January
January – The cargo ship Khian Sea deposits 4,000 tons of toxic waste in Haiti after wandering around the Atlantic for sixteen months.
January 1
January 2
The Soviet Union begins its program of economic restructuring (perestroika) with legislation initiated by Premier Mikhail Gorbachev (though Gorbachev had begun minor restructuring in 1985).
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is established, creating the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States.
Michigan State won the Rose Bowl over Southern California.
January 7 - January 8 - In the Afghan War 39 men of the Soviet Airborne Troops from the 345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment fight off an attack by 200 to 250 Mujahideen in the Battle for Hill 3234, later dramatized in the Russian film 9th Company
January 13 – Taiwan President Chiang Ching-kuo dies in Taipei; Vice-President Lee Teng-hui becomes president.
January 15 – In Jerusalem, Israeli police and Palestinian protestors clash at the Dome of the Rock; several police and at least 70 Palestinians are injured.
January 25 – U.S. Vice President George H. W. Bush and CBS News anchor Dan Rather clash over Bush's role in the Iran–Contra scandal, during a contentious television interview.
January 26 - The Phantom of the Opera, the longest running Broadway play ever, opens.
January 29 – The Midwest Classic Conference, a U.S. college athletic conference, is formed.
February
February 3 – The Democratic-controlled United States House of Representatives rejects President Ronald Reagan's request for $36.25 million to support the Nicaraguan Contras.
February 12 – Anthony Kennedy is appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States.
February 12 – The 1988 Black Sea bumping incident: Soviet frigate Bezzavetnyy intentionally rams USS Yorktown in Soviet territorial waters while Yorktown claims innocent passage.
February 13–28 – The 1988 Winter Olympics are held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
February 17
1988 Oshakati bomb blast: A bomb explodes outside the First National Bank in Oshakati, Namibia, killing 27 and injuring 70.
U.S. Lieutenant Colonel William R. Higgins, serving with a United Nations group monitoring a truce in southern Lebanon, is kidnapped (and later killed by his captors).
February 20 – The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast votes to secede from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic and join the Armenian SSR, triggering the Nagorno-Karabakh War.
February 24 – Hustler Magazine v. Falwell: 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.
February 27 – February 29 – The Sumgait pogrom of Armenians occurs in Sumqayit.
February 29 – A Nazi document implicates Kurt Waldheim in World War II deportations.
March
March 3 – The Liberal Democrats, a new British political party, are formed.
March 6 – Operation Flavius: A Special Air Service team of the British Army shoots dead 3 unarmed members of a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) Active service unit in Gibraltar.[2]
March 8
Two U.S. Army helicopters collide in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, killing 17 servicemen.
U.S. presidential candidate George H. W. Bush defeats Bob Dole in numerous Republican primaries and caucuses on "Super Tuesday". The bipartisan primary/caucus calendar, designed by Democrats to help solidify their own nominee early, backfires when none of the 6 competing candidates are able to break out of the pack in the day's Democratic contests. Jesse Jackson, however, wins several Southern state primaries.
March 13 – Gallaudet University, a university for the deaf in Washington, D.C., elects Dr. I. King Jordan as the first deaf president in its history. This conclusion of the Deaf President Now campaign is a turning point in the deaf civil rights movement.
March 16
The Halabja poison gas attack is carried out by Iraqi government forces.
Iran–Contra affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Milltown Cemetery attack: Three men are killed and 70 wounded in a gun and grenade attack by loyalist paramilitary Michael Stone on mourners at Milltown Cemetery in Belfast, Northern Ireland, during the funerals of the 3 IRA members killed in Gibraltar.[3]
First Republic Bank of Texas fails and enters FDIC receivership, the largest FDIC assisted bank failure in history.
March 17
A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into the side of the mountains near the Venezuelan border, killing 143.
Eritrean War of Independence – Battle of Afabet: The Nadew Command, an Ethiopian army corps in Eritrea, is attacked on 3 sides by military units of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF).
March 19 – Corporals killings in Belfast: Two British Army corporals are abducted, beaten and shot dead by Irish republicans after driving into the funeral cortege of IRA members killed in the Milltown Cemetery attack.[4]
March 20 – Eritrean War of Independence: Having defeated the Nadew Command, the EPLF enters the town of Afabet, victoriously concluding the Battle of Afabet.
March 24 – An Israeli court sentences Mordechai Vanunu to 18 years in prison for disclosing Israel's nuclear program to The Sunday Times.
The first McDonald's restaurant in a country run by a Communist party opens in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.[5] In 1989 it will be followed by one in Budapest, and in 1990 in Moscow and Shenzhen, China.
March 25 – The Candle Demonstration in Bratislava, Slovakia is the first mass demonstration of the 1980s against the socialist government in Czechoslovakia.
March 26 – U.S. presidential candidate Jesse Jackson defeats Michael Dukakis in the Michigan Democratic caucuses, becoming the temporary front-runner for the party's nomination. Dick Gephardt withdraws his candidacy after his campaign speeches against imported automobiles fail to earn him much support in Detroit.
