1989 History

1989 Commercials

1989 In Technology the 486 series of microprocessor is released by Intel opening the way for the next generation of much more powerful PC's and Microsoft releases its Office Suite including Spreadsheet, Word Processor, Database and Presentation Software which today still dominates in office applications. Following Massive protests against the Berlin Wall bringing about the collapse of The Berlin Wall and the East German Government both are dismantled which leads after many years to the reunification of East and West Germany. In China Pro democracy protesters clash with Chinese Security Forces in Tiananmen Square and the pictures of a man taking on a tank are seen on TV news throughout the world.



Cost of Living 1989

How Much things cost in 1989
Yearly Inflation Rate U.S.A. 4.83%
Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average 2753
Interest Rates Year End Federal Reserve 10.50%
Average Cost of New House $120,000.00
Average Income Per Year $27,450.00
Average Monthly Rent $420.00
Average Price for New Car $15,3500.00
1 Gallon of Gas 97 cents
US Postage Stamp 25 cents



What Events Happened in 1989

• USSR pulls out of Afghanistan
• PLO and Israel begin preliminary talks
• Pro democracy protesters clash with Chinese Security Forces
• Tokyo Stock Market Crash ends Japans long period of high Economic Growth
• New Prime Minister in South Africa F.W. de Klerk starts to dismantle apartheid
• Free Elections in Poland bring Solidarity to power
• Partial elections in USSR
• Massive protests and either side of the Berlin Wall bring about the collapse of the East German Government and the Berlin Wall is breached and eventually dismantled and The Brandenburg Gate opened Berlin Wall Coming Down
• Thousands of Students occupy Tiananmen Square in Beijing China protesting for democracy , Chinese Government Declares martial law and Hundreds of Demonstrators are killed
• Following the Tiananmen Square incident the US and other countries around the world place sanctions on China
• George Bush Snr becomes president of the United States
• The United States Supreme Court ruled that flag burning as a form of political protest is an act of protected speech under the First Amendment to the Constitution.
• Serial killer Ted Bundy is executed in Florida's electric chair
• 12 European Community nations agree to ban the production of all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by the end century
• In Egypt, a 4,400-year-old mummy is found in the Great Pyramid of Giza
• A UK 747 crashes on the M1 Motorway
• In Alaska's Prince William Sound the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (11 million gallons) of oil after running aground
• Hillsborough disaster occurred on April 15, 1989, at Hillsborough, a football stadium in Sheffield, England, resulting in the loss of 96 lives
• British police arrest 250 for celebrating the summer solstice at Stonehenge
• Marchioness pleasure boat collides with a barge on the River Thames adjacent to Southwark Bridge and 51 die
• The Loma Prieta earthquake, measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale, strikes San Francisco Bay Area in California, killing 63
• Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issues a (FATWA ) death sentence on British writer Salman Rushdie for the Satanic Verses
• Yugo Cars go bankrupt
• Ford buys Jaguar
• After 30 years the Cold War between East and West is coming to an end and the Berlin Wall comes down
• Civil War in Lebanon increases between Christian and Islamic Fundamentalists
• Ayatolla Khomeini announces a FATWA (death Sentence on Salman Rushdie for publishing the "The Satanic Verses")
• The US Government provides a $150 billion bailout for hundreds of saving and loan associations
  

Popular Culture 1989

• The first episodes of the Simpson's are shown
  

Popular Films

• Batman
  
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
  
• Lethal Weapon 2
  
• Twins
  
• Back to the Future Part II
  
• Ghostbusters II
  
• The Little Mermaid
  
• Driving Miss Daisy
  
• Parenthood
  
• Dead Poets Society
  
• License to Kill
  
• Honey, I Shrunk The Kids
  
• My Left Foot
  
• When Harry Met Sally

Popular Musicians

• Duran Duran
  
• Paul McCartney
  
• Phil Collins
  
• Prince
  
• Madonna
  
• Erasure
  
• The Bangles
  
• Madonna
  
• New Kids On The Block
  
• Cher
  
• R.E.M
  
• Depeche Mode
  
• Paula Abdul
  
• Garth Brooks
  
• Elvis Costello

Technology 1989

• The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System is placed into orbit
• Nintendo begin selling the Game Boy in Japan
• Voyager II passes the planet Neptune and its moon Triton and sends pictures back to earth
• The 486 series of microprocessor introduced by Intel
• Scientists pronounce 1989 as the warmest on record possibly a sign of the greenhouse effect
• Florida and Virginia allow use of DNA genetic fingerprinting evidence as admissible
• First release of Microsoft Office, a bundle of applications such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.

Research for this year is provided by The People History.
See History By Year and Decade for more prices and information.
Find out more about the 80s at ThePeopleHistory.com.

---