1988
Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades: 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s - 1980s - 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s
Years: 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 - 1988 - 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993
See also:
Events
January-February
- January 26 - Australia celebrates its bicentennial day.
- February 3 - The United States House of Representatives rejects President Ronald Reagan's request for $36.25 million for new Nintendo Entertainment Systems Consoles.
- February 11, Anthony M. Kennedy is appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States after assasinating the former Supreme Court leader.
- February 21 - On his own televangelism program being taped in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Jimmy Swaggart confesses that he is guilty of an unspecified sin and will be will be temporarily leaving the pulpit. The sin is that he forgot to pay his water bill.
- February 24 - The Supreme Court of the United States sides with Hustler magazine by overturning a lower court decision to award Jerry Falwell $200,000 for defamation.
March-April
- March 7- The SAS shoot dead three Irish Republican Army terrorists in Gibraltar.
- March 8 - Two United States Army helicopters collide in Fort Campbell, Kentucky killing 17 servicemen.
- March 9 - Students at Gallaudet University go on strike for the selection of a Deaf university president.
- March 16 - Iran-Contra Affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
- March 16 - California v. Greenwood: In a 6-2 decision, the Supreme Court of the United States rules that police officers do not need a search warrant to search through discarded garbage.
- April 25 - In Israel John Demjanuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II. He was accused of being a notorious guard at the Treblinka extermination camp known as "Ivan the Terrible" by survivors. Conviction overturned by Israeli Supreme Court.
May-August
- May 24 - Section 28 is passed as law by Parliament in the United Kingdom.
- May 15 - Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Red Army begins its withdraw from Afghanistan.
- May 16 - A report by Surgeon General C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.
- July 6 - The Piper Alpha drilling platform in the North Sea is destroyed by explosions and fires killing 167 oil workers.
- August 17 - Pakistan President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq and US Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.
- August 23 - Singing Revolution: two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stood on the Vilnius-Tallinn road, holding hands
- August 28 - A fire destroys part of Chiado quarter, in Lisbon's historical center.
September-October
- September 5 - With US$2 billion in federal aid, the Robert M. Bass Group agrees to buy the United States's largest bankrupt thrift, American Savings and Loan Association.
- September 17 - TV Show Garfield and Friends debuts on CBS.
- September 29 - NASA resumes space shuttle flights, grounded after the Challenger disaster
- October 28 - Abortion: 48 hours after announcing it was abandoning RU-486, French manufacturer Roussel Uclaf states that it would resume distribution of the drug, bowing to pressure from the government of France.
- October 29 - In Japan, the Sega Megadrive is released for the first time.
- October 30 - Philip Morris buys Kraft Foods for US$13.1 billion.
November
- November 2 - The Morris worm is unleashed on the Internet
- November 8 - U.S. presidential election, 1988: George H. W. Bush is elected over Michael Dukakis.
- November 11 - In Sacramento, California, police find a body buried in the lawn of 60-year-old boardinghouse landlady Dorothea Puente (seven bodies were eventually found and Puente was convicted of three murders and sentenced to life in prison).
- November 15 - In the Soviet Union, the uncrewed Shuttle Buran is launched by an Energia rocket on her maiden orbital spaceflight (this was the first and last space flight for the shuttle).
- November 15 - Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed by the Palestinian National Council meeting in Algiers, by a vote of 253 to 46.
- November 16 - The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR declares that the Estonia was "sovereign" but stopped short of declaring independence.
- November 16 - In the first open election in more than a decade, voters in Pakistan choose populist candidate Benazir Bhutto to be Prime Minister.
- November 17 - The Netherlands becomes the second country to get connected to the Internet.
- November 18 - War on Drugs: US President Ronald Reagan signs a bill into law providing the death penalty for murderous drug traffickers.
- November 22 - In Palmdale, California, the first prototype B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is revealed.
- November 30 - Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. buys RJR Nabisco for US$25.07 billion.
December
- December 2 - Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state.
