1988 was a year that truly had some big historical events!Margaret Thatcher, the first-ever female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, became the longest-serving Prime Minister of the 20th century in 1988. After an eight-year conflict, the Soviet war in Afghanistan came to an end, and the tragic Pan Am Flight 103 accident shook the world in December 1988.The year 1988 also brought with it many developments in technology and computers. The Netherlands became the second-ever country to be connected to the internet.In 1988, compact discs (C.D.s) out sold vinyl records for the first time ever.We’ve compiled a range of 1988 facts, including trivia and fun facts about then-President Ronald Reagan, fashion icons, pop culture history, pop culture news, Olympic sport, gold medal winners, and back-to-back shows.If you liked reading our article on 1988 facts, make sure also to check out our articles on 1968 facts and 1980 fun facts.The 1998 United States Presidential ElectionThe United States Presidential Election of 1988 certainly brought with it a lot of changes and was one of the biggest news stories of 1988. Want to know what key changes in political structure happened? Keep reading!On Nov 8, 1988, the representatives of the 101st United States Congress were elected in the United States elections. The Republican Party kept control of the White House, but the Democratic Party retained its control of Congress.President Reagan was replaced by George H. W. Bush, Reagan’s vice president, who then won the 1988 presidential election with Reagan’s assistance. Republican Vice President George H. W. Bush successfully defeated Democratic Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts in the 1988 presidential election. Bush received 426 of the 538 votes cast, winning the popular vote by slightly under eight points. Bush defeated Kansas Senator Bob Dole and Virginia televangelist Pat Robertson for the Republican nomination. Dukakis defeated Illinois Reverend Jesse Jackson, Tennessee Senator Al Gore, and Missouri Congressman Dick Gephardt for the Democratic nomination. Since Harry S. Truman’s victory in the 1948 presidential election, Bush’s triumph is the only time either party has won more than two successive presidential elections.There were no substantial partisan shifts in either the Senate or the House, and the Democratic Party kept control of both chambers. The Democratic Party won one governorship in the gubernatorial elections.The 1988 Seoul Olympic GamesThe 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad and also christened Seoul 1988, were held in Seoul, South Korea. The 1988 Olympics were an international multi-sport event that was held between Sept 17 to Oct 2. A total of 8391 athletes from 159 countries competed in the games.Following boycotts at the previous two Olympiads, political issues threatened to resurface at the 1988 Games. In the months before the commencement of the Games, there were violent student uprisings in Seoul. North Korea, which is still technically at war with South Korea, objected strongly to being designated as a cohost. The International Olympic Committee made several offers to North Korea, but the country rejected them and boycotted the games. Several other countries, including Cuba and Ethiopia, also boycotted Seoul in support of North Korea. The boycott had little effect unlike previous ones, and the Seoul Games were quite competitive.In 1986, the Olympic law requiring amateur engagement was repealed, and the decision on professional participation was left to the governing bodies of individual sports. Tennis, which had been withdrawn from the Games in 1924, was reinstated as a result of this. Team archery and table tennis were also added as new events.Canadian Ben Johnson, the 328 ft (100 m) champion, and three weightlifters were disqualified after testing positive for steroid use. In total, 10 competitors were barred from competing in the Games due to their use of performance-enhancing substances or drugs. Kenya’s men’s team won a total of four of the six distance races on the circuit. Sergey Bubka, a Soviet pole vaulter, earned his first-ever gold medal. Florence Griffith Joyner of the United States won three gold medal awards in the women’s category, while Jackie Joyner-Kersee of the U.S. won gold in the heptathlon as well as the long jump. In the featherweight division, Turkish weightlifter Naim Suleymanoglu won the first of his two gold medals in his career. Aleksandr Kareline, a Soviet Greco-Roman wrestler, earned his first gold medal in the super heavyweight division.Advances In The Development Of Computers During 1988A plethora of new computer products and services were launched in 1988.The SoundBlaster, a sound card for the P.C., was invented by Creative Labs. An 11-voice F.M. synthesizer with a text-to-speech feature, digitized voice input/output, a MIDI connector, a joystick port, and associated software was included on the sound card.On Nov 2, Robert Morris released what he famously named the Morris worm. It was one of the first significant computer worms, infecting some 6,000 machines over the internet and assisting in the formation of the CERT Coordination Center.Sierra Entertainment released Kings Quest IV, which was the first game to use AdLib and the first-ever T1 backbone was included in ARPANET in the year 1988.Dr. George E. Gerpheide, Ph.D., first pioneered the GlidePoint technology that underpins the touchpad in 1988.Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was amended in 1988 to include information on information technology accessibility standards. EISA was also formally announced as an alternative to MCA in September 1988.On May 28, 1988, the first-ever version of DR DOS was released. 