1988

Events from the year **1988 in the United States**.

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: H. Guy Hunt (Republican)
* Governor of Alaska: Steve Cowper (Democratic)
* Governor of Arizona: Evan Mecham (Republican) (until April 4), Rose Mofford (Democratic) (starting April 4)
* Governor of Arkansas: Bill Clinton (Democratic)
* Governor of California: George Deukmejian (Republican)
* Governor of Colorado: Roy Romer (Democratic)
* Governor of Connecticut: William A. O'Neill (Democratic)
* Governor of Delaware: Michael N. Castle (Republican)
* Governor of Florida: Bob Martinez (Republican)
* Governor of Georgia: Joe Frank Harris (Democratic)
* Governor of Hawaii: John D. Waihee III (Democratic)
* Governor of Idaho: Cecil D. Andrus (Democratic)
* Governor of Illinois: James R. Thompson (Republican)
* Governor of Indiana: Robert D. Orr (Republican)
* Governor of Iowa: Terry E. Branstad (Republican)
* Governor of Kansas: Mike Hayden (Republican)
* Governor of Kentucky: Wallace G. Wilkinson (Democratic)
* Governor of Louisiana: Edwin W. Edwards (Democratic) (until March 14), Buddy Roemer (Democratic) (starting March 14)
* Governor of Maine: John R. McKernan Jr. (Republican)
* Governor of Maryland: William Donald Schaefer (Democratic)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Michael Dukakis (Democratic)
* Governor of Michigan: James Blanchard (Democratic)
* Governor of Minnesota: Rudy Perpich (Democratic)
* Governor of Mississippi: William Allain (Democratic) (until January 12), Ray Mabus (Democratic) (starting January 12)
* Governor of Missouri: John Ashcroft (Republican)
* Governor of Montana: Ted Schwinden (Democratic)
* Governor of Nebraska: Kay A. Orr (Republican)
* Governor of Nevada: Richard Bryan (Democratic)
* Governor of New Hampshire: John H. Sununu (Republican)
* Governor of New Jersey: Thomas Kean (Republican)
* Governor of New Mexico: Garrey Carruthers (Republican)
* Governor of New York: Mario Cuomo (Democratic)
* Governor of North Carolina: James G. Martin (Republican)
* Governor of North Dakota: George A. Sinner (Democratic)
* Governor of Ohio: Dick Celeste (Democratic)
* Governor of Oklahoma: Henry Bellmon (Republican)
* Governor of Oregon: Neil Goldschmidt (Democratic)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: Robert P. Casey (Democratic)
* Governor of Rhode Island: Edward D. DiPrete (Republican)
* Governor of South Carolina: Carroll A. Campbell Jr. (Republican)
* Governor of South Dakota: George S. Mickelson (Republican)
* Governor of Tennessee: Ned McWherter (Democratic)
* Governor of Texas: Bill Clements (Republican)
* Governor of Utah: Norman H. Bangerter (Republican)
* Governor of Vermont: Madeleine M. Kunin (Democratic)
* Governor of Virginia: Gerald L. Baliles (Democratic)
* Governor of Washington: Booth Gardner (Democratic)
* Governor of West Virginia: Arch A. Moore Jr. (Republican)
* Governor of Wisconsin: Tommy Thompson (Republican)
* Governor of Wyoming: Mike Sullivan (Democratic)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: Jim Folsom Jr. (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Alaska: Stephen McAlpine (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas: Winston Bryant (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of California: Leo T. McCarthy (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: Mike Callihan (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Joseph J. Fauliso (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: Shien Biau Woo (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Florida: Bobby Brantley (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Georgia: Zell Miller (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii: Ben Cayetano (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: Butch Otter (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: George H. Ryan (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: John Mutz (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: Jo Ann Zimmerman (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Jack D. Walker (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Brereton Jones (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Bobby Freeman (Democratic) (until March 14), Paul Hardy (Republican) (starting March 14)
* Lieutenant Governor of Maryland: Melvin A. Steinberg (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Evelyn Murphy (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Martha W. Griffiths (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Marlene Johnson (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: Brad Dye (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Harriett Woods (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana: George Turman (Democratic) (until January 4), Gordon McOmber (Democratic) (starting January 4)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: William E. Nichol (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Bob Miller (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico: Jack L. Stahl (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Stan Lundine (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Robert B. Jordan III (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Lloyd Omdahl (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Paul R. Leonard (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma: Robert S. Kerr III (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Mark Singel (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Richard A. Licht (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Nick Theodore (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: Walter Dale Miller (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: John S. Wilder (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: William P. Hobby Jr. (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Utah: W. Val Oveson (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Howard Dean (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Douglas Wilder (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Washington: John Cherberg (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Scott McCallum (Republican)