March 29 – African National Congress representative Dulcie September is assassinated in Paris.
April
The Iranian Frigate, IS Alvand, attacked by US Navy forces during Operation Praying Mantis
April 4 – Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office.
April 5 –
Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis wins the Wisconsin Democratic presidential primary.
Kuwait Airways Flight 422 is hijacked while en route from Bangkok, Thailand to Kuwait. The hijackers demand the release of 17 Shiite Muslim prisoners held by Kuwait. Kuwait refuses to release the prisoners, leading to a 16-day siege across 3 continents. Two passengers are killed before the siege ends.
April 10
Disneyland closes the America Sings Attraction permanently in Anaheim, California.
The comic strip FoxTrot makes its first appearance in US newspapers.
The Ojhri Camp Disaster occurs in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
The Great Seto Bridge opens to traffic in Japan.
April 11 – The Last Emperor (directed by Bernardo Bertolucci) wins nine Oscars.
April 12 – Former pop singer Sonny Bono is elected mayor of Palm Springs, California.
April 14
In the Geneva Accords, the Soviet Union commits itself to withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan.
The USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) strikes a naval mine in the Persian Gulf, while deployed on Operation Earnest Will, during the Tanker War phase of the Iran–Iraq War.
April 16
Israeli commandos kill the PLO's Abu Jihad in Tunisia.
In Forlì, Italy, the brigate rosse kill Senator Roberto Ruffilli, an advisor of Prime Minister Ciriaco de Mita.
April 18 – The United States Navy retaliates for the USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) mining with Operation Praying Mantis, in a day of strikes against Iranian oil platforms and naval vessels.
April 20 – The world's longest skyjacking comes to an end when the remaining passengers of Kuwait Airways Flight 422 are released by their captives.
April 22 – The Ouvéa cave hostage taking begins in Ouvéa, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia.
April 25 – In Israel, Ivan Demjanjuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II. He is accused by survivors of being the notorious guard at the Treblinka extermination camp known as "Ivan the Terrible". The conviction is later overturned by the Israeli Supreme Court.
April 28 – Aloha Airlines Flight 243 loses several yards of its upper fuselage while in flight, killing 1 person.
April 30
World Expo 88 opens in Brisbane Queensland, Australia.
Celine Dion wins the Eurovision Song Contest for Switzerland with the song "Ne partez pas sans moi".
May
May 4 – PEPCON disaster in Henderson, Nevada: A major explosion at an industrial solid-fuel rocket plant causes damage extending up to 10 miles (16 km) away, including Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport.
May 5 – The Ouvéa cave hostage taking ends in Ouvéa, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia.
May 14 – Bus collision near Carrollton, Kentucky: A drunk driver going the wrong way on Interstate 71, hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group from Radcliff, Kentucky. The resulting fire kills 27, making it tied for 1st in the U.S. for most fatalities involving 2 vehicles to the present day. Coincidentally, the other 2-vehicle accident involving a bus that also killed 27 occurred in Prestonburg, Kentucky on February 28, 1958.
May 15 – Soviet war in Afghanistan: After more than 8 years of fighting, the Soviet Army begins withdrawing from Afghanistan.
May 16
A report by U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.
California v. Greenwood: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that police officers do not need a search warrant to search through discarded garbage.
May 24 – Section 28 (outlawing promotion of homosexuality in schools) is passed as law by Parliament in the United Kingdom.
May 27 – Microsoft releases Windows 2.1.
May 31 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan addresses 600 Moscow State University students, during his visit to the Soviet Union.
June
Congress approved expansion of Medicare benefits to protect against "catastrophic" medical costs; the act was repealed in November 1989.
June 5 – The first National Cancer Survivors Day is held.
June 6 – Elizabeth II strips jockey Lester Piggott of his OBE, following his jailing for tax irregularities.
June 10 – Spontaneous 100,000 strong mass night-singing demonstrations in Estonia eventually give name to the Singing Revolution.
June 11
The name of the General Public License (GPL) is mentioned for the first time.
Wembley Stadium hosts a concert featuring stars from the fields of music, comedy and film, in celebration of the 70th birthday of imprisoned ANC leader Nelson Mandela.
June 14 – A small wildfire starts in Montana just north of the boundary for Yellowstone National Park. The Storm Creek fire expands into the park, then merges with dozens of other drought-inspired fires. Eventually, over 750,000 acres (3,000 km2) of Yellowstone – 36% of the park's area – burns before firefighters gain control in late September.
June 22 - Who Framed Roger Rabbit is released to theaters by Walt Disney Pictures.
June 23 – NASA scientist James Hansen testifies to the Senate that man-made global warming has begun.
June 25 – The Netherlands defeats the Soviet Union 2–0 to win Euro 88.
June 26 – Air France Flight 296 crashes into the tops of trees beyond the runway on a demonstration flight at Habsheim, France; 3 passengers are killed.
June 27 – The Gare de Lyon rail accident occurs in Paris, France as a commuter train headed inbound to the terminal crashes into a stationary outbound train, killing 56 and injuring 57.
