration on the Environment, making environmental sustainability one of the Commonwealth’s main priorities

·         East Germany opens checkpoints in the Berlin Wall, allowing its citizens to freely travel to West Germany for the first time in decades. The next day, celebrating Germans begin tearing down the wall

·         Disney’s The Little Mermaid is released in theatres

·         The first full-length episode of The Simpsons, “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire, premieres on FOX

·         Former Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, are executed after an unsuccessful attempt to escape Romania

·         The millionth Ford Taurus is sold after only being introduced three years earlier

The Calgary Flames win the Stanley Cup

Canadian highlights:

·         The North American Free Trade Agreement comes into effect

·         The Canadian Space Agency is created

·         Don Getty’s PCs win a sixth consecutive majority in Alberta

·         The Calgary Flames win the Stanley Cup final four games to two over the Montréal Canadiens

·         Audrey McLaughlin is elected leader of the NDP, replacing Ed Broadbent, becoming the first female major party leader in Canadian History

·         Marc Lépine murders 14 women at the École Polytechnique of the Université de Montréal. The event proves a spur to both the Canadian feminist and gun control movements

·         Deborah Grey wins a by-election to become the first Reform Party Member of Parliament

·         Kids in the Hall premieres on CBC Television

Rain Man, starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman

Movies - 61^st Academy Awards

Best picture: Rain Man

Best Director: Barry Levinson, Rain Man

Best Actor: Dustin Hoffman, Rain Man

Best Actress: Jodie Foster, The Accused

Best Supporting Actor: Kevin Kline, A Fish Called Wanda

Best Supporting Actress: Geena Davis, The Accidental Tourist

Best Original Screenplay: Rain Man

Best Adapted Screenplay: Dangerous Liaisons

 

The Oscars marks the final public appearance of Lucille Ball, who dies less than a month later. Ball presents an Oscar with long-time friend Bob Hope.

 

Madonna's Like A Prayer tops the charts in 1989

Music

Top 5 singles of the year:

#1  Like a Prayer, Madonna

#2  Eternal Flame, The Bangles

#3  Another Day in Paradise, Phil Collins

#4  The Look, Roxette

#5  Love Shack, The B52s

 

Madonna’s Like a Prayer video attracts criticism for its use of Catholic iconography and for the use of cross burning imagery, but also garners praise for its interpretation of discrimination, rape and faith. Pepsi drops Madonna as a spokesperson out of fear the video would cause religious groups to boycott the company.

 

In August 1989, the Moscow Peace Festival is held in the Soviet Union. The event is put together by Doc McGhee and the Make a Wish Foundation to expose the Russian people to western culture, promote international cooperation in fighting the drug war and promote peace. The event comes to epitomize the fall of the Soviet Union and the height of pop metal (headlined by Bon Jovi, Ozzy Osbourne, Mötley Crüe, Skid Row, Cinderella and the Scorpions.)

 

Secretariat

Sports

·         Following an investigation that he gambled on baseball, superstar player Pete Rose is banned from baseball for life

·         The Detroit Pistons sweep the LA Lakers to win the franchise’s first championship

·         Kurt Browning wins the men’s title at the World Figure Skating Championships

·         The San Francisco 49ers defeat the Cincinnati Bengals 20-16 in Super Bowl XXIII

·         The Saskatchewan Roughriders win the Grey Cup, defeating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 43-40

·         The Calgary Flames defeat the Montréal Canadiens four games to two to win the Stanley Cup. This marks the first and only time that the visiting team won their game at the Montréal Forum against the Canadiens

·         The Art Ross Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s leading scorer during the regular season goes to Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins

·         The Hart Memorial Trophy for the NHL’s Most Valuable Player goes to Wayne Gretzky of the Los Angeles Kings

·         At the World Hockey Championship, the Soviet Union wins both the Men’s and Junior Men’s titles, defeating Canada and Sweden, respectively

·         Steffi Graf wins the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open

·         The Associated Press names Joe Montana of the National Football League Male Athlete of the Year

·         The Associated Press names Steffi Graf Female Athlete of the Year

·         Secretariat, thoroughbred racehorse, 1973 Triple Crown winner and two-time Horse of the Year, dies