1988

1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. It is the year in the 20th century that has the most Roman numerals (11).

Events

January

• January 1 - The Soviet Union begins its program of economic restructuring (perestroika) with legislation initiated by Premier Mikhail Gorbachev.
• January 1 - The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is established, creating the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States.
• January 8 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls 140.58 points, or 6.85%, to close at 1,911.31 in a mini-crash.
• 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 Arabs 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 - Australia celebrates its bicentenary (1788).
• 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 11 - Anthony M. Kennedy is appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States.
• February 13-February 28 - The 1988 Winter Olympics are held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
• February 17 - U.S. Lieutenant Colonel William R. Higgins, serving with a United Nations group monitoring a truce in southern Lebanon, is kidnapped (he is later killed by his captors).
• February 21 - On his television show in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, televangelist Jimmy Swaggart confesses to an unspecified sin (an affair with prostitute Debra Murphree, as it turns out) and announces he will temporarily leave the pulpit.
• 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 29 - A Nazi document implicates Kurt Waldheim in W.W. II deportations.

March

• March 6 - Students at Gallaudet University go on strike for the selection of a deaf university president.
• March 7 - Operation Flavius: The Special Air Services fatally shoot 3 unarmed Irish Republican Army members in Gibraltar.
• March 8 - Two U.S. Army helicopters collide in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, killing 17 servicemen.
• March 8 - U.S. presidential candidate George Herbert Walker Bush defeats Robert 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 16 - The Halabja poison gas attack is carried out by Iraqi government forces.
• 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 17 - A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into the side of the mountains near the Venezuelan border killing 143.
• March 19 - British Army Corporals Woods and Howes are killed by the IRA in the so-called "Corporals killings".
• March 24 - An Israeli court sentences Mordechai Vanunu to 18 years in prison for disclosing Israel's nuclear program to The Sunday Times.
• March 25 - The Candle Demonstration in Bratislava, Slovakia is the first mass demonstration of the 1980s against the communist regime 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. Richard 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.
• April 10 - The Ojari Camp Disaster occurs in Islamabad.
• April 10 - The Great Seto Bridge opens to traffic in Japan.
• April 11 - The Last Emperor (directed by Bernardo Bertolucci) wins 9 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.
• April 16 - In Forlì, Italy, the Red Brigades kill Senator Roberto Ruffilli, an advisor of Prime Minister Ciriaco de Mita.
• April 18 - United States Navy forces retaliate for the Roberts mining with Operation Praying Mantis, in a day of strikes against Iranian oil platforms and naval vessels.
• April 25 - In Israel, John Demjanjuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II. He was 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 Flight 243 loses several yards of its upper fuselage while in flight; extraordinarily, the craft lands with only 1 fatality.
• April 30 - World Expo '88 opens in Brisbane Queensland, Australia. The exhibition runs for 6 months, hosting pavilions from over 70 countries and thrusting the city of Brisbane into the international spotlight.

May

• May 8 - PEPCON disaster in Henderson, Nevada: A major explosion at an industrial solid-fuel rocket plant causes damage extending up to 10 miles away, including Las Vegas's McCarran International Airport.
• May 14 - Bus disaster 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.
• May 14 - Wimbledon wins the English FA Cup after beating Liverpool 1-0 at Wembley. The south-west Londoners had pulled off one of the greatest upsets in the history of English football, as they had been top division members for just 2 years and had joined the Football League only 11 years earlier. Liverpool, meanwhile, had won a total of 30 major trophies including 17 league titles.
• May 15 - Soviet war in Afghanistan: After more than 8 years of fighting, the Red 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.
• May 16 - 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 31 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan addresses 600 Moscow State University students, during his visit to the Soviet Union.

June

• June 6 - Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom strips jockey Lester Piggott of his Order of the British Empire.
• June 11 - The name of the General Public License (GPL) is mentioned for the first time.
• June 25 - The Netherlands defeats the Soviet Union 2-0 to win Euro 88.
• June 28 - Four workers are asphyxiated at a metal-plating plant in Auburn, Indiana, in the worst confined-space industrial accident in U.S. history (a fifth victim dies 2 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 4 bishops at Ecône, Switzerland for his apostolate, along with Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer, without a papal mandate.

