The first reports were made about the production of a recombinantDNA molecule, marking the birth of modernmolecular biology methodology.[2]
Malaysia Singapore Airlines broke up into two companies,Singapore Airlines (SIA), with 10 aircraft, andMalaysia Airlines. SIA now serves 80 cities in 40 nations around the world.[3]
An explosion on board theUSS Newport News killed 19 sailors and injured ten others. The blast occurred off of the coast ofSouth Vietnam at about 1:00 a.m. local time.[4]
Florida's new death penalty statute, the first to be passed in the United States since the U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared all existing capital punishment laws unconstitutional, went into effect.[5]
TheOregon Minimum Deposit Law took effect, as Oregon became the first state to require a deposit on all beverage containers, including cans.[6]
Died:
Louis Leakey, 69, Kenyan-born British anthropologist known for his 1959 discovery (with his wife, Mary Leakey) of the remains ofZinjanthropus, a 1.7 million-year old ancestor of humans.[7][8]
Neville Goddard, 67, Barbadian author and mystic, died of an esophageal rupture.[9] the author's death certificate cites the esophageal rupture.[10] He had been a resident ofLos Angeles for roughly 20 years.[11]
Voters in Denmark approved the Treaty of Accession in a referendum, with 63.5% voting in favor of joining theEuropean Economic Community, known as the "Common Market". One week earlier, voters in neighboring Norway had rejected the treaty.[12]
An Aeroflot Il-18 airliner crashed atSochi, in the Soviet Union, killing all 109 people on board.
The Indian State ofRajasthan launched the Antyodaya Programme, which would identify the five poorest families in each of the state's villages, and then provide government assistance for one year in the form of allotting land for cultivation, bank loans, assistance in finding employment, or a pension. The experiment was less successful in the states ofUttar Pradesh andHimachal Pradesh.[13]
TheAnti-Ballistic Missile Treaty went into effect following ratification by both the United States and the Soviet Union, as did the Interim Agreement on Offensive Forces.[14]
The abbreviation "Ms." was used for the first time in theCongressional Record, in reference to U.S. RepresentativeBella Abzug. The other eleven women in Congress, however, continued to be referred to as "Mrs."[16]
The firstABC Afterschool Special was telecast. The anthology drama series for children, shown once a month on a Wednesday afternoon, addressed contemporary issues and ran until 1997.[17]
Peter Bridge, a reporter for the defunctNewark Evening News went to jail for contempt of court for not revealing his source for a statement that the Newark Housing Authority had been offered a bribe. Bridge was the first journalist to be incarcerated after a June 29 U.S. Supreme Court ruling held that newsmen could not withhold confidential information from a grand jury investigation.[18] Bridge would be released on October 24 after three weeks in the Essex County Jail, after a grand jury declined to return an indictment against anyone in the housing authority.[19]
In New York, theGeneral Agreement on Participation was signed between the governments of oil exportersSaudi Arabia,Kuwait,Qatar and theUnited Arab Emirates on one side, and representatives of the petroleum producing corporationsExxon,Chevron,Texaco andMobil. In return for a total of $500,000,000 a 25% interest in the Arab-American Company,Aramco, was sold by the oil companies to the four OPEC nations, with an objective of thenational oil companies of each country acquiring a 51% ownership by 1983.[20]
In the first exhibition basketball game between the New York franchises of the rivalNBA andABA, the NBA's New York Knicks defeated the ABA's New York Nets, 117 to 88, atNew Haven, Connecticut. The next night, the Knicks came to the Nets home court on Long Island and won again, 100 to 91. Both the Knicks and the Nets had been the runners-up in their respective leagues.[21]
A train crash nearSaltillo in Mexico killed 208 people and injured more than 700. The train, carrying more than 1,500 religious pilgrims, derailed near the bridge over the Moreno River. An engineer and four crewmen who survived were found to have been intoxicated, and were charged with homicide.[22]
TheNational Hockey League's two expansion teams, theNew York Islanders and theAtlanta Flames, played against each other for their first game to open the1972-73 NHL season. Playing at theNassau Coliseum before 12,221 the Flames won 3–2.Morris Stefaniw andEd Westfall scored the first goals for the Flames and Islanders, respectively.[24] The Islanders, who played on atUniondale, New York, onLong Island, would finish their first season as the NHL's worst team, with a record of 12–60–6, but would later win theStanley Cup four years in a row (from 1981 to 1984). The Flames, named for the burning of Atlanta during the American Civil War, would move toCalgary in 1980 and win the Stanley Cup in 1989.