## Events

### January

* January 1
	+ The Dell Computer Corporation is incorporated.
	+ The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is established, creating the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States.
* January 2 – Michigan State Spartans football team wins the Rose Bowl Game against the USC Trojans.
* January 4 – Nick Jr. begins as a block of Nickelodeon programming for younger children.
* January 25 – U.S. Vice President George H. W. Bush and CBS News anchor Dan Rather clash over Bush's role in the Iran–Contra scandal during a contentious television interview.
* January 29 – The Midwest Classic Conference, a U.S. college athletic conference, is formed.
* January 31 – Super Bowl XXII: The Washington Redskins defeat the Denver Broncos 42–10 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, California.

### February

* February 3 – The Democratic-controlled United States House of Representatives rejects President Ronald Reagan's request for $36,250,000 to support the Nicaraguan Contras.
* February 12 – Anthony M. Kennedy is appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States.
* February 14 – Hours after learning the death of his sister, U.S. speed skater Dan Jansen falls twice and fails to win a medal in the 500-meter race in the Calgary Winter Olympics.
* February 16 – Gunman Richard Farley kills seven people inside his former workplace, ESL Incorporated in Sunnyvale, California. He had been stalking colleague Laura Black who still worked there; however, she survived the shooting. Farley is currently on death row.
* February 17 – U.S. Lieutenant Colonel William R. Higgins, serving with a United Nations group monitoring a truce in southern Lebanon, is kidnapped (he is later killed by his captors).
* February 24 – *Hustler Magazine v. Falwell*: The Supreme Court of the United States sides with *Hustler* magazine by overturning a lower court decision to award Jerry Falwell $200,000 for defamation.

### March

* March 8
	+ Two U.S. Army helicopters collide in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, killing 17 servicemen.
	+ U.S. presidential candidate George Herbert Walker Bush defeats Bob Dole in numerous Republican primaries and caucuses on "Super Tuesday". The bipartisan primary/caucus calendar, designed by Democrats to help solidify their own nominee early, backfires when none of the six competing candidates are able to break out of the pack in the day's Democratic contests. Jesse Jackson, however, wins several Southern state primaries.
* March 13 – Gallaudet University, a university for the deaf in Washington, D.C., elects Dr. I. King Jordan as the first deaf president in its history, following the Deaf President Now campaign, considered a turning point in the deaf civil rights movement.
* March 16
	+ First RepublicBank of Texas fails and enters FDIC receivership, the second-largest FDIC assisted bank failure up to that point.
	+ Iran-Contra Affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
* March 26 – U.S. presidential candidate Jesse Jackson defeats Michael Dukakis in the Michigan Democratic caucuses, becoming the frontrunner temporarily for the party's nomination. Richard Gephardt withdraws his candidacy after his campaign speeches against imported automobiles fail to earn him much support in Detroit.

### April

* April 1 – In Fort Wayne, Indiana, 8-year-old April Marie Tinsley is kidnapped and murdered.
* April 4 – Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office.
* April 5 – Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis wins the Wisconsin Democratic presidential primary.
* April 11 – The 60th Academy Awards, hosted by Chevy Chase, are held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Bernardo Bertolucci's *The Last Emperor* wins all nine of its nominations (the first film to do so since 1958's *Gigi*), including Best Picture and Best Director.
* April 12 – Former pop singer Sonny Bono is elected Mayor of Palm Springs, California.
* April 14 – The USS *Samuel B. Roberts* strikes a naval mine in the Persian Gulf, while deployed on Operation Earnest Will, during the Tanker War phase of the Iran–Iraq War.
* April 18 – The United States Navy retaliates for the *Roberts* mining with Operation Praying Mantis, in a day of strikes against Iranian oil platforms and naval vessels.
* April 30 – The unemployment rate drops to 5.4%, the lowest since June 1974.

