** Václav Havel is elected president of Czechoslovakia.

** Václav Talich, Czech conductor

** James Mallinson ( producer ), Charles Mackerras ( conductor ), Jiri Zahradnicek, Ivo Žídek, Václav Zítek & the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra for Janáček: From the House of the Dead

** James Mallinson ( producer ), Charles Mackerras ( conductor ), Jiri Zahradnicek, Ivo Žídek, Václav Zítek & the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra for Janáček: From the House of the Dead

** David Cory, Amr Fahmy and Timothy Havel, and at the same time Neil Gershenfeld and Isaac L. Chuang at MIT published the first papers realising gates for quantum computers based on bulk spin resonance, or thermal ensembles.

** Documents are exhibited in the cathedral museum in the town of Brandenburg an der Havel.

** John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth, resigns from the space program.

** In Malta, Prime Minister Dom Mintoff resigns.

** Mani Pulite scandal: Italian legislator Claudio Martelli resigns, followed by various politicians over the next 2 weeks.

** Jacques Attali resigns as President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

** The September 6 merger between Renault and Volvo fails ; Volvo CEO Pehr G. Gyllenhammar resigns.

** Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell resigns as head of the Conservative Party, to be succeeded by Jean Charest.

** Julius Chan resigns as prime minister of Papua New Guinea, ending the Sandline affair.

** United States Secretary of Defense James Forrestal resigns suddenly.

** Getúlio Vargas resigns as the president of Brazil.

** President of Bulgaria Petar Mladenov resigns over charges he order tanks to disperse antigovernment protests in December 1989.

** Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadžić resigns from public office in Republika Srpska after being indicted for war crimes.

** Count Camillo Benso di Cavour resigns.

** Following a hung parliament in the UK general election, Conservative prime minister Edward Heath resigns and is succeeded by Labour's Harold Wilson, who previously led the country from 1964 to 1970.

** French prime minister Raymond Poincaré resigns ; he is succeeded by Aristide Briand.

** Polish Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak resigns from Parliament and is replaced by ex-communist Jozef Oleksy.

** Harold Wilson resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

** Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, husband of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, resigns from various posts over a scandal involving alleged corruption, in connection with business dealings with the Lockheed Corporation.

** United States Secretary of the Navy Henry L. Garrett III resigns in the wake of the Tailhook scandal.

** American Civil War: Citing failing health, Union General Winfield Scott resigns as Commander of the United States Army.

** Prime Minister of Cape Verde Pedro Pires resigns following his party's loss in the January 13 Cape Verdean parliamentary election, the first ever multiparty election in an African nation.

** Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president of the Soviet Union, from which most republics have already seceded, anticipating the dissolution of the 74-year-old state.

** The French National Assembly censures the proposed referendum to sanction presidential elections by popular mandate ; Prime Minister Georges Pompidou resigns, but President de Gaulle asks him to stay in office.

** Tunku Abdul Rahman resigns as prime minister of Malaysia, and is succeeded by his deputy Tun Abdul Razak.

** In Lebanon, the government of Prime Minister Rashid Karami resigns.

** 26 April 1803 – 1815 a ' Small Council ' ( president rotating monthly )

** Congressional-executive agreements are made by the president or Congress.

** Sole executive agreements are made by the president alone.

** In the former doge-state Venice, and while it was a republic resisting annexation by either the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia or the Austrian empire, a former Chief Executive ( president, 23 March 18485 July 1848 ), Daniele Manin ( b. 1804-d. 1857 ), was styled Dictator 11 – 13 August 1848 before joining the 13 August 1848-7 March 1849 Triumvirate.

** Vice president ( since 1992 ): Wilhelm von Gottberg

** The president has a very limited form of suspensive veto: when presented with a law, he or she can request another reading of it by Parliament, but only once per law.

** The president may also refer the law for review to the Constitutional Council prior to promulgation.

** Peru's president Alberto Fujimori calls for new elections in which he will not run.

** Alberto Fujimori is removed from office as president of Peru.

** Jean-Bédel Bokassa, president of the Central African Republic, crowns himself Emperor.

** Gabonese president Leon M ' ba is toppled by a military coup and his archrival, Jean-Hilaire Aubame, is installed in his place.

** Melissa Gilbert, American actress and president of the Screen Actors Guild

** Mahamane Ousmane is elected president of Niger.

** After Demirel becomes the president the acting prime minister of Turkey is Erdal İnönü of SHP for 40 days.

** Following the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement's victory, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada becomes president of Bolivia.

** Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Ivoirian president ( b. 1905 )

** Rómulo Betancourt, Venezuelan president ( d. 1981 )

** George Albert Smith, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ( b. 1870 )

** A military coup in Syria ousts the president.

** Niceto Alcalá-Zamora is elected president of the Spanish Republic.

** Jiri Petr, Czech university president

** Ho Chi Minh, former president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam dies.

** Levy Mwanawasa, Zambian president ( d. 2008 )

** Richard Masur, American actor, director and former president of Screen Actor Guild

** Indonesian nationalists Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta declare the independence of the Republic of Indonesia, with Soekarno as president.