June 28 – Four workers are exposed to poisonous gas at a metal-plating plant in Auburn, Indiana, in the worst confined-space industrial accident in U.S. history (a fifth victim dies two days later).
June 29 – Morrison v. Olson: The United States Supreme Court upholds the law allowing special prosecutors to investigate suspected crimes by executive branch officials.
June 30 – Roman Catholic Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrates four bishops at Écône, Switzerland for his apostolate, along with Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer, without a papal mandate.
July
July 3
The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, providing the second connection between the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosphorus.
Iran Air Flight 655 is accidentally shot down by a missile launched from the USS Vincennes.
July 6
The Piper Alpha production platform in the North Sea is destroyed by explosions and fires, killing 165 oil workers and 2 rescue mariners. 61 workers survive.
The first reported medical waste on beaches in the Greater New York area (including hypodermic needles and syringes possibly infected with the AIDS virus) washes ashore on Long Island. Subsequent medical waste discoveries on beaches in Coney Island, Brooklyn and in Monmouth County, New Jersey force the closure of numerous New York–area beaches in the middle of one of the hottest summers on record in the American Northeast.
July 14 – Volkswagen closes its Westmoreland Assembly Plant after 10 years of operation (the first factory built by a non-American automaker in the U.S.).
July 16 – Paddy Ashdown becomes the leader of the Liberal Democrats in the UK.
July 20 – The Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia nominates Michael Dukakis for U.S. President and Lloyd Bentsen for Vice President.
July 31 – Thirty-two people are killed and 1,674 injured when a bridge at the Sultan Abdul Halim Ferry terminal collapses in Butterworth, Malaysia.
August
August 5
Arif Hussain Hussaini, leader of Pakistani Shia Muslims, is shot in Peshawar.
The 1988 Malaysian constitutional crisis culminates in the ouster of the Lord President of Malaysia, Salleh Abas.
August 6–August 7 – Tompkins Square Park Police Riot in New York City: A riot erupts in Tompkins Square Park when police attempt to enforce a newly passed curfew for the park. Bystanders, artists, residents, homeless people and political activists are caught up in the police action that takes place during the night of August 6 and early into August 7.
August 8 – 8888 Uprising: Thousands of protesters in Burma, now known as Myanmar, are killed during anti-government demonstrations.
August 11 – Al-Qaeda is formed by Osama bin Laden.
August 14 – Enzo Ferrari, founder of the Italian automobile manufacturer Ferrari, dies at the age of 90, after a long illness.
August 17 – Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Arnold Lewis Raphel, are killed in a plane crash near Bahawalpur.
August 18 – The Republican National Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana nominates George H. W. Bush for President and Dan Quayle for Vice President of the United States of America.
August 19 – A truce begins in the Iran–Iraq War.
August 20 – The Iran–Iraq War ends, with an estimated one million lives lost.
August 21 – Major earthquake of magnitude 6.6 hits the Nepal-India border; an estimated 1,004 people are killed and more than 16,000 injured.
August 25 – A fire destroys part of Chiado quarter, in Lisbon's historical center.
August 26 – Mehran Karimi Nasseri, "The terminal man", decides to stay at the De Gaulle Airport in Paris, where he will continue to reside until August 1, 2006.
August 28 – Seventy-five people are killed and 346 injured in one of the worst air show disasters in history at Germany's Ramstein Air Base, when three jets from the Italian air demonstration team, Frecce Tricolori, collide, sending one of the aircraft crashing into the crowd of spectators.
September
September 5 – With US$2 billion in federal aid, the Robert M. Bass Group agrees to buy the United States' largest thrift, American Savings and Loan Association.
September 11 – In Estonia, 300,000 demonstrate for independence.
September 12 – Hurricane Gilbert devastates Jamaica; it turns towards Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula 2 days later, causing an estimated $5 billion in damage.
September 16 – Tom Browning of the Cincinnati Reds pitches the 12th perfect game in baseball history against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Riverfront Stadium.
September 17–October 2 – The 1988 Summer Olympics are held in Seoul, South Korea.
September 22 – The Ocean Odyssey drilling rig suffers a blowout and fire in the North Sea (see also July 6).
September 24–September 26 – Large, militant protests against the 1988 World Bank and IMF meetings take place in West Berlin.
September 29 – STS-26: NASA resumes Space Shuttle flights, grounded after the Challenger disaster, with Space Shuttle Discovery.
October
October 5
Thousands riot in Algiers, Algeria against the National Liberation Front government; by October 10 the army has killed and tortured about 500 people in crushing the riots.
Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet loses a national plebiscite on his rule; he relinquishes power in 1990.
In Omaha, Nebraska, in the only vice presidential debate of the 1988 U.S. presidential election, the Republican vice presidential nominee, Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana, insists he has as much experience in government as John F. Kennedy did when he sought the presidency in 1960. His Democratic opponent, Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas, replies, "Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."
October 7 – War of the Worlds premieres in syndication.
October 9 – The 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup culminates in Australia's 25–12 victory over New Zealand at Auckland's Eden Park before 47,363 spectators.
