1988 News

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Ronald Regan
1981-1989

New In 1988

Lights at Chicago's Wrigley Field.

Prozac

U.S. advertising on Soviet TV.

Rushdie Death Sentence
Author Rushdie's 1988 book "The Satanic Verses challenged Islamic fundamentalists' claims to an immutable religion founded by an infallible prophet. The book was burned by Muslim militants in England and banned in several countries. But the reaction was strongest in Iran, whose leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, condemned Rushdie to death and promised heaven to anyone martyred in the attempt. Rushdie had a $6 million bounty out on him. The author remained a hunted man into the 1990s.

Pan Am Flight 103
On the evening of December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York blew apart six miles above Lockerbie, Scotland- raining bodies, Christmas presents, and flaming metal onto the village. All 258 people aboard the Boeing 747 died, along with eleven on the ground.

Medical Waste on Beaches
New York State officials closed 15 miles of ocean beaches on Long Island on July 6, 1988, after medical waste began washing ashore.

The waste included vials of blood, needles and syringes, and thick balls of solid sewage. Hundreds of investigators worked to crack the case. But West German police already had strong evidence that the Syrian-backed PLO had planted the bomb at Iran's behest. In 1990, U.S. officials indicted two Libyans for the crime. Libya refused to surrender its citizens, and extradition efforts continued into the 1990s.

Presidential Race
A race dominated by images (Dukakis rode in a tank to prove his toughness: Bush gobbled pork rinds to prove his commonness) came during the vice presidential debate, when Bentsen told Quayle he was "no Jack Kennedy."

Fax Revolution
Once considered office exotica, fax machines almost overnight became standard equipment . In 1988, more than a million units were sold in the U.S. alone, up from a mere 50,000 in 1983.