World Events
Population: 5.104 billion
Nobel Peace Prize: U.N. Peacekeeping Forces
US and Canada reach free trade agreement (Jan. 2). Background: NAFTA.
Terrorists kill nine tourists on Aegean cruise (July 11).
Benazir Bhutto, first Islamic woman prime minister, chosen to lead Pakistan (Dec. 1).
Pan-Am 747 explodes from terrorist bomb and crashes in Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 aboard and 11 on ground (Dec. 21).
U.S. Events
President: Ronald W. Reagan
Vice President: George Bush
Population: 244,498,982
Life expectancy: 74.9 years
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 56.6
Property Crime Rate (per 1,000): 50.3
Economics
US GDP (1998 dollars): $5,049.60 billion
Federal spending: $1064.14 billion
Federal debt: $2601.3 billion
Median Household Income
(current dollars): $27,225
Consumer Price Index: 118.3
Unemployment: 5.5%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.22 ($0.25 as of 4/3/88)
Robert C. McFarlane, former National Security Adviser, pleads guilty in Iran-Contra case (March 11).
US Navy ship shoots down Iranian airliner in Persian Gulf, mistaking it for jet fighter; 290 killed (July 3).
Democratic convention nominates Gov. Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts for President and Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen for Vice President (July 17 et seq.).
Republican convention nominates George Bush for President and Indiana Senator Dan Quayle for Vice President (Aug. 15 et seq.).
Republicans sweep 40 states in election, and Bush beats Dukakis (Nov. 8)
Sports
Super Bowl
Washington d. Denver (42-10)
World Series
LA Dodgers d. Oakland A's (4-1)
NBA Championship
LA Lakers d. Detroit Pistons (4-3)
Stanley Cup
Edmonton d. Boston (4-0)
Wimbledon
Women: Steffi Graf d. M. Navratilova (5-7 6-2 6-1)
Men: Stefan Edberg d. B. Becker (4-6 7-6 6-4 6-2)
Kentucky Derby Champion
Winning Colors
NCAA Basketball Championship
Kansas d. Oklahoma (83-79)
NCAA Football Champions
Notre Dame (12-0-0)
Entertainment
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: Beloved, Toni Morrison
Music: 12 New Etudes for Piano, William Bolcom
Drama: Driving Miss Daisy, Alfred Uhry
Oscars awarded in 1988
Academy Award, Best Picture: The Last Emperor, Jeremy Thomas, producer (Columbia)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt)
Grammy Awards
Record of the Year: Graceland - Paul Simon
Album of the Year: Joshua Tree - U2 (Island)
Song of the Year: Somewhere Out There - James Horner, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, songwriters
Miss America: Kaye Lani Rae Rafko (MI)
Ninety-eight percent of U.S. households have at least one television set.
CDs outsell vinyl records for the first time.
Ted Turner starts Turner Network Television (TNT) and buys MGM's film library.
Movies
Rain Man, Mississippi Burning, A Fish Called Wanda, Bull Durham
Books
Peter Carey, Oscar and Lucinda
Anne Tyler, Breathing Lessons
Science
Nobel Prizes in Science
Chemistry: Johann Deisenhofer, Robert Huber, and Hartmut Michel (all West Germany), for unraveling the structure of proteins that play a crucial role in photosynthesis.
Physics: Leon M. Lederman, Melvin Schwartz, and Jack Steinberger (all US), for research that improved the understanding of elementary particles and forces.
Physiology or Medicine: Gertrude B. Elion, George H. Hitchings (both US), and Sir James Black (UK), for their discoveries of important principles for drug treatment.
France and China permit use of "morning-after" birth-control drug RU486 (Mifepristone).
NASA scientist James Hansen warns congress of the dangers of the global warming and the greenhouse effect. Background: Environment & Nature.
Deaths
Roy Orbison
Chet Baker
Luis Alvarez
Edgar Jean Faure
Nora Astorga