### May

* May 4 – PEPCON disaster in Henderson, Nevada: A major explosion at an industrial solid-fuel rocket plant causes damage extending up to ten miles away, including Las Vegas's McCarran International Airport.
* May 14 – Bus collision near Carrollton, Kentucky: A drunk driver traveling in the wrong direction on Interstate 71 hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group from Radcliff, Kentucky. The resulting fire kills 27 people, making it tied for first in the U.S. for most fatalities involving 2 vehicles to the present day. Coincidentally, the other 2-vehicle accident involving a bus that also killed 27 occurred in Prestonsburg, Kentucky thirty years prior.
* May 16
	+ A report by U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.
	+ *California v. Greenwood*: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that police officers do not need a search warrant to search through discarded garbage.
* May 27 – Microsoft releases Windows 2.1.
* May 31 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan addresses 600 Moscow State University students during his visit to the Soviet Union.

### June

* June 1 – The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, banning intermediate-range missiles in the United States and the Soviet Union, comes into effect.
* June 12 – Rusty Wallace wins the last NASCAR Winston Cup Series Budweiser 400 auto race at Riverside International Raceway in Riverside, California.
* June 14 – A small wildfire is started by a lightning strike in Montana, United States, near the boundary for Yellowstone National Park. The Storm Creek fire expands into the park, then merges with dozens of other drought-aggravated fires. Eventually, over 750,000 acres (3,000 km2) of Yellowstone, 36% of the park's area, burns before firefighters gain control in late September.
* June 22 – *Back to the Future* director Robert Zemeckis releases *Who Framed Roger Rabbit* through Touchstone Pictures to universal acclaim and box office success. It brings a renewed interest in the Golden Age of American animation, spearheading modern American animation and the Disney Renaissance.
* June 28 – Four workers are asphyxiated at a metal-plating plant in Auburn, Indiana, in the worst confined-space industrial accident in U.S. history (a fifth victim dies two days later).
* June 29 – *Morrison v. Olson*: The United States Supreme Court upholds the law allowing special prosecutors to investigate suspected crimes by executive branch officials.

### July

* July 3 – Iran Air Flight 655 is shot down by a missile launched from the USS *Vincennes*.
* July 4 – In Zurich Switzerland FIFA chose the United States as the venue to organize the 1994 FIFA World Cup, the United States won with 10 votes, surpassed Morocco with 7 votes and Brazil with 3 votes.
* July 6 – The first reported medical waste on beaches in the Greater New York area (including hypodermic needles and syringes possibly infected with the AIDS virus) washes ashore on Long Island. Subsequent medical waste discoveries on beaches in Coney Island, Brooklyn and in Monmouth County, New Jersey, force the closure of numerous New York–area beaches in the middle of one of the hottest summers on record in the American Northeast.
* July 13 – Miami Arena in Miami, Florida opens.
* July 14 – Volkswagen closes its Westmoreland Assembly Plant after ten years of operation (the first factory built by a non-American automaker in the U.S.).
* July 20 – The Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia nominates Michael Dukakis as their presidential candidate and Lloyd Bentsen as his running mate.
* July 26 – The death of Tate Rowland leads way to publicized rumors of a Satanic cult in the rural community of Childress, Texas.

