1988 Newspaper Headlines Summary
January 1, 1988
The Dell Computer Corporation is incorporated.
January 1, 1988
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is established. This creates the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States.
February 13-28, 1988
The 1988 Winter Olympics are held in Calgary, Canada.
April 11, 1988
The Last Emperor wins nine Oscars.
May 15, 1988
After more than eight years of fighting in the Soviet war, the Red Army begins to withdraw from Afghanistan.
May 27, 1988
Microsoft releases Windows 2.1.
May 31, 1988
President Ronald Reagan addresses 600 Moscow State University students during his visit to the Soviet Union.
June 11, 1988
Wembley Stadium in London hosts a concert featuring stars from the fields of music, comedy and film, in celebration of the 70th birthday of jailed African National Congress leader, Nelson Mandela.
August 20, 1988
The Iran-Iraq War ends, with an estimated one million lives lost.
September 17, 1988
The 1988 Summer Olympics open in Seoul, South Korea.
September 29, 1988
NASA resumes space shuttle flights with the Space Shuttle ‘Discovery‘. Missions had previously been grounded after the ‘Challenger’ disaster in 1983 had culminated in the death of all seven crew members.
October 11, 1988
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.
November 8, 1988
George H. W. Bush is elected over Michael Dukakis in the 1988 United States presidential election.
November 18, 1988
President Ronald Reagan signs a bill providing the death penalty for murderous drug traffickers.
December 1, 1988
The first World Aids Day is observed.
December 2, 1988
Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state.
December 6, 1988
Roy Orbison, American singer (b. 1936) dies from a heart attack.
December 7, 1988
In Armenia, an earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale kills nearly 25,000 people. It also injures 15,000 and leaves 400,000 homeless.
December 21, 1988
‘Pan Am Flight 103’ is blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, UK, killing a total of 270 people. Those responsible are believed to be either Iranians or Libyans.
Whether you’re looking for particular 1988 headlines as a historian or for students and research, our archives feature over 4 million titles. History is simply fascinating through the first-hand accounts of newspapers who witnessed the events that shaped the world as we know it.
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