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.

Sunday 21:

Jimmy Swaggart, on his own televangelism program being taped in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, confesses that he is guilty of an unspecified sin and will be temporarily leaving the pulpit.

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.

Friday 11:

Iran-Iraq War: Cease Fire declared.

Tuesday 15:

The Halabja poison gas attack of the Iran-Iraq War begins.

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.

Thursday 17:

A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into the side of the mountains near the Venezuelan border killing 143.

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

Friday 06:

An airplane going from Namsos to Brønnøysund in Norway crashes into the side of the Torghatten mountain, and all the 36 passengers and crew dies.

Sunday 15:

Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Red Army begins its withdrawal from Afghanistan.

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

Sunday 07:

Rioting in New York City's Tompkins Square Park

Monday 08:

General Ne Win, ruler of Burma since 1962, suddenly resigns.

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.

Saturday 20:

Peru becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.

Thursday 25:

The historical center of Lisbon is destroyed by a fire.

September 1988

Monday 05:

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.

Thursday 15:

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

Monday 26:

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

Tuesday 27:

The National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi is founded.

Thursday 29:

NASA resumes space shuttle flights, grounded after the Challenger disaster.

October 1988

Saturday 01:

Mikhail Gorbachev is named head of the Supreme Soviet.

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.

Saturday 29:

In Japan, the Sega Megadrive is released for the first time.

November 1988

Wednesday 02:

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

Monday 07:

Boxing: In Las Vegas, Nevada, boxer Sugar Ray Leonard knocks out Donnie LaLonde.

Tuesday 08:

U.S. presidential election, 1988: George H. W. Bush is elected over Michael Dukakis.

Tuesday 15:

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed by the Palestinian National Council.

Wednesday 16:

In the first open election in more than a decade, voters in Pakistan choose populist candidate Benazir Bhutto to be Prime Minister.

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.

Wednesday 07:

1988 Yasser Arafat recognizes the right of Israel to exist.

Wednesday 21:

A terrorist bomb explodes and crashes Pan Am flight 103 a Boeing 747, over Lockerbie, Scotland killing 270, including 11 on the ground

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.