October 12
Walsh Street police shootings: Two Victoria Police officers are gunned down, execution style, in Australia.
The Birchandra Manu massacre occurs in Tripura, India.
October 13 – In the second U.S. presidential debate, held by U.C.L.A., the Democratic party nominee, Michael Dukakis, is asked by journalist Bernard Shaw of CNN if he would support the death penalty if his wife, Kitty, were to be raped and murdered. Gov. Dukakis' reply, voicing his opposition to capital punishment in any and all circumstances, is later said to have been a major reason for the eventual failure of his campaign for the White House.
October 19 – The United Kingdom bans broadcast interviews with IRA members. The BBC gets around this stricture through the use of professional actors.
October 27 – Ronald Reagan decides to tear down the new U.S. Embassy in Moscow because of Soviet listening devices in the building structure.
October 28 – Abortion: 48 hours after announcing it was abandoning RU-486, French manufacturer Roussel Uclaf states that it will resume distribution of the drug.
October 29 – Pakistan's General Rahimuddin Khan resigns from his post as the governor of Sindh, following attempts by the President of Pakistan, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, to limit the vast powers Gen. Rahimuddin had accumulated.
October 30
Philip Morris buys Kraft Foods for US$13.1 billion.[6]
Expo '88 in Brisbane, Australia draws to a close.
November
November 1 – In the Israeli election, Likud wins 47 seats, Labour wins 49, but Likud Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir remains in office.
November 2 – The Morris worm, the first computer worm distributed via the Internet, written by Robert Tappan Morris, is launched from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S.
November 3–November 5 – Thousands of South Korean students demonstrate against former president Chun Doo-hwan.
November 3 – Sri Lankan Tamil mercenaries try to overthrow the Maldivian government. At President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's request, the Indian military suppresses the coup attempt within 24 hours.
November 8 – United States presidential election, 1988: George H. W. Bush is elected over Michael Dukakis, becoming the first sitting Vice President of the United States in 152 years to be elected as President of the United States.
November 10 - The United States Air Force acknowledges the existence of the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk in a Pentagon press conference.
November 11 – In Sacramento, California, police find a body buried in the lawn of 60-year-old boardinghouse landlady Dorothea Puente (7 bodies are eventually found and Puente is convicted of 3 murders and sentenced to life in prison).
November 13 – Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian law student in Portland, Oregon, is beaten to death by members of the Neo-Nazi group East Side White Pride.
November 15
In the Soviet Union, the unmanned Shuttle Buran is launched by an Energia rocket on its maiden orbital spaceflight (the first and last space flight for the shuttle).
Israeli–Palestinian conflict: An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed at the Palestinian National Council meeting in Algiers, by a vote of 253–46.
The very first Fairtrade label, Max Havelaar, is launched by Nico Roozen, Frans van der Hoff and ecumenical development agency Solidaridad in the Netherlands.
November 16
The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR adopts the Estonian Sovereignty Declaration in which the laws of the Estonian SSR are declared supreme over those of the USSR.
In the first open election in more than a decade, voters in Pakistan choose populist candidate Benazir Bhutto to be Prime Minister. Elections are held as planned despite head of state Zia-ul-Haq's death earlier in August.
November 18 – War on Drugs: U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill providing the death penalty for murderous drug traffickers.
November 21
Canadian federal election, 1988: Brian Mulroney and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada win a second majority government.
Ted Turner officially buys Jim Crockett Promotions, known as NWA Crockett, and turns it into World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
November 22 – In Palmdale, California, the first prototype B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is revealed.
November 23 – Former Korean president Chun Doo Hwan publicly apologizes for corruption during his presidency, announcing he will go into exile.
November 24 – The popular American cult television comedy Mystery Science Theater 3000 makes its debut on KTMA.
November 30 – Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. buys RJR Nabisco for US$25.07 billion in the biggest leveraged buyout deal of all time.
December
December 1 – Carlos Salinas de Gortari takes office as President of Mexico.
The first World AIDS Day is held.
December 2
Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state.
A cyclone in Bangladesh leaves 5 million homeless and thousands dead.
December 6 – The Australian Capital Territory is granted self-government by the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988.
December 7
In Soviet Armenia, the Leninakan or Spitak earthquake (6.9 on the Richter scale) kills nearly 25,000, injures 15,000 and leaves 400,000 homeless.
Estonian becomes the official language of Estonia.
December 8 – Famous American vocalist Roy Orbison dies of a heart attack in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
December 9 – The last Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant roll off the assembly line in a Chrysler factory in the U.S.
December 12 – The Clapham Junction rail crash in London kills 35 and injures 132.
December 16 – Perennial U.S. presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche is convicted of mail fraud.
December 20 – The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
December 21 – Pan Am Flight 103 is blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing a total of 270 people. Those responsible are believed to be Libyans.
Drexel Burnham Lambert agreed to plead guilty to insider trading and other violations and pay penalties of US$650 million.
December 22 – Brazilian union and environmental activist Chico Mendes is assassinated.
