1990 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

  Governors

Lieutenant governors

Events

January

• January 2 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 2,800 for the first time ever.
• January 3 – United States invasion of Panama: General Manuel Noriega, the deposed "strongman of Panama", surrenders to American forces.
• January 5 – The National Gallery of Art purchases The Fall of Phaeton by Peter Paul Rubens.
• January 9-20 – The Space Shuttle Columbia flies STS-32.
• January 10 – Time Warner is formed from the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications Inc.
• January 13 – Douglas Wilder becomes the first elected African American governor as he takes office in Richmond, Virginia.
• January 15 – Martin Luther King Day Crash - Telephone service in Atlanta, St. Louis, and Detroit, including 9-1-1 service, goes down for nine hours, due to an AT&T software bug.
• January 17 – Smith & Wesson introduce the.40 S&W cartridge.
• January 18
• * In Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry is arrested for drug possession in an FBI sting.
• * In California, the McMartin preschool trial, the longest criminal trial in U.S. history, ends with all defendants being acquitted on charges of child molesting.
• January 22 – Robert Tappan Morris, Jr. is convicted of releasing the Morris worm.
• January 24
• * Richard Secord is sentenced to two years probation for lying to the United States Congress about the Iran–Contra affair.
• * In Miami, William Lozano, a Hispanic police officer is sentenced to seven years in prison for shooting a black motorcyclist in 1989, an event that had set off three days of rioting.
• January 25 – Avianca Flight 52 crashes into Cove Neck, Long Island, New York, killing 73, after a miscommunication between the flight crew and JFK Airport officials.
• January 28 – The San Francisco 49ers defeat the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXIV.
• January 29
• * The trial of Joseph Hazelwood, former skipper of the Exxon Valdez, begins in Anchorage, Alaska. He is accused of negligence that resulted in America's worst oil spill to date.
• * In Holmdel, New Jersey, scientists at Bell Labs announce they have created a digital optical processor that could lead to the development of superfast computers that use pulses of light rather than electric currents to make calculations.
• January 31
• * President of the United States George H. W. Bush gives his first State of the Union address and proposes that the U.S. and the Soviet Union make deep cuts to their military forces in Europe.
• * Cold War: The first McDonald's in Moscow, Russia opens.

  February

• February 9 – The owners of Major League Baseball announce a lockout because of a salary dispute with players.
• February 11 – James "Buster" Douglas knocks out Mike Tyson to win the World Heavyweight Boxing crown.
• February 13 – Drexel Burnham Lambert files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
• February 14 – The Pale Blue Dot picture was sent back from the Voyager 1 probe after completing its primary mission, it was about 6 billion km from Earth.
• February 19 – The United Mine Workers reach a deal with the Pittston Company to end the Pittston Coal strike that had gone on since April 5, 1989; most striking coal miners return to work on February 26.
• February 25 – A smoking ban takes effect on all domestic U.S. flights of less than six hours.
• February 27 – Exxon Valdez oil spill: Exxon and its shipping company are indicted on five criminal counts.
• February 28
• * The Space Shuttle Atlantis begins STS-36.
• * The 5.7 Upland earthquake hits the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII, causing $12.7 million in losses and 30 injuries.

  March

• March 1
• * Steve Jackson Games is raided by the U.S. Secret Service, prompting the later formation of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
• * The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approves a license for the long-delayed Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant.
• March – Greyhound bus drivers strike for higher pay.
• March 6 – An SR-71 sets a U.S. transcontinental speed record of 1 hour 8 minutes 17 seconds, on what is publicized as its last official flight.
• March 9 – Antonia Novello is sworn in as Surgeon General of the United States, becoming the first female and Hispanic American to serve in that position.
• March 18
• *Twelve paintings, collectively worth from $100 to $300 million, are stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts by two robbers posing as police officers. It is the largest art theft, and the largest theft of private property, ever; the paintings have not been recovered.
• * Major League Baseball players and owners agree to a new four-year contract, ending the lockout begun on February 15.
• March 22 – A jury in Anchorage, Alaska finds Joseph Hazelwood guilty of misdemeanor negligence for his role in the Exxon Valdez oil spill. He is sentenced to pay $50,000 in restitution and to spend 1,000 hours cleaning oily beaches.
• March 25 – In New York City, a fire due to arson at an illegal social club called "Happy Land" kills 87.
• March 26 – The 62nd Academy Awards, hosted by Billy Crystal, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California, with Driving Miss Daisy winning Best Picture.
• March 27 – The United States begins broadcasting TV Martí to Cuba.
• March 28 – U.S. President George H. W. Bush posthumously awards Jesse Owens the Congressional Gold Medal.

