1988

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 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.
   * 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.
   * 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 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 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 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 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 Libyan terrorists over
     Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 259 on board and 11 on the ground.

   * Akira, anime film, released.
   * 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.

Art, Culture & Fashion

   * 1988 in film
        o Dangerous Liaisons
        o Mississippi Burning
        o Working Girl starring Harrison Ford
        o Die Hard starring Bruce Willis
        o Rain Man starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise
        o "Cherry 2000" starring Melanie Griffith
   * 1988 in music
        o N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton is the first hip hop album to
          achieve widespread mainstream success
   * 1988 in sports
        o 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.
        o January 31 - Super Bowl XXII Washington Redskins (42) defeat
          Denver Broncos (10)
        o February 13 - 1988 Winter Olympic Games open in Calgary, Alberta,
          Canada
        o Summer: The Netherlands win the European Football Championships
   * 1988 in television
        o February 29 - The soap opera Day by Day premieres on NBC.
        o 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
   * September 21, Russell Ey, professional goal keeper

Deaths

   * 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 22 - Parker Fennelly, comedian, actor
   * February 15 - Richard Feynman, physicist
   * March 5 - Alberto Olmedo, comedian, actor
   * March 7 - Divine, actor
   * March 8 - Henryk Szeryng, violinist
   * 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 25 - Hillel Slovak, Red Hot Chili Peppers, guitarist
   * September 28 - Charles Addams, American cartoonist
   * October 19, Son House, blues musician
   * November 19 - Christina Onassis, Greek shipping magnate
   * December 6, Roy Orbison, pioneer Rock and Roll 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

How to - Physics - History - Companies - Internet - Video Games - List of Phobias - September 11, 2001
Radio - Timelines - Chemistry - Genealogy - Family - Film - SARS - Cancer - Medicine - DVD - Calendar
Countries - Disease - Health Science - Dentistry - Economics - AIDS - Law - Autism - Statistics - Bible
Recipes - Architecture - Computers - History of the Internet - Personal computer - Apple Macintosh
War - Presidents of the United States - United States Constitution - Universe - Philosophy - Animals
Biology - United States Constitution - Marketing Topics - Sports - Television - History of Computing

Life Insurance - Wills - Gardening - Loans - Loan