1st January » The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America comes into existence, creating the largest Lutheranism known as Lutheran religious denomination called denomination in the United States.
13th January » Lee Teng-hui becomes the first Taiwanese people e.g native Taiwanese President of the Republic of China.
28th January » In R. v. Morgentaler the Supreme Court of Canada strikes down all anti-abortion laws, effectively allowing abortions in Canada in all 9 months of pregnancy.
5th February » Manuel Noriega is indicted on Illegal drug trade named drug smuggling and money laundering charges.
6th February » Michael Jordan makes his signature slam dunk from the free throw line inspiring Air Jordan and the Jumpman (logo) called Jumpman logo.
20th February » The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast votes to secede from Azerbaijan and join Armenia, triggering the Nagorno-Karabakh War.
27th February » Sumgait pogrom: The Armenians called Armenian community of Sumgait in Azerbaijan is targeted in a violent massacre.
29th February » South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with 100 clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town.
29th February » Svend Robinson becomes the first member of the Canadian House of Commons to coming out named come out as gay.
6th March » Three Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers are killed by Special Air Service on the territory of Gibraltar in the conclusion of Operation Flavius.
13th March » The Seikan Tunnel, the longest undersea tunnel in the world, opens between Aomori, Aomori known as Aomori and Hakodate, Hokkaidō named Hakodate, Japan.
14th March » Johnson South Reef Skirmish: Chinese forces defeat Vietnamese forces in Johnson South Reef, disputed Spratly Islands.
16th March » Iran-Contra Affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy (crime) known as conspiracy to defraud the United States.
16th March » Halabja poison gas attack: The Kurdish town of Halabjah in Iraq is attacked with a mix of poison gas and nerve agents on the orders of Saddam Hussein, killing 5000 people and injuring about 10000 people.
16th March » The Troubles: Ulster loyalism Ulster loyalist militant Michael Stone (loyalist) Michael Stone Milltown Cemetery attack attacks a Provisional IRA funeral in Belfast with pistols and grenades. Three people are killed and more than 60 wounded. The attack was
17th March » A Colombian Boeing 727 jet airliner named jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into a mountainside near the Venezuelan border killing 143.
25th March » The Candle demonstration in Bratislava known as Candle demonstration in Bratislava is the first mass demonstration of the 1980s against the communist regime in Czechoslovakia.
4th April » List of Governors of Arizona known as Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office.
10th April » The Ojhri Camp disaster: Killing more than 1,000 people in Rawalpindi and Islamabad as a result of rockets and other munitions expelled by the blast.
14th April » The USS Samuel B. Roberts FFG-58 6 strikes a naval mine mine in the Persian Gulf during Operation Earnest Will.
14th April » In a United Nations ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, the Soviet Union signs an agreement pledging to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.
18th April » The United States launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian naval forces in the largest naval battle since World War II.
25th April » In Israel, John Demjanuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II.
4th May » The PEPCON disaster rocks Henderson, Nevada, as tons of space shuttle fuel detonate during a fire.
14th May » Carrollton bus collision: A drunk driving or drunk driver traveling the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton, Kentucky, United States hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group. Twenty-seven die in the crash and ensuing fire.
15th May » Soviet war in Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Soviet Army begins its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
29th May » The President of the United States known as U.S. President Ronald Reagan begins his first visit to the Soviet Union when he arrives in Moscow for a superpower summit with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
4th June » Three cars on a train carrying hexogen to Kazakhstan Arzamas train disaster named explode in Arzamas, Gorky Oblast, Soviet Union known as USSR, killing 91 and injuring about 1,500.
27th June » Gare de Lyon rail accident In Paris a train collides with a stationary train killing 56 people.
3rd July » United States Navy warship USS Vincennes CG-49 6 shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
3rd July » The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, providing the second connection between the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosphorus.
23rd July » General Ne Win, effective ruler of Burma since 1962, resigns after pro-democracy protests.
31st July » 32 people are killed and 1,674 injured when a Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal bridge collapse e.g bridge at the Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal collapses in Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia.
6th August » The Tompkins Square Park Riot (1988) e.g Tompkins Square Park Riot in New York City spurs a reform of the New York City Police Department e.g NYPD, held responsible for the event.
10th August » Japanese American internment: U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, providing $20,000 payments to Japanese Americans who were either interned in or relocated by the United States during World War II.
17th August » President of Pakistan Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and Ambassadors of the United States named U.S. Ambassador Arnold Lewis Raphel named Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.
20th August » "Black Saturday" of the Yellowstone fires of 1988 e.g Yellowstone fire in Yellowstone National Park
20th August » Peru becomes a member of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works called Berne Convention copyright treaty.
20th August » Iran–Iraq War: A ceasefire is agreed after almost eight years of war.
20th August » The Troubles: Ballygawley bus bombing Eight British soldiers are killed and 28 wounded when their bus is hit by an Provisional Irish Republican Army IRA roadside bomb in Ballygawley, County Tyrone Ballygawley, County Tyrone.
25th August » The Chiado area in Lisbon is partially destroyed by a fire.
28th August » Ramstein airshow disaster: Three aircraft of the Frecce Tricolori demonstration team collide and the wreckage falls into the crowd. Seventy-five are killed and 346 seriously injured.
