THE YEAR 1991

Cost Of Living

Yearly Inflation Rate ― 4.25% 
Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average ― 3168 
Interest Rates Year End Federal Reserve ― 6.50% 
Average Cost of new house ― $120,000
Average Income per year ― $29,43
Average Monthly Rent ― $495
Cost of a gallon of Gas ― $1.12 1 
LB of Bacon ― $1.95 
Dozen Eggs ― 85 cents


Events of 1991

Operation Desert Storm ― United Nations Coalition Force led by the United States and including many Arab and European countries Bombs Iraq Forces in Kuwait and after 1 month of bombing Land invasion forces Iraq Forces out of Kuwait and back to Iraq.
1. Iraq invades Kuwait under the leadership of Saddam Hussein in August of 1990 and attempts to annex the country.
2. The U.S. and NATO place troops in Saudi Arabia in what was known as Operation Desert Shield.
3. In November of 1990 the U.N. authorizes the use of force against Iraq if they did not withdraw from Kuwait by January 15, 1991.
4. Iraq refuses to leave and a U.S.-led air attack begins in mid-January of 1991 in what was known as Operation Desert Storm.
5. Ground forces attack in Southern Iraq and Kuwait during February of 1991 in Operation Desert Sabre.
6. U.S. President George H. W. Bush declares a cease-fire in the conflict by the end of February after Kuwait was liberated and Iraq agreed to honor the terms of peace.

The U.N. Security Council passes the Cease Fire Agreement, Resolution 687. The resolution called for the destruction or removal of all of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons, and for an end to its support for international terrorism. Iraq accepts the terms of the resolution on April 6 and UN authorizes weapons inspections in Iraq.

Boris Yeltsin wins first free elections for Russia's first popularly-elected president.
Cyclone in Bangladesh kills 138,000 and leaves 10 million homeless.

Fires in the hills of Oakland, California burns thousands of homes and kills 25.

The United States and Soviet Union agree to the START I Treaty during July of 1991. U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev both signed the treaty, agreeing to reduce the number of nuclear warheads each country had to 7,950. Negotiations over the agreement began in 1982 with President Reagan but were held up several times due to conflicts. After the treaty was signed in 1991, several other START agreements were negotiated, limiting nuclear weapons between the two countries even further. START I came into effect in 1994 with both sides adhering to the limits on time and it expired in 2009.

The US-Canada Air Quality Agreement becomes effective immediately after it is signed by Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and United States President George H. W. Bush during March. Also known as the “Acid Rain Treaty” and it was created to address the issues associated with transboundary air pollution and over time has reduced the amount of acid rain associated with the problem. The agreement mandated the reduction of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions which could lead to the creation of acid rain in Canada and the United States.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union frees the following countries: Uzbekistan, Tajikstan, Kyrgyzstan, Axerbaijan, Ukraine, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, Estonia.
The Soviet Union takes the first official steps to break up the U.S.S.R. during September of 1991 when the Congress of People’s Deputies voted for its dissolution. Beginning in the previous month, several Soviet republics started to declare their independence, with Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Armenia leaving in September. By the end of the year the dissolution became effective and the Soviet Union ceased to exist when Gorbachev resigned and was replaced by the new Russian government.

50% of India population is living at or below the poverty line.

Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated on May 21st.

UN Sanctions imposed against Libya in response to alleged involvement in Lockerbie passenger plane bombing(Pan Am 103).

Referendum in South Africa supports creation of new constitution for multicultural society and Apartheid is dismantled.

Canada introduces the Canadian Goods and Services Tax (GST) a national sales tax/

Winnie Mandela, the wife of Nelson Mandela, is given a six-year prison sentence on May 14th for her part in the kidnap of four youths.

Slovenia and Croatia declare independence from Yugoslavia and the start of the Balkan War.

Attempted communist coup in Soviet Union suppressed but sparks declarations of independence from all non Russian republics within the USSR , by the end of the year the USSR is dissolved and independence of republics recognizedEuropean Union
Single European Market lifts trade restrictions within the EEC and the Maastricht treaty opens the way for closer political Union.

The Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) closed by regulators from US and UK.

Seventy tornadoes break out in the central United States, killing 17.

The Dow Jones average topped 3,000 for the first time.

Jeffrey Dahmer is arrested on July 22nd after the remains of 11 men and boys are found in his Milwaukee, Wisconsin apartment.

UK Poll Tax introduced in 1990 is eliminated and replaced with alternative.

Former U.S. postal worker Joseph Harris kills his former girlfriend and her fiance and two former co workers at the post office in Ridgewood, New Jersey which resulted in the phrase "going postal".

Lech Walesa the Polish Workers President is elected President of Poland.

Police Brutality Captured On Film in California in the case of Rodney King arrest.

Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union officially ceases to exist.

911 Emergency Number tested in northwestern U.S. cities.


Popular Culture 1991
Popular Films

• Terminator 2: Judgment Day
• Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
• The Silence of the Lambs
• Hook
• The Addams Family
• Sleeping with the Enemy
• Father of the Bride
• The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear
• Beauty and the Beast
• Backdraft
• Beethoven
• Thelma & Louise

Popular Musicians and Songs

• Pearl Jam
• Whitney Houston with All The Man That I need
• Michael Jackson with black and White
• Queen
• Bryan Adams with Everything That I do I do it for You
• Erasure
• Marillion
• Phil Collins
• Guns N' Roses
• Mariah Carey with Someday
• Metallica
• Amy Grant
• Beverly Craven
• Cher
• Gloria Estefan
• R.E.M.
• Janet Jackson
• Extreme
• Boyz II Men
• U2
• Van Halen
• The Clash
• Paula Abdul with The Promise of The New Day
• Billy Bragg
• Garth Brooks
• Nirvana 

Technology

• Internet is made available to unrestricted commercial use and number of computers on the net reaches 1 million.
• Linus Torvalds releases first version of the Linux operating system kernel.
• The American Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid.
• Microsoft Releases MS Dos 5.0
• Blue Roses produced by Genetic Engineering.
• The Ice covering the Arctic has decreased by 2% in the last 10 years.
• Tropical Rainforest shrinks by 1% annually as a result of Human activities.
• Tim Berners-Lee introduces the web browser.
• Spread of Cholera reaches near epidemic proportions in Countries in Latin America.

From thepeoplehistory, Wikipedia, and Google