At theParis Peace Talks,North Vietnam's negotiator,Lê Đức Thọ reached an agreement withHenry Kissinger of the United States on ending theVietnam War. Demands were dropped forNguyễn Văn Thiệu to step down asPresident of South Vietnam, but elections would be held there within six months, North Vietnamese troops would remain in the South, and the United States would recognize the sovereignty of North Vietnam. Kissinger envisioned signing the treaty on October 30, but Thieu's objections led to a breakdown in the agreement.[25]
In a nationally televised baseball game of the American League championship series, shortstopBert Campaneris of theOakland A's hurled his bat at pitcher Lerrin La Grow, after being struck by a wild pitch. "Campy" was barred from further postseason play and fined $500.[26]
Written byGerome Ragni, who had scored a Broadway success with the musicalHair, the rock musicalDude: The Highway Life, opened at theBroadway Theatre,Dude was universally reviled by the critics and closed after 16 performances, having lost $800,000.Martin Gottfried described it as "incoherent, childish, and boring".[27]
Born:Etan Patz, American boy whose disappearance in 1979 remained a mystery for more than 30 years, in New York. In 2012, a man who had lived in the neighborhood would confess to the crime, although there was no physical evidence to corroborate his statement.[28]
With the headline "FBI Finds Nixon Aides Sabotaged Democrats", theWashington Post carriedCarl Bernstein andBob Woodward's revelation that the Watergate break-in was not an isolated incident, but part of a campaign by the White House. "The activities, according to information in FBI and Department of Justice files, were aimed at all the major Democratic presidential contenders", the investigative reporters noted, "and—since 1971—represented a basic strategy of the Nixon re-election effort."[29]
The case ofRoe v. Wade was reargued before the United States Supreme Court, after having first been argued on December 13, 1971, before seven Justices. While the initial opinion by Justice Harry Blackmun had simply found the challenged laws against abortion to be "unconstitutionally vague", the revised 1973 Blackmun opinion went further in declaring most restrictions against the right of choice to be unconstitutitional. "Had the Blackmun first drafts in the abortion cases come down as the final decisions", notes one commentator, "American life and politics might have been quite different."[32]
A brawl on board the aircraft carrier U.S.S.Kitty Hawk injured 46 people. About 100 black and white sailors fought for hours with knives, forks and chains, before the fight was broken up by a squad of U.S. Marines. Details were released six weeks afterward by the U.S. Navy. The fight began when a sailor asked for two sandwiches at the ship's mess hall and was given only one. Twenty-five men, only one of whom was white, were charged.[34] Of those, 23 African-Americans would be convicted on charges of assault or allowed to plead to lesser offenses, with charges dismissed against one black sailor and the lone white sailor being acquitted after a court-martial.[35]
TheDai Gohonzon, inscribed by the Buddhist monkNichiren (1222–1282) was placed at a special location, 693 years after its inscription. An object of veneration among Buddhists of theNichiren Shōshū branch of Nichiren Buddhism, the Gohonzon had been inscribed on October 12, 1279, and was placed in the specially constructedSho Hondo atFujinomiya, Shizuoka, Japan.[36]
Troops from Portugal invaded the West African nation ofSenegal, believed to be housing the rebel group Acção Revolucionária Armada (ARA), in an action condemned by the U.N. Security Council.[37]
In the deadliest airline accident up to that time, a SovietAeroflot jetcrashed during its third approach to Moscow on a flight from Leningrad, killing all 174 people on board.[38][39]
In the only verified example of an animal being killed by ameteorite, a cow was killed on a farm nearTrujillo, Venezuela.[45]
Jackie Robinson made his last public appearance, throwing out the first pitch at Game 2 of the1972 World Series, inCincinnati. Before a national television audience, the first African-American to break Major League Baseball's color line 25 years earlier said "I am extremely proud and pleased", "but I'm going to be tremendously more pleased and proud when I look at that third base coaching line one day and see a Black face managing the ball club." Robinson, who had accepted MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn's invitation in return for a pledge to recruit African American managers, died nine days later.[46]
At 8:59 a.m., aCessna 310 took off from the airport atAnchorage, Alaska, for a 3½ hour trip toJuneau for a fundraiser. On board was CongressmanHale Boggs of Louisiana, Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives and former member of the Warren Commission, as well as U.S. RepresentativeNick Begich of Alaska; Begich's aide, Russ Brown; and pilot Don Jonz, the owner of Pan Alaskan Airways. The men never arrived, and no trace of the plane nor its occupants was found after a massive search that ended on November 27, and their location remains unknown more than 50 years later.[48]