July

• July 3 - Iran Air Flight 655 is accidentally shot down by missiles launched from the USS Vincennes.
• July 6 - The Piper Alpha drilling platform in the North Sea is destroyed by explosions and fires, killing 165 oil workers and 2 rescue mariners.
• July 6 - 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 and in Monmouth County, New Jersey force the closure of numerous New York-area beaches in the middle of one of the hottest summers in the American Northeast on record.
• July 14 - Volkswagen closes its Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania plant after 10 years of operation (the first factory built by a non-American automaker in the U.S.).
• 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 - The 1988 Malaysian constitutional crisis culminates in the sacking 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 brutally 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 on the night of August 6th and the early morning of August 7th.
• August 8 - The Chicago Cubs play their first ever night game at home in Wrigley Field.
• August 8 - 8888 Uprising: Thousands of protestors in Burma (now Myanmar) are killed during anti-government demonstrations.
• August 9 - Wayne Gretzky is traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings, in one of the most controversial transactions in ice hockey history.
• August 17 - Pakistan President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash near Bhawalpur.
• August 18 - The Republican National Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana nominates George H.W. Bush for U.S. President and Dan Quayle for Vice President.
• August 18 - Pakistan's General Rahimuddin Khan resigns from his post as Governor of Sindh.
• August 19 - A ceasefire begins in the Iran-Iraq war.
• August 20 - The Iran-Iraq war ends, with an estimated 1 million lives lost.
• August 26 - Merhan Karimi Nasseri ("The terminal man") is stuck in the De Gaulle Airport in Paris, where he continues to reside until August 1, 2006.
• August 28 - Sixty-seven people are killed and 346 injured in one of the worst airshow disasters in history at Germany's Ramstein Air Base, when 3 jets from the Italian air demonstration team, Frecce Tricolori, collide, sending 1 jet crashing into the crowd.
• August 28 - A fire destroys part of Chiado quarter, in Lisbon's historical center.
• August 29 - The first World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) (WWF at the time) SummerSlam main event, featuring Hulk "Hulkamania" Hogan and "Macho Man" Randy Savage versus André the Giant and "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, is held in Madison Square Garden in New York City.

September

• September 5 - With US$2 billion in federal aid, the Robert M. Bass Group agrees to buy the United States's largest thrift, American Savings and Loan Association.
• September 12 - Hurricane Gilbert devastates Jamaica; it turns towards Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula 2 days later, causing an estimated $5 billion in damage.
• September 17-October 2 - The Summer Olympic Games 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.
• October 5 - Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is defeated in a national plebiscite that sought to renew his mandate.
• October 5 - In Omaha, Nebraska, in the only vice presidential debate of the 1988 U.S. presidential election, 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 knew Jack Kennedy. I served with Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy." The positive audience response to Bentsen's remark solidifies the reputation of Quayle (who still becomes Vice President) as a political lightweight.
• October 11 - Women are allowed to study at Magdalene College, Cambridge, for the first time. Male students wear black armbands and the porter flies a black flag.
• October 12 - Walsh Street police shootings: Two Victoria Police officers are gunned down execution style in Australia.
• October 13 - In the second U.S. Presidential Debate, held at UCLA, Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis is asked by Bernard Shaw of CNN if he would support the death penalty if his wife were raped and murdered. Dukakis's bloodless reply, voicing opposition to capital punishment in all circumstances, is later believed to be a main reason for his eventual loss to his Republican opponent, George Herbert Walker Bush.
• October 19 - The United Kingdom bans broadcast interviews with IRA members. BBC gets around this by using actors' voices.
• 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 30 - Philip Morris buys Kraft Foods for US$13.1 billion.
• October 30 - Expo '88 in Brisbane Australia draws to a close after a 6 month spectacular.
• October 30 - Formula One: Ayrton Senna clinches his first World Championship with a phenomenal drive in the Japanese Grand Prix, recovering from 16th place on the first lap to win the race and beat rival Alain Prost into second place.

November

Buran shuttle before liftoff.

