October 1972

Thursday 12:

En route to her station in the Gulf of Tonkin, a racial brawl involving more than 100 sailors breaks out aboard the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk

Friday 13:

Andes flight disaster: Fairchild passenger plane transporting a rugby team crashes in Andes. They are found alive December 20 but they have had to resort to cannibalism to survive, as chronicled in the 1993 film '.

Monday 16:

Rainbow, a British television programme for children, debuts.

Sunday 22:

Vietnam War: In Saigon, Henry Kissinger and South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu meet to discuss a proposed cease-fire that had been worked out between Americans and North Vietnamese in Paris. Thieu rejects the proposal and accused the United States of conspiring to undermine his regime

Monday 30:

US President Richard Nixon approves legislation to increase Social Security spending by US$5.3 billion.