1990 Tranniversary: Jack
In politics, 1990 saw the Reunification of Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall in Nov. 1989. The Baltic states declared independence from the Soviet Union. While under an Apartheid government, Nelson Mandela was released unconditionally after spending 27 years in a South African prison.
Ever wonder what www meant at the beginning of your web page searches? Tim Berners-Lee from the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland published his formal proposal for the World Wide Web which outlined a plan for a system that would use hypertext, web pages, browsers, and web servers to share documents across the Internet. It has become the standard for how we access and use the Internet. Launched in April of 1990, aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery, the Hubble Space Telescope changed our fundamental understanding of the universe. On the opposite side of history, the largest skeletal remains of a T-Rex were excavated in South Dakota.
In June 1990, U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet Union leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, signed the Chemical Weapons Accord that signaled the beginning of the end of the Cold War. In August, President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, invaded Kuwait which sparked “Operation Desert Shield” and the beginning of the Gulf War.
In LGBTQ news, 1990 was a remarkable year. Did you know that prior to 1990, being gay or suspected of being gay, was a reason to be denied entry into the USA? In 1990, the US Congress repealed this law and gays were permitted to enter the country. Queer Nation was founded in NYC by ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power. OutRage was founded in the UK. Deborah Glock became the first openly LGBTQ individual elected to the U.S. Legislature in the state of New York.
In sports, 1990 saw the first NBA finals not to feature either the LA Lakers or the Boston Celtics since 1979. The Detroit Pistons became just the third franchise in NBA history to win back-to-back championships, after the Lakers and Celtics, with a 3-2 win over the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA Basketball championship.The Cincinnati Reds won the World Series 4-0 over the Oakland AthleticsThe San Francisco 49ers defeated the Denver Broncos by a score of 55–10 to win the Superbowl.West Germany beat Argentina 1-0 for soccer’s 14th World Cup held in Italy. Mike Tyson was the year's highest paid athlete with earnings of 28.6 million USD, although he lost the heavyweight boxing title that same year and was knocked out by Buster Douglas.Jari Kurri set a scoring record in the Stanley Cup Finals game, with three goals and two assists, in game 2 against the Boston Bruins, on the way to victory for the Edmonton Oilers, who won their fifth Stanley Cup in seven years.
The top grossing films were “Ghost", starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg. Whoopie who was also the highest paid actress in 1990. Other notable films were “Pretty Woman" with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, and "Home Alone”, starring Macaulay Culkin. The top paid actors were Tom Hanks, Mel Gibson and Tom Cruise.“Driving Miss Daisy” won several Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actress for Jessica Landy. “My Left Foot” took home the Best Actor award, Daniel Day Lewis, and Best Supporting Actress, Brenda Fricker. Best Supporting Actor went to Denzel Washington for his role in the film,”Glory”.
The top Billboard hits were “Hold On” by Wilson Phillips and “It Must Have Been Love” by Roxette.