Ralph Perk, the Mayor ofCleveland,Ohio, accidentally set his hair on fire while using a welder's torch for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the 1972 American Society for Metals convention at theCleveland Convention Center. The flames, caused by sparks igniting hair tonic used on him earlier in the day, were quickly put out and Mayor Perk sustained only superficial injuries, but a memorable photograph that was printed in newspapers throughout North America the next day. Perk commented afterward, "This job is more hazardous than I thought."[52]
The AmericanSupplemental Security Income (SSI) program was approved by Congress, providing monthly social security benefits for disabled and aged persons who had not worked long enough to receive standard benefits from the Social Security Administration. The measure was a compromise, rejecting a proposal by President Nixon for a federal "Family Assistance Program" (FAP) that would have paid a minimum monthly amount to all households.[54]
Died:George, Crown Prince of Serbia, 85. The eldest son ofKing Peter I, George had been forced to renounce his rights to the throne in favor of his younger brother,Alexander, who succeeded to the throne upon Peter's death in 1921
Both Houses of the U.S. Congress voted overwhelmingly to override President Nixon's veto of theClean Water Act, enacting the$24.6 billion legislation into law. In the early morning, the Senate voted 52–12 for an override, and the House followed later in the day, 247–23.[60] The same day The President confided in a telephone call withCharles Colson regarding the irresponsible nature of Congress in enacting an expensive bill the country could ill afford and the implications such as tax increases that would be necessary to meet the cost.[61]
The Soviet Union agreed to pay the United States $722,000,000 over a period of 30 years as repayment for American assistance made to the Soviets during World War II under theLend-Lease Act.[62]
Kinshichi Kozuka andHiroo Onoda, the last two members of a group of Japanese soldiers who had continued to fight the enemy since the end of the Second World War, set fire to a rice harvest on the Philippine island ofLubang, and then exchanged gunfire with local police. Kozuka was killed, leaving Onoda to fight the war alone.[63] Onoda finally surrendered his sword to his original commanding officer in 1974.[64]
With the beginning of a three-day Paris summit meeting, the leaders of the nine members of the recently enlargedEuropean Community came together for the first time.[65]
TheBuffalo Braves (later theLos Angeles Clippers) trailed theBoston Celtics, 103–60, at the end of three quarters, and then went on to set an NBA record, that still stands[67] for scoring in one quarter, pouring in 58 points. The Braves still lost, albeit by only 8 points after trailing by 43; Final score: Boston 126, Buffalo 118.[68]
AtJohns Hopkins University in the United States, Dr.Solomon H. Snyder and his assistant, Candace Pert, made the critical discovery that the receptors for opiates were in each brain cell, and the search began for opiate substances within the body, later calledenkephalins.[77]
Anwar Sadat,President of Egypt, convened a meeting of his armed forces leaders and announced plans to prepare for a limited war withIsrael. In August, Sadat had instructed his Minister of War, Field Marshal Muhammad Sadeq to prepare a war plan by October 1. As Sadat related in a memoir later, "At that meeting, I was surprised to find out that Fieldmarshal Sadeq had not reported to the Supreme Council what had ordered him to ... I saw at that meeting one of the military commanders, who was in charge of logistics, raising his hand and askwing what was the decision I was talking about." Sadeq was fired four days later. The attack on Israeli positions in the Sinai Peninsula, known as theYom Kippur War, would eventually take place on October 6, 1973.[78]
Japan's most powerful crime boss,Yoshio Kodama, negotiated a peace agreement between leaders of the various Japanese organized crime syndicates (yakuza), bringing an end to years of bloodshed between the gangs by setting up specific territories in Tokyo andYokohama for each group.[79]
The United States "Act for the Protection of Foreign Officials and Official Guests of the United States" (18 U.S.C. §112) was signed into law. Prior to crimes against foreign diplomats being made a federal offense, jurisdiction had been a matter of the law of the state where the act took place.[80]
Died:
Jackie Robinson, 53, American baseball player who broke the color line in 1947, of a heart attack[81]
Died:Johnny Mantz, 54, who won the firstSouthern 500 stock car race, but no other major races, was killed in a highway accident when he apparently fell asleep while driving to his home inOjai, California.