January – The cargo ship Khian Sea deposits 4,000 tons of toxic waste in Haiti after wandering around the Atlantic for sixteen months.
January 1
January 2
The Soviet Union begins its program of economic restructuring (perestroika) with legislation initiated by Premier Mikhail Gorbachev (though Gorbachev had begun minor restructuring in 1985).
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is established, creating the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States.
Michigan State won the Rose Bowl over Southern California.
January 7 - January 8 - In the Afghan War 39 men of the Soviet Airborne Troops from the 345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment fight off an attack by 200 to 250 Mujahideen in the Battle for Hill 3234, later dramatized in the Russian film 9th Company
January 13 – Taiwan President Chiang Ching-kuo dies in Taipei; Vice-President Lee Teng-hui becomes president.
January 15 – In Jerusalem, Israeli police and Palestinian protestors clash at the Dome of the Rock; several police and at least 70 Palestinians are injured.
January 25 – U.S. Vice President George H. W. Bush and CBS News anchor Dan Rather clash over Bush's role in the Iran–Contra scandal, during a contentious television interview.
January 26 - The Phantom of the Opera, the longest running Broadway play ever, opens.
January 29 – The Midwest Classic Conference, a U.S. college athletic conference, is formed.
February
February 3 – The Democratic-controlled United States House of Representatives rejects President Ronald Reagan's request for $36.25 million to support the Nicaraguan Contras.
February 12 – Anthony Kennedy is appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States.
February 12 – The 1988 Black Sea bumping incident: Soviet frigate Bezzavetnyy intentionally rams USS Yorktown in Soviet territorial waters while Yorktown claims innocent passage.
February 13–28 – The 1988 Winter Olympics are held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
February 17
1988 Oshakati bomb blast: A bomb explodes outside the First National Bank in Oshakati, Namibia, killing 27 and injuring 70.
U.S. Lieutenant Colonel William R. Higgins, serving with a United Nations group monitoring a truce in southern Lebanon, is kidnapped (and later killed by his captors).
February 20 – The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast votes to secede from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic and join the Armenian SSR, triggering the Nagorno-Karabakh War.
February 24 – Hustler Magazine v. Falwell: 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.
February 27 – February 29 – The Sumgait pogrom of Armenians occurs in Sumqayit.
February 29 – A Nazi document implicates Kurt Waldheim in World War II deportations.
March
March 3 – The Liberal Democrats, a new British political party, are formed.
March 6 – Operation Flavius: A Special Air Service team of the British Army shoots dead 3 unarmed members of a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) Active service unit in Gibraltar.[2]
March 8
Two U.S. Army helicopters collide in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, killing 17 servicemen.
U.S. presidential candidate George H. W. Bush defeats Bob Dole in numerous Republican primaries and caucuses on "Super Tuesday". The bipartisan primary/caucus calendar, designed by Democrats to help solidify their own nominee early, backfires when none of the 6 competing candidates are able to break out of the pack in the day's Democratic contests. Jesse Jackson, however, wins several Southern state primaries.
March 13 – Gallaudet University, a university for the deaf in Washington, D.C., elects Dr. I. King Jordan as the first deaf president in its history. This conclusion of the Deaf President Now campaign is a turning point in the deaf civil rights movement.
March 16
The Halabja poison gas attack is carried out by Iraqi government forces.
Iran–Contra affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Milltown Cemetery attack: Three men are killed and 70 wounded in a gun and grenade attack by loyalist paramilitary Michael Stone on mourners at Milltown Cemetery in Belfast, Northern Ireland, during the funerals of the 3 IRA members killed in Gibraltar.[3]
First Republic Bank of Texas fails and enters FDIC receivership, the largest FDIC assisted bank failure in history.
March 17
A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into the side of the mountains near the Venezuelan border, killing 143.
Eritrean War of Independence – Battle of Afabet: The Nadew Command, an Ethiopian army corps in Eritrea, is attacked on 3 sides by military units of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF).
March 19 – Corporals killings in Belfast: Two British Army corporals are abducted, beaten and shot dead by Irish republicans after driving into the funeral cortege of IRA members killed in the Milltown Cemetery attack.[4]
March 20 – Eritrean War of Independence: Having defeated the Nadew Command, the EPLF enters the town of Afabet, victoriously concluding the Battle of Afabet.
March 24 – An Israeli court sentences Mordechai Vanunu to 18 years in prison for disclosing Israel's nuclear program to The Sunday Times.
The first McDonald's restaurant in a country run by a Communist party opens in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.[5] In 1989 it will be followed by one in Budapest, and in 1990 in Moscow and Shenzhen, China.
March 25 – The Candle Demonstration in Bratislava, Slovakia is the first mass demonstration of the 1980s against the socialist government in Czechoslovakia.
March 26 – U.S. presidential candidate Jesse Jackson defeats Michael Dukakis in the Michigan Democratic caucuses, becoming the temporary front-runner for the party's nomination. Dick Gephardt withdraws his candidacy after his campaign speeches against imported automobiles fail to earn him much support in Detroit.
