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

• 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 Supreme Court of the United States.
• 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 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 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.
• May 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.
• 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.
• September 29 - NASA resumes space shuttle flights, grounded after the Challenger disaster
• November 2, The Morris worm is unleashed on the Internet
• November, George H. W. 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
  • 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 "A**hole", on the air during a taping of Late Night

Births

• August 24, Rupert Grint, actor
• 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
• March 7 - Divine, actor
• March 10 - Andy Gibb, singer
• April 3 - Milt Caniff[?], cartoonist
• April 22 - Irene Rich[?], actress
• 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 - 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[?]