1989 Newspaper Headlines Summary
Explore our 1989 newspaper articles and discover first hand accounts of the most important events of the year. 1989 is mostly remembered as being the year the Berlin Wall fell. This historical moment is chronicled in 1989 newspapers, which offer unique perspectives on what it was like to experience this climactic moment in history.
The fall of the Berlin Wall was televised live on TV, and would set into motion the fall of communist governments throughout Eastern Europe. The horrific events in Tiananmen square shocked the world, as hundreds of Chinese students were brutally killed by police forces during a peaceful protest. Another exceptional moment in history occurred in 1989 with the invention of the World Wide Web. It was unimaginable then the impact that this would have on humanity. Read about all of these and other 1989 headlines with an authentic newspaper from such titles as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Dallas Morning News.
January 7, 1989
Hirohito, Emperor of Japan (b. 1901) dies.
January 11, 1989
President Ronald Reagan delivers his farewell address to the nation.
January 20, 1989
George H. W. Bush succeeds Ronald Reagan as the 41st President.
January 24, 1989
Serial killer Ted Bundy is executed in the electric chair in Florida.
February 10, 1989
Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee, becoming the first African American to lead a major United States political party.
February 24, 1989
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini places a $3-million bounty on the head of “The Satanic Verses” author Salman Rushdie.
March 4, 1989
Time, Inc. and Warner Communications announce plans for a merger, forming Time Warner.
March 14, 1989
President George H. W. Bush bans the importation of certain guns deemed assault weapons into the United States.
March 20, 1989
Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke breaks down on national television as he admits marital infidelity.
April 1, 1989
Bill White becomes the president of baseball’s National League, making him the first African American to head a major sports league.
April 9, 1989
Over 300,000 demonstrators march in Washington D.C. in support of legal abortion in the United States.
April 12, 1989
Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (b. 1921) dies following a long fight with Alzheimer‘s Disease.
April 15, 1989
The Hillsborough disaster claims the life of 96 Liverpool supporters in one of the biggest tragedies in English football.
May 1, 1989
Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World opens to the public for the first time.
June 4, 1989
The Tiananmen Square massacre takes place in Beijing on the army’s approach to the square. The final stand-off is covered live on television.
June 23, 1989
The film Batman breaks a box office record after opening on this day, earning more than $40 million in its first weekend.
August 16-17, 1989
Woodstock ’89 festival takes place.
August 22, 1989
Nolan Ryan becomes the first pitcher in the history of Major League Baseball to get 5,000 strikeouts.
August 25, 1989
‘Voyager II’ passes the planet Neptune and its moon Triton.
September 5, 1989
President George H. W. Bush holds up a bag of cocaine purchased across the street at Lafayette Park, and proposes to spend $7.9 billion in the War on Drugs, in his first televised speech to the nation.
September 21, 1989
Hurricane Hugo hits South Carolina, causing $7 billion in damage.
November 2, 1989
North Dakota and South Dakota celebrate their 100th birthdays.
November 9, 1989
East Germany opens checkpoints in the Berlin Wall, allowing its citizens to travel freely to West Germany for the first time in many decades. The next day, celebrating Germans begin tearing the rest of the wall down.
December 17, 1989
The Simpsons premiers on FOX.
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