1988
1988 (
MCMLXXXVIII) was a
leap year starting on Friday of the
Gregorian calendar.
January
*
January 1 - The
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is established, creating the largest
Lutheran denomination in the
United States.
*
January 13 -
Taiwan President
Chiang Ching-kuo dies in
Taipei; Vice-President
Lee Teng-hui becomes president.
*
January 26 -
Australia celebrates its bicentenary (
1788).
*
January 29 - The
Midwest Classic Conference, a US college athletic conference, is formed.
February
*
February 3 - The
United States House of Representatives, controlled by the
Democratic Party, 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 - The
1988 Winter Olympics open 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 - In the taping of his own television program,
televangelist Jimmy Swaggart confesses that he is guilty of an unspecified sin and will be temporarily leaving the pulpit. The "unspecified sin" was an affair with
Debra Murphree, a prostitute.
*
February 24 - The
Supreme Court of the United States sides with
Hustler magazine by overturning a lower court decision to award
Jerry Falwell $200,000 for
defamation. (
Main article: Hustler Magazine v. Falwell
)
*
February 28 - The
1988 Winter Olympics close.
*
February 29 - Nazi document implicates
Kurt Waldheim in WWII deportations.
March
*
March 1 -
Anthony M. Frank is appointed
United States Postmaster General.
*
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 three 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/cauacus calendar, designed by Democrats to help solidify their own nominee early, backfires when none of the six competing candidates are able to break out of the pack in the day's Democratic contests.
*
March 16 - The
Halabja poison gas attack was 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 -
Dulcie September is assassinated in
Paris.
April
*
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 in
Islamabad.
*
April 10 - The
Great Seto Bridge opened 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,
Soviet Union commits itself to withdrawal of its forces from
Afghanistan.
*
April 14 -
USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) strikes a
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
Khalil Wazir (Abu Jihad) in
Tunisia.
*
April 16 - In
Forlì (
Italy),
Red Brigades kill Italian senator
Roberto Ruffilli, an advisor of
Prime Minister Ciriaco de Mita.
*
April 18 -
U.S. 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 a notorious guard at the
Treblinka extermination camp known as "Ivan the Terrible". The conviction was 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 one 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: major explosion at an industrial solid-fuel rocket plant causes damage extending up to ten 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 15 -
Soviet war in Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the
Red Army begins its withdrawal 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: In a 6-2 decision, the
Supreme Court of the United States rules that police officers do not need a
search warrant to search through discarded
garbage.
*
May 24 -
Section 28 (outlawing promotion of homosexuality in schools) is passed as law by
Parliament in the
United Kingdom.
June
*
June 6 -
Queen Elizabeth strips
jockey Lester Piggott of his
OBE*
June 11 - The name of the General Public License (
GPL) is mentioned first time.
*
June 25 - The
Netherlands defeat the
Soviet Union 2-0 to win
Euro 88.
*
June 28 - Four workers asphyxiated at a metal-plating plant in
Auburn, Indiana, in the worst confined-space industrial accident in US history. A fifth victim dies two days later.
*
June 29 -
United States Supreme Court upholds the law allowing
special prosecutor to investigate suspected crimes by executive branch officials.
*
June 30 - Roman
Catholic Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated four
bishops at
Ecône for his
apostolate along with
Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer without a
Papal mandate.
July
*
July 1 -
Bologna,
Italy:
Quartetto Cetra's last concert after over forty years' musical career.
*
July 3 -
Iran Air Flight 655 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 sighting of 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 ten years of operation. The plant had been the first factory built by a non-American automaker in the U.S.
*
July 31 - Thirty-two people were killed and 1,674 injured when a bridge at the
Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal collapsed 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 erupted in Tompkins Square Park when police brutally attempted to enforce a newly-passed curfew for the park. Bystanders, artists, residents, homeless people and political activists were caught up in the police action that took place on the night of August 6th and the early morning of August 7th.
*
August 8 - Thousands of protestors in
Burma (now Myanmar) are killed during demonstrations against the government in the
8888 Uprising.
*
August 9 -
Wayne Gretzky is traded from the
Edmonton Oilers to the
Los Angeles Kings in one of the most controversial transactions in
hockey history.
*
August 10- Barney's 1st video, "The Backyard Show," starring
Sandy Duncan, is released.
*
August 17 -
Pakistan President
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and US Ambassador
Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.
*
August 18 - Pakistan's
General Rahimuddin Khan resigns from his post as
Governor of Sindh.
*
August 19 -
Ceasefire begins in the
Iran-Iraq war.
*
August 20 -
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 as of October 2005.
*
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 Gardens in
New York City.
*
August 31 - Dr. Teeth & The Muppets collapse at Walt Disney World; their new show was "Dr. Teeth & The Psychic Singers" which debuted three weeks earlier.
September
*
September 1- Acacia pycnantha proclaimed Australia's national floral emblem
*
September 3- Federal referendums on 4-year terms, recognition of local Government and other issues is defeated in Australia.
*
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 11 - Comic strip
One Big Happy debuts in newspapers
*
September 12 -
Hurricane Gilbert devastated
Jamaica, it turns towards
Mexico's
Yucatán Peninsula two days later causing an estimated $5 billion in damage.
