✦ History

Explore December 21, 1989

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Events

Cold War 1947-03-12 - 1991-12-26
Apartheid 1948-05-26 - 1994-04-27
Guatemalan Civil War 1960-11-13 - 1996-12-29
South African Border War 1966-08-26 - 1990-03-21
The Troubles 1968-10-05 - 1998-04-10
Lebanese Civil War 1975-04-13 - 1990-10-13
Western Sahara War 1975-11 - 1991-09-06
Angolan Civil War 1975-11-11 - 2002-04-04
Mozambican Civil War 1977-05-30 - 1992-10-04
Internal conflict in Peru 1980-05-17 - 2000
Sri Lankan Civil War 1983-07-23 - 2009-05-18
Perestroika 1985 - 1991-12-26
First Intifada 1987-12-09 - 1993-09-13
First Nagorno-Karabakh War 1988-02-20 - 1994-05-12
Invention of the World Wide Web 1989-03-12 - 1991-08-06
Velvet Revolution 1989-11-17 - 1989-12-29
Romanian Revolution 1989-12-16 - 1989-12-27
United States invasion of Panama 1989-12-20 - 1990-01-31

People

Elizabeth II age 63
Queen - United Kingdom
Fidel Castro age 63
President - Cuba
Mikhail Gorbachev age 58
General Secretary of the Communist Party - Soviet Union
George H. W. Bush age 65
President - United States
Saddam Hussein age 52
President - Iraq
Ali Khamenei age 50
Supreme Leader - Iran
Hosni Mubarak age 61
President - Egypt
François Mitterrand age 73
President - France
Akihito age 56
Emperor - Japan
Jiang Zemin age 63
General Secretary - Communist Party of China
Hafez al-Assad age 59
President - Syria
Richard von Weizsäcker age 69
President - Germany
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani age 55
President - Iran
Baudouin of Belgium age 59
King - Belgium
Lee Teng-hui age 66
President - Republic of China
José Sarney age 59
President - Brazil
Yang Shangkun age 82
President - People's Republic of China
Vo Chi Cong age 77
President - Vietnam
Vinicio Cerezo age 47
President - Guatemala
Kim Il-sung age 77
General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea - North Korea
Carlos Salinas de Gortari age 41
President - Mexico
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar age 69
Secretary-General - United Nations
Margaret Thatcher age 64
Prime Minister - United Kingdom
Helmut Kohl age 59
Chancellor - Germany
Giulio Andreotti age 70
Prime Minister - Italy
Isaac Shamir age 74
Prime Minister - Israel
Juan Antonio Samaranch age 69
President - International Olympic Committee
Jacques Delors age 64
President - European Commission
Tadeusz Mazowiecki age 62
Prime Minister - Poland
Li Peng age 61
Premier - People's Republic of China
V. P. Singh age 58
Prime Minister - India
Toshiki Kaifu age 59
Prime Minister - Japan
Michel Rocard age 59
Prime Minister - France
Nikolai Ryzhkov age 60
Chairman of the Council of Ministers - Soviet Union
Ante Marković age 65
Prime Minister - Yugoslavia
Kaysone Phomvihane age 69
Prime Minister - Laos
Manfred Wörner age 55
Secretary General - NATO
Charles Haughey age 64
Taoiseach - Ireland
Do Muoi age 72
Prime Minister - Vietnam
Atef Sedki age 59
Prime Minister - Egypt
Hiroshi Nakajima age 61
Director-General - World Health Organization
Yon Hyong-muk age 58
Premier - North Korea
Lee Huan age 72
Premier - Republic of China
Mahmoud Zuabi age 55
Prime Minister - Syria
Barber Conable age 67
President - World Bank
William Rehnquist age 65
Chief Justice - US Judiciary
Dan Quayle age 42
Vice President - United States
Wang Zhen (general) age 81
Vice President - People's Republic of China
Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri age 47
Vice President - Iraq
Deng Xiaoping age 85
Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China - People's Republic of China
Colin Powell age 52
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - United States
Nie Rongzhen age 90
Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China - People's Republic of China
Dick Cheney age 48
Secretary of Defense - United States
John Major age 46
Chancellor of the Exchequer - United Kingdom
James Baker age 59
Secretary of State - United States
Nicholas F. Brady age 59
Secretary of the Treasury - United States
Dick Thornburgh age 57
Attorney General - United States
David Waddington age 60
Home Secretary - United Kingdom
Carl E. Vuono age 55
Chief of Staff of the Army - United States
William S. Sessions age 59
Director of the FBI - Department of Justice
Antonin Scalia age 53
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court - US Judiciary
Thurgood Marshall age 81
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court - US Judiciary
Anthony Kennedy age 53
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court - US Judiciary
John Paul Stevens age 69
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court - US Judiciary
William J. Brennan Jr. age 83
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court - US Judiciary
Byron White age 72
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court - US Judiciary
Kenneth Baker, Baron Baker of Dorking age 55
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster - United Kingdom
Sandra Day O'Connor age 59
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court - US Judiciary
Neil Kinnock age 47
Leader - Labour Party (UK)
Oliver Tambo age 72
President - African National Congress
Gerry Adams age 41
President - Sinn Féin
Ken Starr age 43
Solicitor General - Department of Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg age 56
US Court of Appeals - US Judiciary
Stephen Breyer age 51
US Court of Appeals - US Judiciary
Jeff Sessions age 43
United States Attorney - Department of Justice
Joe Biden age 47
Senate - United States
Al Gore age 41
Senate - United States
John Kerry age 46
Senate - United States
Daniel Inouye age 65
Senate - United States
William Cohen age 49
Senate - United States
Lloyd Bentsen age 68
Senate - United States
John McCain age 53
Senate - United States
Tony Blair age 36
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Gordon Brown age 38
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Edward Heath age 73
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
John Lewis age 49
House of Representatives - United States
Leon Panetta age 51
House of Representatives - United States