3D Studio, which subsequently became 3ds Max, was also launched in 1988.In July 1988, Microsoft introduced MS-DOS 4.0. In Nov, Microsoft launched MS-DOS 4.01. On Aug 1, Microsoft Office was released for the first time ever. In 1988, Microsoft launched Excel 1.5 for the MacApple initiated a copyright infringement lawsuit against Microsoft for Windows 2.03 on Mar 17, 1988, citing the operating system’s and GUI’s similarities to their Macintosh operating system. On Feb 21, 1995, the legal struggle was resolved. On October 12, 1988, Steve Jobs announced the famous NeXT computer.In 1988, Hewlett-Packard created and released the H.P. DeskJet inkjet printer. It is widely regarded as the first-ever mass-market inkjet printer, and it went on to become a very successful inkjet printer series.On Oct 29, 1988, Sega released its first gaming machine, the Sega Genesis (or also known as the Mega Drive in Japan), and on Aug 14, 1989, in North America. Globally, at least 20.4 million devices have been sold as of 2010.In 1988, Octave was initially released.The Intel 80386SX was released in 1988, WAIS was first introduced in 1988 by Thinking Machines Inc and on Jun 21, 1988, IBM debuted the AS/400 family of minicomputers.TADS (Text Adventure Development System) was introduced for the first time by Michael J. Roberts and Motorola released its 88000 CPU.In 1988, SNMP was launched and The National Time Protocol (NTP) was first introduced.Development In Technology: The Unblocking Of Radio Signals1988 did not hold back on its technological innovations. On the contrary, many new inventions were made, and these inventions revolutionized technology.Radio is a signaling and communication technology that uses radio waves. Electromagnetic waves with a frequency of 30 hertz (Hz) to 300 gigahertz are known as radio waves (GHz). For the first-ever time since the early 1950s, the Soviet Union stopped jamming Russian-language broadcasts by the American-funded Radio Liberty and two other foreign radio stations in 1988, ostensibly ridding Soviet airwaves of malicious interference with foreign broadcasts.The jamming of Radio Liberty’s Russian-language shortwave transmissions by the Soviet Union had ended. The Soviet Union claimed that the transmissions to Ukraine, Byelorussia, the Baltic states, the Caucasus, and Central Asia were clear, according to its listeners.The two other stations that were being jammed in the Soviet Union, Deutsche Welle, and Israeli radio reported that the interference had gone.Also, a patent was filed for a radio communication receiver. The patent report summarized the receiver’s features as below:A radio communication receiver decodes digital signals transmitted via a radio link and can adjust its bit rate to match the bit rate transmitted from a distant point. A receiver section of the receiver receives radio signals and produces a received signal. The received signal is decoded using a microprocessor. A programmable divider generates a bit-rate signal that the microprocessor responds to. The microprocessor is configured to detect a predefined code signal and change the bit-rate signal’s timing characteristic to generate a bit-rate signal at a second rate for decoding received signals at the second-bit rate designated by the predetermined code signal.Other Interesting Facts From 1988Here are a few more facts for you from 1988.TIME magazine named Endangered Earth as the Planet of the Year for 1988 as a twist on its traditional Man of the Year.The Beach Boys released their most famous hit, ‘Kokomo’, in 1988.The animated film, ‘Akira’ was released in 1988.For the bicentenary celebrations in 1988, Prince Charles and Princess Diana visited Thailand and toured Australia.In 1988, the Sacramento Kings basketball team moved from the Matthew Knight Arena to the newly constructed ARCO Arena.The 1988 World Series was Major League Baseball’s championship series for the 1988 season. It was a best-out-of-seven playoff in the World Series’ 85th edition. In 1988, the Los Angeles Dodgers were crowned World Series Champions.‘Rain Man’, an American road drama film written and directed by Barry Levinson was released in 1988. The film is based on a screenplay by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass and depicts the story of an aggressive, self-centered young wheeler-dealer named Charlie Babbitt, who learns that his estranged father has passed away and left his multimillion-dollar estate to his other son, Raymond, who suffers from autism and who Charlie knows nothing about.‘Crocodile Dundee II’ was released in 1988. Crocodile Dundee is a sequel to ‘Crocodile Dundee’ (1986), and it was followed by ‘Crocodile Dundee in L.A’. (2001). Paul Hogan and Linda Kozlowski reprise their roles as Mick Dundee and Sue Charlton, who are involved in fighting a Colombian drug cartel.‘The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!’ is another action movie that was released in 1988.Guns N’ Roses opened for Aerosmith in 1988, and their album ‘Appetite for Destruction,’ with the single ‘Sweet Child o Mine,’ became a huge success. Their intimate fall tour in 1988 was also hugely successful. Guns N’ Roses is set to launch their new E.P. ‘Hard Skool’ in 2022.In 1988, the Chicago Cubs hosted the first-ever night game in the history of Wrigley Field.NASA’s Space Shuttle Discovery launched on STS-26, the 26th mission of the space shuttle program and the 7th mission for Discovery, from the Kennedy Space Center on Sep 29, 1988.‘1-2-3’ is a 1988 song by the American songwriter and singer Gloria Estefan and the famous Miami Sound Machine.‘Live at Wembley July 16, 1988’, a live concert DVD by the world-famous American recording artist Michael Jackson was released on Sep 18, 2012. It was released both as part of the Bad 25 reissue and separately. Wembley was Jackson’s third tour stop and features his smooth stage dancers.Many film and tv studios released famous hits in 1988. ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ was released to critical acclaim, grossing $156,452,370.Strasbourg, Grande-Île and Neustadt was added to the list of UNESCO cultural heritage sites.On National Coffee Day, tell your friend this coffee fact: instant coffee was especially famous in 1988.Justice Anthony Kennedy was sworn in as the 104th Supreme Court Justice in 1988.In 1988, Atlantic Records celebrated its 40th anniversary in New York City.‘The Golden Girls’ was a popular comedy T.V. sitcom that aired on NBC throughout 1988.In 1988, George Michael became the best-selling artist of the year. George Michael had debuted his solo album ‘Faith’ towards the end of 1987.The 10th studio album of Cheap Trick, ‘Lap of Luxury,’ was released on Apr 12, 1988, and is the band’s second most commercially successful studio album.The famous battle of the Iran–Iraq War finally ended in 1988 with the hope of seeing a different world in the region.In 1988 the second North American leg of Pink Floyd’s A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour kicked off in Cleveland.Major defense development occurred in 1988 along with the industries of aerospace, motor vehicle, shipbuilding, and electronics.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for 1988 facts, then why not take a look at 1968 facts, or 1971 facts.
1988 was a year that truly had some big historical events!
