1991 in the United States

Incumbents

Federal government

• President: George H. W. Bush
• Vice President: Dan Quayle
• Chief Justice: William Rehnquist
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Tom Foley
• Senate Majority Leader: George J. Mitchell
• Congress: 101st, 102nd

  Governors

Lieutenant governors

Events

January

• January 2 - Sharon Pratt Dixon is sworn in as mayor of the District of Columbia, thus becoming the first African-American woman to be mayor of a major U.S. city.
• January 7 - United States Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney cancels the $57,000,000,000 order for the McDonnell Douglas A-12 Avenger II.
• January 8 - Pan American World Airways files for bankruptcy protection.
• January 9 - United States Secretary of State James Baker meets with Iraqi foreign minister Tariq Aziz, but fails to produce a plan for Iraq to withdraw its troops from Kuwait.
• January 12 - Gulf War: The Congress of the United States passes a resolution authorizing the use of military force to liberate Kuwait.
• January 16 - U.S. serial killer Aileen Wuornos confesses to the murders of six men.
• January 17 - Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins with airstrikes against Iraq.
• January 18 - Eastern Air Lines ceases operations after flying for two years under bankruptcy protection.
• January 25 - President George H. W. Bush names Rep. Edward Rell Madigan as United States Secretary of Agriculture, replacing Clayton Keith Yeutter, who had been elected Chairman of the Republican National Committee.
• January 26 - In Washington, D.C., tens of thousands of people rally against the Persian Gulf War.
• January 27 - Super Bowl XXV: The New York Giants defeat the Buffalo Bills 20–19 at Tampa Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
• January 29 - The first attempt to cure cancer by gene therapy takes place at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

  February

• February - The early 1990s recession ends.
• February 1 - A USAir Boeing 737-300, Flight 1493 collides with a SkyWest Airlines Fairchild Metroliner, Flight 5569 at Los Angeles International Airport, killing 34 people.
• February 5 - A Michigan court bars Dr. Jack Kevorkian from assisting in suicides.
• February 7 - Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter Kuwait, thus starting the ground phase of the war.
• February 13 - Gulf War: Two laser-guided bombs destroy an underground bunker in Baghdad, killing 314 Iraqis including 130 children. United States military intelligence claims the structure was transmitting military signals but Iraqi officials identify it as a bomb shelter.
• February 22 - Gulf War: Iraq accepts a Russian-proposed cease fire agreement. The U.S. rejects the agreement, but says that retreating Iraqi forces will not be attacked if they leave Kuwait within 24 hours.
• February 23 - The One Meridian Plaza fire in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania kills three firefighters and destroys eight floors of the building.
• February 25 - Gulf War: Part of an Iraqi Scud missile hits an American military barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing 29 and injuring 99 U.S. soldiers. It is the single, most devastating attack on U.S. forces during that war.
• February 26 - Gulf War: On Baghdad radio, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein announces the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait. Iraqi soldiers set fire to Kuwaiti oil fields as they retreat.
• February 27 - Gulf War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that "Kuwait is liberated".
• February 28 - Impostor James Hogue is exposed at Princeton University.

  March

• March 1 - Clayton Keith Yeutter finishes as the United States Secretary of Agriculture.
• March 3
• *An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles, California police officers.
• *United Airlines Flight 585 crashes in Colorado Springs, Colorado, killing all 25 people on board.
• March 10 - Gulf War - Operation Phase Echo: 540,000 American troops begin to leave the Persian Gulf.
• March 13 - The United States Department of Justice announces that Exxon has agreed to pay $1,000,000,000 for the clean-up of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
• March 15
• *Four Los Angeles, California police officers are indicted for the videotaped March 3 beating of motorist Rodney King during an arrest.
• *Germany formally regains complete independence after the four post-World War II occupying powers relinquish all remaining rights.
• March 30 - Northern Michigan University wins the NCAA Division I title in hockey, 8–7 in the third overtime against Boston University.

  April

• April 4
• *Merion air disaster: Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their plane over Merion, Pennsylvania.
• *William Kennedy Smith, a nephew of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, is identified as a suspect in an alleged Palm Beach, Florida sexual assault.
• *1991 Sacramento hostage crisis: Four gunmen take forty-one people hostage at a Good Guys! electronics store in Sacramento, California. Three hostages, as well as three of the four hostage-takers, are killed.
• April 5 - Former Senator John Tower and 22 others are killed in an airplane crash in Brunswick, Georgia.
• April 17 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 3,000 for the first time ever, at 3,004.46.
• April 26 - Seventy tornadoes break out in the central United States, killing 17 people. The most notable tornado of the day strikes Andover, Kansas.