  April

• April 2 – The UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball team defeats the Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team to win the 1990 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament.
• April 6 – Robert Mapplethorpe's "The Perfect Moment" show of nude and homosexual photographs opens at the Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center, in spite of accusations of indecency by Citizens for Community Values.
• April 7 – Iran-Contra Affair: John Poindexter is found guilty of 5 charges for his part in the scandal; the convictions are later reversed on appeal.
• April 8 – Ryan White, who made headlines after being expelled for contracting AIDS, dies from the disease at the age of 18.
• April 9 – Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority, Inc. is established.
• April 17-18 – President Bush meets with representatives of 17 countries and 2 international organizations at the White House to discuss global warming and other environmental issues.
• April 20 – STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched aboard Space Shuttle Discovery.
• April 23 – Lebanon hostage crisis: Lebanese kidnappers release American educator Robert Polhill, who had been held hostage since January 1987.
• April 24 – Investor Michael Milken pleads guilty to six felonies and agrees to pay $600 million in fines and restitution.
• April 25 – The Space Shuttle Discovery places the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit.
• April 28 – A Chorus Line, the longest-running musical in Broadway history, closes after 6,137 performances.
• April 30 – Lebanon hostage crisis: Lebanese kidnappers release American educator Frank H. Reed, who had been held hostage since September 1986.

  May

• May 13 – In the Philippines, gunmen kill two United States Air Force airmen near Clark Air Base on the eve of talks between the Philippines and the United States over the future of American military bases in the Philippines.
• May 19 – The U.S. and the Soviet Union agree to end production of chemical weapons and to destroy most of their stockpiles of chemical weapons.
• May 22 – Microsoft releases Windows 3.0.
• May 24 – The Edmonton Oilers defeat the Boston Bruins in the 1990 Stanley Cup Finals for their fifth Stanley Cup.
• May 30 – President Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev begin a four-day summit meeting in Washington, D.C.

  June

• June – The last month of the 1980s business cycle expansion, at the time the second-longest expansion in American history, comes to an end; the unemployment rate is 5.2%.
• June 1
• *Cold War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev sign the Chemical Weapons Accord to end chemical weapon production and begin destroying their respective stocks.
• * The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 2,900 for the first time ever.
• June 2 – The Lower Ohio Valley tornado outbreak spawns 88 confirmed tornadoes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, killing 12; 37 tornadoes occur in Indiana, eclipsing the previous record of 21 during the 1974 Super Outbreak.
• June 7 – Universal Studios Florida opens to the public.
• June 9 – Mega Borg oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico near Galveston, Texas.
• June 11
• * Nolan Ryan pitches his sixth career no-hitter.
• * In United States v. Eichman, the Supreme Court overturns a 1989 federal law that made it illegal to burn the United States flag.
• June 14 – 1990 NBA Finals: The Detroit Pistons defeat the Portland Trail Blazers.
• June 17-30 – Nelson Mandela tours North America, visiting 3 Canadian cities and 8 U.S. cities.
• June 18 – James Edward Pough kills 10 and injures 6 before committing suicide at a General Motors car loan office in Jacksonville, Florida.
• June 22 – The United States Fish and Wildlife Service declares the spotted owl a threatened species.
• June 25 – In Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health, the Supreme Court allows public officials to intervene in questions of termination of life support in the absence of an advance healthcare directive.
• June 26 – President George H. W. Bush reneges on his 1988 "" campaign pledge in a statement accepting tax revenue increases as a necessity to reduce the budget deficit. This later becomes a factor in the 1992 presidential election.

  July

• July – The United States enters the early 1990s recession.
• July 2 – A U.S. District Court acquits Imelda Marcos on racketeering and fraud charges.
• July 9-11 – The 16th G7 summit is held in Houston.
• July 19 – Pete Rose is sentenced to five months in prison after pleading guilty to filing false tax returns.
• July 20
• * A federal appeals court overturns three convictions of Oliver North.
• * William J. Brennan, Jr. resigns from the Supreme Court for health reasons.
• July 25 – The United States Senate votes to reprimand Sen. David Durenberger for improper financial dealings and orders him to pay restitution.
• July 26
• * U.S. President George H. W. Bush signs the Americans with Disabilities Act, designed to protect disabled Americans from discrimination.
• * The United States House of Representatives votes to reprimand Rep. Barney Frank for conduct stemming from his relationship with a male prostitute.
• July 28 – A fire at a generating plant knocks out power to 40,000 homes in Chicago's west side. Power is restored by July 31.

