Date in year · 1988 · The 1980s

March 16, 1988

On March 16, 1988, iran–Contra affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States. The year's #1 song was "Faith" by George Michael. Brook Lopez, Robin Lopez, Chris Heston would arrive in the same year.

Events

3

Births

5

Deaths

2

Year

1988

1980s

Around 1988

The year in brief

1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1988th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 988th year of the 2nd millennium, the 88th year of the 20th century, and the 9th year of the 1980s decade.

Read the full year of 1988 →

What happened

On March 16, 1988

  1. 1988 Iran–Contra affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.

    1985–1987 political scandal in the U.S.

    The Iran–Contra affair, also referred to as the Iran–Contra scandal, the Contragate, Iran Initiative, or simply Iran–Contra, was a political scandal in the United States that centered on arms trafficking to Iran between 1981 and 1986, facilitated by senior officials of the Reagan administration. The administration hoped to use the proceeds of the arms sale to fund the Contras, an anti-Sandinista rebel group in Nicaragua. Under the Boland Amendments, a series of laws passed by Congress and signed by Ronald Reagan, further funding of the Contras by legislative appropriations was prohibited by Congress, but the Reagan administration continued funding them secretly using non-appropriated funds.

  2. 1988 Halabja chemical attack: The Kurdish town of Halabja in Iraq is attacked with a mix of poison gas and nerve agents on the orders of Saddam Hussein, killing 5,000 people and injuring about 10,000 people.

    1988 chemical attack in Iraqi Kurdistan

    The Halabja massacre took place in Iraqi Kurdistan on 16 March 1988, when thousands of Kurds were killed by a large-scale Iraqi chemical attack. A targeted attack in Halabja, it was carried out during the Anfal campaign, which was led by Iraqi military officer Ali Hassan al-Majid. Two days before the attack, the city had been captured by Iran as part of Operation Zafar 7 of the Iran–Iraq War.

  3. 1988 The Troubles: Ulster loyalist militant Michael Stone attacks a Provisional IRA funeral in Belfast with pistols and grenades. Three persons, one of them a member of PIRA, are killed, and more than 60 others are wounded.

    1960s–1998 conflict in Northern Ireland

    The Troubles were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed to have ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Although the Troubles mostly took place in Northern Ireland, at times violence spilled over into parts of the Republic of Ireland, England, and mainland Europe.

Arrivals

Born on March 16, 1988

Jhené Aiko 1988– American R&B singer (born 1988)
Jessica Gregg 1988– Canadian speed skater
Patrick Herrmann 1988– German footballer
Agustín Marchesín 1988– Argentine footballer
Jiří Tlustý 1988– Czech ice hockey player (born 1988)

Farewells

Died on March 16, 1988

Jigger Statz American baseball player (1897–1988)
Mickey Thompson American racing driver (1928–1988)

Elsewhere that year

Other moments from 1988

The class of 1988

Others born in 1988

Brook Lopez 1988– American basketball player
Robin Lopez 1988– American basketball player
Chris Heston 1988– American baseball pitcher
Kareem Jackson 1988– American football player
Haley Joel Osment 1988– American actor
Jan-Phillip Tadsen 1988– German politician

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