### August

* August 6 – Tompkins Square Park Police Riot in New York City begins: A riot erupts in Tompkins Square Park when police attempt to enforce a newly passed curfew for the park. Bystanders, artists, residents, homeless people and political activists are caught up in the police action, which takes place during the night of August 6 and into the early morning of August 7.
* August 7 – Tompkins Square Park Police Riot in New York City ends.
* August 9 – Wrigley Field has its first night game of baseball, ending long opposition to lights at the field.
* August 17 – Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Arnold Raphel, are killed in a plane crash near Bhawalpur.
* August 18 – The Republican National Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana nominates Vice President George H. W. Bush as their presidential candidate and Dan Quayle as his running mate.

### September

* September 5 – With the U.S.'s largest thrift institution, American Savings and Loan Association, entering receivership, the Robert M. Bass Group (headed by Robert Bass) agrees to buy its good assets with US$1.7 billion in federal aid (completed December).
* September 10 – Kids' Court debuts on Nickelodeon.
* September 15 – Nicholas F. Brady is sworn in as the new Secretary of Treasury, succeeding James Baker.
* September 17 – The United States participates in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea and ranks in third place, bringing home 36 gold, 31 silver and 27 bronze medals for a total of 94 medals behind the Soviet Union in first place and East Germany in second.
* September 29 – STS-26: NASA resumes Space Shuttle flights, grounded after the 1986 Space Shuttle *Challenger* disaster, with Space Shuttle *Discovery* going back into orbit and deploying the TDRS-3 satellite, putting the U.S. back into the Space Race.

### October

* October 3 – STS-26 lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California after four days of its successful maiden flight and satellite deployment.
* October 5 – In Omaha, Nebraska, in the only vice presidential debate of the 1988 U.S. presidential election, the Republican vice presidential nominee, Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana, insists he has as much experience in government as John F. Kennedy did when he sought the presidency in 1960. His Democratic opponent, Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas, replies, "Senator, I knew Jack Kennedy. I served with Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy." The audience response to Senator Bentsen's remark is overwhelmingly positive.
* October 13 – In the second U.S. presidential debate, held by U.C.L.A., the Democratic Party nominee, Michael Dukakis, is asked by journalist Bernard Shaw of CNN if he would support the death penalty if his wife, "Kitty", were to be raped and murdered. Gov. Dukakis' reply, voicing his opposition to capital punishment in any and all circumstances, is later said to have been a major reason for the eventual failure of his campaign for the White House.
* October 15 – Kirk Gibson hits a dramatic home run to win Game 1 of the World Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers, over the Oakland Athletics, by a score of 5–4.
* October 20 – The Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Oakland Athletics, 4 games to 1, to win their 6th World Series Title.
* October 27 – Ronald Reagan decides to tear down the new U.S. Embassy in Moscow because of Soviet listening devices in the building structure.
* October 30 – Philip Morris buys Kraft Foods for US$13,100,000,000.
* October 31 – National Park of American Samoa is established.

### November

* November 1 – The unemployment rate drops to 5.3%, the lowest level since May 1974.
* November 2 – The Morris worm, the first computer worm distributed via the Internet, written by Robert Tappan Morris, is launched from MIT.
* November 8 – 1988 United States presidential election: George H. W. Bush is elected as 41st President of the United States over Democratic opponent, Michael Dukakis.
* November 10 – The United States Air Force acknowledges the existence of the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk in a Pentagon press conference.
* November 11 – In Sacramento, California, police find a body buried in the lawn of sixty-year-old landlady Dorothea Puente. Seven bodies are eventually found and Puente is convicted of three murders and sentenced to life in prison.
* November 13 – Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian law student in Portland, Oregon, is beaten to death by members of the Neo-Nazi group East Side White Pride.
* November 15 – The 300-foot Green Bank Telescope collapses in Green Bank, West Virginia.
* November 18
	+ War on Drugs: U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill providing the death penalty for murderous drug traffickers.
	+ Walt Disney Feature Animation's 27th feature film, *Oliver & Company*, is released to financial success but a mixed critical reception. The same day, former Disney animator and director Don Bluth released *The Land Before Time* to more positive reception.
* November 21 – Ted Turner officially buys Jim Crockett Promotions, known as NWA Crockett, and turns it into World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
* November 22 – In Palmdale, California, the first prototype B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is revealed.
* November 30 – Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. buys RJR Nabisco for US$25,000,700,000 in the biggest leveraged buyout deal of all time.