  August

• August 2
• *Gulf War: Iraq invades Kuwait, eventually leading to the Gulf War.
• *Federal prosecutors indict Rep. Floyd H. Flake and his wife on 17 counts of conspiracy, fraud and tax evasion.
• August 6 – Gulf War: The United Nations Security Council orders a global trade embargo against Iraq in response to its invasion of Kuwait.
• August 9 – Yosemite National Park closes temporarily because of forest fires.
• August 10 – The Magellan lands on Venus.
• August 12 – "Sue", the best preserved Tyrannosaurus rex specimen ever found, is discovered near Faith, South Dakota by Sue Hendrickson.
• August 18 – In New York City, a jury finds three teenagers guilty of raping and assaulting a woman in Central Park in April 1989. On September 11, they are sentenced to 5–10 years in prison.
• August 19 – Leonard Bernstein conducts his final concert, ending with Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
• August 26–28 – In Gainesville, Florida, police find five murdered college students, apparently killed by a serial killer.
• August 28 – The Plainfield Tornado strikes the towns of Plainfield, Crest Hill, and Joliet, Illinois, killing 29 people.

  September

• September 9
• * President Bush and Soviet President Gorbachev meet in Helsinki to discuss the Persian Gulf crisis.
• * After six years of renovations, Ellis Island reopens as an immigration museum.
• * Pete Sampras, age 19, wins the 1990 US Open, becoming the youngest person to ever win the event.
• September 11 – Gulf War: President George H. W. Bush delivers a nationally televised speech in which he threatens the use of force to remove Iraqi soldiers from Kuwait.
• September 12 – Cold War: The two German states and the Four Powers sign the Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany in Moscow, paving the way for German reunification.
• September 14 – Scientists at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland begin the first gene therapy on a human patient.
• September 17 – United States Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney fires Gen. Michael Dugan, Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, for publicly discussing plans to bomb Iraq.
• September 18
• * The International Olympic Committee awards the 1996 Summer Olympics to Atlanta, Georgia.
• * Charles Keating is indicted on charges in connection with the 1989 failure of the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association.
• September 24 – President Bush meets with President of South Africa F. W. de Klerk at the White House, the first time a South African head of government had visited the U.S. since 1945.
• September 26 – The Motion Picture Association of America replaces its X rating with a new NC-17 rating.
• September 29 – Washington National Cathedral is completed after 83 years of construction.
• September 30 – The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible is published in the United States.

  October

• October 2 – The Senate confirms David Souter to the Supreme Court; he takes his seat on October 9.
• October 3 – In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a jury convicts a record store owner of obscenity for selling an album by 2 Live Crew. On October 20, a second jury finds 2 Live Crew not guilty of obscenity on charges stemming from a June 1990 performance.
• October 5 – In Cincinnati, a jury finds an art museum and its art director innocent of breaking obscenity laws for displaying sexually explicit photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe.
• October 6 – STS-41: The Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off and launches the Ulysses on a mission to study the sun.
• October 6-8 – The federal government temporarily halts all non-essential services after Congress fails to enact a new budget and President Bush vetoes a stop-gap spending measure.
• October 9 – Leonard Bernstein announces his retirement from conducting after 47 years. He dies five days later.
• October 20 – The Cincinnati Reds defeat the Oakland Athletics, 4 games to 0, to win their 5th World Series Title.
• October 22
• * President Bush vetoes a civil rights bill that would have strengthened federal protection against job discrimination, arguing that it would lead to race and gender-based quotas.
• * In Orange County, California, a judge denies a surrogate mother's request for parental rights to a child she bore for another couple.
• October 24 – United States Secretary of Labor Elizabeth Dole announces her resignation.
• October 25 – Evander Holyfield defeats James "Buster" Douglas to become the heavyweight boxing champion.
• October 27 – Congress passes the Clean Air Act of 1990.