• November 1 - In the Israeli election, Likud wins 47 seats, Labour wins 49, but Likud Prime Minister Shamir remains in office.
• November 3-November 5: Thousands of South Korean students demonstrate against former president Chun Doo Hwan.
• November 8 - U.S. presidential election, 1988: George H.W. Bush is elected over Michael Dukakis.
• 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 15 - In the Soviet Union, the uncrewed Shuttle Buran is launched by an Energia rocket on its maiden orbital spaceflight (the first and last space flight for the shuttle).
• November 15 - Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed at the Palestinian National Council meeting in Algiers, by a vote of 253 to 46.
• November 15 - 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 declares that Estonia is "sovereign" but stops short of declaring independence.
• November 16 - In the first open election in more than a decade, voters in Pakistan choose populist candidate Benazir Bhutto to be Prime Minister.
• 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.
• 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 30 - Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. buys RJR Nabisco for US$25.07 billion.

December

The wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103

• 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.
• December 2 - A cyclone in Bangladesh leaves 5 million homeless and thousands dead.
• December 7 - In Armenia an earthquake 6.9 on the Richter scale kills nearly 25,000, injures 15,000 and leaves 400,000 homeless.
• December 9 - The last Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant roll off the assembly line in a Chrysler factory.
• December 12 - The Clapham Junction rail crash kills 35 and injures 132.
• 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 by Libyan terrorists over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing a total of 270 people. Those responsible are believed to be of either Iranian or Libyan origin.
• December 22 - Brazilian union and environmental activist Chico Mendes is assassinated.

Unknown date

• TAT-8, the first transatlantic telephone cable to use optical fibers, is completed.
• Zebra mussels found in the Great lakes

Births

January

• January 1 - Katie Volding, American actress
• January 7 - Alan Lowing, Scottish footballer
• January 10 - Michael Mcilorum, English rugby player
• January 12 - Chris Casement, Northern Irish footballer
• January 12 - Andrew Lawrence, American actor
• January 13 - Tatev Abrahamyan, American chess player
• January 15 - Sonny Moore, American musician
• January 16 - Nicklas Bendtner, Danish footballer
• January 22 - Greg Oden, American basketball player
• January 25 - Tatiana Golovin, French tennis player
• January 25 - Daniel Haynes, English footballer
• January 27 - Kerlon, Brazilian footballer
• January 29 - Owen Garvan, Irish footballer
• January 29 - Aydın Yılmaz, Turkish soccer player

February

• February 4 - Carly Patterson, American gymnast
• February 7 - Ai Kago, Japanese singer
• February 8 - Ryan Pinkston, American actor
• February 12 - Nicoleta Daniela Şofronie, Romanian gymnast

• February 19 - Miyu Irino, Japanese voice actor
• February 20 - Rihanna, Bajan R&B singer
• February 21 - Daniel Rose, English footballer.
• February 25 - Rúrik Gíslason, Icelandic footballer
• February 26 - David Williams, Australian footballer
• February 29 - Lena Gercke, German model

March

• March 1 - Melissandre Fuentes, Andorra figure skater
• March 2 - Kathryn Blair, Daughter of British Prime Minister Tony Blair
• March 2 - Vito Mannone, Italian footballer
• March 3 - Timur Gareev, Asian chess player
• March 3 - Michael Morrison, English footballer
• March 6 - Elaine and Melanie Silver, American actresses
• March 21 - Lee Cattermole, English footballer
• March 25 - Erik Knudsen, Canadian actor
• March 27 - Brenda Song, American actress
• March 28 - Lacey Turner, English actress
• March 31 - Hogan Ephraim, English football player

April

• April 3 - Tim Krul, Dutch soccer player
• April 5 - Daniela Luján, Mexican actress
• April 5 - Asumi Nakata, Japanese voice actress (seiyū)
• April 6 - Fabrice Muamba, English footballer
• April 8 - Philip Dowling, British actor
• April 10 - Haley Joel Osment, American actor
• April 10 - Özgürcan Özcan, Turkish soccer player
• April 10 - Travis Varcoe, Australian footballer
• April 13 - Kallie Flynn Childress, American actress
• April 20 - Mark Bluvshtein, Canadian chess player
• April 20 - Wade Oostendorp, Australian soccer player
• April 23 - Erica Mer, American actress
• April 25 - Sara Paxton, American actress
• April 29 - Jeff Batchelor, Canadian snowboarder
• April 29 - Younha, Korean born singer

