H&M announces its Circle 4 Safety campaign, a permanent program aimed at improving employee awareness of safety issues… Bernie Hagan, Delaware Valley Division Manager, is elected Vice President by the Board of Directors of H&M … Henkels & McCoy’s Delaware Valley Division is contracted to install temporary 30-inch gas mains for Philadelphia Gas Works due to a replacement of the city’s Walnut Street Bridge as part of a complicated upgrade of Interstate 76 (the Schuylkill Expressway). Because the old bridge is being demolished, all previously embedded utilities need to be moved until the new construction is nearly complete. It’s a mammoth undertaking… Henkels & McCoy installs some 44,000 feet of interior single-sheathed cable inside a huge General Motors automobile assembly plant in Arlington, Texas for Electronic Data Systems, a GM division. In addition to placing cable 40 feet above the floor of the massive plant, H&M spliced 50,000 pairs of wires in the central communications equipment room and at each terminal within the facility… Henkels & McCoy’s Industrial Division’s General Construction and Mechanical departments join forces in constructing a co-generation plant for Merck Sharp & Dohme, in West Point, Pennsylvania… As another example of innovation, H&M adapts its Railroad Cable Plow to place four-inch conduit along stretches of a new 120-mile fiber optic line between Roanoke, Virginia and Winston-Salem, North Carolina for US Sprint… Henkels & McCoy crews install lighting along the unfinished Interstate 476 (aka the Blue Route).
January 21
US and Canada reach free trade agreement.
March 11
Robert C. "Buzz" McFarlane, former National Security Adviser, pleads guilty in Iran-Contra case
April 3
The price of a first class US postage stamp leaps to 25 cents from 22 cents.
July 3
A US Navy ship shoots down an Iranian airliner in the Persian Gulf, after mistaking it for an incoming jet fighter; 290 are killed in the tragedy.
July 11
Terrorists kill nine tourists on Aegean Sea cruise ship.
July 17
Democratic convention nominates Gov. Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts for president and Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen for vice president.
August 15
Republicans nominate George H.W. Bush (right) for president and Indiana US Representative Dan Quayle of Indiana for vice president.
August 17
Pakistani president Mohammad Zia ul-Haq is killed in plane crash.
September 12
Saint Louis Cardinals (football) move to Arizona and are renamed Phoenix Cardinals. In their first game in their new home, they are defeated by the Dallas Cowboys 17-14.
November 8
Republicans sweep 40 states in election. George H. W. Bush trounces opponent Mike Dukakis despite a confident, intelligent performance by the brainy Dukakis in their debates. A tide-turning TV commercial devised by GOP political strategist Lee Atwater depicted a revolving door with convicted prisoners walking in and out of prison, meant to symbolize Massachusetts' prisoner furlough policy and capitalizing on an instance where a convicted felon murdered somebody while out on a furlough. This will be known as the infamous "Willie Horton ad." ... Dukakis also shot himself in the foot by appearing in a US Army tank for TV commercials to illustrate his leadership qualities. His diminutive stature -- and the large tank driver's helmet -- made him seem small, weak and ineffective. He was lampooned by the media as looking more like Snoopy (of the newspaper syndicated comic "Peanuts"). The ads of George H. W. Bush, on the other hand, who served as the USA's youngest ever fighter pilot during World War II and was decorated for bravery in action, showed a handsome, open faced yet determined aviator.
December 1
Benazir Bhutto (right) is the first Islamic woman prime minister, chosen to lead Pakistan. Her father had been Pakistan's leader, but was overthrown in a coup and executed.
December 21
A US bound Pan-Am 747 jet explodes and crashes in the village of Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 aboard and 11 on the ground. The plane is later found to have had a bomb smuggled aboard, hidden in luggage that was checked-in during a stop in Germany. Eventually, the bombers will be traced to Libya. Left: Scottish police and medical technicians remove bodies from the debris strewn site of the crash.
ALSO IN 1988:
Work begins on the 32-mile Channel Tunnel (or Chunnel) which will provide a railway link connecting Folkestone, England to Sangatte, France. The project is successfully completed in 1994. It’s the first time that Britain is physically connected to Europe since the Ice Age... First widely available, consumer oriented facsimile machine is introduced. "I'll fax it to you," enters the popular lexicon... France and China permit use of "morning-after" birth-control drug... NASA scientist James Hansen warns US congress of the dangers of continued global warming and the greenhouse effect.
In Sports
Washington Redskins defeat Denver 42-10 in the Super Bowl...In World Series action it's a california tussle as the LA Dodgers beat the Oakland A's 4 to 1... The LA Lakers defeat the Detroit Pistons (4-3) for the NBA Championship... In the Stanley Cup, Edmonton sweeps Boston 4 -zip... At Wimbledon, Women: Steffi Graf defeats Martina Navratilova (5-7, 6-2, 6-1); Men: Stefan Edberg defeats Boris Becker (4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-2)... In the NCAA Basketball Championship, Kansas defeats Oklahoma (83-79)... Notre Dame's football team is undefeated (12-0-0)... In the Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea, Canadian Ben Johnson beat defending champ Carl Lewis in the 100-meter dash in world record time of 9.79. Johnson is stripped of his gold medal two days later by the IOC when post-race drug test indicates use of steroids... Florence Griffith Joyner wins three gold medals – in the 100, 200 and 4x100-meter relay, and a silver in the 4x400 relay... Jackie Joyner-Kersee, (Florence Joyner's sister in law) wins in the long jump and heptathlon events... In the 988 Winter Olympics, held in Calgary Canada, the USSR is the clear winner with a total of 29 medals (11 Gold), followed by their comrades from East Germany with 25 medals (9 gold).
What's on TV
Ted Turner starts cable’s Turner Network Television... Ninety-eight percent of US households have at least one television set... the brash, heavy, loudly dressed and unruly Rosanne makes her working class debut and nearly topples Cosby from the Number One perch... Also new this year are Empty Nest, Anything But Love, Dear John, LA Law, Unsolved Mysteries, Hunter and Head of the Class.
That's Show Biz
At the movies: Rain Man, Mississippi Burning, A Fish Called Wanda, and Bull Durham, among others... Compact Discs (CDs) outsell vinyl records for the first time.
Deaths
Singer Roy Orbison, (left) the sweet voiced Texan singer of Only the Lonely (1960) and Oh, Pretty Woman (1964), dies during a resurgent comeback in his career as a member of the casual, hit-making, ad-hoc Traveling Wilburys (along with Jeff Lynn, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, and Tom Petty).
Well it's all right, even if you're old and gray
Well it's all right, you still got something to say
Well it's all right, remember to live and let live
Well it's all right, the best you can do is forgive