  November

• November – Rhode Island banking crisis begins.
• November 5
• *President George H. W. Bush signs the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, which includes tax increases despite his "" pledge.
• *Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the far-right Kach movement, is shot dead after a speech at a New York City hotel.
• November 6
• *In the congressional elections, Democrats increase their majorities in both houses of Congress.
• *Sharon Pratt Kelly is elected Mayor of the District of Columbia, becoming the first black woman to head a major U.S. city. She takes office January 2, 1991.
• November 8 – William Bennett resigns as Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
• November 11 – Stormie Jones, the Texas girl who had been the world's first recipient of a simultaneous heart and liver transplant in 1984, dies at a Pittsburgh hospital, at age 13.
• November 15 – STS-38: Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on a classified military mission.
• November 16 – President Bush leaves on a trip to Europe and the Middle East; he spends Thanksgiving with U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia.
• November 21 – Financier Michael Milken is sentenced to 10 years in prison.
• November 27 – The National Football League fines the New England Patriots and three of its players for the sexual harassment of reporter Lisa Olson.
• November 29 – Gulf War: The United Nations Security Council passes UN Security Council Resolution 678, authorizing military intervention in Iraq if that nation does not withdraw its forces from Kuwait and free all foreign hostages by January 15, 1991.

  December

• December – The unemployment rate rises to 6.3%, the highest since May 1987.
• December 1 – Quarterback Ty Detmer of the BYU Cougars football wins the Heisman Trophy.
• December 2 – STS-35: Space Shuttle Columbia begins a mission that ends on December 10, a day earlier than planned, ending a mission plagued with computer and plumbing problems.
• December 2-8 – President Bush visits Brazil, Uruguay, Argentine, Chile, and Venezuela.
• December 3 – At Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Northwest Airlines Flight 1482 collides with Northwest Airlines Flight 299 on the runway, killing 8 passengers and 4 crew members on Flight 1482.
• December 11 – American mob boss John Gotti is arrested.
• December 14 – President Bush names Lynn Morley Martin to replace Dole as Secretary of Labor.
• December 17 – President Bush names Lamar Alexander as United States Secretary of Education, replacing Lauro Cavazos, who resigned on December 12.
• December 25 – The Godfather Part III opens in theaters.

  Ongoing

• Cold War
• Gulf War

  Births

January

• January 3 – Dahmar Wartts-Smiles, hurdler
• January 7
• *Camryn Grimes, actress
• *Liam Aiken, actor
• January 8 – Jeff Allen, American football player
• January 15 – Chris Warren Jr., actor
• January 26 – Christopher Massey, actor
• January 29
• *Charlie Cipriano, lacrosse player
• *Nick Moody, American football player
• *Brandon Taylor, American football player
• January 30 – Jake Thomas, actor

  February

• February 3 – Sean Kingston, singer
• February 4 - Zach King, magician
• February 7 - Dalilah Muhammad, athlete
• February 9 – Camille Winbush, Actress
• February 14 – Emily Mae Young, actress

  March

• March 4 - Andrea Bowen, actress
• March 8 - Abigail and Brittany Hensel, conjoined twins
• March 24 - JonTron, Youtuber/Reviewer
• March 26 - James Buescher, stock car driver
• March 28 - Laura Harrier, actress

  April

• April 8 - Chuggaaconroy, Youtuber
• April 16 – Lorraine Nicholson, actress
• April 18 - Britt Robertson, actress
• April 23 – Matthew Underwood, actor
• April 27 – Austin Dillon, stock car driver

  May

• May 2 – Kay Panabaker, actress
• May 6 – Caitlin Yankowskas, figure skater
• May 12 – Jacory Harris, American football player
• May 14 – Amber Portwood American reality television personality and criminal
• May 24 – Joey Logano, race car driver
• May 30 – Dean Collins, actor

  June

• June 6
• *Mike G, rapper
• *Ryan Higa, YouTube personality
• *Anthony Rendon, baseball player
• June 7 – Allison Schmitt, swimmer
• June 19 – Xavier Rhodes, American football player
• June 22
• *Quinton Coples, American football player
• *T. J. DiLeo, American-German basketball player
• June 23 – Rodney McLeod, American football player
• June 27 – Bobby Wagner, American football player

  July

• July 6 – Jeremy Suarez, actor
• July 4 – Kelsi Crain, American model, Miss Louisiana 2010
• July 16 - James Maslow, singer, actor, dancer
• July 12 – Chasen Shreve, American baseball player
• July 24 – Daveigh Chase, actress
• July 27 – Nick Hogan, television personality
• July 28 – Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, rapper

  August

• August 6 – JonBenét Ramsey, beauty queen and murder victim
• August 13 - Lucas Till, actor
• August 15
• *Jennifer Lawrence, actress
• *Justin Pugh, American football player
• August 21 – Bo Burnham, comedian and musician
• August 24 – Jeffrey Vinokur, chemist and dancer

