January 2

• An Ashland Oil Company storage tank near Pittsburgh collapses, spilling 860,000 gallons of oil into the Monongahela River. The spill then flows down the Ohio River, causing extensive damage.

February 3

• In an overturning of the 1987 Baby M case, the New Jersey Supreme Court rules that surrogate motherhood contracts that include payment are illegal. Custody of Baby M is given to William Stern (the father), but Michelle Stern is denied adoption rights and Mary Beth Whitehead (the natural mother) is given parental rights.

January 9

• "So Emotional" by Whitney Houston begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

January 12

• Rameswak Shankar becomes the first civilian president of Suriname since 1980.

January 13

• Taiwanese president Chiang Ching-kuo dies at the age of 77. He is succeeded by Lee Teng-hui.

January 15

• Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder is fired by CBS after he makes comments attributing the domiance of black athletes to breeding during slavery.

January 16

• George Harrision's remake "Got My Mind Set On You" begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

January 23

• Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel" begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

January 24

• The year-long celebration of the 1,000th anniversary of the Hawaiian culture comes to an end.

January 30

• "Need You Tonight" by INXS begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

February 5

• General Manuel Noriega is indicted on drug charges in Miami.

February 6

• Tiffany's "Could've Been" begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

February 7

• Mike Tyson, heavyweight boxing champion, marries actress Robin Givens.

February 11

• Former White House political Director Lyn Nofziger is convicted of three counts of illegal lobbying.

February 20

• "Seasons Change" by Exposé begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

February 21

• "I have sinned against you..." - Jimmy Swaggart, in a tear-filled televised confession that he has visited a prostitute in Louisiana. He steps down from his ministry in the Assemblies of God church.
• George Vassiliou is elected president of Cyprus.

February 24

• In Jerry Falwell vs Hustler, the U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of Hustler in a decision defending the right to criticize and even ridicule public figures.

February 25

• Roh Tae Woo becomes president of South Korea.

February 27

• George Michael's "Father Figure" begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.
• A Gulfstream IV jet flies around the world in 36 hours and 8 minutes, setting a new world record.

March 7

• Transvestite actor Divine dies at the age of 42.

March 10

• Vietnamese prime minister Pham Hung dies at the age of 75. He is succeeded by Do Muoi.

March 12

• Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

March 13

• Pornography star John Holmes dies of AIDS.

March 14

• The U.S. Senate ratifies a treaty banning the use of chloroflourocarbons (CFCs).

March 15

• The NFL approves plans to move the St. Louis Cardinal to Phoenix.
• Eugene Antionio Marino because the first African-American to be named an archbishop in the Catholic church.

March 16.

• John Poindexter and Oliver North are indicted on conspiracy charges.
• 3200 U.S. Soldiers are sent to Honduras to prevent an alleged attack on Contra bases. No attack occurs.

March 22

• The U.S. Congress overrides a presidentuial veto and passes the Civil Rights Restoration Act.

March 26

• Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

March 28

• The U.S. troops in Honduras are withdrawn.

April 1

• President Reagan signs legislation granting nearly $48,000,000 in Contra aid.

April 4

• Arizona governor Evan Mecham is impeached.

April 8

• Reverend Jimmy Swaggart is removed from the ministry of the Assemblies of God after refusing to accept the church's punishment of a year off the pulpit.

April 9

• Billy Ocean's "Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car" begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

April 12

• A genetically-engineered white mouse becomes the first patented animal.
• Sonny Bono is elected mayor of Palm Springs, California.

April 14

• An agreement signed by the U.S.S.R., the U.S., Pakistan, and Afghanistan ends the nine-year Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

April 18

• The U.S. attacks Iranian oil platforms and ships in the Persian Gulf in relation for Iran's mining of the Gulf.

April 20

• New York Yankee Jack Clark hits a home run, making the New York Yankees the first team to hit more than 10,000 homers.

April 22

• The anti-acne drug Accutane is found to cause severe birth defects.

April 23

• The U.S. bans smoking on short domestic flights.
• Daedalus 88, a human-powered airplane, flies 74 miles from Crete to Santorini.
• Where Do Broken Hearts Go" by Whitney Houston begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

April 25

• Warner Books buys the rights to publish the sequel to Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With The Wind", which will be written by Alexandra Ripley, for $4,940,000.

April 28

• The fuselage on an Aloha Airlines flight between Hilo and Honolulu rips open, killing a flight attendant and injuring 60 others.
• The Baltimore Orioles begin a 21-game losing streak, setting a new American League record.

May 7

• "Wishing Well" by Terence Trent D'Arby begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

May 8

• François Mitterand is re-elected president of France.

May 11

• Happy 100th birthday! Songwriter Irving Berlin celebrates his 100th birthday today.

May 13

• Preliminary test results of the drug AZT show that it prolongs the lives of AIDS victims.

May 14

• "Anything For You" by Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.
• A drunk driver driving the wrong way on a Kentucky interstate highway crashes head-on with a church bus. The impact and resulting file kill 27 people, most of them teens. The truck driver survives, faced with 27 murder charges.

May 15

• Rodrigo Borja Cavallos is elected president of Ecuador.
• Soviet forces begin leaving Afghanistan.

May 18

• Today is the 100th anniversary of the poem "Casey at the Bat" by Ernest L. Thayer.

May 26

• The U.S. government mails a pamphlet providing AIDS information to every residence in the nation.

May 28

• George Michael's "One More Try" begins a 3-week reign as the number 1 song.

