WHAT ALL HAPPENED MAY TO DECEMBER 1988
Find out what all happened May to December 1988

A report by United States' Surgeon General C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine. (16. May 1988)

Yellowstone National Park is closed for the first time in U.S. history due to ongoing fires. (8. September 1988)

A fire at Illinois Bell's Hinsdale Central Office triggers an extended 1AESS network outage once considered the 'worst telecommunications disaster in US telephone industry history' and still the worst to occur on Mother's Day. (8. May 1988)

The Chilean opposition coalition Concertación (center-left) defeats Augusto Pinochet in his re-election attempt and a general election is called the following year. (5. October 1988)

Ronald Reagan decides to tear down the new U.S. Embassy in Moscow because of Soviet listening devices in the building structure. (27. October 1988)

José Canseco of the Oakland Athletics becomes the first member of the 40–40 club. (23. September 1988)

Section 28 of the United Kingdom's Local Government Act 1988, a controversial amendment stating that a local authority cannot intentionally promote homosexuality, is enacted. (24. May 1988)

Gare de Lyon rail accident In Paris a train collides with a stationary train killing 56 people. (27. June 1988)

The "8888 Uprising" occurs in Burma. (8. August 1988)

National League for Democracy is formed by Aung San Suu Kyi and various others to help fight against dictatorship in Myanmar. (27. September 1988)

Spitak Earthquake: In Armenia an earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale kills more than 25,000, injures 30,000 and leaves 500,000 homeless out of a population of 3,500,000. (7. December 1988)

Carrollton bus collision: a drunk driver traveling the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton, Kentucky, United States hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group. 27 die in the crash and ensuing fire. (14. May 1988)

The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed in Vienna, Austria. (20. December 1988)

Pittsburgh Penguins' Mario Lemieux becomes the only National Hockey League player to score goals in five different ways: even strength, shorthanded, power play, penalty shot, and empty net, during a 8–6 win over the New Jersey Devils. (31. December 1988)

Chico Mendes, a Brazilian rubber tapper, unionist and environmental activist, is assassinated. (22. December 1988)

The Morris worm, the first internet-distributed computer worm to gain significant mainstream media attention, is launched from MIT. (2. November 1988)

The 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. (29. May 1988)

Abdul Ahad Mohmand, the first Afghan in space, returns aboard the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz TM-5 after 9 days on the Mir space station. (7. September 1988)

32 people are killed and 1,674 injured when a bridge at the Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal collapses in Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia. (31. July 1988)

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. (10. August 1988)