### December

* December 1 – The first World AIDS Day is observed.
* December 9 – The last Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant roll off the assembly line in a Chrysler factory.
* December 12 – Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev begins an official visit to the United States.
* December 14 – After Yasir Arafat renounces violence, the U.S. says it will open dialogue with the PLO.
* December 16 – Perennial U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche is convicted of mail fraud.
* December 19 – Gorbachev cuts short his visit to the United States and returns home to the Soviet Union, as thousands of people have died in an earthquake in Armenia.
* December 21
	+ Pan Am Flight 103 is destroyed by a bomb over Lockerbie, Scotland, United Kingdom; killing 270 people, including 178 U.S. citizens.
	+ Drexel Burnham Lambert agrees to plead guilty to insider trading and other violations and pay penalties of US$650 million.

## Memoriam

* January 3
	+ William Cagney, actor (aged 82; Newport Beach, CA, USA)
	+ Joie Chitwood, race car driver and stuntman (aged 75; Tampa, FL, USA)
* January 5 – Pete Maravich, basketball player (aged 40; Pasadena, CA, USA)
* January 7 – Zara Cisco Brough, Nipmuc Chief (aged 69; MA, USA)
* January 11
	+ Pappy Boyington, pilot, United States Marine Corps fighter ace (aged 75; Fresno, CA, USA)
	+ Isidor Isaac Rabi, physicist, winner of Nobel Prize in Physics in 1944 for invention of the atomic beam magnetic resonance method of measuring magnetic properties of atoms and molecules (aged 89; New York City, NY, USA)
* January 12 – Hiram Bingham IV, American diplomat (aged 84; Salem, CT, USA)
* January 22 – Parker Fennelly, comedian and actor (aged 96; Peekskill, NY, USA)
* January 25 – Colleen Moore, actress (aged 88; Paso Robles, CA, USA)
* February 1 – Heather O'Rourke, actress (aged 12; San Diego, CA, USA)
* February 3 – Robert Duncan, poet (aged 69; San Francisco, CA, USA)
* February 14 – Frederick Loewe, composer (aged 86; Palm Springs, CA, USA)
* February 15 – Richard Feynman, theoretical physicist, winner of Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 for work on quantum electrodynamics (aged 69; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* February 28 – Harvey Kuenn, baseball player and coach (aged 57; Peoria, AZ, USA)
* March 1 – Joe Besser, actor and comedian (aged 80; North Hollywood, CA, USA)
* March 3 – Lois Wilson, actress (aged 93; Reno, NV, USA)
* March 5 – Margaret Irving, actress (aged 90; San Francisco, CA, USA)
* March 7
	+ Edmund Berkeley, computer scientist (aged 79; Newtonville, MA, USA)
	+ Divine, drag singer and character actor (aged 42; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
	+ Robert Livingston, screen actor (aged 83; Tarzana, CA, USA)
* March 8 – Deane Janis, singer (aged 83; Independence, MO, USA)
* March 10
	+ Glenn Cunningham, Olympic athlete (aged 78; Menifee, AR, USA)
	+ Andy Gibb, English-Australian singer, songwriter, and actor (aged 30; Oxford, England, UK)
* March 12 – Karen Steele, actress (aged 56; Kingman, AZ, USA)
* March 13
	+ Olive Carey, actress (aged 92; Carpinteria, CA, USA)
	+ John Holmes, pornographic actor (aged 43; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* March 16 – Dorothy Adams, character actress (aged 88; Woodland Hills, CA, USA)
* March 18
	+ Joan Field, violinist (aged 72; Miami Beach, FL, USA)
	+ Frank Wayne, game show producer and host (aged 70; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* March 20 – Gil Evans, jazz pianist (aged 75; Cuernavaca, Mexico)
* March 21 – Edd Roush, baseball player (Cincinnati Reds) and member of the MLB Hall of Fame (aged 94; Bradenton, FL, USA)