March 29 – African National Congress representative Dulcie September is assassinated in Paris.
April
The Iranian Frigate, IS Alvand, attacked by US Navy forces during Operation Praying Mantis
April 4 – Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office.
April 5 –
Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis wins the Wisconsin Democratic presidential primary.
Kuwait Airways Flight 422 is hijacked while en route from Bangkok, Thailand to Kuwait. The hijackers demand the release of 17 Shiite Muslim prisoners held by Kuwait. Kuwait refuses to release the prisoners, leading to a 16-day siege across 3 continents. Two passengers are killed before the siege ends.
April 10
Disneyland closes the America Sings Attraction permanently in Anaheim, California.
The comic strip FoxTrot makes its first appearance in US newspapers.
The Ojhri Camp Disaster occurs in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
The Great Seto Bridge opens to traffic in Japan.
April 11 – The Last Emperor (directed by Bernardo Bertolucci) wins nine Oscars.
April 12 – Former pop singer Sonny Bono is elected mayor of Palm Springs, California.
April 14
In the Geneva Accords, the Soviet Union commits itself to withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan.
The USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) strikes a naval mine in the Persian Gulf, while deployed on Operation Earnest Will, during the Tanker War phase of the Iran–Iraq War.
April 16
Israeli commandos kill the PLO's Abu Jihad in Tunisia.
In Forlì, Italy, the brigate rosse kill Senator Roberto Ruffilli, an advisor of Prime Minister Ciriaco de Mita.
April 18 – The United States Navy retaliates for the USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) mining with Operation Praying Mantis, in a day of strikes against Iranian oil platforms and naval vessels.
April 20 – The world's longest skyjacking comes to an end when the remaining passengers of Kuwait Airways Flight 422 are released by their captives.
April 22 – The Ouvéa cave hostage taking begins in Ouvéa, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia.
April 25 – In Israel, Ivan Demjanjuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II. He is accused by survivors of being the notorious guard at the Treblinka extermination camp known as "Ivan the Terrible". The conviction is later overturned by the Israeli Supreme Court.
April 28 – Aloha Airlines Flight 243 loses several yards of its upper fuselage while in flight, killing 1 person.
April 30
World Expo 88 opens in Brisbane Queensland, Australia.
Celine Dion wins the Eurovision Song Contest for Switzerland with the song "Ne partez pas sans moi".
May
May 4 – PEPCON disaster in Henderson, Nevada: A major explosion at an industrial solid-fuel rocket plant causes damage extending up to 10 miles (16 km) away, including Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport.
May 5 – The Ouvéa cave hostage taking ends in Ouvéa, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia.
May 14 – Bus collision near Carrollton, Kentucky: A drunk driver going the wrong way on Interstate 71, hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group from Radcliff, Kentucky. The resulting fire kills 27, making it tied for 1st in the U.S. for most fatalities involving 2 vehicles to the present day. Coincidentally, the other 2-vehicle accident involving a bus that also killed 27 occurred in Prestonburg, Kentucky on February 28, 1958.
May 15 – Soviet war in Afghanistan: After more than 8 years of fighting, the Soviet Army begins withdrawing from Afghanistan.
May 16
A report by U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.
California v. Greenwood: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that police officers do not need a search warrant to search through discarded garbage.
May 24 – Section 28 (outlawing promotion of homosexuality in schools) is passed as law by Parliament in the United Kingdom.
May 27 – Microsoft releases Windows 2.1.
May 31 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan addresses 600 Moscow State University students, during his visit to the Soviet Union.
June
Congress approved expansion of Medicare benefits to protect against "catastrophic" medical costs; the act was repealed in November 1989.
June 5 – The first National Cancer Survivors Day is held.
June 6 – Elizabeth II strips jockey Lester Piggott of his OBE, following his jailing for tax irregularities.
June 10 – Spontaneous 100,000 strong mass night-singing demonstrations in Estonia eventually give name to the Singing Revolution.
June 11
The name of the General Public License (GPL) is mentioned for the first time.
Wembley Stadium hosts a concert featuring stars from the fields of music, comedy and film, in celebration of the 70th birthday of imprisoned ANC leader Nelson Mandela.
June 14 – A small wildfire starts in Montana just north of the boundary for Yellowstone National Park. The Storm Creek fire expands into the park, then merges with dozens of other drought-inspired fires. Eventually, over 750,000 acres (3,000 km2) of Yellowstone – 36% of the park's area – burns before firefighters gain control in late September.
June 22 - Who Framed Roger Rabbit is released to theaters by Walt Disney Pictures.
June 23 – NASA scientist James Hansen testifies to the Senate that man-made global warming has begun.
June 25 – The Netherlands defeats the Soviet Union 2–0 to win Euro 88.
June 26 – Air France Flight 296 crashes into the tops of trees beyond the runway on a demonstration flight at Habsheim, France; 3 passengers are killed.
June 27 – The Gare de Lyon rail accident occurs in Paris, France as a commuter train headed inbound to the terminal crashes into a stationary outbound train, killing 56 and injuring 57.
