William H. Webster retires as Director of CIA; Robert H. Gates succeeds him (May 14).
Professor Anita Hill accuses Judge Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment (Oct. 6); Senate, 52-48, confirms Thomas for US Supreme Courtafter stormy hearings (Oct. 15).
Economics
US GDP (1998 dollars):$5,916.70 billion Federal spending: $1323.63 billion Federal debt $3598.5 billion Median Household Income(current dollars):$30,126 billion Consumer Price Index: $136.2 Unemployment: 6.8% Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.25 ($0.29 as of 2/3/91)
Sports
Super Bowl NY Giants d. Buffalo World Series Minnesota d. Atlanta Braves (4-3) NBA Championship Chicago d. LA Lakers Stanley Cup Pittsburgh d. Minnesota Wimbledon Women:Steffi Graf d. G. Sabatini (6-4 3-6 8-6) Men:Michael Stich d. B. Becker (6-4 7-6 6-4) Kentucky Derby Champion Strike the Gold NCAA Basketball Championship Duke d. Kansas NCAA Football Champions Miami-FL (AP) (12-0-0) & Washington (USA, FW, NFF) (12-0-0)
Entertainment
Events
Fox Broadcasting is the first network to permit condom advertising on television.
Seattle band Nirvana releases the song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on the LP Nevermind and enjoys national success. With Nirvana's hit comes the grunge movement, which is characterized by distorted guitars, dispirited vocals and lots of flannel.
Paul Reubens (aka Pee Wee Herman) is arrested in a Florida movie theater for indecent exposure.
Movies
The Silence of the Lambs, Beauty and the Beast, JFK, Thelma & Louise
Music
Nirvana, Nevermind
Books
Ben Okri, The Famished Road
Jane Smiley, A Thousand Acres
Entertainment AwardsPulitzer Prizes Fiction:Rabbit at Rest, John Updike Music:Symphony, Shulamit Ran Drama:Lost in Yonkers, Neil Simon Academy Award, Best Picture:Dances With Wolves, Jim Wilson and Kevin Costner, producers (Orion) Nobel Prize for Literature:Nadine Gordimer (South Africa) Record of the Year:"Another Day in Paradise," Phil Collins Album of the Year:Back on the Block, Quincy Jones (Qwest/Warner Bros.) Song of the Year:"From a Distance," Julie Gold, songwriter Miss America:Marjorie Judith Vincent (IL)
Science & Technology
The FDA approves the use of Bristol-Meyers' ddI (didanosine) in the treatment of AIDS.
Gopher, the first user-friendly internet interface, is created at the University of Minnesota and named after the school mascot. Gopher becomes the most popular interface for several years. Background: Computers and Internet
In Japan's worst nuclear accident to date, a leak of radioactive water causes a nuclear plant 220 miles west of Tokyo to release about 8% of the plant's annual radioactive emissions in a single day (Feb. 9). Background: nuclear energy
First transpacific hot-air balloon flight. Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand flew about 6,700 mi. from Miyakonyo, Japan, to 150 mi. west of Yellowknife, Canada (Jan. 15–17). Background: Computers and Internet
The first cholera epidemic in a century sickens 100,000 and kills more than 700 in South America.