Three decades ago, the Winter Olympics took place in Calgary and the Summer Olympics were held in Seoul, candidates Michael Dukakis and George Bush competed for the 1988 U.S. presidential election, the Soviet Union withdrew its troops from Afghanistan, NASA’s Space Shuttle program resumed launches following the 1986 Challenger disaster, a passenger aircraft was brought down by a terrorist bomb over Lockerbie, Scotland, and much more. Photographers were also busy documenting the lives of Donald Trump, Dolly Parton, Jim Henson, Brad Pitt, George Michael, Andre the Giant, Bruce Springsteen, and many others. Take a step into a visual time capsule now, for a brief look at the year 1988.
30 Years Ago: A Look Back at 1988
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Downtown Calgary, with the Saddle Dome in the foreground and fireworks above, during the XV Winter Olympic Games held from February 13-28, 1988, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. #
David Madison / Getty -
Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards soars over the crowd as he makes his second jump of the day during a 90-meter ski-jump competition. Edwards, Britain's lone ski jumper, finished last. #
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The East German figure skater Katarina Witt smiles as she displays her gold medal at the Olympic Saddle Dome in Calgary on February 27, 1988. Witt, second behind her U.S. rival Debi Thomas after the short program, won the free-program event and the overall title to become the first woman figure skater to repeat as Olympic champion (she won the gold medal in Sarajevo in 1984) since the Norwegian skater Sonja Henie. #
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The English singer and songwriter George Michael holds a video recorder next to a bullet train in a station during the Japanese leg of his Faith World Tour in February of 1988. #
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Exiled Tibetan men and women weep before Indian helmeted riot policemen during a demonstration in New Delhi against the reported killings by Chinese security forces of Tibetan independence activists a few days before in Lhasa, on March 7, 1988. #
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The real-estate developer Donald Trump holds the World Wrestling Federation Championship belt, flanked by Wrestlers Hulk Hogan (left) and Andre the Giant at a news conference on March 15, 1988, in New York, announcing "WrestleMania IV" on March 27 at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City. #
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On April 20, 1988, Iraqi soldiers celebrate their victory over Iran in the strategic Faw Peninsula of southeast Iraq that was partly occupied by Iranian forces in February of 1986. #
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The comics impresario Stan Lee, center, poses with The Hulk, portrayed by Lou Ferrigno (right) and Thor, portrayed by Eric Kramer in a special movie for NBC, “The Incredible Hulk Returns,” on May 9, 1988, in Los Angeles, California. Lee said the secret of successfully transferring comic-book characters to television was to avoid making it a carbon copy. #
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A convoy of Soviet Army armored personnel vehicles cross a bridge in Termez, Uzbekistan, on May 21, 1988, at the Soviet-Afghan border, during the withdrawal of the Red Army from Afghanistan. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in December 1979 to shore up the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul and maintained more than 100,000 troops in the country until completing their phased withdrawal in 1989. #
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A Korean woman is engulfed in firebomb flames thrown by dissident students during an anti-government demonstration as she passes on the street in front of Dankook University in Seoul, on May 25, 1988. #
SUNKYU / AFP / Getty -
A small group of shoppers in a store watch televisions broadcasting the opening speech by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, during the 19th Soviet Communist Party Conference. #
Chris Niedenthal / The LIFE Images Collection / Getty -
Britain's Prince Harry sticks out his tongue for the cameras on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in London, England, on June 11, 1988, following the Trooping of the Colour. Princess Diana holds Harry, as a smiling Prince William sits in front, and Lady Gabriella Windsor is seen on the left. #
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A picture taken on June 27, 1988, shows the French Airbus A-320 that crashed on June 26 in Habsheim, eastern France, killing three people and wounding 121. Air France Flight 296 crashed into the treetops when performing a low pass as part of the Habsheim Air Show at Mulhouse–Habsheim Airport. #
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Mourners carry coffins through the streets of Tehran, Iran, on Thursday, July 7, 1988, during a mass funeral four days after the warship USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flt. 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard. #