June 28 – Four workers are exposed to poisonous gas at a metal-plating plant in Auburn, Indiana, in the worst confined-space industrial accident in U.S. history (a fifth victim dies two days later).
June 29 – Morrison v. Olson: The United States Supreme Court upholds the law allowing special prosecutors to investigate suspected crimes by executive branch officials.
June 30 – Roman Catholic Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrates four bishops at Écône, Switzerland for his apostolate, along with Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer, without a papal mandate.
July
July 3
The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, providing the second connection between the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosphorus.
Iran Air Flight 655 is accidentally shot down by a missile launched from the USS Vincennes.
July 6
The Piper Alpha production platform in the North Sea is destroyed by explosions and fires, killing 165 oil workers and 2 rescue mariners. 61 workers survive.
The first reported medical waste on beaches in the Greater New York area (including hypodermic needles and syringes possibly infected with the AIDS virus) washes ashore on Long Island. Subsequent medical waste discoveries on beaches in Coney Island, Brooklyn and in Monmouth County, New Jersey force the closure of numerous New York–area beaches in the middle of one of the hottest summers on record in the American Northeast.
July 14 – Volkswagen closes its Westmoreland Assembly Plant after 10 years of operation (the first factory built by a non-American automaker in the U.S.).
July 16 – Paddy Ashdown becomes the leader of the Liberal Democrats in the UK.
July 20 – The Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia nominates Michael Dukakis for U.S. President and Lloyd Bentsen for Vice President.
July 31 – Thirty-two people are killed and 1,674 injured when a bridge at the Sultan Abdul Halim Ferry terminal collapses in Butterworth, Malaysia.
August
August 5
Arif Hussain Hussaini, leader of Pakistani Shia Muslims, is shot in Peshawar.
The 1988 Malaysian constitutional crisis culminates in the ouster of the Lord President of Malaysia, Salleh Abas.
August 6–August 7 – Tompkins Square Park Police Riot in New York City: A riot erupts in Tompkins Square Park when police attempt to enforce a newly passed curfew for the park. Bystanders, artists, residents, homeless people and political activists are caught up in the police action that takes place during the night of August 6 and early into August 7.
August 8 – 8888 Uprising: Thousands of protesters in Burma, now known as Myanmar, are killed during anti-government demonstrations.
August 11 – Al-Qaeda is formed by Osama bin Laden.
August 14 – Enzo Ferrari, founder of the Italian automobile manufacturer Ferrari, dies at the age of 90, after a long illness.
August 17 – Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Arnold Lewis Raphel, are killed in a plane crash near Bahawalpur.
August 18 – The Republican National Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana nominates George H. W. Bush for President and Dan Quayle for Vice President of the United States of America.
August 19 – A truce begins in the Iran–Iraq War.
August 20 – The Iran–Iraq War ends, with an estimated one million lives lost.
August 21 – Major earthquake of magnitude 6.6 hits the Nepal-India border; an estimated 1,004 people are killed and more than 16,000 injured.
August 25 – A fire destroys part of Chiado quarter, in Lisbon's historical center.
August 26 – Mehran Karimi Nasseri, "The terminal man", decides to stay at the De Gaulle Airport in Paris, where he will continue to reside until August 1, 2006.
August 28 – Seventy-five people are killed and 346 injured in one of the worst air show disasters in history at Germany's Ramstein Air Base, when three jets from the Italian air demonstration team, Frecce Tricolori, collide, sending one of the aircraft crashing into the crowd of spectators.
September
September 5 – With US$2 billion in federal aid, the Robert M. Bass Group agrees to buy the United States' largest thrift, American Savings and Loan Association.
September 11 – In Estonia, 300,000 demonstrate for independence.
September 12 – Hurricane Gilbert devastates Jamaica; it turns towards Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula 2 days later, causing an estimated $5 billion in damage.
September 16 – Tom Browning of the Cincinnati Reds pitches the 12th perfect game in baseball history against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Riverfront Stadium.
September 17–October 2 – The 1988 Summer Olympics are held in Seoul, South Korea.
September 22 – The Ocean Odyssey drilling rig suffers a blowout and fire in the North Sea (see also July 6).
September 24–September 26 – Large, militant protests against the 1988 World Bank and IMF meetings take place in West Berlin.
September 29 – STS-26: NASA resumes Space Shuttle flights, grounded after the Challenger disaster, with Space Shuttle Discovery.
October
October 5
Thousands riot in Algiers, Algeria against the National Liberation Front government; by October 10 the army has killed and tortured about 500 people in crushing the riots.
Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet loses a national plebiscite on his rule; he relinquishes power in 1990.
In Omaha, Nebraska, in the only vice presidential debate of the 1988 U.S. presidential election, the Republican vice presidential nominee, Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana, insists he has as much experience in government as John F. Kennedy did when he sought the presidency in 1960. His Democratic opponent, Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas, replies, "Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."
October 7 – War of the Worlds premieres in syndication.
October 9 – The 1985–1988 Rugby League World Cup culminates in Australia's 25–12 victory over New Zealand at Auckland's Eden Park before 47,363 spectators.