- December 7 - In Armenia an earthquake 6.9 on the Richter scale killed nearly 25.000, injured 15.000 and left 400.000 persons homeless.
- December 19 - The Consumer Product Safety Commission bans the sale of lawn darts following the deaths of three children.
- December 21 - Pan Am flight 103 is blown up by Libyan terrorists over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 259 on board and 11 on the ground.
- Al-Qaida established by Osama bin Laden
- Summer Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea
- Former pop singer Sonny Bono is elected mayor of Palm Springs, California.
- Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart is the focus of a sex scandal, and later admits to being with prostitutes and steps down from his television ministry.
- Iran Air Flight 655 shut down by missiles throwm from the USS Vincennes ship
Year in topic
- 1988 in film
- July 15 - Die Hard
- July 15 - A Fish Called Wanda
- July 16 - Akira (Japanese release date)
- December 9 - Mississippi Burning
- December 12 - Rain Man
- December 16 - Dangerous Liaisons
- December 21 - Working Girl
- 1988 in literature
- 1988 in music
- N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton is the first hip hop album to achieve widespread mainstream success
- 1988 in sports
- January 16 - Sports commentator Jimmy 'the Greek' Snyder is fired by CBS a day after publicly stating that African Americans had been bred to produce stronger offspring during slavery.
- January 31 - Super Bowl XXII Washington Redskins (42) defeat Denver Broncos (10)
- February 13 - 1988 Winter Olympic Games open in Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Summer: The Netherlands win the European Football Championships
- 1988 in television
- February 29 - The soap opera Day by Day premieres on NBC.
- October 4 - Following in the footsteps of Cher, Actress Shirley MacLaine calls David Letterman an "Asshole", on the air during a taping of Late Night
Births
- August 24, Rupert Grint, actor
- November 15, Zena Grey, actress
Deaths
January-April
- January 5 - Pete Maravich, Basketball Hall of Famer
- January 7 - Trevor Howard, actor
- January 11 - Pappy Boyington, aviator
- January 14 - Georgi Malenkov, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party
- January 15 - Seán MacBride, former Chief of Staff of the IRA and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1974.
- January 22 - Parker Fennelly, comedian, actor
- February 1 - Heather O'Rourke, child actress who starred in "Poltergeist" movies
- February 15 - Richard Feynman, physicist
- February 19 - René Char, French poet
- March 5 - Alberto Olmedo, comedian, actor
- March 7 - Divine, actor
- March 8 - Henryk Szeryng, violinist
- March 10 - Andy Gibb, singer
- March 31 - William McMahon, twentieth Prime Minister of Australia
- April 3 - Milt Caniff, cartoonist
- April 22 - Irene Rich, actress
May-December
- May 8 - Robert A. Heinlein, science fiction author
- May 11 - Kim Philby, spy
- May 12 - Chet Baker, jazz trumpeter
- May 18 - Daws Butler, voice actor
- May 25 - Ernst Ruska, Nobel Prize Physicist
- June 25 - Hillel Slovak, Red Hot Chili Peppers, guitarist
- August 17 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr., lawyer, politican
- August 17 - Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, Leader of Pakistan
- September 28 - Charles Addams, American cartoonist
- October 19 - Son House, blues musician
- October 22 - Henry Armstrong, American boxing champion
- October 31 - John Houseman, actor, producer
- November 9 - John N. Mitchell, former U.S. Attorney General and convicted Watergate criminal
- November 19 - Christina Onassis, Greek shipping magnate
- December 6, Roy Orbison, pioneer Rock and Roll singer
- Physics - Leon M. Lederman, Melvin Schwartz, Jack Steinberger
- Chemistry - Johann Deisenhofer, Robert Huber, Hartmut Michel
- Medicine - Sir James W. Black, Gertrude B. Elion, George H. Hitchings
- Literature - Naguib Mahfouz
- Peace - The United Nations Peace-Keeping Forces, New York City, New York.
- Economics - Maurice Allais