  May

• May 5 - 1991 Washington, D.C. riot: A riot breaks out in the Mt. Pleasant section of Washington, D.C. after police shoot a Salvadorean man.
• May 6 - Time magazine publishes "The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power", an article highly critical of the Scientology organization.
• May 16 - Queen Elizabeth II becomes the first British monarch to address the United States Congress.
• May 25 - The Pittsburgh Penguins defeat the Minnesota North Stars 8–0 in Game 6 to win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.

  June

• June 5 - STS-40: Space Shuttle Columbia carries the Spacelab Spacelab Life Sciences 1 module into orbit.
• June 10 - As she was finishing school during the day, 11-year-old Jaycee Lee Dugard was kidnapped. She will not be found for eighteen years.
• June 12 - The Chicago Bulls win their first NBA championship by defeating the Los Angeles Lakers.
• June 13 - A spectator is killed by lightning at the U.S. Open.
• June 17 - 12th U.S. President Zachary Taylor, who died 141 years earlier in 1850, is exhumed to discover whether or not his death was caused by arsenic poisoning, instead of acute gastrointestinal illness; no trace of arsenic is found.
• June 28 – The 5.6 Sierra Madre earthquake shook the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII, causing two deaths, 27–40 injuries, and $33.5–40 million in losses.

  July

• July 11 - A solar Eclipse of record totality occurs, seen first in Hawaii then enters Mexico with the path directly crosses Cabo San Lucas and Mexico City seen by 20,000,000 inhabitants, and finally ends in Colombia in South America.
• July 22
• *Boxer Mike Tyson is arrested and charged with raping Miss Black America contestant Desiree Washington three days earlier, in Indianapolis, Indiana.
• *Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is arrested after the remains of eleven men and boys are found in his Milwaukee, Wisconsin apartment. Police soon find out that he is involved in six more murders.
• July 31 - The United States and the Soviet Union sign the START I treaty limiting strategic nuclear weapons.

  August

• August 19 - Hurricane Bob hits the Northeastern United States.
• August 23 - The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is first released in the United States.

  September

• September 2 - Dissolution of the Soviet Union: The United States recognizes the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
• September 3 - In Hamlet, North Carolina, a grease fire breaks out at the Imperial Foods chicken processing plant, killing 25 people.
• September 8–12 - Tailhook scandal: At the 35th Annual Tailhook Symposium in Las Vegas, 83 women and seven men are assaulted.
• September 11 - Continental Express Flight 2574 crashes in Texas.
• September 16 - The trial of the deposed Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega begins in the United States.
• September 20–21 - In Sandy, Utah, several patients are held hostage and a nurse is killed in the Alta View Hospital hostage incident.
• September 24 - Nirvana released their most popular album, "Nevermind" which sold 11 million copies in the United States.

  October

• October 2 - Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton announces he will seek the 1992 Democratic nomination for President of the United States.
• October 11–13 - The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee interviews both Supreme Court candidate Clarence Thomas and former aide Anita Hill, who alleges that Thomas sexually harassed her while she worked for him.
• October 15 - United States Senate votes 52–48 to confirm Judge Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court of the United States.
• October 16 - George Hennard guns down 24 people in a restaurant in Killeen, Texas before committing suicide. It would be the largest mass shooting by a single person in the United States until 2007.
• October 20 - The Oakland Hills firestorm kills 25 people and destroys 3,469 homes and apartments.
• October 27 - The Minnesota Twins win the World Series against the Atlanta Braves.
• October 29 - The American Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid.

  November

• November 1 - University of Iowa shooting. Former alumnus Gang Lu kills five people before committing suicide.
• November 5 - David Duke, a white separatist running as a Republican, loses the Louisiana Governor's race to Democratic candidate Edwin Edwards, by an overwhelming margin despite winning the majority of the white vote.
• November 7 - Los Angeles Lakers point guard Magic Johnson announces that he has HIV, effectively ending his NBA career.
• November 14
• * American and British authorities announce indictments against two Libyan intelligence officials in connection with the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
• * In Royal Oak, Michigan, a fired United States Postal Service employee goes on a shooting rampage, killing four people and wounding five others before committing suicide.
• November 24 - Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury dies from AIDS at 45 years old, one day after making his diagnosis public.
• November 30 - The United States win the first ever FIFA Women's World Cup in China against Norway in the Final.