George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen age 43
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Jack Straw age 43
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Michael Howard age 48
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Geoffrey Howe age 63
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Alistair Darling age 36
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Nigel Lawson age 57
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Kenneth Clarke age 49
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Denis Healey age 72
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
David Blunkett age 42
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Les Aspin age 51
House of Representatives - United States
Douglas Hurd age 59
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Norman Lamont age 47
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
John Reid, Baron Reid of Cardowan age 42
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Joseph W. Barr age 71
House of Representatives - United States
Merlyn Rees age 69
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
William Hague age 28
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Michael Foot age 76
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
John Smith age 51
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Margaret Beckett age 46
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Harriet Harman age 39
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Jeremy Corbyn age 40
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
David Steel age 51
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Bill Clinton age 43
Governor of Arkansas - United States
Mario Cuomo age 57
Governor of New York - United States
Michael Dukakis age 56
Governor of Massachusetts - United States
Evan Bayh age 34
Governor of Indiana - United States
George Deukmejian age 61
Governor of California - United States
Bill Clements age 72
Governor of Texas - United States
Thomas Kean age 54
Governor of New Jersey - United States
Gerald Baliles age 49
Governor of Virginia - United States
Dick Celeste age 52
Governor of Ohio - United States
Joe Frank Harris age 53
Governor of Georgia - United States
Ned McWherter age 59
Governor of Tennessee - United States
William Donald Schaefer age 68
Governor of Maryland - United States
John Paul II age 69
Pope - Vatican City
Bhumibol Adulyadej age 62
King - Thailand
Robert Mugabe age 65
President - Zimbabwe
Juan Carlos I of Spain age 51
King - Spain
Augusto Pinochet age 74
President - Chile
Suharto age 68
President - Indonesia
Nicolae Ceaușescu age 71
President - Romania
Margrethe II of Denmark age 49
Queen - Denmark
Corazon Aquino age 56
President - Philippines
Slobodan Milošević age 48
President - Serbia
Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden age 43
King - Sweden
Beatrix of the Netherlands age 51
Queen - Netherlands
Daniel Ortega age 44
President - Nicaragua
Omar al-Bashir age 46
President - Sudan
Qaboos bin Said Al Said age 49
Sultan - Oman
F. W. de Klerk age 53
State President - South Africa
Kurt Waldheim age 71
President - Austria
Mobutu Sese Seko age 59
President - Democratic Republic of the Congo
Yoweri Museveni age 45
President - Uganda
Wojciech Jaruzelski age 66
President - Poland
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali age 53
President - Tunisia
Francesco Cossiga age 61
President - Italy
José Eduardo dos Santos age 47
President - Angola
Turgut Özal age 62
President - Turkey
Mswati III age 21
King - Eswatini
Paul Biya age 56
President - Cameroon
Hussein I of Jordan age 54
King - Jordan
Teodoro Obiang age 47
President - Equatorial Guinea
Hastings Banda age 100
President - Malawi
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir age 59
President - Iceland
Óscar Arias Sánchez age 48
President - Costa Rica
Omar Bongo age 54
President - Gabon
Hassan II age 60
King - Morocco
Kenneth Kaunda age 65
President - Zambia
Alan García age 40
President - Peru
Carlos Menem age 59
President - Argentina
Michel Aoun age 56
President - Lebanon
Mengistu Haile Mariam age 52
President - Ethiopia
Olav V of Norway age 86
King - Norway
Mauno Koivisto age 66
President - Finland
Blaise Compaoré age 38
President - Burkina Faso
Mohammad Najibullah age 42
President - Afghanistan
Félix Houphouët-Boigny age 84
President - Ivory Coast
Daniel arap Moi age 65
President - Kenya
Rainier III, Prince of Monaco age 66
Prince - Monaco
Mário Soares age 65
President - Portugal
Mathieu Kérékou age 56
President - Benin
Jigme Singye Wangchuck age 34
King - Bhutan
R. Venkataraman age 79
President - India
Siad Barre age 70
President - Somalia
Joaquim Chissano age 50
President - Mozambique
Juvénal Habyarimana age 52
President - Rwanda
Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan age 71
President - United Arab Emirates
Jerry Rawlings age 42
President - Ghana
João Bernardo Vieira age 50
President - Guinea-Bissau
Chaim Herzog age 71
President - Israel
Roh Tae-woo age 57
President - South Korea
Maumoon Abdul Gayoom age 52
President - Maldives
Étienne Gnassingbé Eyadéma age 54
President - Togo
Lansana Conté age 55
President - Guinea
Abdou Diouf age 54
President - Senegal
Hissène Habré age 47
President - Chad
Samuel Doe age 38
President - Liberia
Quett Masire age 64
President - Botswana
Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg age 69
Grand Duke - Luxembourg
Ghulam Ishaq Khan age 74
President - Pakistan
Hassan Gouled Aptidon age 73
President - Djibouti
Chadli Bendjedid age 60
President - Algeria
Aristides Pereira age 66
President - Cape Verde
Moussa Traoré age 53
President - Mali
Ibrahim Babangida age 48
President - Nigeria
Dawda Kairaba Jawara age 65
President - The Gambia
Carlos Andrés Pérez age 67
President - Venezuela
Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah age 63
Emir - Kuwait
Ali Hassan Mwinyi age 64
President - Tanzania
Ryszard Kaczorowski age 70
President - Poland
Souphanouvong age 80
President - Laos
Julio María Sanguinetti age 53
President - Uruguay
Didier Ratsiraka age 53
President - Madagascar