May

• May 1 - Darryl Knights, English footballer
• May 1 - Jacobo León, Mexican director, animator, writer and producer
• May 5 - Jessica Dubroff, American student pilot (d.1996)
• May 5 - Brooke Hogan, American reality star and singer
• May 5 - Skye Sweetnam, Canadian singer
• May 9 - Princess Nejla bint Asem
• May 17 - Nikki Reed, American actress
• May 18 - Ryan Cooley, Canadian actor
• May 23 - Christian Lorentzen, British heir
• May 23 - Morgan Pressel, American golfer
• May 24 - Iyama Yuta, Japanese Go player
• May 27 - Heather Marks, Canadian model
• May 27 - Scott McGregor, English musician
• May 28 - Cheng Fei, Chinese gymnast
• May 28 - Meisa Kuroki, Japanese actress

June

• June 1 - Nami Tamaki, Japanese singer
• June 2 - Sergio Agüero, Argentine football (soccer) player
• June 2 - Ayaka Saito, Japanese voice actor
• June 7 - Michael Cera, Canadian actor
• June 7 - Godwin Antwi, Ghana footballer
• June 9 - Mae Whitman, American actress
• June 11 - Gakky, Japanese model/actress
• June 13 - Li Ya, Chinese gymnast
• June 24 - Micah Richards, English footballer
• June 25 - Amanda Dowler, British murder victim
• June 27 - Kate Ziegler, American swimmer
• June 30 - Sean Marquette, American actor

July

• Luke Mitchell, Scottish murderer
• July 1 - Evan Ellingson, American actor
• July 1 - Joseph Groarke, British taekwondo expert
• July 4 - Angelique Boyer, Mexican actress
• July 4 - Princess Irina of Prussia
• July 6 - Sarah Barrable-Tishauer, Canadian actress
• July 8 - Miguel Roque Farrero, Spanish footballer
• July 12 - Melissa O'Neil, Canadian Idol winner, season 3
• July 22 - Constantin, Prince of Nassau
• July 23 - Paul Anderson, English footballer
• July 25 - Anthony Stokes, Irish footballer
• July 27 - Willence Seymour, Nauruan tennis player
• July 31 - Brackin Karauria-Henry, Australian rugby player

August

• August 5 - Fleur Maxwell, Luxembourg figure skater
• August 5 - Federica Pellegrini, Italian swimmer
• August 8 - Princess Beatrice of York
• August 8 - Flavia Bujor, French writer
• August 8 - Jake Goldsbie, Canadian actor
• August 8 - Jeff Weise, American murderer (d. 2005)
• August 12 - Leah Pipes, American actress
• August 14 - Monette Russo, Australian gymnast
• August 16 - Ismaïl Aissati, Morrocan football (soccer) player
• August 17 - Belal Mansoor Ali, Kenyan runner
• August 17 - Brady Corbet, American actor
• August 18 - Jack Hobbs, English footballer
• August 19 - Travis Tedford, American actor
• August 24 - Rupert Grint, English actor
• August 26 - Princess Maria Laura, Archduchess of Austria-Este
• August 26 - Rachelle Waterman, American blogger
• August 27 - Alexa Vega, American actress

September

• September 5 - Nuri Şahin, Turkish football (soccer) player
• September 9 - Sana Saeed, Indian actress
• September 10 - Jordan Staal, Canadian hockey player
• September 16 - Teddy Geiger, American singer
• September 20 - Aura Andreea Munteanu, Romanian gymnast
• September 22 - Bethany Dillon, Christian Contemporary Music Singer/Songwriter
• September 24 - Kyle Sullivan, American actor
• September 30 - Kevin Durant, American basketball player