  December

• December 4 - Journalist Terry A. Anderson is released after seven years' captivity as a hostage in Beirut.
• December 7 - The 50th anniversary of the Attack on Pearl Harbor.
• December 20 - A Missouri court passes the death sentence on Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria, for the honor killing of their daughter Palestina.
• December 25-26 - The Cold War ends as President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev resigns and the Soviet Union dissolves.

  Ongoing

• Cold War
• Gulf War
• Iraqi no-fly zones

  Births

• January 1 - Darius Slay, American football player
• January 4 - Charles Melton, actor and model
• January 12 - Alex Wood, baseball player
• January 14
• * Ryan Coleman, actor
• * Jeanine Mason, actress and dancer
• January 17 - Willa Fitzgerald, actress
• January 19 - Erin Sanders, actress
• January 20 - Ciara Hanna, actress and model
• January 22 - Marcus Canty, singer and dancer
• January 27 - Daniel Hemric, race car driver
• February 3 - Glenn McCuen, actor, model and gymnast
• February 10
• *C. J. Anderson, American football player
• *Emma Roberts, actress
• February 11 - Christofer Drew, singer
• February 12 - Casey Abrams, singer
• February 16 - Micah Stephen Williams, actor
• February 18 - Jeremy Allen White, actor
• February 19
• * Trevor Bayne, race car driver
• * Ariel Alexandria Davis, actress
• February 22 - Khalil Mack, American football player
• February 24 - Emily DiDonato, model
• February 25
• * Kristie Mewis, soccer player
• * Tony Oller, actor and singer
• March 4 - Diandra Newlin, actress, singer, and fashion model
• March 6
• * Nicole Fox, fashion model and actress
• *Lex Luger, musician and record producer
• *Tyler, the Creator, rapper
• March 7 - Ian Clark, basketball player
• March 8 - Devon Werkheiser, actor, singer-songwriter, and musician
• March 16 - Reggie Bullock, basketball player
• March 18 - Travis Frederick, American football player
• March 19 - Garrett Clayton, actor, dancer and singer
• March 28
• * Amy Bruckner, actress and singer
• * Derek Carr, quarterback
• March 29 - Hayley McFarland, actress
• March 30 - Mia Carruthers, singer-songwriter
• April 4
• * Jamie Lynn Spears, actress, singer
• * Jacquelyn Jablonski, model
• April 10
• * AJ Michalka, singer and actress
• * Conor Leslie, actress and model
• April 11 - Telvin Smith, American football player
• April 12 - Jack Cooley, basketball player
• April 20 - Allie Will, tennis player
• April 23 - Caleb Johnson, singer
• April 25 - Alex Shibutani, ice dancer
• May 1
• * Creagen Dow, actor, producer, and screenwriter
• * Marcus Stroman, baseball player
• * Bradley Roby, American football player
• May 7 - Rueben Randle, American football player
• May 16 - Joey Graceffa, Internet personality, actor and author
• May 17 - Daniel Curtis Lee, actor, comedian, and rapper
• May 19
• * Brittani Kline, model
• * Jordan Pruitt, recording artist
• May 26 - Julianna Rose Mauriello, stage actress
• May 27 - Zeke Upshaw, basketball player
• June 4
• * Jordan Hinson, actress
• * Quincy, actor and singer
• June 19 - Jake Heaps, footballer quarterback
• June 20 - Alexis Haines, television personality and model
• June 24 - Dexter Darden, actor
• July 1 - Michael Wacha, baseball player
• July 5 - Jason Dolley, actor
• July 9 - Mitchel Musso, actor
• July 12
• *Erik Per Sullivan, actor
• *Dexter Roberts, singer
• July 16 - Alexandra Shipp, actress
• July 18 - Karina Pasian, singer and pianist
• July 20 - Alec Burks, basketball player
• July 23 - Terron Armstead, American football player
• July 29 - Maestro Harrell, actor
• August 2 - Skyler Day, actress and singer
• August 5 - Brooke Marie Bridges, actress
• August 12 - Lakeith Stanfield, actor
• August 16
• * Young Thug, hip hop artist
• * Hayley Chase, actress
• August 17 - Austin Butler, actor
• August 26 - Dylan O'Brien, actor
• August 28
• * Kyle Massey, actor
• * Samuel Larsen, actor and singer
• September 6 - Joe Harris, basketball player
• September 9 - Kelsey Chow, actress
• September 10 - Hannah Hodson, actress
• September 14 - Shayne Topp, actor and comedian
• September 23 - Melanie Oudin, tennis player
• October 4 - Cole Hawkins, actor
• October 5 - Jackson Rogow, actor
• October 6 - Roshon Fegan, actor
• October 19 - Christopher Gerse, actor
• October 20 - Kirsten Olson, figure skater and actress
• October 23 - Sophie Oda, Japanese-American actress
• October 27 - Bryan Craig, actor
• October 29 - Marcus Lattimore, American football player
• October 30 - Paulina Olszynski, actress
• October 31 - Kenny Hilliard, American football player
• November 4 - Adriana Chechik, pornographic actress
• November 6 - Pierson Fodé, actor and model
• November 8 - Riker Lynch, singer and actor
• November 13 - Matt Bennett, actor and singer
• November 15 - Shailene Woodley, actress
• November 24 - Lacey Baker, skateboarder
• November 25 - Jamie Grace, musician and actress
• December 1 - Rakeem Christmas, basketball player
• December 2 - Charlie Puth, singer
• December 4 - Reality Winner, American intelligence specialist convicted of espionage
• December 10 - Eric Reid, American football player
• December 12
• * Dyllan Christopher, actor
• * Wallis Currie-Wood, actress
• December 13 - Jay Greenberg, composer
• December 19 - Edwin Jackson, American football player
• December 20 - Hunter Gomez, actor
• December 24 - Vincent Caso, actor and entrepreneur
• December 26 - Jackson Jeffcoat, American football player

