At A Glance

16 March 1988 at a glance

Day of the week
16 March 1988 was a Wednesday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley.
Top Film of 1988
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1988 was Rain Man.
Bestselling Novel of 1988
“The Cardinal of the Kremlin” by Tom Clancy was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1988.
Top-Rated TV Show
“The Cosby Show” (NBC) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1988–89 season.
Star sign
The star sign for 16 March is Pisces.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 16 March 1988 fell in the Year of the Dragon.
Birthstone
The birthstone for March is Aquamarine.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 16 March 1988 was Waning Crescent.

On this day: 16 March

  • 1978 Supertanker Amoco Cadiz splits in two after running aground on the Portsall Rocks, three miles off the coast of Brittany, resulting in the largest oil spill in history at that time.
  • 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War: The People's Liberation Army crosses the border back into China, ending the war.
  • 1988 Iran–Contra affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
  • 1995 Mississippi formally ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment was officially ratified in 1865.
  • 2002 Sofia Gubaidulina's Johannes-Ostern is premiered, together with her earlier Johannes-Passion, at Hamburg's Michaeliskirche, performed by soloists, choir and orchestra from the Mariinsky Theatre combined with NDR choir and orchestra, conducted by Valery Gergiev.

Famous people born on March 16

  • Mark Carney, Canadian economist and politician, Prime Minister of Canada (born 1965)
  • Alexandra Daddario, American actress (born 1986)
  • Lauren Graham, American actress and producer (born 1967)
  • Alan Tudyk, American actor (born 1971)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Events of 1988 in the United States

A selection from Wikipedia's '1988 in the United States'. Not a complete list.

  • January 1 – The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is established, creating the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States.
  • January 4 – Nick Jr. begins as a block of Nickelodeon programming for younger children.
  • March 9 – Blackstone Financial Management is founded as a global asset management company in New York City by eight co-founders, led by Larry Fink. In 1992, it would change its name to BlackRock.

Life in the US in 1988

President

Ronald Reagan

Gas (per gallon)

$0.90

Loaf of Bread

$0.70

Average House

$99,700

Weekly Wage

$374

Or

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Famous Faces Born in the 1980s

Well-known people born in the same decade as you, not on your birthday.

Sources: Wikidata and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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