On this day in 1990, Panama’s General Manuel Antonio Noriega, after holing up for 10 days at the Vatican embassy in Panama City, surrenders to U.S. military troops to face charges of drug trafficking. Noriega was flown to Miami the following day and crowds of citizens on the streets of Panama City rejoiced. On July […]
Continue readingSitcom Actress Murdered; Death Prompts Anti-Stalking Legislation
On this day in 1989, the 21-year-old actress Rebecca Shaeffer is murdered at her Los Angeles home by Robert John Bardo, a mentally unstable man who had been stalking her. Schaeffer’s death helped lead to the passage in California of legislation aimed at preventing stalking. Schaeffer was born November 6, 1967, in Eugene, Oregon. She […]
Continue readingA Mother Is Arrested And Accused Of Killing Her Four Children
rested in Georgia for the 1982 murder Martha Ann Johnson is arof her oldest child, Jennyann Wright, after an Atlanta newspaper initiated a new investigation into her suspicious death. Johnson’s three other children had also mysteriously died between 1977 and 1982. Back in September 1977, Johnson (who was only 21 at the time) and her […]
Continue readingDo The Right Thing Released
On this day in 1989, the writer-director Spike Lee’s third feature film, Do the Right Thing–a provocative, racially charged drama that takes place on one block in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, on the hottest day of the year–is released in U.S. theaters. The block in question is home to Sal’s Famous Pizzeria, the only white-owned business […]
Continue readingCongress Votes New Sanctions Against China
In yet another reaction to the Chinese government’s brutal massacre of protesters in Tiananmen Square in Beijing earlier in the month, the House of Representatives unanimously passes a package of sanctions against the People’s Republic of China. American indignation, however, was relatively short-lived and most of the sanctions died out after a brief period. On […]
Continue readingBatman Released
On this day in 1989, Tim Burton’s noir spin on the well-known story of the DC Comics hero Batman is released in theaters. Michael Keaton starred in the film as the multimillionaire Bruce Wayne, who has transformed himself into the crime-fighting Batman after witnessing his parents’ brutal murder as a child. As the film’s action […]
Continue readingCease-Fire Established In Angolan Civil War
After nearly 15 years of civil war, opposing factions in Angola agree to a cease-fire to end a conflict that had claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. The cease-fire also helped to defuse U.S.-Soviet tensions concerning Angola. Angola was a former Portuguese colony that had attained independence in 1975. Even before that date, however, various […]
Continue readingNew Kids On The Block Land At The Top Of The Pops
While hairstyles and fashions may come and go, and while musical styles may evolve over time, one thing that repeats itself in music history with great regularity is the ascendancy of boy bands as a pop-cultural force. In the late 1980s, this cyclical process yielded New Kids on the Block—another in a long line of […]
Continue readingChina Issues Warrant For Tiananmen Dissident
In the wake of the Tiananmen Square massacre on June 4, China issues a warrant for a leading Chinese dissident who had taken refuge in the U.S. embassy in Beijing. The diplomatic standoff lasted for a year, and the refusal of the United States to hand the dissident over to Chinese officials was further evidence […]
Continue readingTiananmen Square Massacre Takes Place
Chinese troops storm through Tiananmen Square in the center of Beijing, killing and arresting thousands of pro-democracy protesters. The brutal Chinese government assault on the protesters shocked the West and brought denunciations and sanctions from the United States. In May 1989, nearly a million Chinese, mostly young students, crowded into central Beijing to protest for […]
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