Date in year · 1989 · The 1980s

May 4, 1989

On May 4, 1989, iran–Contra affair: Former White House aide Oliver North is convicted of three crimes and acquitted of nine other charges; the convictions are later overturned on appeal. The year's #1 song was "Look Away" by Chicago. Jan Blokhuijsen, David Ngog, Christian Vietoris would arrive in the same year.

Events

2

Births

2

Deaths

0

Year

1989

1980s

Around 1989

The year in brief

1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1989th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 989th year of the 2nd millennium, the 89th year of the 20th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1980s decade.

Read the full year of 1989 →

What happened

On May 4, 1989

  1. 1989 Iran–Contra affair: Former White House aide Oliver North is convicted of three crimes and acquitted of nine other charges; the convictions are later overturned on appeal.

    1985–1987 political scandal in the U.S.

    The Iran–Contra affair, also referred to as the Iran–Contra scandal, the Contragate, Iran Initiative, or simply Iran–Contra, was a political scandal in the United States that centered on arms trafficking to Iran between 1981 and 1986, facilitated by senior officials of the Reagan administration. The administration hoped to use the proceeds of the arms sale to fund the Contras, an anti-Sandinista rebel group in Nicaragua. Under the Boland Amendments, a series of laws passed by Congress and signed by Ronald Reagan, further funding of the Contras by legislative appropriations was prohibited by Congress, but the Reagan administration continued funding them secretly using non-appropriated funds.

  2. 1989 Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on mission STS-30 to deploy the Venus-bound Magellan space probe.

    Space Shuttle orbiter (1985–2011)

    Space Shuttle Atlantis is a retired Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle which belongs to NASA, the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States. Atlantis was manufactured by the Rockwell International company in Southern California and was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in Eastern Florida in April 1985. Atlantis is the fourth operational and the second-to-last Space Shuttle built.

Arrivals

Born on May 4, 1989

Rory McIlroy 1989– Northern Irish golfer (born 1989)
James van Riemsdyk 1989– American ice hockey player (born 1989)

Elsewhere that year

Other moments from 1989

The class of 1989

Others born in 1989

Jan Blokhuijsen 1989– Dutch speed skater
David Ngog 1989– French footballer
Christian Vietoris 1989– German racing driver
Charlie Culberson 1989– American baseball player
Torrin Lawrence 1989– American sprinter (died 2014)
Bethan Dainton 1989– Welsh rugby union player

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