1988: Bush Wins White House, Pan Am 103 Blown Up Over Lockerbie

By Patrick Mondout

Vice President Bush's victory over Michael Dukakis, the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, the cease fire in August in the Iran/Iraq war, and scandals involving a number of televangelists were big stories in 1988.

Major Stories

January 31: The Washington Redskins destroyed the Denver Broncos 42-10 in Super Bowl XXII.
February 21: In one of the most memorable moments of the Awesome80s, Jimmy Swaggart tearfully claimed, "I have sinned against you" in a scripted program designed to elicit sympathy from his followers after it is revealed that the TV minister had been hooking up with hookers.
February 24: Jerry Falwell's attempts to win $200,000 from Hustler magazine over a cartoon ended in failure when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a lower court's judgment on free speech grounds.
March 16: Iran-Contra defendants John Poindexter and Oliver North are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
April 4: Arizona Governor Evan Mecham is removed from office following impeachment (and a voter-lead recall) for diversion of state money and for generally embarrassing residents of the state nearly every time he opened his mouth.
April 14: Soviet Union announces it will withdraw troops from Afghanistan, which will end thenine year old conflict.
June 28: The Defense Attache of the U.S. Embassy in Greece was killed when a car bomb was detonated outside his home in Athens.
July 3: The Navy's U.S.S. Vincennes mistakenly shoots down an Iranian airliner killing 290 people.
August 20: Fires in Yellowstone National Park burn over 160,000 acres in one day.
September 10-17: Hurricane Gilbert in the Caribbean & Gulf of Mexico leaves 260 dead.
September 27: Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson is stripped of his gold medal after testing positive for banned steroids.
September 29: NASA resumes Space Shuttle flights, which have been grounded since the Challenger disaster
November 8: George Bush Sr. wins the presidency by a comfortable margin over Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis.
November 15: First and only flight of the Soviet space shuttle.
December 7: An earthquake in Armenia leaves over 25,000 dead.
December 21: Pan American Airlines Flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, by a bomb believed to have been placed on the aircraft in Frankfurt, West Germany, by Libyan terrorists. All 259 people on board were killed in addition to 11 on the ground.