October

• October 5 - Bobby Edner, American actor
• October 7 - Stacy DuPree, American musician
• October 7 - Geneva Locke, Canadian actress
• October 13 - Scott Jamieson, Australian footballer
• October 14 - Max Thieriot, American actor
• October 15 - Aleksandra Szutenberg, Polish gymnast
• October 19 - Carly Janiga, American gymnast
• October 20 - Adam Butcher, Canadian actor
• October 20 - Risa Niigaki, Japanese singer
• October 25 - Kaz Patafta, Australian football (soccer) player
• October 28 - Devon Murray, Irish actor
• October 30 - Scott Dyleski, American murderer

November

• November 1 - Ai Fukuhara, Japanese tennis player
• November 2 - Lindze Letherman, American actress
• November 4 - Harrison Foss, English actor
• November 6 - Emma Stone, American actress
• November 8 - Tajima Honami, Japanese actress
• November 11 - Alexandra Kyle, American actress
• November 13 - Stephen Pollard, American musician
• November 15 - Zena Grey, American actress
• November 15 - Nikolas Besagno, American soccer player
• November 28 - Scarlett Pomers, American actress

December

• December 2 - Alfred Enoch, British actor
• December 2 - Edward Windsor, Lord Downpatrick
• December 4 - Lisa Ingildeeva, Russian gymnast
• December 5 - Ross Bagley, American actor
• December 7 - Emily Browning, Australian actress
• December 14 - Nicolas Batum, French basketball player
• December 14 - Vanessa Anne Hudgens, American actress
• December 15 - Ilona Senderek, Polish figure skater
• December 16 - Anna Popplewell, English actress
• December 16 - Jacob Lensky, Canadian soccer player
• December 19 - Victoria Ribeiro, British heir
• December 22 - Eddy Vilard, Mexican actor
• December 23 - Eri Kamei, Japanese singer
• December 24 - Piyush Chawla, Indian cricketer
• December 29 - Ágnes Szávay, Hungarian tennis player

Unknown dates

• Shefali Chowdhury, British actress
• Mark Davies, British footballer
• Delanie Fitzpatrick, American actress
• Deepika Padukone, Indian actress
• Ateqeh Rajabi, Iranian child offender (executed 2004)
• Alejandro Ramirez, Costa Rica chess player
• Laura Ross, American chess player
• Everlyn Sampi, Australian actor
• Michael Shabaz, American tennis player
• Tempest Smith, American religious discrimination victim (d.2001)
• Ghyslain Raza, Canadian internet celebrity

For musicians born in 1988, see 1988 in music.

Deaths

January

• January 2 - Edmund Brisco Ford, British geneticist (b. 1901)
• January 5 - Pete Maravich, American basketball player (b. 1947)
• January 7 - Trevor Howard, British actor (b. 1913)
• January 11 - Pappy Boyington, American pilot (b. 1912)
• January 13 - Chiang Ching-kuo, President of the Republic of China (b. 1910)
• January 14 - Georgi Malenkov, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party (b. 1902)
• January 15 - Seán MacBride, Irish Republican Army leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1904)
• January 16 - Ballard Berkeley, British actor (b. 1904)
• January 20 - Philippe de Rothschild, French vineyard owner (b. 1902)
• January 22 - Parker Fennelly, American comedian and actor (b. 1891)

February

• February 1 - Heather O'Rourke, American actress (b. 1975)
• February 3 - Robert Duncan, American poet (b. 1919)
• February 15 - Richard Feynman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
• February 19 - René Char, French poet (b. 1907)
• February 19 - André Frédéric Cournand, French-born physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1895)

March

• March 1 - Joe Besser, American actor and comedian (b. 1907)
• March 5 - Alberto Olmedo, Argentine comedian and actor (b. 1933)
• March 7 - Divine, American actor (b. 1945)
• March 8 - Henryk Szeryng, Polish-born violinist (b. 1918)
• March 9 - Kurt Georg Kiesinger, third Chancellor of Germany (b. 1904)
• March 10 - Andy Gibb, Australian singer (Bee Gees) (b. 1958)
• March 31 - William McMahon, twentieth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1908)