  Deaths

January

• January 3 – Luke Appling, American baseball player and member of the MLB Hall of Fame
• January 7 – Everett Bidwell, American politician
• January 11 – Carl David Anderson, American physicist
• January 12 – Mary Francis Shura, American writer
• January 18 – Hamilton Fish III, American soldier and politician
• January 19 – John Russell, American actor
• January 28 – Red Grange, American football player
• January 29 – John McIntire, American actor
• January 30
• * John Bardeen, American physicist
• * Clifton C. Edom, American photojournalism educator

  February

• February 1 – Carol Dempster, American actress
• February 2 – Pete Axthelm, American sportswriter
• February 3
• * Nancy Kulp, American actress
• * Ed Russenholt, first US weather presenter
• February 5 – Dean Jagger, American actor
• February 6 – Danny Thomas, American singer, comedian, and actor
• February 10 – Bernard Lee, American civil rights activist
• February 14
• * John A. McCone, American politician
• * Neta Snook, American aviator
• February 21 – John Sherman Cooper, American politician
• February 24
• * George Gobel, American comedian
• * Jean Rogers, American actress

  March

• March 3 – Arthur Murray, American dancer and dance instructor
• March 7 – Cool Papa Bell, American baseball player
• March 14
• * Howard Ashman, American lyricist
• * Doc Pomus, American composer
• March 15 – George Sherman, American film director
• March 18 – Vilma Bánky, Hungarian-born actress
• March 21 – Leo Fender, American instrument maker
• March 23 – Margaret Atwood Judson, historian and author
• March 27 – Aldo Ray, American actor
• March 29 – Lee Atwater, American political consultant and strategist

  April

• April 1 – Martha Graham, American dancer and choreographer
• April 3 – Charles Goren, American bridge player, writer, and columnist
• April 4 – John Heinz, American politician
• April 5
• * Sonny Carter, American astronaut
• * John Tower, American politician
• April 7 – Ruth Page, American ballerina and choreographer
• April 9 – Forrest Towns, American Olympic athlete
• April 10
• * Kevin Peter Hall, American actor
• * Natalie Schafer, American actress
• April 11 – Dick Manning, Russian-born American songwriter
• April 20 – Don Siegel, American film director
• April 23 – Johnny Thunders, American musician
• April 26
• * Carmine Coppola, American composer and conductor
• * Emily McLaughlin, American actress
• * William Andrew Paton, founder of the American Accounting Association in 1916,
• April 28
• * Paul E. Klopsteg, American physicist
• * Floyd McKissick, American lawyer and civil rights activist
• * Lee Wulff, American conservationist and fisherman

  May

• May 1 – Richard Thorpe, American film director
• May 3 – Jerzy Kosiński, Polish-American writer
• May 6 – Wilfrid Hyde-White, British actor
• May 7 – Dennis Crosby, American singer
• May 22 – Derrick Henry Lehmer, American mathematician
• May 24 – Gene Clark, American singer-songwriter
• May 29 – Coral Browne, Australian actress