  September

• September 8 – Matt Barkley, football player
• September 13 – Jamie Anderson, snowboarder
• September 19 – Patrick Breeding, singer
• September 21
• *Christian Serratos, actress
• *Allison Scagliotti-Smith, actress

  October

• October 18 – Carly Schroeder, actress
• October 22 – Jonathan Lipnicki, actor
• October 23 – Stevie Brock, singer
• October 25 – Austin Peralta, jazz musician and composer

  November

• november 2 - kendall schmidt, singer, actor, dancer
• November 9 – Hodgy, rapper
• November 12 – Adrianna Franch, soccer player
• November 13 – Kathleen Herles, voice actress

  December

• December 11 – Derrick Nix, American basketball player
• December 20 – JoJo, singer/actress
• December 22 – Josef Newgarden, race car driver
• December 23 – Anna Maria Perez de Tagle, actress
• December 28 – David Archuleta, singer

  Deaths

January

• January 2 – Alan Hale Jr., American actor
• January 4 – Doc Edgerton, American electrical engineer
• January 5 – Arthur Kennedy, American actor
• January 7 – Bronko Nagurski, Canadian-American football player
• January 9
• * Northern Calloway, American actor
• * Spud Chandler, American baseball player
• January 10 – Lyle R. Wheeler, American art director
• January 18
• * Rusty Hamer, American actor
• * Edouard Izac, American naval officer
• January 19 – Arthur Goldberg, Supreme Court justice
• January 20 – Barbara Stanwyck, American actress
• January 22 – Roman Vishniac, Russian-American photographer
• January 23 – Allen Collins, American musician
• January 24 – Madge Bellamy, American actress
• January 25 – Ava Gardner, American actress
• January 26 – Lewis Mumford, American historian of science
• January 27 – Helen Jerome Eddy, American actress
• January 28 – Joseph Payne Brennan, American writer
• January 30 – John Rogers Cox, American painter

  February

• February 2 – Mel Lewis, American jazz musician
• February 3 – Jane Novak, American actress
• February 5 – Joseph J. Nazzaro, Air Force general
• February 7
• * Nazarena of Jesus, American Roman Catholic nun and missionary
• * Jimmy Van Heusen, American composer
• February 8 – Del Shannon, American musician and singer
• February 9 – Una Hanbury, British born sculptor
• February 10 – Bill Sherwood, American musician and director
• February 13 – Angela Gregory, American sculptor and professor
• February 14 – Jean Wallace, American actress
• February 15 – Henry Brandon, German Born actor
• February 16 – Keith Haring, American pop artist
• February 17 – Erik Rhodes, American actor
• February 19 – Otto E. Neugebauer, Austrian-born American mathematician and historian of science
• February 22 – Stephen W. Burns, American actor
• February 23 – James M. Gavin, American army general
• February 24
• * Tony Conigliaro, American baseball player
• * Malcolm Forbes, American publisher
• * Johnnie Ray, American singer
• February 27 – Nahum Norbert Glatzer, American scholar

  March

• March 4 – Hank Gathers, American basketball player
• March 5 – Gary Merrill, American actor
• March 6
• * William Raborn, American Navy officer
• * Joe Sewell, American baseball player
• March 12 – Gene Klein, American businessman
• March 13 – Bruno Bettelheim, American child psychologist
• March 14 – Harold Medina, American lawyer, teacher, and judge
• March 15 – Tom Harmon, American football player and broadcaster
• March 18 – Robin Harris, American actor, comedian and voice artist
• March 19
• * Neta Lohnes Frazier, American children's author
• * Andrew Wood, American musician
• March 24 – Ray Goulding, American comedian
• March 26 – Halston, American fashion designer
• March 30 – Harry Bridges, Australian-born union leader

  April

• April 3
• * Edna Reindel, Surrealist and American Regionalist painter and sculptor
• * Sarah Vaughan, American jazz vocalist
• April 7 – Ronald Evans, American astronaut
• April 8 – Ryan White, American AIDS activist
• April 10 – Fortune Gordien, American Olympic athlete
• April 15 – Greta Garbo, Swedish-born actress
• April 17 – Ralph Abernathy, American civil rights activist
• April 18
• * Gory Guerrero, American wrestler and father of Eddie Guerrero
• * Robert D. Webb, American film director
• April 22 – Albert Salmi, American actor
• April 23 – Paulette Goddard, American actress
• April 25 – Dexter Gordon, American jazz saxophonist
• April 27 – Bella Spewack, American songwriter
• April 30 – Joseph E. Johnson, American government official

