October 1972 - October 24, 1972 (Tuesday)

October 24, 1972 (Tuesday)

• Yom Kippur War: Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt, convened a meeting of his armed forces leaders and announced plans to prepare for a limited war with Israel. 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 would eventually take place on October 6, 1973.
• 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 and Yokohama for each group.
• 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.
• Born: Scott Peterson, American murderer, in San Diego
• Died: Jackie Robinson, 53, American baseball player who broke the color line in 1947; and Claire Windsor, 80, American film actress