1988 - Wikipedia

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 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[?]