"We believe that peace is at hand", American presidential advisorHenry Kissinger announced to the world. Eleven days before the U.S. presidential election, said that the United States andNorth Vietnam had come to a basic agreement on ending the long runningVietnam War.[85] Privately, President Nixon was outraged at his advisor's unauthorized statement, which Nixon saw as an attempt to take exclusive credit as a peacemaker. Kissinger, on the other hand, noted that North Vietnam had published the text of the agreement and a response was necessary.[86] As it turned out, peace was not quite at hand and a final agreement was not signed until early 1973.
GeneralMathieu Kérékou staged a coup inDahomey, overthrowing the Presidential Council that had governed the West African nation since 1970. Kérékou changed the nation's name to thePeople's Republic of Benin as part of a movement toward Marxism–Leninism, but later guided the nation toward democracy.[87]
TheAirbus A300, the first wide-body twin engine airliner, made its first test flight, taking off from and landing at theToulouse–Blagnac Airport in France, and flown for 85 minutes by pilot Max Fischl and co-pilot Bernard Ziegler.[95] The popular carrier, capable of carrying up to 247 passengers, would be introduced to commercial service on May 23, 1974.[96]
North Yemen (the Yemen Arab Republic) andSouth Yemen (the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen) signed an agreement inEgypt to end fighting between the two nations and to eventually unite. Union would take place in 1990.[97]
Lufthansa Flight 615 was hijacked by terrorists who demanded the release of the three surviving perpetrators of theMunich massacre. The West German authorities accepted the demands, much to the chagrin of Israel.[99]
InHouston, four fugitive bank robbers broke through airport security, killed ticket agent Stanley Hubbard, and then fought their way onto anEastern Airlines jet, Flight 496, which they then hijacked to Cuba.[100]
U.S. PresidentRichard Nixon sent a communique to President Thieu ofSouth Vietnam urging him to work with the U.S. "to achieve our mutual objectives of peace and unity for the heroic people of South Vietnam."[101]
Don Rogers was signed by Crystal Palace FC, which paid Swindon Town £147,000 for his services. He would go on to play 83 games for Palace scoring 30 goals, including two in a 5–0 rout of Manchester United on December 16.
In the last major loss of American life in the Vietnam War, 22 servicemen were killed when their Chinook helicopter was shot down by a heat seeking missile.[105]
^"Reporter Freed from Jail After 21 Days for Contempt",Chicago Tribune, October 25, 1972, p11
^Francisco Parra,Oil Politics: A Modern History of Petroleum(I.B. Tauris, 2004), p158; Mark Weston,Prophets and Princes: Saudi Arabia from Muhammad to the Present (Wiley, 2008), p209
^This Day in History; "94 Dead, 464 Hurt in Rail Wreck",Oakland Tribune, October 6, 1972, p1; Edgar A. Haine,Railroad Wrecks (Associated University Presses, 1993), p176
^article from The Age; "Teacher, Six Girls Escape After Kidnap",Oakland Tribune, October 7, 1972, p1
^"Flames Vanquish Islanders, 3–2",New York Times, October 8, 1972, pS-1
^Henry Kissinger,Years of Renewal (Simon & Schuster, 2000) p542; Andrew A. Wiest,The Vietnam War, 1956–1975 (Rosen Publishing, 2009), pp412–413
^"Campaneris Banned, Fined $500",Oakland Tribune, October 9, 1972, p1
^Elizabeth L. Wollman,The Theater Will Rock: A History of the Rock Musical, from Hair to Hedwig (University of Michigan Press, 2006), pp 78–82.
^Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Agreements (Vol. 2), (Taylor & Francis, 2003)
^"Japanese soldier slain 27 years after war's end", AP report inThe Columbian (Vancouver, Washington), October 20, 1972, p.1
^Steve Silverman,Lindbergh's Artificial Heart: More Fascinating True Stories From Einstein's Refrigerator (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2003), p150;"Plane Search For Hurt Japanese World War II Soldier",Sydney Morning Herald, October 24, 1972, p4
^William Larousse,A Local Church Living for Dialogue: Muslim-Christian Relations in Mindanao-Sulu, Philippines, 1965–2000 (Pontificia università gregoriana, 2001) p143
^P.G.J. van Sterkenburg,Linguistics Today: Facing a Greater Challenge (John Benjamins Publishing, 2004), p67
^"Chicago Rail Toll at 45",Milwaukee Sentinel, October 31, 1972, p1; Edgar A. Haine,Railroad Wrecks (Cornwall Books, 1993), pp138–139
^"22 Killed as U.S. Copter Crashes",Oakland Tribune, November 1, 1972, p1; James W. Williams,A History of Army Aviation: From Its Beginnings to the War on Terror (iUniverse, 2005), p167
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