* March 22 – Lester Rawlins, stage and screen director (aged 63; New York City, NY, USA)
* March 25 – Robert Joffrey, dancer and choreographer (aged 57; New York City, NY, USA)
* April 3 – Milton Caniff, cartoonist (aged 81; New York City, NY, USA)
* April 9 – Dave Prater, rhythm and blues singer (aged 50; Sycamore, GA, USA)
* April 11 – Jesse L. Lasky Jr., screenwriter (aged 77; London, England, UK)
* April 17 – Eva Novak, actress (aged 90; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* April 22 – Irene Rich, actress (aged 96; Hope Ranch, CA, USA)
* April 25
	+ Carolyn Franklin, singer (aged 43; Bloomfield, MI, USA)
	+ Valerie Solanas, radical feminist, attempted murderer of Andy Warhol (aged 52; San Francisco, CA, USA)
* April 26 – Frederick D. Patterson, academic administrator (aged 86; New Rochelle, NY, USA)
* April 29 – James McCracken, tenor (aged 61; New York City, NY, USA)
* May 8
	+ Robert A. Heinlein science fiction author (aged 80; Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA, USA)
	+ Ruby M. Rouss, WAC and first female President of the Virgin Islands Legislature (aged 66; Christiansted, VI, USA)
* May 13 – Chet Baker, jazz trumpeter (aged 58; Amsterdam, Netherlands)
* May 15 – Andrew Duggan, actor (aged 64; Hollywood, CA, USA)
* May 16 – Kay Baxter, bodybuilder (aged 42; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* May 18
	+ Daws Butler, voice actor (aged 71; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
	+ Thomas Greenwood, Illinois labor and Indian affairs activist (aged 80; Willow Springs, IL, USA)
* May 20
	+ Nick Corwin, murdered by Laurie Dann (aged 8; Winnetka, IL, USA)
	+ Laurie Dann, murderer (aged 30; Winnetka, IL, USA)
* May 21 – Sammy Davis Sr., dancer (aged 87; Beverly Hills, CA, USA)
* May 27 – Florida Friebus, actor (aged 78; Laguna Niguel, CA, USA)
* May 30 – Ella Raines, screen actress (aged 67; Sherman Oaks, CA, USA)
* June 8 – Eli Mintz, actor (aged 83; Point Pleasant, NJ, USA)
* June 10 – Louis L'Amour, western novelist (aged 80; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* June 11 – Nathan Cook, actor (aged 38; Santa Monica, CA, USA)
* June 16 – Kim Milford, actor and singer (aged 37; Chicago, IL, USA)
* June 18
	+ Wilford Leach, theater director (aged 58; Rocky Point, NY, USA)
	+ E. Hoffmann Price, writer (aged 89; Redwood City, CA, USA)
* June 22
	+ Dennis Day, singer and radio and television personality (aged 72; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
	+ Stuart Randall, actor (aged 78; San Bernardino, CA, USA)
* June 23 – Henry Murray, psychologist (aged 95; Cambridge, MA, USA)
* July 3 – Gabriel Dell, actor (aged 68; North Hollywood, CA, USA)
* June 25 – Hillel Slovak, Israeli-American guitarist (Red Hot Chili Peppers) (aged 26; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* July 4 – Adrian Adonis, professional wrestler (aged 34; Lewisporte, NL, Canada)
* July 8 – Ray Barbuti, athlete (aged 83; Pittsfield, MA, USA)
* July 12 – Joshua Logan, stage and film writer (aged 79; New York City, NY, USA)
* July 17 – Bruiser Brody, professional wrestler (aged 42; Bayamón, PR, USA)
* July 21 – Jack Clark, television personality and game show host (aged 62; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* July 25 – Judith Barsi, actress and murder victim (aged 10; Canoga Park, CA, USA)
* July 27 – Frank Zamboni, inventor (aged 87; Paramount, CA, USA)
* July 31 – Trinidad Silva, actor (aged 38; Whittier, CA, USA)
* August 5 – Ralph Meeker, actor (aged 67; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* August 8
	+ Alan Ameche, footballer (aged 55; Houston, TX, USA)