April

• April 3 - Milt Caniff, American cartoonist (b. 1907)
• April 12 - Harry McShane, Scottish socialist (b. 1891)
• April 15 - Kenneth Williams, English actor and raconteur (b. 1926)
• April 17 - Louise Nevelson, Ukrainian-born American sculptor (b. 1900)
• April 23 - Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1904)
• April 26 - James McCracken, American tenor (b. 1926)

May

• May 3 - Lev Semenovich Pontryagin, Russian mathematician (b. 1908)
• May 8 - Robert A. Heinlein, American science fiction author (b. 1907)
• May 10 - Shen Congwen, Chinese writer (b. 1902)
• May 11 - Kim Philby, British spy (b. 1912)
• May 12 - Chet Baker, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1929)
• May 16 - Charles Keeping, British illustrator (b. 1924)
• May 18 - Daws Butler, voice actor (b. 1916)
• May 21 - Sammy Davis, Sr., American dancer (b. 1900)
• May 25 - Ernst Ruska, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)

June

• June 25 - Hillel Slovak, Israeli-born guitarist (Red Hot Chili Peppers) (b. 1962)

July

• July 4 - Adrian Adonis. American Wrestler (b. 1954).
• July 8 - Ray Barbuti, American athlete (b. 1905)
• July 18 - Nico, singer-songwriter, fashion model, actress, Warhol socialite (b. 1938)
• July 25 - Judith Barsi, American child actress (b.1978)
• July 27 - Frank Zamboni, American inventor (b. 1901)

August

• August 2 - Raymond Carver, American short-story writer & poet (b. 1938)
• August 9 - Giacinto Scelsi, Italian composer (b. 1905)
• August 9 - Ramon Valdez, Mexican actor (b. 1923)
• August 11 - Anne Ramsey, American actress (b. 1929)
• August 12 - Jean-Michel Basquiat, American musician/graffiti painter (b. 1960)
• August 12 - Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Deva Gosvami Maharaja, religious Guru from India (b. 1895)
• August 14 - Enzo Ferrari, Italian car maker (b. 1898)
• August 17 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr., American lawyer and politician (b. 1914)
• August 17 - Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, leader of Pakistan (b. 1924)
• August 27 - William Sargant, British psychiatrist (b. 1907)

September

• September 1 - Luis Alvarez, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
• September 5 - Gert Fröbe, German actor (b. 1913)
• September 12 - Roger Hargreaves, author of the Mr. Men series (b. 1935)
• September 16 - Dick Pym, English footballer (b. 1893)
• September 21 - Glenn Robert Davis, member of United States Congress (b. 1914)
• September 28 - Charles Addams, American cartoonist (b. 1912)

October

• October 1 - Sacheverell Sitwell, English writer (b. 1897)
• October 9 - Jackie Milburn, English footballer (b. 1924)
• October 12 - Ruth Manning-Sanders, children's author (b. 1895)
• October 15 - Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, English composer and pianist (b. 1892)
• October 19 - Son House, American musician (b. 1902)
• October 22 - Henry Armstrong, American boxer (b. 1912)
• October 31 - John Houseman, Romanian-born actor and producer (b. 1902)

November

• November 9 - John N. Mitchell, U.S. Attorney General and convicted Watergate criminal (b. 1913)
• November 11 - William Ifor Jones, Welsh Conductor & Organist (b. 1900)
• November 13 - Antal Dorati, Hungarian conductor (b. 1906)
• November 19 - Christina Onassis, American shipping magnate (b. 1950)
• November 27 - John Carradine, American actor (b. 1906)

December

• December 2 - Tata Giacobetti, Italian singer and lyricist (Quartetto Cetra) (b. 1922)
• December 6 - Roy Orbison, American singer (b. 1936)
• December 21 - Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch ornithologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1907)
• December 26 - Glenn McCarthy, American oil tycoon and businessman (b. 1907)

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.
• The Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel - Maurice Allais

Templeton Prize

• Dr. Inamullah Khan

Right Livelihood Award

• International Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims / Dr. Inge Kemp Genefke
• José Lutzenberger
• John F. Charlewood Turner
• Sahabat Alam Malaysia / Mohamed Idris, Harrison Ngau, the Penan people.

1988 in fiction

Film

• Set in 1988: Donnie Darko (2001)

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