Thursday, March 24, 2016

Life During The Cold War

 
Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov  was a Soviet Navy officer who prevented a nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Only Arkhipov, as Flotilla commander and second-in-command of the nuclear-armed submarine B-59, refused to authorize the captain’s use of nuclear torpedo against the United States Navy, a decision requiring the agreement of all three senior officers aboard. In 2002 Thomas Blanton, who was then director of the National Security Archive, said that “a guy called Vasili Arkhipov saved the world”.

3 comments:

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Everybody should know his name!

DrGoat said...

Saw the PBS special about him. Talk about intense.
That's a hero by any definition.

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...

Heroes don't usually get the chance to be heroes when it's easy. It's the hard decisions that make one heroic.