7th September » Abdul Ahad Mohmand, the first Afghan people Afghan in outer space space, returns aboard the Soviet Union Soviet spacecraft Soyuz TM-5 after 9 days on the Mir space station.
8th September » Yellowstone National Park is closed for the first time in U.S. history due to Yellowstone fires of 1988 or ongoing fires.
11th September » The St. Jean Bosco massacre takes place in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
13th September » Hurricane Gilbert is the strongest recorded hurricane in the Western Hemisphere, later replaced by Hurricane Wilma in 2005 (based on barometric pressure).
18th September » End of 8888 Uprising or pro-democracy uprisings in Myanmar after a bloody military coup by the State Law and Order Restoration Council. Thousands, mostly monks and civilians (primarily students), are killed by the Myanmar Armed Forces or Tatmadaw.
23rd September » José Canseco of the Oakland Athletics becomes the first member of the 40–40 club.
27th September » National League for Democracy is formed by Aung San Suu Kyi and various others to help fight against dictatorship in Myanmar.
29th September » Space Shuttle: NASA launches STS-26, the return to flight mission, after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster e.g Space Shuttle 'Challenger' disaster.
30th September » Al Holbert was fatally injured when his privately owned propeller driven Piper Aerostar or Piper PA-60 aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff near Columbus, Ohio when a clamshell door was not closed.
4th October » U.S. televangelist Jim Bakker is indicted for fraud.
5th October » The Chilean opposition coalition 'Concertación' (center-left) defeats Augusto Pinochet in Chilean national plebiscite, 1988 named his re-election attempt and a general election is called the following year.
5th October » The Brazilian Constitution is ratified by the Brazilian Constituent Assembly (1988) or Constituent Assembly.
7th October » An Inupiat people called Inupiaq hunter discovers three gray whales trapped under the ice in Barrow, Alaska, US; the situation becomes Operation Breakthrough known as a multinational effort to free the whales.
12th October » Jaffna University Helidrop: Commandos of Indian Peace Keeping Force raided the Jaffna University campus to capture the LTTE chief and walked into a trap.
12th October » Two officers of the Victoria Police are gunned down executional style in the Walsh Street police shootings, Australia.
12th October » Birchandra Manu massacre in Tripura, India
19th October » The Government of the United Kingdom British government imposes a 1988–94 British broadcasting voice restrictions broadcasting ban on television and radio interviews with members of Sinn Féin and eleven Irish republicanism Irish republican and Ulster loya
27th October » Ronald Reagan decides to tear down the new U.S. Embassy in Moscow because of Soviet listening devices in the building structure.
2nd November » The Morris worm, the first internet-distributed computer worm to gain significant mainstream media attention, is launched from Massachusetts Institute of Technology called MIT.
13th November » Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian law student in Portland, Oregon is beaten to death by members of the Neo-Nazi group East Side White Pride.
15th November » In the Soviet Union, the unmanned Buran (spacecraft) called Shuttle 'Buran' makes its only space flight.
15th November » Israeli–Palestinian conflict: An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed by the Palestinian National Council.
15th November » The first Fairtrade certification e.g Fairtrade label, Stichting Max Havelaar or Max Havelaar, is launched in the Netherlands.
16th November » The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic Estonian Sovereignty Declaration or declares that Estonia is "sovereign" but stops short of declaring independence.
16th November » In the first open election in more than a decade, voters in Pakistan elect populist candidate Benazir Bhutto to be Prime Minister of Pakistan.
18th November » War on Drugs: U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill into law allowing the Capital punishment e.g death penalty for drug trafficking known as drug traffickers.
19th November » Serbian communist representative and future Serbian and Yugoslavia or Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic publicly declares that Serbia is under attack from Albanian people known as Albanian separatists in Kosovo as well as internal treachery within Yug
22nd November » In United States Air Force Plant 42 e.g Palmdale, California, the first prototype Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit known as B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is revealed.
1st December » Benazir Bhutto is appointed Prime Minister of Pakistan.
2nd December » Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state.
6th December » The history of the Australian Capital Territory e.g Australian Capital Territory is granted self-government.
7th December » 1988 Spitak earthquake named Spitak Earthquake: In Armenia an earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter magnitude scale known as Richter scale kills more than 25,000, injures 30,000 and leaves 500,000 homeless out of a population of 3,500,000.
7th December » Yasser Arafat recognizes the right of Israel to exist.
8th December » A United States Air Force Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II called A-10 Thunderbolt II 1988 Remscheid A-10 crash e.g crashes into an apartment complex in Remscheid, Germany, killing 5 people and injuring 50 others.
9th December » The Michael Hughes Bridge in Sligo, Ireland, is officially opened.
12th December » The Clapham Junction rail crash kills thirty-five and injures hundreds after two collisions of three commuter trains—one of the worst train crashes in the United Kingdom.
13th December » Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat gives a speech at a United Nations General Assembly UN General Assembly meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, after United States authorities refused to grant him a Visa (document) vis
14th December » The ET3 (Greece) called ET3 television network is launched in Thessaloniki, Greece.
20th December » The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed in Vienna, Austria.
21st December » A bomb explodes on board Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, killing 270.
22nd December » Chico Mendes, a Brazilian Rubber tapping rubber tapper, Trade union unionist and Environmentalism environmental activist, is assassination assassinated.
31st December » First Winter Ascent of Lhotse (8,516m) by Krzysztof Wielicki (solo).