This is a list of events from the year 1988 in the United States.

Incumbents Federal government President: Ronald Reagan (R-California) Vice President: George H. W. Bush (R-Texas) Chief Justice: William Rehnquist (Virginia) Speaker of the House of Representatives: Jim Wright (D-Texas) Senate Majority Leader: Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia) Congress: 100th

State governments Governors and lieutenant governors Governors

Lieutenant governors

Events January January 1 The Dell Computer Corporation is incorporated. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is established, creating the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States. January 2 – Michigan State Spartans football team wins the Rose Bowl Game against the USC Trojans. January 4 – Nick Jr. begins as a block of Nickelodeon programming for younger children. January 25 Ronald Reagan delivers his final State of the Union Address. 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 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 $36,250,000 to support the Nicaraguan Contras. February 12 – Anthony M. Kennedy is appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States. February 14 – Hours after learning the death of his sister, US speed skater Dan Jansen falls twice and fails to win a medal in the 500-meter race in the Calgary Winter Olympics. February 16 – Gunman Richard Farley kills seven people inside his former workplace, ESL Incorporated in Sunnyvale, California. He had been stalking colleague Laura Black who still worked there; however, she survived the shooting. Farley is currently on death row. 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 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.

March March 8 Two U.S. Army helicopters collide in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, killing 17 servicemen. U.S. presidential candidate George Herbert Walker Bush defeats Bob 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 six 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 9 – Blackstone Financial Management is founded as a global asset management company in New York City by eight co-founders, led by Larry Fink. In 1992, it would change its name to BlackRock. March 13 – Gallaudet University, a university for the deaf in Washington, D.C., elects Dr. I. King Jordan as the first deaf president in its history, following the Deaf President Now campaign, considered a turning point in the deaf civil rights movement. March 16 First RepublicBank of Texas fails and enters FDIC receivership, the second-largest FDIC assisted bank failure up to that point. Iran-Contra Affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States. Rick Walls began his Nuclear career in the U.S. Navy March 26 – U.S. presidential candidate Jesse Jackson defeats Michael Dukakis in the Michigan Democratic caucuses, becoming the frontrunner temporarily 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 27 – The World Wrestling Federation holds WrestleMania IV from the Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall (Promoted as Trump Plaza) in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

April April – The unemployment rate drops to 5.4%, the lowest since June 1974. April 1 – In Fort Wayne, Indiana, 8-year-old April Marie Tinsley is kidnapped and murdered. 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 11 – The 60th Academy Awards, hosted by Chevy Chase, are held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor wins all nine of its nominations (the first film to do so since 1958's Gigi), including Best Picture and Best Director. April 12 – Former pop singer Sonny Bono is elected Mayor of Palm Springs, California. April 14 – The USS Samuel B. Roberts 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 18 – The United States Navy retaliates for the Roberts mining with Operation Praying Mantis, in a day of strikes against Iranian oil platforms and naval vessels. April 28 – Aloha Airlines Flight 243, a scheduled passenger flight to Honolulu, Hawaii originating from Hilo, Hawaii, suffers an explosive decompression after a portion of the aircraft's roof towards front of the fuselage tore off during flight, resulting in the death of a flight attendant. Everybody else onboard survives after the aircraft makes a successful emergency landing at Kahului Airport in Maui, Hawaii.

May May 4 – PEPCON disaster in Henderson, Nevada: A 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 collision near Carrollton, Kentucky: A drunk driver traveling in the wrong direction on Interstate 71 hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group from Radcliff, Kentucky. The resulting fire kills 27 people, making it tied for first in the U.S. for most fatalities involving 2 vehicles to the present day. Coincidentally, the other 2-vehicle accident involving a bus that also killed 27 occurred in Prestonsburg, Kentucky thirty years prior. 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. California v. Greenwood: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that police officers do not need a search warrant to search through discarded garbage. May 27 – Microsoft releases Windows 2.1. May 31 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan addresses 600 Moscow State University students during his visit to the Soviet Union.

June June 1 – The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, banning intermediate-range missiles in the United States and the Soviet Union, comes into effect. June 12 – Rusty Wallace wins the last NASCAR Winston Cup Series Budweiser 400 auto race at Riverside International Raceway in Riverside, California. June 14 – A small wildfire is started by a lightning strike in Montana, United States, near the boundary for Yellowstone National Park. The Storm Creek fire expands into the park, then merges with dozens of other drought-aggravated fires. Eventually, over of Yellowstone – 36% of the park's area – burns before firefighters gain control in late September. June 22 – Animation/live action crossover movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit is released through Touchstone Pictures. It brings a renewed interest in the Golden Age of American animation, spearheading modern American animation and the Disney Renaissance. 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 two 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.

July July 3 – Iran Air Flight 655 is shot down by a missile launched from the USS Vincennes. July 4 – In Zürich, Switzerland, FIFA chose the United States as the venue to organize the 1994 FIFA World Cup, the United States won with 10 votes, surpassed Morocco with 7 votes and Brazil with 3 votes. 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, Brooklyn and in Monmouth County, New Jersey, force the closure of numerous New York–area beaches in the middle of one of the hottest summers on record in the American Northeast. July 13 – Miami Arena in Miami, Florida opens. July 14 – Volkswagen closes its Westmoreland Assembly Plant after ten 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 as their presidential candidate and Lloyd Bentsen as his running mate. July 26 – The death of Tate Rowland leads way to publicized rumors of a Satanic cult in the rural community of Childress, Texas.

August August 6–7 – Tompkins Square Park Police Riot in New York City: A riot erupts in Tompkins Square Park when police 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, which takes place during the night of August 6 and into the early morning of August 7. August 9 – Wrigley Field has its first night game of baseball, ending long opposition to lights at the field. August 17 – Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Arnold Raphel, are killed in a plane crash near Bhawalpur. August 18 – The Republican National Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana nominates Vice President George H. W. Bush as their presidential candidate and Dan Quayle as his running mate. August 29 – The World Wrestling Federation holds its inaugural SummerSlam event from Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.

September

September 5 – With the US's largest thrift institution, American Savings and Loan Association, entering receivership, the Robert M. Bass Group (headed by Robert Bass) agrees to buy its good assets with US$1.7 billion in federal aid (completed December). September 15 – Nicholas F. Brady is sworn in as the new Secretary of Treasury, succeeding James Baker. September 17–October 2 – The United States participates in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea and ranks in third place, bringing home 36 gold, 31 silver and 27 bronze medals for a total of 94 medals behind the Soviet Union in first place and East Germany in second. September 25 – Jim Lehrer hosts the first presidential debate between Michael Dukakis and Vice President Bush at Wake Forest University. September 29 – STS-26: NASA resumes Space Shuttle flights, grounded after the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, with Space Shuttle Discovery going back into orbit and deploying the TDRS-3 satellite, putting the US back into the Space Race.

October October 3 – STS-26 lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California after four days of its successful maiden flight and satellite deployment. October 5 – In Omaha, Nebraska, in the only vice presidential debate of the 1988 U.S. presidential election, the 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 audience response to Senator Bentsen's remark is overwhelmingly positive.