June 13

• Antionio Cipollone is awarded $400,000 damages for the 1984 death of his wife, a smoker, in the first successful lawsuit blaming a tobacco company for a death.

June 18

• "Together Forever" by Rick Astley begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

June 15

• Debbie Gibson's "Foolosh Beat" begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

June 20

• A military coup in Haiti overthrows recently-elected president Leslie Manigat. Henri Namphy, the previous ruler, assumes power.

June 25

• Mildred E. Gillars (Mildred Elizabeth Sisk) aka "Axis Salley", an American woman who broadcast Nazi propaganda during World War II, dies.

June 27

• Michigan becomes the first state to ban surrogate motherhood.

July 2

• Michael Jackson's "Dirty Diana" begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

July 3

• The U.S.S. Vincennes, responding to what it thought was an attack by an Iranian F-14 fighter, fires a missile that shoots down what is actually an Iranian passenger jet. All 290 passengers are killed.

July 5

• Attorney General Edwin Meese announces that he intends to resign.

July 6

• Carlos Salinas de Gortari is elected president of Mexico.
• Syringes tainted with AIDS-infected blood and other medical waste begin washing up on Long Island beaches.

July 7

• An oil platform in the North Sea explodes, killing 167 workers.

July 9

• Cheap Trick's "The Flame" begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

July 18-21

• Michael Dukakis is formally nominated as the Democratic candidate for U.S. president. His running mate is Lloyd Bentsen.

July 20

• The release of Martin Scorsese's film "The Last Temptation of Christ" prompts protests from fundamentalist Christians across the U.S.

July 23

• "Hold On to the Nights" by Richard Marx begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

July 27

• Chatichai Choonhavan becomes prime minister of Thailand.

July 30

• Steve Winwood's "Roll With It" begins a 4-week reign as the number 1 song.

August 3

• Mathias Rust, the 20-year-old from West Germany who landed his plane in Red Square, is released from a Soviet prison and returned home.

August 5

• James Baker III announces he is resigning as the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.

August 8

• Today is 8/8/88.
• Wrigley Field in Chicago holds its first night game.

August 9

• William Bennett resigns as U.S. Secretary of Education.

August 10

• President Reagan signs legislation that gives $20,000 tax-free and an apology to each of the 120,000 living Japanese-Americans who were held in U.S. concentration camps during World War II.

August 15

• George Bush is formally nominated as the Republican candidate for U.S. president, with Dan Quayle as is running mate.

August 15-22

• Ethnic violence in Burundi kills 5,000 people.

August 17

• For the first time, Soviet officials were permitted to participate in an American nuclear test.
• Rogaine becomes the first drug approved by the FDA for treating hair loss.

August 20

• A cease fire between Iran and Iraq begins, ending the 8-year war between those countries.

August 21

• 700 people are killed in an earthquake near the border between India and Nepal.

August 27

• George Michael's "Monkey" begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

August 28

• During an air show in Ramstein, West Germany, three jets collide over a crowd of spectators. 65 people (including the pilots) are killed, and more than 500 are injured.

September 10

• "Sweet Child o' Mine" by Guns n' Roses begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

September 13

• During a campaign stop at the General Dynamics plant in Michigan, Michael Dukakis takes his infamous ride in a tank.

September 14

• For the first time, U.S. officials were permitted to witness a Soviet nuclear test.

September 19

• The U.S. Senate ratifies a free-trade agreement with Canada.
• People Magazine publishes claims from friends of Robin Givens that she is being abused by ehr husband, Mike Tyson.

September 23

• Former presidential brother Billy Carter dies of cancer at the age of 51.

September 24

• Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy" begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

September 26

• Mieczyslaw Rakowski becomes prime minister of Poland.

September 29

• The space shuttle Discovery lifts-off, ending the 32-month U.S. absence from space since the Challenger disaster.

October 5

• In what would become the most memorable remark from any vice-presidential debte during the '80s, Lloyd Bentsen, in response to Dan Quayle comparing his level of experience with that of John F. Kennedy, says, "Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."

October 8

• "Love Bites" by Def Leppard begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

October 15

• "Red Red Wine" by UB40 begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

October 22

• "Groovy Kind of Love" by Phil Collins begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

October 31

• Actor John Houseman dies at the age of 86.

November 5

• "Kokomo" by Beach Boys begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

November 6

• An earthquake in China kills 700 and leaves 3,000,000 homeless.

November 8

• George Bush is elected president of the United States.

November 12

• "Wild, Wild West" by The Escape Club begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

November 19

• Bon Jovi's "Bad Medicine" begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

November 23

• Miklos Nemeth becomes prime minister of Hungary.

December 1

• Benazir Bhutto becomes prime minister of Pakistan -- the first leader of a Democratic Pakistan and the first female leader of a Muslim nation.

December 3

• "Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley (Free Baby)" by Will To Power begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

December 4

• Carlos Andres Perez is elected president of Venezuela.

December 6

• An earthquake devastates Armenia, killing thousands.

December 10

• "Look Away" by Chicago begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

December 14

• After Yasir Arafat rejects the use of terrorism, the U.S. begins talks with the PLO.

December 19

• Ranasinghe Premadasa is elected president of Sri Lanka.

December 21

• Pan American flight 103 from London to New York City explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 passengers and 11 people on the ground. The plane, which was carrying a number of students (who had been studying abroad) home for Christmas, was destroyed by a bomb hidden in a cassette player.

December 24

• "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" by Poison begins a 3-week reign as the numebr 1 song.