*
September 17 -
Summer Olympic Games in
Seoul,
South Korea open
*
September 22 -
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 in
West Berlin*
September 29 -
NASA resumes
space shuttle flights, grounded after the
Challenger disaster
October
*
October 5 - Thousands riot in
Algiers,
Algeria against the government of
National Liberation Front - by
October 10 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 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 later becomes Vice President nonetheless - 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 - two officers of the
Victoria Police are gunned down executional style in the
Walsh Street police shootings in
Australia.
*
October 13 - In the second debate of the U.S. presidential candidates, 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 -
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
*
November 1 : in Israeli election,
Likud wins 47 seats,
Labor wins 49, but Likud prime minister
Shamir remains in office.
*
November 3-
5 : Thousands of South Korean students demonstrate against former president
Chun Doo Hwan.
*
November 8 -
U.S. presidential election, 1988:
George Herbert Walker 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 (seven bodies were eventually found and Puente was convicted of three murders and sentenced to life in prison).
*
November 15 - In the
Soviet Union, the uncrewed
Shuttle Buran is launched by an
Energia rocket on her maiden
orbital spaceflight (this was the first and last space flight for the shuttle).
*
November 15 -
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: An independent
State of Palestine is proclaimed by the
Palestinian National Council meeting in
Algiers, by a vote of 253 to 46
*
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 17 -
The Netherlands becomes the second country to get connected to the
Internet.
*
November 18 -
War on Drugs:
US President Ronald Reagan signs a bill into law 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 -
Cyclone in
Bangladesh leaves 5 million homeless - thousands dead
*
December 3 - Date of a claimed
apparition of the
Blessed Virgin Mary to
Estela Ruiz in South
Phoenix, Arizona*
December 7 - In
Armenia an
earthquake 6.9 on the
Richter scale killed nearly 25,000, injured 15,000 and left 400,000 persons homeless.
*
December 8 - "Here Come the Muppets" debuts at
Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
*
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 19 - The
Consumer Product Safety Commission bans the sale of
lawn darts following the deaths of three children.
*
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 259 on board and 11 on the ground. (Iran is originally suspected of planting the bomb as revenge for the accidental American shooting of Iran Air Flight 655 on July 3, 1988.)
*
December 22 - Assassination of
Brazilian union and environmental activist
Chico Mendes.
Environmental change
*
Zebra mussels found in the
Great lakesUnknown dates
*
Dave Barry wins the Pulitzer Prize for commentary.
*Singer
Fish leaves the band
Marillion to pursue a solo career.
*
Mickey Sadoff is elected president of
Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
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 17 -
Nikki Reed, American actress
*
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 15 -
Daniela Luján, British actress
*
February 19 -
Miyu Irino, Japanese voice actor
*
February 20 -
Rihanna, Bajan R&B singer
*
February 25 -
Rúrik Gíslason, Icelandic footballer
*
February 26 -
David Williams, Australian footballer
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 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 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 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 10 -
Kevin Hayashi, Japanese actor
*
June 11 -
Gakky, Japanese model/actress
*
June 13 -
Li Ya, Chinese gymnast
*
June 24 -
Micah Richards, English footballer
*
June 27 -
Kate Ziegler, American swimmer
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 20 -
Aura Andreea Munteanu, Romanian gymnast
*
September 22 -
Bethany Dillon, Christian Contemporary Music Singer/Songwriter
*
September 24 -
Kyle Sullivan, American actor
October
*
October 5 -
Bobby Edner, American actor
*
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 convict
November
*
November 1 -
Ai Fukuhara, Japanese tennis player
*
November 2 -
Lindze Letherman, American actress
*
November 4 -
Harrison Foss, English actor
*
November 6 -
Emily Stone, American actress
*
November 8 -
Tajima Honami, Japanese actress
*
November 11 -
Alexandra Kyle, American actress
*
November 15 -
Zena Grey, American actress
*
November 15 -
Nikolas Besagno, American soccer player
*
November 19 -
Candace Newmaker, American child abuse victim (d.
1999)
*
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 -
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
For musicians born in 1988, see 1988 in music.
January to March
*
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 1 -
Heather O'Rourke, American actress (b.
1975)
*
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 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 to June
*
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 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 25 -
Hillel Slovak, Israeli-born guitarist (
Red Hot Chili Peppers) (b.
1962)
July to September
*
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 9 -
Ramon Valdez, Mexican actor (b.
1923)
*
August 11 -
Anne Ramsey, American actress (b.
1929)
*
August 14 -
Enzo Ferrari, Italian car maker (b.
1898)
*
August 12 -
Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Deva Gosvami Maharaja, religious Guru from India (b.
1895)
*
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 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 21 -
Glenn Robert Davis, member of
United States Congress (b.
1914)
*
September 28 -
Charles Addams, American cartoonist (b.
1912)
October to December
*
October 1 -
Sacheverell Sitwell, English writer (b.
1897)
*
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 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 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)
*
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*
Dr. Inamullah Khan*
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.
* The
2001 movie
Donnie Darko is set in
October 1988.
*
1988 Coin Pictures