October 12
Walsh Street police shootings: Two Victoria Police officers are gunned down, execution style, in Australia.
The Birchandra Manu massacre occurs in Tripura, India.
October 13 – In the second U.S. presidential debate, held by U.C.L.A., the Democratic party nominee, Michael Dukakis, is asked by journalist Bernard Shaw of CNN if he would support the death penalty if his wife, Kitty, were to be raped and murdered. Gov. Dukakis' reply, voicing his opposition to capital punishment in any and all circumstances, is later said to have been a major reason for the eventual failure of his campaign for the White House.
October 19 – The United Kingdom bans broadcast interviews with IRA members. The BBC gets around this stricture through the use of professional actors.
October 27 – Ronald Reagan decides to tear down the new U.S. Embassy in Moscow because of Soviet listening devices in the building structure.
October 28 – Abortion: 48 hours after announcing it was abandoning RU-486, French manufacturer Roussel Uclaf states that it will resume distribution of the drug.
October 29 – Pakistan's General Rahimuddin Khan resigns from his post as the governor of Sindh, following attempts by the President of Pakistan, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, to limit the vast powers Gen. Rahimuddin had accumulated.
October 30
Philip Morris buys Kraft Foods for US$13.1 billion.[6]
Expo '88 in Brisbane, Australia draws to a close.
November
November 1 – In the Israeli election, Likud wins 47 seats, Labour wins 49, but Likud Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir remains in office.
November 2 – The Morris worm, the first computer worm distributed via the Internet, written by Robert Tappan Morris, is launched from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S.
November 3–November 5 – Thousands of South Korean students demonstrate against former president Chun Doo-hwan.
November 3 – Sri Lankan Tamil mercenaries try to overthrow the Maldivian government. At President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's request, the Indian military suppresses the coup attempt within 24 hours.
November 8 – United States presidential election, 1988: George H. W. Bush is elected over Michael Dukakis, becoming the first sitting Vice President of the United States in 152 years to be elected as President of the United States.
November 10 - The United States Air Force acknowledges the existence of the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk in a Pentagon press conference.
November 11 – In Sacramento, California, police find a body buried in the lawn of 60-year-old boardinghouse landlady Dorothea Puente (7 bodies are eventually found and Puente is convicted of 3 murders and sentenced to life in prison).
November 13 – Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian law student in Portland, Oregon, is beaten to death by members of the Neo-Nazi group East Side White Pride.
November 15
In the Soviet Union, the unmanned Shuttle Buran is launched by an Energia rocket on its maiden orbital spaceflight (the first and last space flight for the shuttle).
Israeli–Palestinian conflict: An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed at the Palestinian National Council meeting in Algiers, by a vote of 253–46.
The very first Fairtrade label, Max Havelaar, is launched by Nico Roozen, Frans van der Hoff and ecumenical development agency Solidaridad in the Netherlands.
November 16
The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR adopts the Estonian Sovereignty Declaration in which the laws of the Estonian SSR are declared supreme over those of the USSR.
In the first open election in more than a decade, voters in Pakistan choose populist candidate Benazir Bhutto to be Prime Minister. Elections are held as planned despite head of state Zia-ul-Haq's death earlier in August.
November 18 – War on Drugs: U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill providing the death penalty for murderous drug traffickers.
November 21
Canadian federal election, 1988: Brian Mulroney and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada win a second majority government.
Ted Turner officially buys Jim Crockett Promotions, known as NWA Crockett, and turns it into World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
November 22 – In Palmdale, California, the first prototype B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is revealed.
November 23 – Former Korean president Chun Doo Hwan publicly apologizes for corruption during his presidency, announcing he will go into exile.
November 24 – The popular American cult television comedy Mystery Science Theater 3000 makes its debut on KTMA.
November 30 – Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. buys RJR Nabisco for US$25.07 billion in the biggest leveraged buyout deal of all time.
December
December 1 – Carlos Salinas de Gortari takes office as President of Mexico.
The first World AIDS Day is held.
December 2
Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state.
A cyclone in Bangladesh leaves 5 million homeless and thousands dead.
December 6 – The Australian Capital Territory is granted self-government by the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988.
December 7
In Soviet Armenia, the Leninakan or Spitak earthquake (6.9 on the Richter scale) kills nearly 25,000, injures 15,000 and leaves 400,000 homeless.
Estonian becomes the official language of Estonia.
December 8 – Famous American vocalist Roy Orbison dies of a heart attack in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
December 9 – The last Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant roll off the assembly line in a Chrysler factory in the U.S.
December 12 – The Clapham Junction rail crash in London kills 35 and injures 132.
December 16 – Perennial U.S. presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche is convicted of mail fraud.
December 20 – The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
December 21 – Pan Am Flight 103 is blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing a total of 270 people. Those responsible are believed to be Libyans.
Drexel Burnham Lambert agreed to plead guilty to insider trading and other violations and pay penalties of US$650 million.
December 22 – Brazilian union and environmental activist Chico Mendes is assassinated.