  June

• June 1 – David Ruffin, American singer
• June 3 – Eva Le Gallienne, English-born actress
• June 4 – MC Trouble, American rapper
• June 5
• * Evelyn Boucher, British silent film actress
• * Min Chueh Chang, Chinese-born American reproductive biologist
• * Larry Kert, American actor
• June 6 – Stan Getz, American jazz saxophonist
• June 8 – Bertice Reading, American actress and singer
• June 9 – Claudio Arrau, Chilean-born pianist
• June 15 – Happy Chandler, 2nd commissioner of Major League Baseball
• June 18 – Joan Caulfield, American actress
• June 19 – Jean Arthur, American actress
• June 25 – Michael Heidelberger, American immunologist

  July

• July 1 – Michael Landon, American actor
• July 2 – Lee Remick, American actress
• July 4 – Henry Koerner, Austrian-born American painter and graphic designer
• July 5
• * Mildred Dunnock, American actress
• * Howard Nemerov, American poet
• July 8 – James Franciscus, American actor
• July 15
• * Bert Convy, American actor, singer, game show host, and television personality
• * Roger Revelle, American scientist and scholar
• July 16 – Robert Motherwell, American painter

  August

• August 1 – Chris Short, American baseball pitcher
• August 5
• * Paul Brown, American football coach
• * Sam Goodman, American gospel singer
• August 6 – Harry Reasoner, American journalist and newscaster
• August 8
• * Julissa Gomez, American gymnast
• * James Irwin, American astronaut
• August 11 – J.D. McDuffie, American NASCAR driver
• August 13 – James Roosevelt, American businessman and politician
• August 14 – Richard A. Snelling, American politician
• August 22
• *Colleen Dewhurst, Canadian-born American actress
• * Jane Stafford, American medical writer and chemist
• August 23
• * Florence B. Seibert, American biochemist
• * Mildred Trotter, American forensic anthropologist
• August 25 – Niven Busch, American novelist and screenwriter

  September

• September 3 – Frank Capra, Italian-born American film director
• September 4
• * Charlie Barnet, American jazz saxophonist
• * Tom Tryon, American actor and writer
• * Dottie West, American singer
• September 6 – Donald Henry Gaskins, American serial killer
• September 7 – Edwin McMillan, American chemist
• September 8
• * Brad Davis, American actor
• * Alex North, American film composer
• * Nell Donnelly Reed, American fashion designer and businesswoman
• September 12 – Chris Von Erich, American professional wrestler
• September 13 – Joe Pasternak, Hungarian-born film director
• September 14
• * Russell Lynes, American art historian, photographer, and author
• * Lisa Michelson, American voice actress
• September 15 – John Hoyt, American actor
• September 17 – Frank H. Netter, American artist, physician, and medical illustrator
• September 24 – Dr. Seuss, American author
• September 25 – Barbara Rose Johns, American civil rights activist
• September 28 – Miles Davis, American jazz trumpeter
• September 29 – Grace Zaring Stone, American writer

  October

• October 6 – Florence B. Seibert, American biochemist
• October 9 – Thalmus Rasulala, American actor
• October 11 – Redd Foxx, American comedian and actor
• October 12
• * Aline MacMahon, American actress
• * Regis Toomey, American actor
• October 17 – Tennessee Ernie Ford, American singer
• October 24 – Gene Roddenberry, American television producer
• October 25 – Bill Graham, American promoter
• October 27 – Howard Kingsbury, American Olympic rower – Men's eights
• October 28 – Sylvia Fine, American lyricist
• October 31 – Joseph Papp, American theater director and producer

  November

• November 2
• * Irwin Allen, American film and television producer
• * Mort Shuman, American singer, pianist and songwriter
• November 3 – Chris Bender, American musician
• November 5 – Fred MacMurray, American actor
• November 6 – Gene Tierney, American actress
• November 14 – Tony Richardson, English film and theater director
• November 19 – Reggie Nalder, Austrian actor
• November 21 – Daniel Mann, American film director
• November 23 – Klaus Kinski, German actor
• November 24
• * Eric Carr, American drummer
• * Anton Furst, American art director
• November 25 – Eleanor Audley, American actress
• November 26
• * Carl G. Fenner, American botanist
• * Ed Heinemann, American aircraft designer
• * Bob Johnson, American ice hockey coach
• November 29
• * Ralph Bellamy, American actor
• * Frank Yerby, American novelist

  December

• December 1 – George Stigler, American economist
• December 5 – Richard Speck, American mass murderer
• December 9 – Berenice Abbott, American photographer
• December 10 – Greta Kempton, American artist
• December 11 – Robert Q. Lewis, American radio and television personality
• December 12 – Eleanor Boardman, American actress
• December 19 – Howie Dallmar, American basketball player
• December 21 – Sheldon Mayer, American author and illustrator
• December 24 – Marguerite Williams, African American geologist