Events from the year 1990 in the United States.
Incumbents
Federal government
President: George H. W. Bush (R-Texas) Vice President: Dan Quayle (R-Indiana) Chief Justice: William Rehnquist (Wisconsin) Speaker of the House of Representatives: Tom Foley (D-Washington) Senate Majority Leader: George J. Mitchell (D-Maine) Congress: 101st
Events
January
January 2 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 2,800 for the first time ever. January 3 – United States invasion of Panama: General Manuel Noriega, the deposed "strongman of Panama", surrenders to American forces. January 5 – The National Gallery of Art purchases The Fall of Phaeton by Peter Paul Rubens. January 9–20 – The Space Shuttle Columbia flies STS-32. January 10 – Time Warner is formed from the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications Inc. January 13 – Douglas Wilder becomes the first elected African American governor as he takes office in Richmond, Virginia. January 15 – Martin Luther King Day Crash – Telephone service in Atlanta, St. Louis, and Detroit, including 9-1-1 service, goes down for nine hours, due to an AT&T software bug. January 17 – Smith & Wesson introduce the .40 S&W cartridge. January 18 In Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry is arrested for drug possession in an FBI sting. In California, the McMartin preschool trial, the longest criminal trial in U.S. history, ends with all defendants being acquitted on charges of child molesting. January 22 – Robert Tappan Morris, Jr. is convicted of releasing the Morris worm. January 24 Richard Secord is sentenced to two years probation for lying to the United States Congress about the Iran–Contra affair. In Miami, William Lozano, a Hispanic police officer, is sentenced to seven years in prison for shooting a black motorcyclist in 1989, an event that had set off three days of rioting. January 25 – Avianca Flight 52 crashes into Cove Neck, Long Island, New York, killing 73, after a miscommunication between the flight crew and JFK Airport officials. January 28 – The San Francisco 49ers defeat the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXIV. January 29 The trial of Joseph Hazelwood, former skipper of the Exxon Valdez, begins in Anchorage, Alaska. He is accused of negligence that resulted in America's worst oil spill to date. In Holmdel, New Jersey, scientists at Bell Labs announce they have created a digital optical processor that could lead to the development of superfast computers that use pulses of light rather than electric currents to make calculations. January 31 President of the United States George H. W. Bush gives his first State of the Union address and proposes that the U.S. and the Soviet Union make deep cuts to their military forces in Europe. Cold War: The first McDonald's in Moscow, Russia opens.
February
February 9 – The owners of Major League Baseball announce a lockout because of a salary dispute with players. February 11 – James "Buster" Douglas knocks out Mike Tyson to win the World Heavyweight Boxing crown. February 13 – Drexel Burnham Lambert files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. February 14 – The Pale Blue Dot picture was sent back from the Voyager 1 probe after completing its primary mission, it was about 6 billion km (3.7 billion miles) from Earth. February 19 – The United Mine Workers reach a deal with the Pittston Company to end the Pittston Coal strike that had gone on since April 5, 1989; most striking coal miners return to work on February 26. February 25 – A smoking ban takes effect on all domestic U.S. flights of less than six hours. February 27 – Exxon Valdez oil spill: Exxon and its shipping company are indicted on five criminal counts. February 28 The Space Shuttle Atlantis begins STS-36. The 5.7 Upland earthquake hits the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong), causing $12.7 million in losses and 30 injuries.