Coup in São Tomé and Príncipe. Fernando Pereira staged a military coup against the elected government of Fradique de Menezes.

Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 collides with Jupiter. The Jupiter orbiting comet collided with Jupiter. It was the first time in recorded history that astronomers had observed a collision between two celestial objects.

Mahathir bin Mohamad takes office for the first time. Mohmad, took office as the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia and remained in the position until 2003, becoming Malayasia's longest serving prime minister and Asia's longest serving politician.

Iraqi president, Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr resigns. The fourth president of Iraq resigned from his post citing health reasons and promoted his Vice President, Saddam Hussein to the post of President.

The Catcher in the Rye is published. The book, written by J.D. Salinger is considered to be one of the top 100 works of fiction of the 20th century.