  May

• May 1 – Sunset Carson, American actor
• May 2
• * William L. Dawson, American composer, choir director, and professor
• * David Rappaport, American actor
• May 6 – Charles Farrell, American actor
• May 10
• * Susan Oliver, American actress
• * Walker Percy, American writer
• May 14 – Franklyn Seales, American actor
• May 16
• * Sammy Davis Jr., American actor, dancer, and singer
• * Jim Henson, American puppeteer and filmmaker
• May 18 – Jill Ireland, English actress
• May 22 – Rocky Graziano, American boxer
• May 25 – Vic Tayback, American actor
• May 30 – Ora Mendelsohn Rosen, biomedical researcher

  June

• June 2 – Rex Harrison, English actor
• June 3 – Robert Noyce, American businessman and inventor
• June 4
• * Stiv Bators, singer
• * Jack Gilford, American actor
• June 7 – Barbara Baxley, American actress
• June 12 – Laura Scales, American educator
• June 14 – Philip Henry Bridenbaugh, American football player and coach
• June 20 – Ina Balin, American actress
• June 22 – Mollie Moon, American civil rights activist
• June 27 – William Edward Davies, American geologist and speleologist
• June 29 – Irving Wallace, American writer

  July

• July 4 – Phil Boggs, American Olympic diver
• July 7 – Bill Cullen, American game show host
• July 8 – Howard Duff, American actor
• July 13 – Lois Moran, American actress
• July 18 – Karl Menninger, American psychiatrist
• July 19 – Eddie Quillan, American actor
• July 21 – Joe Turner, American jazz pianist
• July 26 – Brent Mydland, American keyboard player

  August

• August 1 – Willard L. Beaulac, American diplomat
• August 6 – Lemuel C. Shepherd, Jr., 4-star general of the American Marine Corps
• August 9 – Dorothy Appleby, American film actress
• August 12 – Dorothy Mackaill, British-born American actress
• August 17 – Pearl Bailey, American actress and singer
• August 18 – B. F. Skinner, American psychologist
• August 23 – David Rose, British-born American songwriter, composer, and arranger
• August 27
• * Raymond St. Jacques, American actor
• * Stevie Ray Vaughan, American guitarist

  September

• September 4 – Irene Dunne, American actress
• September 6 – Tom Fogerty, American musician
• September 14 – Lotus Long, American actress
• September 19 – Hermes Pan, American choreographer
• September 22 – John A. Danaher, American politician
• September 23 – Betty Warfel, American professional baseball player

  October

• October 1 – Curtis LeMay, United States Air Force general
• October 7 – Grim Natwick, American animator
• October 8 – William H. Harrison, American politician
• October 13 – Douglas Edwards, American television news anchor
• October 14 – Leonard Bernstein, American composer and conductor
• October 15 – Helen Bray, American actress
• October 16 – Art Blakey, American jazz musician
• October 20 – Joel McCrea, American actor
• October 26 – William S. Paley, American media executive
• October 27
• * Xavier Cugat, Catalan-born bandleader
• * Elliott Roosevelt, American writer
• October 29
• * Herbert Brodkin, film and television director and producer
• * William French Smith, American lawyer and former Attorney General of the United States

  November

• November 3 – Mary Martin, American actress and singer
• November 5 – Meir Kahane, American rabbi and political figure
• November 11 – Elliott Chaze, American journalist and novelist
• November 12 – Eve Arden, American actress
• November 17 – Robert Hofstadter, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• November 27 – David White, American actor

  December

• December 2
• * Aaron Copland, American composer
• * Robert Cummings, American actor
• December 7
• * Joan Bennett, American actress
• * Dee Clark, American soul singer
• December 8 – Martin Ritt, American film director
• December 9 – Mike Mazurki, American actor and wrestler
• December 10 – Armand Hammer, American business tycoon
• December 13 – Alice Marble, American tennis champion
• December 15 – Edmund Parker, Kenpo founder
• December 16 – Douglas Campbell, World War I pilot
• December 18 – Anne Revere, American actress
• December 20 – Elmo Tanner, American singer and whistler
• December 28
• * Kiel Martin, American actor
• * Warren Skaaren, American screenwriter and film producer
• December 31 – George Allen, American football coach

  Undated

• Caroline F. Ware, historian and New Deal activist