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

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Events

• 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 to aid Nicaraguan Contras.
• February 11, Anthony M. Kennedy is appointed to the United States Supreme Court.
• February 21 - On his own televangelism program being tapped in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Jimmy Swaggart confesses that he is guilty of an unspecified sin and will be will be temporarily leaving the pulpit.
• February 24 - The United States Supreme Court sides with Hustler magazine by overturning a lower court decision to award Jerry Falwell $200,000 for defamation.
• September 29 - NASA resumes space shuttle flights, grounded after the Challenger disaster
• November 2, The Morris worm is unleashed on the Internet
• November, George Bush defeats Michael S. Dukakis in the U.S. presidential election
• December 21, Pan AM flight 103 is blown up by terrorists over Lockerbie, Scotland.

• Akira, anime film, released.
• Summer Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea
• Former rock and roll singer Sonny Bono is elected as 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.

Art, Culture & Fashion

• 1988 in film
  • Dangerous Liaisons
  • Mississippi Burning
  • Working Girl starring Harrison Ford
  • Die Hard starring Bruce Willis
  • Rain Man starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise
• 1988 in literature
• 1988 in music
  • Bobby McFerrin's "Don't worry, be happy"
• 1988 in sports
  • January 16 - Sports commentator Jimmy 'the Greek' Snyder is fired by CBS a day after publicly stating that African Americans were 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
  • October 4 - Following in the footsteps of Cher, Actress Shirley MacLaine calls David Letterman an "A**hole", on the air during a taping of Late Night

Births

• November 15, Zena Grey, actress

Deaths

• January 5 - Pete Maravich, baseball star
• 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 22 - Parker Fennelly, comedian, actor
• February 15 - Richard Feynman, physicist
• June - Hillel Slovak, Red Hot Chili Peppers, guitarist
• September 28 - Charles Addams, American cartoonist
• October 19, Son House, blues musician
• Robert Heinlein, science fiction author
• December 6, Roy Orbison, singer

Nobel Prizes

• 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.
• Economics - Maurice Allais