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A Ku Klux Klan member reads a sign posted by Mia Bosna, left, as he passes out literature at a KKK rally at Valley Forge National Park in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, on August 8, 1988. #
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Jim Henson, with Kermit the Frog on his lap, sits surrounded by kids at a press conference at the Jim Henson productions townhouse, to promote "Reading is Fundamental." #
Ted Thai / The LIFE Picture Collection / Getty -
Vice President and Mrs. Bush are accompanied by some of their family as they watch the Republican Convention on TV from their hotel in New Orleans in August of 1988. With them on the couch are twin granddaughters Jenna, left, and Barbara Bush. In rear are from left: daughter Dorothy Bush LeBlond; son Marvin; and son George W. Bush. The boy appearing at the convention on the top televisions is George Bush, 12, of Miami, Florida. #
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Three Italian jets collide at an air show in Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on August 28, 1988. One jet exploded in flames and plowed into the large crowd, killing 70 and injuring over 400. #
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Rock stars, from left, Bruce Springsteen, Tracy Chapman, Youssou N'dour, and Sting are seen at Wembley Stadium, London, on September 1, 1988, as they opened a global rock tour for human rights by Amnesty International. #
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In this September 13, 1988 photo, the Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis gets a free ride in a new M1A1 battle tank during a visit to General Dynamics in Sterling Heights, Michigan, where he told workers he's not soft on defense. #
Michael E. Samojeden / AP -
From left: The hip-hop artists Pepa (Sandra Denton ) of Salt-n-Pepa, Flavor Flav (William Jonathan Drayton, Jr.) of Public Enemy, and Heavy D (Dwight Myers) pose for a photo at a party for the release of Run DMC's album 'Tougher Than Leather' on September 15, 1988, at the Palladium nightclub in New York City. #
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The Olympic torch towers above the Olympic stadium in Seoul on September 17, 1988, during the opening ceremonies for the summer Olympic Games in Seoul. A colorful, three-hour spectacle mixing ancient Korean rituals with space-age technology kicked off 16 days of athletic competition. #
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The space shuttle Discovery lifts off its launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center in September of 1988. This was the first shuttle launch since the Challenger disaster in 1986. #
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The Republican vice-presidential candidate Dan Quayle hangs a “say no to drugs” sign from the cockpit of a DC-6 aircraft during a rally in Lawton, Oklahoma, on October 14, 1988. The aircraft was one of several planes seized for drug trafficking and on display during Quayle’s visit to the Lawton airport. #
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A native whaler rubs the nose of one of two trapped California gray whales as it surfaces in a breathing hold chopped in the ice on the Arctic Ocean near Barrow, Alaska, on October 27, 1988. A massive international rescue effort succeeded in freeing the trapped animals after two weeks. #
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President-elect George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara wave to the crowd at a victory rally after winning the 1988 U.S. presidential election on November 8, 1988, in Houston, Texas. #
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The Bangles, from left: Vicki Peterson, Susanna Hoffs, Debbi Peterson, and Michael Steele, at the Diamond Awards Festival in Antwerp, Belgium, on November 19, 1988. #
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After a meeting in New York City, Vice President George Bush, President Ronald Reagan, and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev pose with the World Trade Center in the background. #
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Aircraft debris and destroyed houses in Sherwood Crescent, Lockerbie, Scotland, are seen from the air as traffic passes along the A74 main road following the midair explosion of Pan Am Flight 103, 'Clipper Maid of the Seas,' on December 22, 1988. Flight 103 was brought down by a bomb placed on the plane by Libyan nationals, killing 259 passengers and crew members, and another 11 on the ground. Two men were brought to trial, and one, the Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, was convicted of 270 counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Al-Megrahi was released in 2009 on humanitarian grounds (he was diagnosed with cancer), and died in 2012. Libya's leader Moammar Qaddafi went so far as to accept responsibility and compensate victims, but maintained that he never personally ordered the attack. #
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