1988 - What happened in 1988 ?

January 1988

Friday 01:

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America comes into existence, creating the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States of America.

Saturday 16:

CBS fires sports commentator Jimmy 'the Greek' Snyder, a day after publicly stating that African Americans had been bred to produce stronger offspring during slavery.

Sunday 31:

Super Bowl XXII: The Washington Redskins win their second championship of the 1980s, 42-10.

February 1988

Wednesday 03:

Iran-Contra Affair: The United States House of Representatives rejects President Ronald Reagan's request for $36.25 million to aid Nicaraguan Contras.

Friday 05:

Comic Relief hold the first "Red Nose Day", which raises £15 million in the United Kingdom for charity.

Saturday 13:

1988 Winter Olympic Games open in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Wednesday 24:

The Supreme Court of the United States sides with Larry Flynt's Hustler magazine by overturning a lower court decision to award Jerry Falwell $200,000 for defamation.

Monday 29:

South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with 100 clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town

March 1988

Saturday 05:

Constitution of Turks and Caicos Islands restored and revised.

Tuesday 08:

Two United States Army helicopters collide in Fort Campbell, Kentucky killing 17 servicemen.

Friday 11:

Iran-Iraq War: Cease Fire declared.

Sunday 13:

I. King Jordan becomes the first Deaf president of Gallaudet University after the Deaf President Now demonstrations.

Wednesday 16:

Halabja poison gas attack: The Kurdish town of Halabjah in Iraq was attacked with a mix of poison gas and nerve agents, killing thousands of people.

April 1988

Monday 04:

Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office.

Thursday 14:

USS Samuel B. Roberts strikes a mine in the Persian Gulf during Operation Earnest Will. U.S. retaliates against Iran on April 18 with Operation Praying Mantis, the world's largest naval battle since World War II.

Monday 18:

U.S. launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian naval forces in retaliation for the April 14 mining of the USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) in the Persian Gulf during Operation Earnest Will. The one-day action is the world's largest naval battle since World War II.

Thursday 28:

Near Maui, Hawaii, a flight attendant is sucked out of Aloha Flight 243, a Boeing 737, and falls to her death when an upper part of the plane's cabin area rips off in mid-flight. Metal fatigue is later found to be the cause of the failure.

Saturday 30:

In Dublin, Ireland, Céline Dion wins the thirty-third Eurovision Song Contest for Switzerland singing "Ne partez pas sans moi" (Don't leave without me).

May 1988

Monday 02:

The last B-1 Lancer is delivered to the United States by Rockwell International.

Tuesday 10:

Michel Rocard becomes Prime Minister of France.

Monday 16:

A report by American Surgeon General C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.

Tuesday 24:

Section 28 is passed as law by Parliament in the United Kingdom.

Wednesday 25:

1988 - The Berulsemann was born.

June 1988

Saturday 04:

1988 -The Canadian Heraldic Authority is founded.

Saturday 11:

Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute Wembley Stadium, London.

Sunday 12:

Rusty Wallace wins the last Nascar Winston Cup race at the Riverside International Raceway

Tuesday 28:

The worst confined-space industrial accident in U.S. history occurs at a metal-plating plant in Auburn, Indiana, killing five.

July 1988

Friday 01:

Bologna, Italy: Quartetto Cetra's last concert after over forty years' musical career.

Sunday 03:

United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.

Wednesday 06:

Carlos Salinas wins controversial Mexican presidential election.

Friday 15:

Die Hard opens in theaters, starring Bruce Willis

Wednesday 20:

Iran Contra: All of Colonel Oliver North's convictions for perjury and other offenses are overturned by an appeals court.

August 1988

Tuesday 09:

Wayne Gretzky is traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings in one of the most controversial transactions in hockey history.

Wednesday 10:

Japanese American Internment: US President Ronald Reagan signs the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, providing $20,000 payments to Japanese-Americans who were either interned or relocated by in the United States during World War II.

Thursday 25:

The historical center of Lisbon is destroyed by a fire.

Friday 26:

Merhan Karimi Nasseri arrives at Charles de Gaulle International Airport.

Sunday 28:

At an air show in Ramstein, West Germany, three stunt fighters collide; 69 people die.

September 1988

Wednesday 07:

Abdul Ahad Mohmand, the first Afghan in space, returns aboard the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz TM-5 after 9 days on the Mir space station

Tuesday 13:

Hurricane Gilbert is the strongest recorded hurricane in the Western Hemisphere (based on barometric pressure).

Thursday 15:

Lillehammer, Norway, beats Anchorage, Alaska, United States, to host the 1994 Winter Olympics.

Saturday 17:

Opening ceremony of the Games of the XXIV Olympiad in Seoul, South Korea.

Monday 26:

Ben Johnson is stripped of his gold medal in the 100 m sprint at the Seoul Olympics for failing a drug test.

October 1988

Tuesday 04:

U.S. televangelist Jim Bakker indicted for fraud.

Wednesday 05:

in the first fair poll since 1973, chileans vote "NO" to a 3th term in office for General Augusto Pinochet, sparking a transition to democracy process.

Wednesday 12:

two officers of the Victoria Police are gunned down executional style in the Walsh Street police shootings, Australia

Friday 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.

Sunday 30:

Philip Morris buys Kraft Foods for US$13.1 billion.

November 1988

Wednesday 02:

The Morris worm, the first internet-distributed computer worm to gain significant mainstream media attention, was launched from MIT.

Sunday 06:

Beatle Ringo Starr checks into an alcohol rehabilitation centre.

Friday 11:

In Sacramento, California, police find a body buried in the lawn of 60-year-old boardinghouse landlady Dorothea Puente .

Friday 18:

War on Drugs: US President Ronald Reagan signs a bill into law providing the death penalty for murderous drug traffickers.

Wednesday 30:

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. buys RJR Nabisco for $25.07 billion.

December 1988

Friday 02:

Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state.

Tuesday 20:

The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.

Thursday 22:

Chico Mendes, a Brazilian rubber tapper, unionist and environmental activist, was assassinated.

Monday 26:

Start of the Nanjing Anti-African protests

Saturday 31:

Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins becomes the first player in National Hockey League history to score one goal of each type in a single hockey game: a even-strength goal, a power-play goal, a short-handed goal, a penalty shot, and an empty-net goal.