	+ Alan Napier, actor (aged 85; Santa Monica, CA, USA)
* August 10 – Adela Rogers St. Johns, journalist and screenwriter (aged 94; Arroyo Grande, CA, USA)
* August 17 – Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr., lawyer and politician (aged 74; Poughkeepsie, NY, USA)
* August 21 – Ray Eames, architect and designer, partner of Charles Eames (aged 75; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* August 24 – Leonard Frey, actor (aged 49; New York City, NY, USA)
* August 27 – Kerry Lloyd, role-playing game designer (aged 46; Gaithersburg, MD, USA)
* August 28
	+ Hazel Dawn, actress (aged 98; New York City, NY, USA)
	+ Max Shulman, novelist, short-story writer and dramatist (aged 69; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* September 1 – Luis Walter Alvarez, experimental physicist, winner of Nobel Prize in Physics in 1968 for bubble chamber research into particle physics (aged 77; Berkeley, CA, USA)
* September 6 – Harold Rosson, cinematographer (aged 93; Palm Beach, FL, USA)
* September 11 – John Sylvester White, actor (aged 68; Waikiki, HI, USA)
* September 21
	+ Glenn Robert Davis, politician (aged 73; Arlington, VA, USA)
	+ Henry Koster, German-born film director (aged 83; Camarillo, CA, USA)
* September 25 – Billy Carter, farmer, businessman, brewer, and politician (aged 51; Plains, GA, USA)
* September 28
	+ Charles Addams, cartoonist (aged 76; Manhattan, NY, USA)
	+ Ethel Grandin, actress (aged 94; Woodland Hills, CA, USA)
* September 30 – Joachim Prinz, German-born American rabbi (aged 86; Livingston, NJ, USA)
* October 7 – Billy Daniels, singer (aged 73; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* October 10 – Kurt Marshall, model and actor (aged 22; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* October 11
	+ Morgan Farley, actor (aged 90; San Pedro, CA, USA)
	+ Wayland Flowers, puppeteer (aged 48; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* October 12 – Ken Murray, actor (aged 85; Burbank, CA, USA)
* October 31 – John Houseman, screen actor-producer (aged 86; Malibu, CA, USA)
* November 1 – George Folsey, cinematographer (aged 90; Santa Monica, CA, USA)
* November 9 – John N. Mitchell, lawyer, 67th United States Attorney General (aged 75; Washington, DC, USA)
* November 12 – Lyman Lemnitzer, Army General (aged 89; Washington, DC, USA)
* November 25 – Alphaeus Philemon Cole, portrait artist, engraver and supercentenarian (aged 112; New York City, NY, USA)
* November 27 – Angela Aames, actress (aged 32; West Hills, CA, USA)
* November 29 – Donald Keyhoe, ufologist (aged 91; New Market, VA, USA)
* December 6
	+ Timothy Patrick Murphy, actor (aged 29; Sherman Oaks, CA, USA)
	+ Roy Orbison, singer-songwriter and guitarist (aged 52; Hendersonville, TN, USA)
* December 7
	+ Christopher Connelly, actor (aged 47; Burbank, CA, USA)
	+ Dorothy Jordan, actress (aged 82; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* December 14 – Stuart Symington, politician (aged 87; New Canaan, CT, USA)
* December 17 – Jerry Hopper, film and television director (aged 81; San Clemente, CA, USA)
* December 20 – Max Robinson, broadcast journalist, and ABC News *World News Tonight* co-anchor (aged 49; Washington, DC, USA)
* December 21
	+ Willie Kamm, baseball player (aged 88; Belmont, CA, USA)
	+ Bob Steele, actor (aged 81; Burbank, CA, USA)
* December 26 – Glenn McCarthy, oil tycoon and businessman (aged 81; Houston, TX, USA)
* December 27
	+ Hal Ashby, film director (aged 59; Malibu, CA, USA)
	+ Jess Oppenheimer, radio and television producer (aged 75; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* December 30 – Isamu Noguchi, artist and landscape architect (aged 84; New York City, NY, USA)